Journal of Applied Psychology
1974, Vol. 59, No. 4, 452-455
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AS AN AID IN REDUCING
VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS 1DANIEL R. ILGEN 2
WILLIAM SEELY
Purdue University
United States Army
Realistic information about a situation into which new organizational members
were about to enter was presented to the new members after they had decided
to join the organization, but before they reported to the organization. When
compared to a control group which received no such information, the experimental group showed significantly lower turnover. The results are discussed
in reference to the functions served by realistic job information available to
new members after they have accepted a position with an organization.
join the organization.3 First, based upon the
information in the booklet, some members of
the applicant sample may decide not to join
the organization. Although some of those who
reject the organization at this point may have
remained on the job and performed quite
well, many who reject the organization may
realize that they would eventually find their
position unacceptable and resign. Consequently, the sample that joined would contain those individuals who were more likely
to remain with the organization.
Second, the applicant's possession of accurate information prior to making a decision
to accept or reject the position may lead to
a greater felt responsibility for the decision, a
greater commitment to the decision, than if
the decision were made on the basis of
faulty or incomplete information. The increase
in commitment to the decision could be reflected in a decrease in the probability of resignation as a possible means of coping with
unpleasant aspects of the position. The individual had been forewarned of these unpleasant factors prior to his decision to join
1
The research reported in this article was conducted while both authors were members of the the organization.
A third possible reason for the turnover
Office of Military Psychology and Leadership at the
United States Military Academy, West Point, New reduction is that knowledge of what to ex-
Any organization becomes concerned when
apparently committed and carefully selected
members voluntarily resign. Typically, attempts are made to improve selection practices and/or to alter the job environment in
order to reduce turnover. In a few cases,
attempts have been made to alter the beliefs
and expectations of prospective organizational members in order to improve the fit
between the individuals' beliefs and the organizational environment. Work with insurance agents (Weitz, 1956) and entering cadets
at the United States Military Academy
(Macedonia, 1969) has demonstrated that
applicants, who received realistic information
in booklet form about the organization they
were considering, more frequently decided to
join the organization and less frequently resigned voluntarily. Katzell (1968) also found
realistic expectations about the situation reduced turnover among nursing students.
Three explanations seem plausible for the
reduction in turnover when applicants receive
candid information prior to their decision to
York. While the support of the Academy was
greatly appreciated, the ideas expressed in this
article are solely the opinions of the authors and
are not to be considered as the position of the
Academy or the U.S. Army.
2
The authors gratefully acknowledge Robert D.
Pritchard for his comments on an earlier draft of
this article.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Daniel R.
Ilgen, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
452
3
The insurance agents in Weitz's study received
the candid information in booklet form when they
applied for the job. Macedonia sent out a booklet
to all cadets who had been accepted for admissions
two months before the cadets were to report to the
Academy. Therefore, Macedonia's sample contained
both those who had already decided to join (or not
to join) the organization and those who were in the
process of making a decision. There was no way to
identify these two groups.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AS AN AID IN REDUCING VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS
pect from the situation may better prepare
individuals to cope with it, and thus reduce
frustration. If this is the case, individuals
with realistic information about the situation
should be better able to cope and less likely
to leave the situation than those who have
unrealistically positive information about it.
The presentation of realistic information
prior to the applicant's decision to join the
organization confounds the effects of selfselection, increased commitment, and aid in
coping. Any or all three of these processes
may be operating to reduce turnover. However, information presented after the applicant makes the decision to join the organization but before he reports to it should eliminate the first two interpretations. The present
study investigated this situation. It was hypothesized that new members would be better
prepared to cope with the difficult setting
when they knew what to expect, even if they
were told what to expect after they had
decided to enter the organization. Since voluntary resignations were used as an indication of ability to cope with the situation, it
was hypothesized that fewer individuals would
resign from a group which received this
information. Support for this hypothesis
would not imply that only aid in coping
operates when predecision information is
presented, but it would demonstrate that aid
in coping is sufficient to reduce turnover in
the absence of self-selection and increased
commitment to the decision.
METHOD
Setting
The research was conducted with new cadets
entering the United States Military Academy in the
summer of 1971. New cadets reported on July 1, and
spent approximately two months prior to the beginning of the academic year in an intensive training period. This training was designed to familiarize
the new cadets with the Academy and with some of
the fundamental military disciplines. The period
required a quick adjustment on the part of the new
cadet and often was very stressful, both psychologically and physically.
Procedure
A booklet was prepared that candidly described
the two-month summer-training period and the
daily routine during the academic year. This booklet
was a revision of a booklet prepared by Macedonia
(1969). Material included was based upon inter-
453
views and critical incidents solicited from cadets
and officers closely associated with the summer
program and the day-to-day conditions during the
academic year. Care was taken to include mundane
and also stressful activities that are often omitted
from booklets primarily aimed at attracting individuals to the organization. Drafts of the booklet
then were resubmitted to other cadets and officers
for ratings of the accuracy and relevance of the
material.
The booklet was distributed, by mail during the
first week of June, to a random sample equal to
one fifth of those individuals who had stated that
they would accept their appointments. Of the 246
booklets distributed, one did not reach the cadet
due to a change of address, and 11 individuals did
not report on the first of July. This left a sample
of 234 new cadets who received the booklet. From
the remaining sample of new cadets who reported
on the first of July but who had not received the
booklet, a control group («= 234) was randomly
selected.
