Researchers in human resource management (HRM) have long been concerned with the attraction and retention of organizational members (Breaugh, 1992; Rynes, 1991; Vroom, 1966). However, as the U.S. work force has become more diverse (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000), the need to consider how issues of cultural diversity are related to the recruitment process has become increasingly important. For example, although past research has investigated relations among individuals' values, personality, and job choice preferences, no research has examined the job choice trade-off preferences of culturally diverse individuals. Moreover, researchers have not examined explicit job choice trade-off preferences involving job and organizational factors, even though expectancy theory-based models of recruitment implicitly suggest that individuals make trade-offs among valent job and organizational factors. Therefore, the purpose of the current research was to examine the relations among individuals' (a) cultural values (power distance, Protestant Ethic-earnings, Protestant Ethic-upward striving), (b) ethnicity (European-American, Hispanic-American), and (c) their job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay using Thurstone's (1927, 1931) law of comparative judgment method. Study 1 served as a pilot of the procedure and measures. Based on the results of Study 1, changes were made to improve reliability of measures prior to Study 2. Study 2 tested hypothesized relations among cultural values, ethnicity, and job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. Results from Study 2 showed that power distance cultural values were related positively to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay and that Protestant Ethic-earnings cultural values were related negatively to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. In addition, Hispanic-Americans were more likely than European-Americans to prefer job choice trade-offs for organizational prestige over pay. However, Protestant Ethic-upward striving cultural values were unrelated to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. Moreover, ethnicity was unrelated to power distance cultural values, Protestant Ethic-earning cultural values, or Protestant Ethic-upward striving cultural values. Study results suggest that including cultural values and ethnicity in future recruitment research can enhance the understanding of individuals' job choice preferences and provide practitioners with information to attract multicultural job applicants.

This thesis takes three different perspectives, using theoretical and experimental techniques, on time-inconsistent preferences and how the existence of multiple selves can affect both consumer behaviour and policy design. Across domains such as retirement saving, health, and educational achievement, intertemporal choice presents a challenge for both individuals and policymakers. The first paper, 'Choosing When to Nudge: Designing Behavioural Policy around Decision-Making Costs,' considers how behavioural policy, which has proven increasingly popular with policymakers, affects welfare. I find that for present-biased consumers, behavioural policies help some consumers but can inefficiently discourage others from optimizing. Such policies therefore have an ambiguous effect on welfare, and similar to traditional policies, can impose equity-efficiency tradeoffs. Monopolies may increase welfare given their incentive to simplify consumer decisions instead of exploit switching costs. The second paper, 'Virtue and Vice with Endogenous Preferences,' considers behaviour when preferences are affected by consumer decisions. I introduce agents whose temptation to consume in the present is affected by how much they choose to save for the future. I find that differences between agents can trap them in divergent paths of self-improvement -- saving more, they value the future more, making saving optimal -- or binging -- consuming more makes them indifferent to future costs, making consumption optimal. At the extreme, it is frequently an optimum for a consumer to consume their entire wealth. The final paper, 'Bet You Can't Eat Just One: Consumption Complementarity and 'Self'-Control' considers an intrapersonal game between a moderate cold self and a hot self that wants to indulge. In equilibrium, sophisticated selves best respond to each other's behaviour: the cold self over-abstains and the hot self over-indulges to avoid inducing the other state. I test these ideas in the lab, and find that subjects on a diet who were induced to consume a piece of chocolate before the experiment indulge more in chocolate during the experiment, even when the initial indulgence was imposed by the experimenter. Eating a piece of chocolate, this suggests, can induce a period during which chocolate is more appealing.

The relevance of this master's thesis lies in the fact that in the conditions of high competition in the labor market, organizations need trained highly qualified personnel. Soft skills of specialists are valued on a par with professional skills, they are amenable to development, if you use the necessary technologies correctly. This paper was the first time that technologies and applications for soft skills were classified. The study shows the benefits of active participation of students in the activities of public organizations, in extracurricular activities, for the development of soft skills of the future specialist. Among the most significant practical results are recommendations to improve the soft skills technologies of participants of public organizations of UrFU and "Soft skills development program for participants of student groups." / Актуальность данной магистерской диссертации заключается в том, что в условиях высокой конкуренции на рынке труда организациям необходим подготовленный высококвалифицированный персонал. Мягкие навыки специалистов ценятся наравне с профессиональными, они поддаются развитию, если грамотно использовать необходимые технологии. В данной работе впервые была проведена классификация технологий и вариантов их применения для развития soft skills. Проведенное исследование свидетельствует о пользе активного участия студентов в деятельности общественных организаций, во внеучебной деятельности, для развития мягких навыков будущего специалиста. К числу наиболее значимых практических результатов следует отнести рекомендации по совершенствованию технологий развития soft skills участников общественных организаций УрФУ и «Программу развития soft skills у участников студенческих отрядов».