Decision Making at Work

Adverse impact describes a disparity in selection for hiring or promotion, that disadvantages individuals of a particular race, ethnicity or sex.
The dilemma situation relies on the fact that cost-effective procedures with high criterion-related validity (e.g. cognitive ability tests) exhibit high level of adverse impact. On the other hand, alternatives that also exhibit high level of validity but less adverse impact (e.g. structured interviews or assessment centers) are too costly to administer to a large number of candidates.

The effect of adverse impact might be reduced by using computer scoring techniques for applicant's essays, since they showed no gender or ethnicity differences.
The scores generated by the computer show a similar reliability as human rater scores. Convergent and divergent validity are also given, since the correlation between the computer scores and human scores for the same competency are larger than with other competencies.
Additionall, cmputer scores can substantially reduce costs.
Finally, computer scores can identify applicants, who would have otherwise not been recognized, since not only keyword-programs are used.

There are three main steps in a computer modeling analysis process.
The first step is text mining, where the meaningful information of an unstructured text-based data is extracted. In the second step, a predictive model is generated via regression. This model is used to predict rater's scores. In the third an final step, the predictive model is applied to new data. This produces the computer scores. 

There are several possible ways to use computer scores such as replacing one rater or eliminating the lowest scoring candidates. Five AR questions are reliable enough in case one AR is revised. The minimum sample size to use computer scoring is not excessively high, such as about 500 in this setting.
Practitioners interested in trying out the computer scoring apporach might start to use existing datasets within the organization that contain constructed response data (e.g. applications). Here, only criterion data would be necessary to allow the creation of a computer scoring model, such as job performance, turnover, or ratings by subject matter experts.

Company-backed expatriates are employees who are supported by a company to undertake an international assignment. 
Self-initiated expatriates, on the other hand, are employees who themselves want to take on an international working opportunity without the support or sponsoship of an organization. 

Company-backed expatriates might be motivated by the prospect of professional development, career opportunities, monetary considerations, international experience and/ or the location. 
Self-initiated expatriates might be motivated by the prospects to explore, escape their current situation, financial opportunities, build their career, adventure and/ or family reasons. 

Four factors influencing the decision to go abroad are the location, home-host relations, foreign experience and personal relationships. (furthermore: host (good reputation), career, family benefits, push factors)

Dependend on what motivates the company-backed vs. self-initiated expatriates, different incentives should be used for applicants. To ensure an optimal fit, a clear distinction of the two groups is needed, to ensure interest match between the individual and the company.
It has been suggested that self-initiated individuals usually lack any organisation specific track record which increases the need for sophisticated selection, induction and knowledge management approaches. For the self-initiated, attraction and retention processes need to take account of the particular nature of this population, including their approach to choice of destination and their protean attitude towards career. Research suggests the need for a more holistic approach to recruitment incorporating realistic job previews and realistic living conditions previews.

The term "self-concept clarity" describes a personality trait-like construct. It is the extent of the sense of how a person is, their strengths and weeknesses, the nature of their personality and their standpoint in life.
The content of this construct refers to the contents of the self-concept in the form of self-representations, while the structure of self-concept clarity connects and organizes these self-representations into a meta-perspective of the self. 

Due to the confrontation with an unfamiliar environment containing different norms, values and behaviors, the personal beliefs of an individiual are questioned and as a result strengthened or discarded. This process is mediated by self-discerning reflections on whether parts of the person's identity are truly theirs or only reflect their cultural upbringing. 

According to the study, the depth of living abroad experiences (length of a stay) predicts self-concept clarity, not the breadth (how many countries). The same goes for career-decision making clarity, where self-concept clarity functions as a mediator. 
It is implicit in this argument that the clearer one’s understanding of the self, the higher the likelihood of making effective career choices. Indeed, having relevant information about the self, such as one’s skills, abilities, vocational interests, aspirations, and career goals, significantly reduces career indecision.

Kempen:
The underlying process is explained by self-discerning reflections. According to the authors, living abroad leads to self-discerning reflections on whether parts of an identity truly define who a person is or merely represent their cultural upbringing. They also mention that cultural values are put to the test while living abroad.
Specifically, a cultural shock may occur when own cultural values are questioned which in turn leads to self discerning reflections (and more self concept clarity).

The challenges in researching expatriate's motifs are for one a lack of insight into the expatriate's thoughts and feelings, as well as the danger of social desirability (motives externally not intrinsic) which could lead to falsifications.