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Don’t Select until You Check: Expected Background Checking Practices

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Abstract

Background checking (BC) is a process of verifying job-related information provided by job applicants. The use of recommended BC methods and practices was investigated through a survey of companies. On average, employers used five BC methods and 15 BC practices. Companies tend to perform the same BC across all types of positions. Forty-seven percent of companies outsourced BC. Several factors influenced BC such as the size of the company, outsourcing, who is responsible for BC, perceived effectiveness and the amount of time spent on BC. Practices to handle criminal convictions, arrests and inconsistencies during BC are identified. The implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, Kent State University, 475 Terrace Drive, Kent, OH, 44242-0001, USA

    Julia Levashina & Jessica A. Peck

  2. Zeigler College of Business, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Dean’s Suite, Sutliff Hall 372, Bloomsburg, PA, 17815, USA

    Linda Ficht

Authors
  1. Julia Levashina
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  2. Jessica A. Peck
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  3. Linda Ficht
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Correspondence to Julia Levashina.

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No funding was obtained for this study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

No informed consent was required, Kent State University IRB has approved this research as Level I/Exempt research (#09–159: “Background checking survey”).

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Levashina, J., Peck, J.A. & Ficht, L. Don’t Select until You Check: Expected Background Checking Practices. Employ Respons Rights J 29, 127–148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-017-9294-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-017-9294-4

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