How the Perception of Control Influences Unemployed Job Search

Abstract

The author considers how locus of control—the degree to which one believes one’s actions influence outcomes—is related to an unemployed person’s job search. He finds evidence that “internal” job seekers (who believe their actions determine outcomes) set higher reservation wages than do their more “external” counterparts (who believe their actions have little effect on outcomes) and weak evidence that internal job seekers search more intensively. Consistent with the assumption that locus of control influences job search through an effect on beliefs about the return to search effort, internal job seekers are no better at converting search effort into job offers and earn no more than their peers upon finding employment.