RESULTS
Voluntary resignations over the two-month
summer-training period were recorded for
both the experimental group (the group that
received the booklet) and the control group.
Since some resignations which may have resulted from the summer experience were not
processed until a few days after the end of
the summer-training session, all resignations
before the first day of classes in the fall' were
considered. During this time period, 27 resigned from the control group and 14 resigned
from the experimental group. This difference
was statistically significant (x2 = 4.52, dj =
1, p < .05) and supported the hypothesis
that candid information presented after the
decision to participate but before entering
the organization reduced the probability of
voluntary resignation.
DISCUSSION
Although the data presented supported the
hypothesis, the strength of support is tempered by the appropriateness of the control
group. The most appropriate control group
for this design would be a group equal in size
to the experimental group and randomly selected from the applicants who had accepted
their appointment by June first. With a control group selected at that time it would have
been possible to compare the number of those
in each group who had accepted their appointments but did not report on July 1.
454
DANIEL R. ILGEN AND WILLIAM SEELY
However, due to an administrative problem
with the study, it was not possible to obtain
the most appropriate control group so the
reported group was used.
The number of applicants in the experimental group who had accepted appointments
but did not report on July 1 could have been
less than, the same as, or greater than the
corresponding number in the control group.
However, only the latter possibility would be
damaging to the validity of the interpretation
presented. If the number of those who did
not report on July 1 were significantly greater
for the experimental group than for the control group, the alternative interpretation of
self-selection is possible. One could argue that
those who did not report after accepting their
appointments still had some doubts, and the
booklet convinced them not to come. The
"doubters" were still in the control on July 1
but subsequently resigned, thus creating the
significant difference reported.
A consideration of the Macedonia (1969)
data and one additional analysis led the authors to conclude that the possibility of a
significantly smaller number of the applicants
who did not report in the control group than
in the experimental group was highly unlikely. Macedonia (1969) found that a significantly greater number of cadets reported
the first of July from the group that received
a similar booklet than from the group that
did not receive the booklet. His sample included both those who had and those who had
not accepted their appointments. In his sample, it was not possible to separate those who
had accepted their appointments from those
who had not. However, it is highly unlikely
that the significant difference was due primarily to those who had accepted their appointments. In a similar vein but with a less
comparable sample, Weitz (19S6) found that
it was easier to fill insurance agent positions
when candid information was presented to
applicants than when it was not.
An additional set of analyses applied successive chi-squares to discover the critical
number of persons necessary in order to have
the number not reporting in the experimental
group significantly greater than that of the
control. Of the 245 who were sent booklets,
11 did not report July 1. Assuming an equal-
sized control group had been used (n = 245),
in order to obtain a significant difference at
the p < .05 level between the number not
reporting to the control group and the 11 not
reporting in the experimental group, only
three or less of those in the control group
would have had not to report. Only three of
245 over a one-month period seemed highly
unlikely in light of the normal attrition prior
to the July 1 reporting date and in light of
the Macedonia data. Therefore, the authors
were willing to accept the interpretation presented as the most plausible one.
Finally, the question of the degree to which
these results may generalize to other settings
should be addressed. Most new cadets prior
to their first day at the Academy felt that the
summer training was going to be very difficult, although they had many misconceptions
about specific aspects of the training. The
information in the booklet spelled out specific
factors of which they may not have been
aware, but this information did not contradict
their previous general impression of the training. We would hypothesize that the generalizability of this study may be influenced by
the degree to which candid information about
the job fits the general impressions of the
newly accepted applicants. Perhaps, if there
is a large discrepancy between the information provided after the decision to join the
organization and what the applicant was led
to believe when he accepted the position, the
new employee may feel he has been deceived
and candid information may not reduce voluntary resignations.
CONCLUSION
The effect of realistic expectations, established after the decision to join the organization had been made, demonstrated that reduced resignations need not be due to increased commitment to the decision or to
self-selection by the applicants. Self-selection
has been the concern of those whose primary
interest is recruiting. Recruiters believe that
potentially valuable organization members
who would remain with the organization may
be turned away by the initial information if
that information does not present a very
positive picture. Although both Weitz (1956)
and Macedonia (1969) showed that it was
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AS AN AID IN REDUCING VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS
easier to attract new members if the new
members received candid information, and
Macedonia found no significant differences on
variables considered for acceptance (e.g., high
school rank, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores,
etc.) between those who declined their appointments and those who accepted their appointments, organizations often are reluctant
to explicitly describe positions to applicants.
However, the data from the present study indicated that, even if one is reluctant to describe the position completely prior to the
applicant's decision to join the organization,
new members can benefit from this informa-
455
tion if they receive it after their decision to
join. This suggests efforts to aid new members
in their adjustment to the job should begin
even before they report to work.
REFERENCES
Katzell, M. E. Expectations and dropouts in schools
of nursing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1968,
52, 154-158.
Macedonia, R. M. Expectation, press, and survival.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York
University, 1969.
Weitz, J. Job expectancy and survival. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 1956, 40, 245-247.
(Received July 16, 1973)