School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua U., China
AI interviews have been widely used in job recruitment as instruments to enhance efficiency. However, job candidates often perceive AI interviews as unfair and unacceptable. Existing literature of the acceptance of job candidates of AI interviews has been based on applicants from one country or region and does not take into account cultural values. The core question of this article is: Do candidates with different cultural values have different degree of acceptance of AI interviews? To this end, I propose a theoretical framework, design and collect cross-national questionnaires from China, the United States, and India including 700 valid samples. The study finds that candidates ' cultural values, including a sense of power distance, a sense of identity with collectivism, and religious beliefs, increased their anxiety during the AI interview process, and this anxiety reduced their acceptance of AI interviews. At the same time, AI interviewers’ computer user self-efficacy, ability to cope with exams, and the attractiveness of the recruiting company can alleviate the negative impact of AI interview anxiety on the acceptance of AI interviews. A practical implication of our research is: when companies use AI interviews, they must consider the cultural values of potential candidates and their test-taking and computer user self-efficacy developed during their education, as well as the job attractions of the recruiting company.
