Extended Responses in Asynchronous Video Interviews: Investigating Antecedents, Content, and Consequences

Abstract

Past‐behavior questions prompt interviewees to recount past work experiences as stories. Telling a good story, however, typically relies on feedback from the audience. In asynchronous video interviews (AVIs), which lack real‐time interaction, interviewees often produce extended responses , continuing to speak after an identifiable point of closure in their response. This behavior may be influenced by longer response‐time limits and the absence of interviewer feedback. Using data from 114 mock AVIs, this study examined the prevalence and antecedents (individual differences) of extended responding, its content (i.e., disfluencies and storytelling), and its consequences for interview evaluations (i.e., performance, engagement, persuasiveness) and honest impression management. Over 75% of participants produced at least one extended response. Emotionality was positively associated with extended responding. Compared with initial responses, extended responses included more pauses but not more fillers. Extended responses contained more utterances about results and values/opinions, whereas initial responses contained more situational and task/action utterances. Extended responding was positively related to honest self‐promotion. Performance and persuasiveness ratings were higher for initial responses than for overall (initial + extended) responses. While extended responding is common in AVIs, it appears to provide limited benefits and was associated with less favorable performance and persuasiveness ratings.