The influence of applicants’ perceptions of fairness to job offer acceptance in the private sector in vietnam

Moreover, the organizational justiceaspects procedural, distributive, interpersonal should be applied in theorganizational, practical and regulatory policies of the enterprise Colquitt,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

CAO VU HA TRANG

THE INFLUENCE OF APPLICANTS’ PERCEPTION OF FAIRNESS TO JOB OFFER ACCEPTANCE IN

THE PRIVATE-SECTOR IN VIETNAM

MASTER’S THESIS BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Hanoi, 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

CAO VU HA TRANG

THE INFLUENCE OF APPLICANTS’ PERCEPTION OF FAIRNESS TO JOB OFFER ACCEPTANCE IN

THE PRIVATE-SECTOR IN VIETNAM

MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

CODE: 60340102

RESEARCH SUPERVISORS:

PROF DR DANIEL ARTURO HELLER

Dr TRAN HUY PHUONG

Hanoi, 2019

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have given me thepossibility to complete this graduation thesis In preparing this graduation thesis, Ihave had generous help and advice from my teachers, my colleagues, my familyand my friends, I would like to express my great thanks to all of them

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr.Tran Huy Phuong and my co-supervisor Prof Daniel Heller, who have givenimmeasurable help, constant guidance with many careful instructions, commentsand valuable advices to me Without their support, I am not able to have a completethesis

Secondly, I wish to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at Japan University, who have provided me with worthy lessons throughout two years

Vietnam-of study Without their helps, it would be impossible for me to finish this work

Last but not least, I would like to send my loving thanks to my family and

my friends whose great love and care in both terms of spirit and health to encourage

me to complete the thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Research rationale 2

1.3 Research objective and research question 4

1.4 Research scope 5

1.5 Research methodology 6

1.6 Structure of the research 6

Summary of Chapter 1 7

Chapter 2 Literature review 8

2.1 Overview of job offer acceptance 8

2.1.1 Definition of job offer acceptance 8

2.1.2 The importance role of job offer acceptance 8

2.1.3 The main factors affecting job offer acceptance 10

2.2 Overview of application perceptions of fairness 12

2.2.1 Interactional Justice 12

2.2.2 Procedural Justice 14

2.2.3 Distributive Justice 16

2.3 Empirical results of applicant perceptions of justice and job acceptance 19

Summary of Chapter 2 20

Chapter 3 Research model 21

3.1 Analytical framework 21

3.2 Hypothesis development 23

Summary of Chapter 3 26

Chapter 4 Methodology and Data Analysis 27

4.1 Data collection 27

4.2 Measurement test 28

4.3 Hypothesis testing 30

4.3.1 Descriptive statistics about the candidates participating in the survey 30

4.3.2 Cronbach’s Alpha Test 31

4.3.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 36

4.3.4 Pearson Correlation Test 38

4.3.5 Regression analysis 40

4.4 Analysis result summary 46

Summary of Chapter 4 47

Chapter 5 Findings, Implications and Discussion 48

5.1 Findings and discussion 48

5.2 Implications 50

5.3 Limitations of research and future research orientation 53

Summary of Chapter 5 54

References 55

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 3.1 Conceptual framework of Konradt et al (2015) 22

Chart 3.2 Conceptual framework 23

Chart 4.1 Age group of candidates 30

Chart 4.2 Experience of interviewed candidates 31

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Cronbach’s Alpha Test of Procedural Justice Perception scale 32

Table 4.2 Cronbach’s Alpha Test of Distributive Justice Perception scale 34

Table 4.3 Cronbach’s Alpha Test of Interactional Justice Perception scale 35

Table 4.4 KMO and Bartlett's Test 36

Table 4.5 Total Variance Explained 37

Table 4.6 Rotated Component Matrix 38

Table 4.7 Pearson Correlation Test 39

Table 4.8 Model summary 40

Table 4.9 ANOVA Test 41

Table 4.10 Regression result 41

Table 4.11 Tests of Interaction effects between GEN and PJ 43

Table 4.12 Tests of Interaction effects between GEN and DJ 44

Table 4.13 Tests of Interaction effects between EXP and PJ 45

Table 4.14 Tests of Interaction effects between EXP and PJ 46

Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Background

In Eastern philosophy, the use of people is highly valued and considered one of theprerequisites of success Especially in the field of business, people are consideredone of the most important resources to decide the success or failure of the business

A company or organization has strong financial resources, modern technicalmachinery but if the operation of human resource management is ineffective, it isdifficult to develop long term Therefore, recruiting to provide quality humanresources for the organization is the most important function performed (Rynes &Cable, 2003) However, the fact that people are the most expensive and difficult tomanage resources in the business The high recruitment cost that were notassociated with accepting the candidate's job offer affected the efficiency ofrecruitment and reduced the organization's success (Murphy, 1986)

In the context of Vietnam’s integration, the wave of investment by foreignenterprises is increasing, leading to a fierce competition in the labour market.Domestic enterprises are increasingly struggling to maintain and manage humanresource, especially the high-quality human resource To survive and to grow in themarketplace, business owners need to have good human resources to achievecommon goals of organizations This shown the great role of human resources andthe recruitment of personnel (International Labour Organization and AsianDevelopment Bank, 2014)

