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Abstract
This dissertation explores how job seekers develop expectations about their future employment relationship prior to organizational entry. The organizational behavior literature acknowledges that individuals hold expectations regarding the type of relationship that they will have with the organization (e.g., trust-based vs. purely economic exchange) and the type of inducements that the organization offers (e.g., compensation, organizational support) before their first day of work. However, little research has addressed how expectations form prior to organizational entry. This research suggests that pre-entry expectations are influenced by the general expectations and beliefs that individuals hold before the recruiting process begins and information that is provided during recruitment. That is, individuals do not begin the job search process as a clean slate. Instead, they bring certain general expectations regarding the type of relationship that the organization offers and beliefs about the employing organization to the job search. Specifically, beliefs about the organization and general expectations influence job seekers expectations about their future employment relationship with an organization directly and through their filtering effect on the job information that is provided during recruitment (i.e., in the job posting and during the information session).