Hiring is a vital part of organizations and their potential success. Thus, it is crucial that firms understand what makes applicants accept job offers and how the applicants feel about the hiring process. One aspect that can potentially influence applicants’ decisions and perception of employers is employers’ provision of offers with a short period to respond, which are often called “exploding offers” and occur in a variety of industries. Such offers require applicants to make decisions with limited time to cognitively process the offers and their potential ramifications. We hypothesize that applicants are likely to accept jobs when they are given an exploding offer; that effect will be greater in women due to increased risk aversion; and applicants that receive exploding offers will have a more negative perception of the application process, and by extension, their decision to accept the offer. Through multiple studies and methods, we begin to uncover how exploding offers affect job applicants’ decision-making and perception of employers, contributing to the literature on hiring and decision-making.