In a human resource strategy, it is necessary to promote close relationships betweenemployees, employees and administrators, employees and organizations (Legge,1995) More interestingly, businesses no longer focused on control and submissionbut instead promote their working capacity and the cohesion of staff with theorganization (Farnham & Pimlott, 1990) To achieve cohesion as mentioned above,ensuring fairness in the organization is essential In previous research, authorsemphasized the role of organizational justice in order to gain the trust of employees,loyalty, high labour productivity promotes the ability of organizations to fulfill their

vision Employees tended to show their confidence in the organization or supervisorand also became effective when they realized to be treated fairly by theirorganization Greenberg (1990) suggested that organizational justice has a strongimpact on a number of organizational variables, including faith, commitment, jobsatisfaction, intention to quit, participation in work, productivity action and civicbehaviour of the organization Therefore, justice policy should be applied byorganizations (Akanbi & Ofoegbu, 2013) Moreover, the organizational justiceaspects (procedural, distributive, interpersonal) should be applied in theorganizational, practical and regulatory policies of the enterprise (Colquitt, Conlon,Wesson, Porter, & Nguyen, 2001).

Derived from the above-mentioned empirical studies and analyses, a study of theperception of enterprise fairness and the acceptance of job offers of employees isessential This is the motivation for conducting a behavioural study of workers.Therefore, the research topic “The influence of applicants’ perception of fairness tojob offer acceptance in the private-sector in Vietnam” is selected forimplementation

1.2 Research rationale

This study was implemented for several reasons as follows:

Firstly, in recent years, along with the trend of the world, integration process ofVietnam has become stronger than ever, especially in the private sector Thisintegration process opens up great opportunities for employment for workers.Typically, to join in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Vietnam can createmore 6 million jobs equivalent to 1/10 of the increase in employment by 2025 of theentire ASEAN regions due to the impact of the formation of the AEC (InternationalLabour Organization and Asian Development Bank, 2014) Thus, with multilateraland bilateral agreements, regional integration creates great opportunities forVietnamese workers However, more competition with foreign businesses in thewake of strong foreign direct investment is a major challenge for domesticenterprises Therefore, understanding the behaviour of employees is necessary to

provide operational policies, recruitment policies and personnel policies to attracthigh quality labour Of these factors, organizational equity is an aspect of policy.This is the reason for this study to be conducted The pretension is that outputs ofthis research can contribute greatly to organizations.

Secondly, in Vietnam, research on workers’ behaviour is a common topic, but onlyfocus on the analysis of factors affecting recruitment activities based on internal andexternal indicators In the selection of jobs, Pham (2013) studied the impact of anumber of objective factors on the current job choice behaviour of high schoolstudents The research results show that the behaviour of career choice is affected bythe school’s career orientation and family orientation In the period when workersjoin the organization, some authors conduct research on employee satisfaction withtheir work (Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2018; Nguyen P , 2018).Nguyen's research team (2018) studied on the subjects of construction workers anddiscovered factors including promotion opportunities and working conditionsrelationships with colleagues and work characteristics having a relationship with jobsatisfaction The above studies were typical of the recruitment phase that waspreceded by posting employment The candidate stage was still confused whendeciding whether or not to approve the job offer (Chapman, Uggerslev, Piasentin, &Carroll, 2005) This topic has not been paid much attention by the study authors inVietnam Therefore, the analysis of candidate behavior in this period is limited Inparticular, currently, no research has been done on the topic of organizational justiceand its relationship with the decision of job offer acceptances This is the motivationfor this research to be carried out

Thirdly, some previous researchers had conducted researches on the relationshipbetween awareness of fairness and decision to job offer (Chapman, D S.; Webster,J., 2006; Walsh, Tuller, Barnes‐Farrell, & Matthews, 2010; Harold, Holtz,Griepentrog, Brewer, & Marsh, 2015; Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, & Bauer,2015) However, these authors conducted research based on a general organizationalequity perspective that does not divide into different aspects of

equity Typically, improving the situation of previous studies only focused onprocess-based justice Chapman & Webster (2006) had added a number of otherfactors to the research that were candidates' signals and expectations, payment ofsalaries, locations and marketability Although this study had a strong point of beingimplemented on a large sample size with 588 applicants from 215 businesses inCanada However, the two authors were still limited when only focusing on threemechanisms of process justice In the same case, Konradt et al (2015) also focused

on the process of justice awareness according to the process when carrying out a year long study with data from 182 candidates in the apprenticeship program of alarge industrial company in Germany

3-In another study, Harold et al (2015) developed more with previous studies to studytwo aspects of organizational justice, procedural justice perceptions andinteractional justice perceptions Besides, authors also studied some other aspectssuch as the image of organization awareness, organization familiarity, thecompatibility between people and organization, recruitment behavior It also usedthe control variable Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores, age andgender of candidates Although it was considered to be more complete than thestudies, this study was still limited when allocation justice was not studied.According to the classification, organizational justice included three aspects whichwere distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice (Ambrose,Hess, & Ganesan, 2007; Yean & Yusof, 2016) This is a research gap to conduct acomplete study on each aspect of organizational justice Expanding from previousstudies, this study examines three aspects of organizational justice as mentionedabove In addition, two control variables are also used as candidates' gender andwork experience

1.3 Research objective and research question

The target of the review study is analysis of the influence of candidates on fairnessfor accepting private sector job offers in Vietnam In order to clarify this objective,specific objectives are given below:

- To systematize the theoretical basis related to accepting job offers and

awareness of fairness

- To study empirical relationships between awareness of fairness and

acceptance of job offers

- Based on the analytical framework, to conduct an empirical analysis of theimpact in the candidate's perception of fairness to accepting job offers inprivate sector in Vietnam

- To provide recommendations to enhance the candidates’ job offer acceptance

To clarify the specific research objectives above, the below research questions are conducted answer:

- Which theoretical bases relate to accepting job offers and awareness of justice?

