The role of pay and market pay variability in job application decisions

The influence of pay and three other attributes on job application decisions under two sets of market conditions were examined. Consistent with economic hypothesizing, results suggested that most respondents used noncompensatory strategies to evaluate pay in making their application decisions. Moreover, both model usage and the pay importance appeared to vary as a function of market pay variability. Results are discussed primarily in terms of likely limitations to the generalizability of findings obtained from studies of attribute importance.