Cognitive Bias Awareness & Structured Recruitment Decision-Making: An Exploratory Study to an Empirical Investigation in the Corporate Sector

Human decision-making in candidate selection is inherently susceptible to cognitive heuristics and systematic biases, including the halo effect, confirmation bias, and similarity-attraction bias. While structured recruitment practices are empirically established as robust interventions to enhance evaluative objectivity, the psychological relationship between a recruiter?s cognitive bias awareness and their execution of structured selection protocols remains underexplored within emerging market contexts. Grounded in Dual-Process Theory and Bounded Rationality, this study examines the relationship between Cognitive Bias Awareness (X) and Structured Recruitment Decision-Making (Y) among Talent Acquisition (TA) professionals operating in India. Utilizing a quantitative, cross-sectional design, data were analyzed for N = 67 active corporate recruiters via the adapted Cognitive Bias Awareness Scale (CBAS) and the Structured Recruitment Decision-Making Scale (SRDMS). Statistical analyses including Pearson product-moment correlation (r), simple linear regression (?, R?), and sub-group parametric tests were conducted to evaluate hypotheses.