- The empirical relationship between awareness of justice and acceptance of a job offer?

- How the candidate's perception affects the acceptance of job offers in privatesector in Vietnam?

- What are the recommendations for businesses to enhance the candidates’ job offer acceptance?

1.4 Research scope

The scope of this study is defined as the spatial scope and the time range The scope

of space is the private sector in Vietnam, the focus is on private enterprises.Specifically, due to time constraints, information resources and relationships withbusinesses, this study focuses on businesses in the two major cities of Hanoi and HoChi Minh City Businesses are selected to submit questionnaires to surveycandidates with diverse industries such as finance, banking, construction,information technology, etc Besides, time range relates to research data Theprimary data source in this study is synthesized through a survey of questionnaires

in the period from February to April 2019

1.5 Research methodology

The research method is an association of quantitative methods and qualitativemethods Qualitative research is used in synthesizing theoretical bases related toawareness of fairness, the relationship between awareness of fairness and thedecision to accept work offers Specifically, in qualitative research, it used thesecondary materials from international publications, books, international journals,reports and workshop materials to develop literature review The core part of thestudy is quantitative analysis Specifically, a linear regression analysis model isused to study the impact of the candidate's perception of fairness to the acceptance

of job offers Quantitative analysis techniques include saving reliability withCronbach’s Alpha Test, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Pearson CorrelationTest, Regression analysis and Multi-collinear testing The data used in the analysisare primary data compiled through a survey of the questionnaires to the candidateswho have interviewed in private companies in Vietnam

1.6 Structure of the research

The structure of the study consists of 5 chapters In the introductory chapter, it isintroduced the research context, research facilities, research objectives and researchquestions, the scope of the study Chapter 2 introduces literature review The content

of the theoretical basis involves job offers and application perceptions of fairness.Research gaps are also given in chapter 2 of the study In the next chapter, thecontent is the analytical framework and the development of research hypotheses.These contents combine theoretical framework and empirical research results inprevious studies The content of Chapter 4 is the method of research and dataanalysis In this chapter, along with describing the techniques used to analyze data,the aggregated data is analyzed The research hypotheses built in the previouschapter are also tested The output of empirical analysis in chapter 4 is the basis todevelop the final chapter content Chapter 5 includes conclusions as well asdiscussion of those conclusions and application

Summary of Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, the thesis introduces an overview of research topics, researchobjectives and questions It also provides content about the scope of research,research methodology and structure of the thesis In the next chapter, it introducesthe theoretical overview of accepting the candidate’s job offer

Chapter 2 Literature review2.1 Overview of job offer acceptance

2.1.1 Definition of job offer acceptance

The concept of job offer is simply an invitation for a potential employee, whether ornot the applicant has applied for a job in an organization (Heathfield, 2019) The joboffer often have the outline of the terms and conditions of employment offered toemployees in the future These include wages, benefits, job responsibilities, and thename and title of the report manager The job offer may also include expectedworking hours, desired start dates and provide important details for futureemployees

The process of forming the job offer may include the following two stages First,the organization attracts candidates to organizations for employers to select andscreen qualified people to work at a certain position in the organization Secondly,the organization evaluates candidates in many different ways, based on therequirements of the job, among those attracted through recruitment The recruitmentprocess needs to identify the skills, knowledge and personal characteristicsnecessary for immediate needs of the business position as well as the futuredevelopment goals of the business (Ployhart & Harold, 2004)

Based on the simple concept above, the job offer acceptance can be understoodsimply as the acceptance of an invitation for a given job It implies that candidatesare willing to join the organization to work with the terms and conditions ofemployment given In another aspect, acceptance of work offers was related to theamount of work and wages that employees receive (Abraham, et al., 2013)

2.1.2 The importance role of job offer acceptance

One of the main functions of human resource management is ensuring organizations

to access to appropriate candidates for achievement of the organization's goals(Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, & Bauer, 2015) According to research results ofBoston Consulting Group (2012), the recruitment of the best qualified candidates

had the effect of promoting the growth of revenue and the rate of the organization.Another important argument also emphasizes that human resource management isresponsible for attracting and selecting the appropriate workforce, providing themwith appropriate training to improve their capacity The ultimate goal is to achievethe organization's goals Effective recruitment not only enhances the overalleffectiveness of the organization but also helps manage human resources moreeffectively (Saddam & Mansor, 2015) Moreover, effective recruitment activitieshelp organizations attract and hire people with appropriate qualifications and alwaysupdate their knowledge, skills and professional attitudes As a result, workers areable to meet what the organization requires them to do (Lockwood, 2007).

