Integrating Social Identity and the Theory of Planned Behavior : Predicting Withdrawal from an Organizational Recruitment Process

The current study develops and tests a model of applicant withdrawal. Drawing on tenets from social identity theory and the theory of planned behavior, the current study proposes that applicants who highly identify with an organization will experience higher pursuit intentions and subsequently be less inclined to withdraw from recruitment. Data were collected from a sample of 669 applicants to the U.S. Military at two intervals, separated by three months. Strong support was found for the proposed theoretical model. Implications for research and practice will be discussed