Is utility really futile? A failure to replicate and an extension

G. P. Latham and G. Whyte (1994) found that managers gave less positive evaluations to a proposal to implement a valid selection procedure when information about the utility of that procedure was also given. The authors hypothesized that the manner in which the utility information was presented might explain this result. Two empirical studies (Ns = 145 and 186) were conducted. Results of mean contrast analyses show that the effect found by Latham and Whyte was not replicated, that revised scenarios including utility information are more understandable to managers, and that utility information presented in a revised manner has a low-to-moderate positive effect on the acceptability ratings that managers give to these selection proposals. However, acceptability ratings remain disappointingly low no matter which scenario is presented. Future study is encouraged to examine managerial reactions to innovations suggested by psychological research.