In the field of recruitment, the candidate's acceptance of a job offer is considered asuccess factor The final stage of recruitment is that the candidate accepts or rejectsjob offers (Harold, Uggerslev, & Kraichy, Recruitment and job choice, 2013).Combined with the above analysis, it is important for businesses to accept job offersthat are important for businesses not only to reduce recruitment costs but also toincrease revenue efficiency and profit of the business

In another result, Chapman et al (2005) answered the question of why the candidatewho made the final decision was accepting a job offer They discovered influencingfactors including job characteristics and organization, employer characteristics andjob expectations Thus, the acceptance of the job offer by the candidates also partlyshows whether the recruitment activities and characteristics of the business areeffective or not Another aspect, it should be noted that important vacancies weighmuch on information The fact that candidates cannot access information includingobjective and subjective aspects leads to a decision not to commit to long-termcommitment to the organization This reflects that the candidate's decision whether

or not to help the business review the process of providing information throughonline job boards, company websites and web log (Harold, Uggerslev, & Kraichy,Recruitment and job choice, 2013)

Moreover, subjective images and relevance, as well as features of the recruitmentprocess can simultaneously predict candidates’ job choice decisions Therefore, itimplies that, through the results of the proposal of accepting jobs, organizations canadjust these factor (Barber, 1998) Supporting this view, Walker et al (2013)confirmed that the results of accepting job offers also meant higher organizationalrelationships and attractiveness.

2.1.3 The main factors affecting job offer acceptance

Factors influencing the applicant's ability to accept job offers have been studied andprovided diverse evidence in previous studies Specifically, Jurgensen (1978)confirmed that the following 10 attributes in terms of what was most important tothem in a job: advancement, benefits, company, co-workers, hours, pay, security,supervisor, type of work and working conditions Turban (1995) argued that websiteaccess, workplace awareness and the ability to host servers positively impacted thedecision to accept jobs In the previous research However, these two authors did notprovide a clear comparison to clarify the difference between the decision to acceptthe job offer of unemployed and unemployed candidates It was clear that there was

a difference based on the argument of search theory It implied that unemployedindividuals should make significant concessions to get new jobs However, therewas a lack of information regarding how the unemployed considered their decision-making process (Abraham, et al., 2013)

In another aspect, the cost of commuting to work also affects the acceptance ofwork offers In a previous study, the research team discussed that job offers could

be rejected because of high travel costs or low availability of unemployed people(Abraham, et al., 2013) However, through empirical studies, an opposition resultwas discovered This proves that there is no clear relationship between employmentstatus and migration (Kley, 2013) While in another study, migration was higher inthe unemployed group (Boenisch & Schneider, 2010)

According to another approach related to job search theory, job search was a logicalstrategy for individuals trying to escape unemployment (Mortensen, 1976)

Unemployed people would try to expand the search radius, conceding terms toincrease the chances of getting a suitable job offer It came from the characteristics

of this group of people as a low level and lack of expertise to access better networks(Abraham, et al., 2013) This also shows that the characteristics of workers are also

a factor affecting the acceptance of work offers

On the enterprise side, the income of employees was also a factor affecting thedecision to accept job offers Workers may decide to accept a new job with a higherincome (Abraham, et al., 2013) However, it is not simple in the current income,another idea is the decision to accept a job offer driven by expectations of futurework Therefore, employees may accept new job offers if future job prospects arebetter than their current status, regardless of whether they are employed orunemployed (Logan, 1996)

Interestingly, the awareness of the fit between Person – Organization fit is also animportant factor closely related to the candidates' decision to accept the job offer(Harold, Holtz, Griepentrog, Brewer, & Marsh, 2015) A supportive argument forthis point was given as social identity theory by Tajfel and Turner (1986) According

to this theory, each individual's actions are related to the social context around themlike their family, the neighborhood they live in, where they work Often, in order todevelop and maintain a positive concept, individuals look to groups with theappropriate features and characteristics In other words, individuals seek toorganizations that were compatible with them (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) Inaccordance with this view, the attraction – selection – attrition hypothesis confirmedthat candidates were attractive and engaged in organizations when they see a highdegree of relevance (Schneider, 1987) From the analytical framework, this theoryoffers several solutions to increase the relevance of candidates Recommendations

to address organizational changes Specifically, the utility of measures and itsbenefits in corporate governance, environment and organizational culture There isalso the importance of recruiting, the need for human-based theories of leadershipand work attitudes

The above content mentioned a number of factors affecting the decision ofapproving work proposals However, when discussing the issue in depth, previousstudies had focused on the outcome of recruitment, which was a non-behaviouralfactor Therefore, it implied that it was impossible to predict the decision to acceptthe job (Chapman, Uggerslev, Piasentin, & Carroll, 2005) For example, anappealing assessment of an organization did not necessarily mean that labouraccepts changes in their careers.

To solve this problem, some authors had studied the psychology of workers.Specifically, authors have focused on research and found that awareness of justicewas the central determinant of applicant behaviour (Bell, Ryan, & Wiechmann,2004; Hausknecht, Day, & Thomas, 2004; Ployhart & Harold, 2004) In a previousstudy, Lind (2001) had confirmed that demonstrating high degree of equity is themost important in the early stages of recruitment Accordingly, the fairness of theorganization was a factor for the applicant to decide whether to become a member

distributive justice, and interactional justice Accordingly, procedural justice anddistributive justice are two basic aspects of organizational justice Interactive justice

is the latest justice discovered regarding the elements of justice between individualsand information (Muzumdar, 2012) The following are theories related to each ofabove types of justice

In terms of concept, sociologist John R Schermerhorn defined interactive justice asthe degree to which people affected by decisions were treated with respect anddignity Interactive justice is divided into two parts The first part is calledinterpersonal justice and the second part is informational justice (Muzumdar, 2012).Interpersonal justice was defined as how a person was treated by his supervisors andsubordinates, etc (Lin & Tyler, 1988) Treating supervisors is respect, dignity,encouragement and encouragement According to Frazier et al (2010), interpersonaljustice considered personality and attitude of communication affecting individuals

