The "Make-or-Buy" Decision in Executive Recruitment and Selection in Germany

Executives are said to be a key determinant of a company's success. It was therefore rather surprising to find that executive recruitment (ER) in a way the procurement of a potential competitive advantage, was only insufficiently dealt with in the academic literature. This study set out to remedy this by identifying and empirically describing the determinants of ER mode choice in German DAX companies. Transactions Cost Analysis (TCA) was identified as a suitable tool and was used as a framework for the analysis of a questionnaire based survey, this study had conducted. The TCA-based models developed are able to rather precisely predict whether internal or external recruitment agents are used and by doing so permits an answer to the research question on the determinants of ER mode choice in German DAX companies. However a host of choices, not merely a choice between in-house and external governance of an ER process, could be explained b the TCA-rooted models that this study developed. Thu , the initial focus of TCA on understanding the mechanics that inform a choice between internal and external recruiters was widened and now incorporates not only the prediction of modes but al o the different means and cost aspects of recruitment. In a nutshell, based on three models, this study can predict about 90% of how a German stock exchange-listed company recruits executives. This entails the prediction of whether internal or external recruitment agents will be used and whether Personal Networks (PNW) Executive Search ( ES) or other recruitment means like newspaper advertisement etc. will b used. B offering a precise model to predict these choices, this study contribute to the understanding of German ER practice, a rather under-researched field so far largely content with anecdotal evidence and simple descriptive statistics.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Meyer, Michael Johann

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/8bc550ac-f76f-4553-b153-320b650978a4/download