Investigating the Portrayal of Organizational Culture in Internet Recruitment: Can Applicants Gain a Sense of Person-Organization Fit through a Recruitment Website?

Abstract

This study found that culture-specific pictures on a recruitment website allowed individuals to more accurately assess an organization's culture, while employee testimonials had no such effect. Additionally, results indicated that when individuals expressed higher preferences for a specific culture dimension, they had a higher dimension-level P-O fit after viewing websites designed to portray the specific culture dimension. Lastly, this study confirmed results of previous studies (e.g., Cable & Judge, 1996; Judge & Cable, 1997), that when individuals report higher levels of P-O fit with an organization, they are more attracted to the organization. Suggestions for practitioners are included on how to best design recruitment websites to allow viewers to accurately assess an organization's culture.