It involved how individuals were responsible for allocating resources and rewards atwork to recipients (Chou, 2009) One facility was given that apology was seen as atactic to enhance justice among individuals as they relate to showing remorse Inaddition, apology helped those who were harmed avoid their negative effects,thereby reducing anger effectively (Greenberg, J., 1990)

In another aspect, informational justice is seen as an explanation provided to thosewho convey information about why the procedure is used in a certain way or whythe result is distributed according to a certain way When an explanation is more fullthan common, the level of awareness of information justice is higher (Greenberg, J.,1990) Thereafter, Greenberg (1993) asserted that information explanations can helppeople affected by decisions to understand the reasons for those decisions Because

it is a means of changing the response and receptive ability of employees to thegiven procedures

In the early stages of the recruitment process, before the candidate makes a decision

to accept a job offer, interactional justice can be perceived through a number offactors These factors include the interviewer giving kindness and consideration to

the candidate; interviewers treat candidates with respect and dignity; the interviewer

is sensitive to the applicant's individual needs; the manager treats the candidatehonestly It helps the candidate understand clearly before making a decision aboutaccepting the job On the other hand, interactional justice is also expressed throughthe way the company’s representative shows interest in the candidate's rights asemployees In order to interact with candidates on the decision to join theorganization, the interactional justice is also reflected by the company's agent orinterviewer discussing with candidates about their decision making and the meaning

of decision making (Yaghoubi, Mashinchi, Ebrahimi, Abdollahi, & Ebrahimi, 2011).Thus, when the candidate has not participated in the organization, the awareness ofthe interaction is reflected through interaction with the representative of thecompany In Vietnam, this representative may be the head of a certain department inthe company or the head of the HR department, even the executive board of theenterprise Although different in responsibilities, these subjects have a commonfeature of being knowledgeable about the core business and business model of thebusiness

2.2.2 Procedural Justice

In term of concept, Thibaut and Walker (1975) introduced the definition ofprocedural justice that solved the common process that the distribution of resultswas carried out Besides, Brockner and Siegel (1996) defined that procedural justicewas a positive personal awareness of the processes and procedures relating to thedetermination of outcomes related to higher levels of trust in the organization andmanagers Therefore, procedural justice plays an important role for everyorganization When employees feel that their views and concerns are heard in thedecision-making process, they are often more likely to support than reject or dealwith decisions of the entire leadership and organization This view is confirmed byone previous research (Lin & Tyler, 1988) Two authors further explained thatorganizations ignoring procedural justice concerns were at risk of causing negativeorganizational attitudes The result was dissatisfaction with the organization’s

results on decisions, even employees who do not comply with rules and procedures.Some cases led to low labor productivity.

The question is why procedural justice can have a strong impact on suchorganizations? Thibaut and Walker (1975) stressed that procedural justice isconsidered as a control process that functions as a protector of personal interests.This helps individuals protect their interests Two authors demonstrated thisassumption that individuals would be more satisfied with adverse results if theybelieve that the decision-making processes were fair In the context of strategicdecision making, Kim and Mauborgne (1998) stressed the way of justice according

to the procedure emotional recognition and promotes intellectual Two researchersbelieved that a fair process in each organizational activity made organizationmembers feel being respected for the intellectual and their emotional values Thismade them ready to accept new challenges and cooperated with others in a way thatenhanced value creation at the enterprise level

Moreover, another important factor in the applicant’s fair perception was what theyreceive from the candidate This information included recruitment interviews, jobsamples These were information that candidates believed to be valid and appear tomeasure candidates' perceptions of fairness (Hausknecht, Day, & Thomas, 2004).Some studies on manipulation of procedures shown that violation of administrativeconsistency and speech in the recruitment process negatively affected this fairperception (Rolland & Steiner, 2007) For computer-based testing, studies show thatthe applicant's consistency, treatment and opportunity were the most powerfulpredictors of fair awareness (Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, & Bauer, 2015).However, the perception of procedural justice of the candidates is different in eachstage of recruitment Chan and Schmitt (2004) argued that the candidatesdistinguished procedural justice rules from being more or less different fromchanges in time This reflected when candidates moved from earlier to later stagesProcedural justice rules are measured by a number of items such as formalcharacteristics (represented by rules related to work, execution opportunities,

reconsideration opportunities, consistency of governance), explanation (feedback,open and known information) and interpersonal treatment (treatment of applicantsand ownership of questions) (Konradt, Warszta, & Ellwart, 2013).

In the first phase of recruitment, by the perception of procedural justice, when theapplicant requests additional responsibilities of the job, the company’srepresentative or interviewer clarifies what the candidate is interested in On theother hand, procedural justice is also confirmed through interviewers' treatment withcandidates during the interview process The process from filing and interviewing isalso considered as fair to candidates according to the company's procedural justice

On the other hand, in many cases, the labor contract is the result of the interviewprocess The procedures related to the content of the contract given by the companyrepresentative during the interview are also used by the candidates for evaluation.These procedures are legal provisions in the recruitment process Thus, during theinterview process, the behavior of the company representatives with the candidates

in a fair manner is very necessary

2.2.3 Distributive Justice

Just like the two types of justice introduced above, distributive justice is also adiverse concept Sezen (2001) provided that distributive justice based on thedistributive of organizational benefits for deserving employees In another view,Toremen and Tan (2010) defined distributive justice as an employee's perception ofrational distributive of resources and benefits of the organization The emergence ofdistributive justice may be related to the fair theory of Adam (1965) This theorydescribed that people compared their job performance ratios to their own work inputwith the proportion of their peers In this case, it appeared a consideration betweenthe efficiency of work among individuals in the same organization When evaluatingdistributive justice, individuals often evaluate their work input and the resultsreceived from the organization Previous studies have found that distributive justicehad a relationship with employee satisfaction, employee satisfaction with

leaders, and revenue goals of employees (Tyler & Caine, 1981; McFarlin &Sweeney, 1992; Foley, Kidder, & Powell, 2002).

