Internet Recruitment: Examining the Roles of Information, Attitudes, and Perceived Fit on Applicant Attraction

Abstract

ABSTRACT KROUSTALIS, CHRISTINA MARIE. Internet Recruitment: Examining the Roles of Information, Attitudes, and Perceived Fit on Applicant Attraction. (Under the direction of Dr. Adam W. Meade). This study examined how organizational attitudes, which are influenced by attitudes toward Internet recruitment websites, mediate the relationship between organizational attraction and recruitment website content (amounts of job and organization information) and website design (website usability and website aesthetics). The moderating effects of person-organization (P-O) and person-job (P-J) fit were also examined. Participants were Introductory Psychology students who viewed Fortune 500 company websites and responded to questions about the content and design of these websites and their resulting attitudes, fit perceptions, and organizational attraction. Results indicated amounts of job information, organization information, website usability, and website aesthetics were positively correlated with favorable job seeker attitudes toward the recruitment website. Additionally, the amount of job information on a recruitment website interacted with website usability, such that when less job information was presented, website usability played a greater role in positively predicting organizational attitudes. Organizational attitudes were found to mediate the relationship between website content and website design on attraction to the organization. Lastly, P-J fit was found to moderate the mediation of organizational attitudes in the job information-attraction link, such that the amount of job information led to more favorable attitudes only when perceived P-J fit was high. Contrary to study hypotheses, the same moderating effect was not found for P-O fit in the organization information-organizational attitudes-attraction mediation model. Explanations of many of the significant results are explored through Spence’s (1973; 1974) signaling theory. Recommendations for the development of Internet recruitment websites are also provided.

Description

Keywords

organizational attraction, internet, recruitment

Citation

Degree

PhD

Discipline

Psychology

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