Recruitment and Selection in Violent Extremist Organizations: Exploring What Industrial and Organizational Psychology Might Contribute Samuel T. Hunter The Pennsylvania State University Neil D. Shortland University of Massachusetts Lowell Matthew P. Crayne The Pennsylvania State University Gina S. Ligon University of Nebraska Omaha For many terrorist organizations, also known as violent extremist organizations (VEOs), their ability to perpetuate violence is often contingent upon successful recruitment and selection of organizational members. Although academic work on terrorist recruitment and selection has improved in recent years, researchers have generally focused more heavily on aspects of radicalization rather than organization attraction and entry. Moreover, a number of terrorism scholars have lamented the lack of conceptual frameworks with which to interpret and extend findings linked to recruitment and selection, specifically. In light of these difficulties, we propose that considering literature bases outside of terrorism may be useful in extending lines of inquiry and offering alternative ways of thinking about how terrorist organizations operate. Specifically, we draw on Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Human Resource Man- agement, and Organizational Behavior literature bases to offer alternative and extended modes of thought on terrorist recruitment and selection. In doing so, we believe both terrorism and more traditional organizational scholars can make substantive and novel contributions to future investigations of increasingly pressing issues surrounding violent extremism. Keywords: recruitment, selection, violent extremist organizations, industrial psychology, human resource management Like most organizations faced with increasing competi- tion and growing external pressures, terrorist organizations have realized that they, too, must evolve to meet emerging challenges. The current iteration of violent extremist orga- nizations (VEOs), such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Da’esh), Al-Shabaab, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have been particularly success- ful at perpetuating violence and spreading fear through innovative means such as the utilization of social media and Web-based platforms (e.g., Gruen, 2006). Central to our discussion here, these modern terrorist organizations have also been adept at building their ranks through a combina- tion of both time-tested and increasingly novel personnel attraction and selection mechanisms. The modern VEOs’ ability to demonstrate sustained human resource growth is one primary reason they continue to succeed in achieving violent and malevolent goals. In light of such evolution, a pressing set of questions emerge: How do modern VEOs successfully recruit indi- viduals for their organizations and how do they decide who is permitted to join their ranks? Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions (e.g., Forest, 2005; Gerwehr & Daly, 2006; Hegghammer, 2013; Ligon, Simi, Harms, & Harris, 2013; Moghaddam, 2005; Weinstein, 2005), there is a rel- ative dearth of information available to guide possible an- swers to these fundamental questions. More precisely, there are two basic barriers hampering an adequate response to the questions surrounding recruitment and selection in VEOs. The first is that there is simply very little practical information on how terrorist recruiters and organizations Editor’s note. This article is one in a collection of articles published in a special issue of American Psychologist titled “Psychology of Terrorism” (April 2017). John G. Horgan served as guest editor with Anne E. Kazak as advisory editor. Neil D. Shortland provided scholarly lead. Authors’ note. Samuel T. Hunter, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University; Neil D. Shortland, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Matthew P. Crayne, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University; Gina S. Ligon, College of Business Administration, University of Nebraska Omaha. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Samuel T. Hunter, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-3103. E-mail: sth11@psu.edu This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. American Psychologist © 2017 American Psychological Association 2017, Vol. 72, No. 3, 242–254 0003-066X/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000089 242