Moreover, in businesses, distributive justice played a very important role The mostcommon goal in most equity distribution studies had been maximizing productivity.Most studies had focused on fair rules (Adam, 1965) Because unfair distributioncan lead to distrust, dispute, disrespect and other social issues between employeesand their managers (Suliman, 2007) In other words, employee productivity waslikely to increase when they were rewarded When employees achieve expectationsthat were not met, some negative impacted on businesses appear such as reducinglabor productivity, organizational dissatisfaction and distrust (Frazier, Johnson,Gavin, Gooty, & Snow, 2010)

According to Noruzy et al (2011) Distribution justice focused on employeeconfidence and feeling satisfied with the results of their work such as salary and jobassignment Distributive justice refereed to equity awareness of the results anindividual received from the organization Results can be distributed on an equalbasis, needs or contributions and individuals determine the fairness of distributionthrough comparison with others (Alsalem & Alhaiani, 2007) To assess theperception of fairness distribution, Leventhal (1976) gave a number of items toassess related outcomes such as salary or promotion at work, rewards in labor,refresher classes, the requirement of appropriateness in distributing results related tothe contributions of workers Three distribution rules including justice, fairness anddemand were considered aspects of distribution justice (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson,Porter, & Nguyen, 2001) On another aspect, Forsyth (2006) refers to the five norms

of distribution justice included:

 Equity: This factor assumes that the distribution of results is based onemployee input Employee inputs include skills, time, money and energyinvested by individuals to perform their tasks As a result, more investment-intensive employees are required to receive more results than those who

invest less Individuals who invest in high levels of inputs will receive more results than those who invest less

 Equality: Although the employee's input is different, the employees are entitled to equal rewards

 Power: In this respect, the fact that people with multiple rights, status orcontrol over the group should receive more than those in lower positions,with less authority, status or control over the group

 Need: People with the greatest needs need to be provided with the resourcesneeded to meet those needs These individuals should be provided with moreresources than those who already own them, regardless of their inputs

 Responsibility: This norm is based on distribution justice based on resourcesharing In other words, the most resource-intensive individual groupmembers should share their resources with those with less

In the first phase of recruitment, distribution justice can be perceived through anumber of manifestations such as: the company representative proposes fairness tocandidates for work schedule, salary, workload (Yaghoubi, Mashinchi, Ebrahimi,Abdollahi, & Ebrahimi, 2011) During the interview process, an opinion that isalways given by the candidates is a balance between the work, the proposedresponsibilities and the achievements of the candidates In particular, candidates areaware of the information the interviewer gives, such as job responsibilities, salary,bonuses, promotion schedule, or whether the work schedule is equal Thereby, thecandidates will evaluate and compare with the volume and responsibility of suchwork, the salary and bonus of the company is worthy of what we spend Thiscomparison can take place in the company, especially in comparison with groupinterviews, any difference perceived in the interview about the allocation ofresources and what is going on with the company or industry can change theperception of the applicant’s distribution justice

2.3 Empirical results of applicant perceptions of justice and job acceptance

The content of this section is an introduction of some empirical studies on therelationship between awareness of justice and acceptance of work offers (Chapman,

D S.; Webster, J., 2006; Walsh, Tuller, Barnes‐Farrell, & Matthews, 2010; Harold,Holtz, Griepentrog, Brewer, & Marsh, 2015; Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, &Bauer, 2015) The result of studies showed that the existence of two schools in theresult, which were relationship and non-relationship between the perception offairness and the decision to accept work offers

The study of Chapman and Webster (2006) was a testament to the school of relationship between awareness of fairness and acceptance of job offers Twoauthors conducted a study on college students in Canada The research resultsshowed that procedural awareness was not related to job choice Authors argued thatthe observed relationships may have influenced the short-term nature of cooperativepositions

non-In a contradictory development, Walsh et al (2010) studied at a large multinationalcompany They found out that candidates who accepted job offers more preferred inawareness of job-related fairness and information sharing during the hiring process.The result of this study was supported by the later study that deciding whether ornot to accept an offer to join the organization, candidates with a sense of fairnesscan be particularly productive (Harold, Holtz, Griepentrog, Brewer, & Marsh,2015) To detect the results of this study, Harold et al (2015) conducted a studybased on two sample groups with size of 332 observed from US military candidates.However, the study of Harold et al (2015) also had limitations when collecting onlysamples from the US military Usually, military candidates, in the early stages,wanted to join the organization, not a specific position Due to differences in therecruitment process of the military and the private sector, the degree of influence ofthe results of the research is different (Harold, Holtz, Griepentrog, Brewer, &Marsh, 2015)

A larger-scale study was conducted, regarding the perception of organizational justiceand each stage of the job including approving job offers and the post-employmentperiod of 1 - 5 years, post-employment 3 years (Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, &Bauer, 2015) In terms of sample size, the authors conducted a study based on a sample

of 182 candidates for the apprenticeship program of a major German industrialcompany Data collection time is 3 years This study was evaluated professionally whenfocusing on three points in the recruitment process These included procedural justiceexpectations that employees have before taking part in the process of selectingperceptions of procedural justice, right after taking part in the process and three weeksafter joining the selection system but before receiving feedback Findings of the studyalso show that awareness of fairness also affects job choice decisions Specifically, fairawareness of procedures in the post-inspection period and before feedbacks werepositively related to the probability of accepting job offers In addition, candidates whofind fairness of post-inspection procedures were also more likely to accept job offers(Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, & Bauer, 2015) Remarkably, by measuring theresponses of applicants at different stages of the recruitment process, authors found thatawareness plays a different role in each stage Specifically, it discovered that post-testawareness of justice was measured immediately after the most relevant test involved inaccepting work offers This is reasonably explained that when the applicant waited toreceive the company's results, he or she felt uncertain, worried, frustrated, leading to areduction in the level of perceived fairness (Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, &Bauer, 2015)

Summary of Chapter 2

In chapter 2 of the thesis, it summarizes the theoretical basis for accepting thecandidate's job offer regarding the definitions and factors affecting the decision toapprove the job offer Besides, the content related to awareness of fairness and itsrelationship with the decision to accept job offers Theories are provided in parallelwith the results of quantitative studies In the next content, the thesis providescontent on research methods

Chapter 3 Research model3.1 Analytical framework

According to organizational justice theory by Adam (1965), Workers compare whatthey put into a job (input) with what they get from that job (output) and thencompare their input-output ratio to the input-output ratio of others If their ratio isequal to the ratio of others, it is in a state of fairness If this rate is not equal, itshows that there is an injustice situation When unfair conditions existed, employeeswould make efforts to correct them (Adam, 1965) Based on the theory oforganizational justice, Gilliland (1993) studied the applicant's response The modelproposed by this author described that the response of the applicant includedawareness and related behavior Under that model, procedural fairness rules willtrigger the cognitive and behavioral response of applicants As a result, Gilliland(1993) stated that compared to candidates who find the recruitment process to befair, those who consider this process unfair were less likely to accept a job offer.This author has argued that unfair perception of candidates' disgust or fears of unfairtreatment in recruitment is predicting that the organization treats employees badly

In a later study, Lind (2001) developed fairness heuristics theory to explain why fairperception affects the decision to accept jobs This theory affirmed that people had aneed to reduce uncertainty and used fairness as a prerequisite to confidently decidewhether to join or not to an organization (van den Bos & Lind, 2002) According toLind's explanation (2001), the organization demonstrates fairness was a great signalthat shows a valid conclusion that existed the credibility of attaching personalresults to that organization Besides, this author also emphasized that demonstratinghigh degree of equity was the most important in the early stages of employmentrelations At that time, the uncertainty about basic social dilemmas was often thehighest

Developed from the above theories, Konradt et al (2015) proposed an analyticalframework on the relationship between organizational awareness and each stage of

employment including accepting job offers and later stages Below is an analyticalframework on the relationship between awareness of organizational justice and theacceptance of job offer given in the study of Konradt et al (2015)

Chart 3.1 Conceptual framework of Konradt et al (2015)

(Source: Konradt et al., 2015, p.118)

In the above analysis framework (Chart 3.1), the relationship between awareness offairness and decision to approve work has been reviewed generally However, asanalyzed in the previous chapter, organizational justice is an immense concept,including many facet gases In particular, organizational justice includes threeaspects, namely distributive, procedural and interactional justice (Ambrose, Hess, &Ganesan, 2007; Yean & Yusof, 2016) Therefore, the analytical framework of thesethree aspects is proposed, which affects the decision to accept job offers The belowanalytical framework is proposed in this study (Chart 3.2)

Chart 3.2 Conceptual framework

Perception of interactional justice (IJ)

Likelihood of Perception of procedural justice (PJ)

offer Perception of distributive justice (DJ)

After proposing the analytical framework, the following research hypotheses

was developed

3.2 Hypothesis development

Interactional justice reflected the quality of interpersonal relationships in theorganization (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998) Its content included two smaller aspectswhich were interpersonal and informational justice (Lin & Tyler, 1988) Forcandidates, information regarding personnel procedures and interaction betweenindividuals had a special relationship (Lind, 2001) Bies (1987) argued thatinterpersonal communication was one of the behaviors of decision makers regardingfairness and unfair treatment among individuals

Furthermore, interpersonal treatment included applicants who needed respect fromthe representatives of the organization (Konradt, Garbers, Böge, Erdogan, & Bauer,2015) In another aspect, Frazier et al (2010) reflected that information justiceconsidered the explanations given to individuals about why some decisions weremade In the previous study, authors assumed providing information to applicants onhow to make choices and how to make employment decisions The informationprovided in detail and in specificity regarding the decisions will minimize employeenegative emotions (Chapman, Uggerslev, Piasentin, & Carroll, 2005) The fact wasthat candidates cannot collect subjective and objective information of the

organization meant a commitment to not work for long (Harold, Uggerslev, &Kraichy, Recruitment and job choice, 2013).

Within the scope of this study, it is expected that the candidate’s perception ofinteractive justice positively affects the acceptance of job offers Therefore, thefollowing research hypothesis H1 is developed

on job offer acceptance.

Procedural justice refers to the perception of fairness in the decision making oforganizations (Lin & Tyler, 1988) When the standard of justice was violated,individuals often assessed negatively about the organization and did not accept thejob offer (Sumanth & Cable, 2011) According to Sessa and Taylor (2000), jobapplicants prefer non-invasive, easy-to-manage selection methods, often with lowpredictive effect Besides, when employees felt that their views and concerns wereabsorbed in the decision-making process, they often supported instead of refusing tomake decisions or implementing it in a coping way (Brockner, 2006)

In previous research, Bauer et al (2001) pointed out that procedural corporate rulesare the basis for candidates to select jobs as a basic understanding of socialstructure Procedural justice aspects of a job-related test, company representativesprovide the opportunity to demonstrate the candidate's skills, the informationprovided about the test is pushing enough Besides, on the social aspect, proceduraljustice is also described that the candidates are treated the same, in an open, politeway; The questions are given to candidates who are not prejudiced or too personaland have enough two-way communication during the interview process

On the other hand, the more group interviews the more participants are, the moreobvious this is because it shows more social interaction In group interviews,candidates are not only assessed by the interviewer; They are evaluated first, andindirectly also by other candidates Therefore, group interviews are likely torepresent a threat of social assessment (Dickerson and Kemeny 2004) People aremotivated to preserve their social self: their social self-esteem, status and

acceptance Social situations in which poor performance can be considered toreflect a lack of a characteristic or ability to create a threat to this goal (Dickersonand Kemeny 2004).

In the same case, within the scope of this study, it is expected that the candidate'sperception of justice according to the procedure positively affects the acceptance ofthe job offer Therefore, the following research hypothesis H2 is developed

on job offer acceptance.

At work, employees generally considered allocating rewards as well as resources tosee if a fair distribution was made (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, & Nguyen,2001) This was consistent with Adam’s equality theory Forsyth (2006) alsoidentified resource allocation as an organization’s response to workers’ needs.Through empirical research, Walker et al (2013) found that employees can be in abetter starting position when they join the organization if they receive positivesignals before entering the country Because having positive expectations in theorganization will motivate a new employee to fully participate in their newenvironment, helping employees do better when they start new jobs

Moreover, resources allocated in the enterprise include tangible (financial) andintangible material (non-financial) (Adam, 1965) If the applicant felt fairness in theallocation, it would motivate their appreciation in accepting the job offer (Folger &Cropanzano, 1998) On the opposite side, a previous study found that an unfairdistribution of work can lead to candidate resistance to decisions (Cohen-Charash &Spector, 2001) It is worth mentioning that those who receive sudden salaryincreases or unexpectedly receive commissions and distribute from on-demandtraining activities can work more and have a sense of equality with the benefitsreceived from that overtime job (Gilliland, 1993)

In the early stages of the interview, the perception of distribution justice is described

by the perception of the interviewer in a fair assessment of the responsibilities andduties of the job with what the applicant receives That is the

distribution of income However, it is also reflected through the allocation ofcandidates' working time to the company's business In addition to salary andworking time, the resource factors related to the candidate's work are also evaluatedthrough interviews Even the candidate’s contribution rights are considered.Therefore, any difference perceived in the interview about the allocation ofresources and what is going on with the company or industry can change theperception of the applicant's distribution justice Typically, if the company does nothave benefits, it is the vacation while other businesses are doing It also reflects onthe company's distribution justice.

Within the scope of this study, it is expected that the candidate's perception ofdistribution justice positively affects the acceptance of job offers From the aboveanalysis, the following research hypothesis H3 is developed

on job offer acceptance.

Summary of Chapter 3

The content of Chapter 3 is the method of research, its analytical framework is built

on the basis of previous empirical studies From the foundation of the analyticalframework, research hypotheses were built These hypotheses are the basis forexamining the relationship between the decision to accept the job offer and theperception of justice in the interview From the research method, the next content isempirical analysis of the relationship between the perception of justice and thedecision to accept the job offer

Chapter 4 Methodology and Data Analysis4.1 Data collection

Within the scope of this study, primary data sources are used for quantitativeanalysis Data collection methods are conducted through questionnaire survey.Regarding the development of research questionnaires, it was developed based onupgrading the questionnaire to produce a final questionnaire The last questionnaire

is used for a wide-ranging survey The content of the questionnaire is designed toconsist of two parts The first part is an introduction of information of respondentsand the purpose of the survey question The rest are questions for research purposes

of the thesis The development of a questionnaire for applicants who have received

a job offer is based on reference in previous studies These studies are closelyrelated to the research topic Specific questions are presented in the descriptionbelow

The sampling method is divided into the probability sampling method and the probability sampling method Non-random sampling is the sampling method whereunits in the overall population do not have equal capacity to be selected for thestudy sample Due to limited human and financial resources, it is difficult tointerview questionnaires to all those interviewed at private companies in Vietnam.This fact affects the sampling in the study Within the scope of this study, it uses anon-random sampling method to select the candidate for the survey Specifically,convenience sampling is selected based on the accessibility of the object

non-In terms of data collection methods, it is done by sending online questionnaires to alist of participants via email received from the company’s HR department Besides,attracting survey participants on social networks is also applied Facebook Subjectswho are attracted to survey questionnaires are those who are and are about to work

at private sector companies Because of the characteristics of Vietnamese laborforce with a high rate of participation in social networks like Facebook, it makes iteasy to reach these candidates