Job seekers’ choices in recruitment media

Job seekers’ choices in recruitment media

The role of credibility, richness, and reliance in recruitment

communication media

Master thesis, MscHRM

University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

24 februari, 2009

KLAAS JAN BOERSMA Studentnumber 1383914 Tsjalk 2 8501 SR, Joure Telephone number: + 31 644 659 599 E-mail: klaasjanboersma@gmail.com Supervisor/university H. van Polen Supervisor/field of study M. Ley

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

When a successful executive manager thinks about changing jobs, what does he do? A very logical question, but difficult to answer. Striking changes in the business environment, such as globalisation, stiff domestic competition and rapid advances in technology, force organisations to focus increasingly on finding executives for the critical positions of their business (Mathews & Redman, 1998; Terpstra, 1996). The difficulty in filling executive level jobs has focused organisational attention on the importance of well-designed recruitment activities. While some companies still insist on filling management positions by internal promotion, the small amount of qualified candidates force many to explore other resources for finding and attracting qualified candidates for executive level jobs (Rubin & Powers, 2003). This paper can assist organisations in attracting these candidates by discussing perceptions of executives in their choice of recruitment media.

Recruitment can be defined as those organisational practices with the primary purpose of identifying potential employees, informing them about job and organisation attributes, and persuading them to join the organisation (Barber, 1998).

When planning a recruitment strategy, first a fundamental question should be asked (Breaugh & Starke, 2000): What type of individual does the organisation want to recruit? After determining the type of applicant, Breaugh & Starke (2000) suggest several other strategy-related questions to be addressed: What recruitment sources should the organisation use to research the desired applicant (e.g. the web versus recruitment agency) and what messages should it convey to potential applicants (e.g., a good deal of job-related information versus information on a few key aspects of the job).

field of recruitment has found qualified executives to be even more difficult to attract compared to other candidates, since their expertise, skills and experience makes them a unique asset and therefore very high in demand (Lim & Chan, 2001).

Now that I have established the focus group of this research, the next question of Breaugh & Starke’s (2000) can be addressed: which activities will be most successful in attracting qualified executives?

Any recruitment activity can be seen as a form of persuasion (Highhouse, Hoffman and Collins, 2002). Chaiken & Eagly (1976) state that whether a persuasive message will lead to its proposed goal, depends on factors dealing with the transmitter, the message, the receiver and choice of medium. These factors can easily be applied to the recruitment context (figure 1) and have been extensively researched:

FIGURE 1

Factors determining the success of a recruitment activity

The transmitter will be the organisation looking to fill vacant positions. One example in determining this factor is a company’s image. Researchers found the organisational image to be linked to the willingness of individuals to apply to that organisation (Cable & Kang Yang, 1991). An executive could, for example, be attracted to a company for its reputation of sustainable development.

Also the recruitment message can be of influence to the success of a recruitment activity. For example, most advertisements do not reveal the salary (range), while research proves this to be a central aspect of the advertisement that helps in the decision of replying to an advertisement. Redman & Matthews’s (1992) report of managerial responses to recruitment advertisements found that 67% of the executives

Transmitter (organisation) Recipient (possible applicant) Message (job information)

stated that salary information would determine whether they would even read the entire advertisement.

The third factor is the role of the receiver. The applicant’s interests, attention and comprehension of the message as well as self-insight play a role here (Breaugh & Starke, 2000).

Finally, in order to develop a sound recruitment strategy, an employer has to decide what recruitment medium to use to communicate job opportunities to potential candidates. Choice of medium, or source, refers to the method used to reach the targeted population (Barber, 1998).

While these first three aspects of recruitment have been extensively researched, the choices that can be made regarding different media have been highly underexposed.

The goal of my study is to fill this gap in scientific research, by giving insight in different recruitment media that can be used to attract executives. This insight is derived by focusing on the perspective of the applicant. As executives can use various media to look for a position, it will be crucial to understand how applicants form an opinion of recruitment media.

Job searchers can choose from a variety of media; a job opportunity can be found by reading advertisements in a newspaper or trade magazine or can be searched for on the internet. Another way job searchers can become aware of job opportunities is by contacting a recruitment agency. Finally, job information can be found through friends or colleagues who are aware of a job opportunity, often called a referral.

The study is focused on these four common recruitment media. While other media for recruiting exist (e.g., job fairs and radio), these are not relevant for our research as these media are not likely to be used by executives.

In order to establish why certain media are preferred by executives above others, we need to be aware of the factors that help individuals form an opinion about messages from different media.

accept new media channels as the internet, as people are less likely to pay attention to media they do not perceive as credible” (Johnson & Kaye, 1998: 325).

Comparable developments can be found in the field of recruitment, where online advertisements and company websites are being applied as new ways of attracting candidates. The success of these media could be mostly determined by their perceived credibility of job seekers. Similarly, Alderfeld and McCord (1970) found communication media in the form of contact with recruitment agencies to be judged by the credibility of the recruiters. Former studies found communication media to vary in their ability to persuade individuals to apply or find more information about a job opportunity (Allen & Scotter, 2002; Breaugh & Starke, 2000; Johnson & Kaye, 2006).

For organisations to be able to attract quality candidates for executive roles, insight in the credibility of different communication media is of high importance. Although the role of credibility in changing attitudes and behaviour associated with joining an organisation has been established in previous studies (Allen et al., 2004; Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007), large variance exists in the extent to which job seekers perceive different media channels as credible carriers of information about an organisation (Cable & Yu, 1991). Also, little attention has been paid to why individuals rate media as credible (Johnson & Kaye, 2002).

In previous research into credibility, two factors have consistently shown up as possible contributors to credibility: richness and reliance (Cable & Kang Yang, 1991; Fulk, 1993; Cable & Yu, 2006, Webster & Trevino, 1995).

Media richness refers to the extent to which communication channels permit timely feedback, convey multiple language cues, permit tailoring of messages and language variety (Fulk, 1993; Cable & Yu, 2006). The second variable is media reliance, which refers to the use and preference of communication media (Webster & Trevino, 1995; Johnson & Kaye, 2002). I will apply these factors in this recruitment media study. Consequently, the primary focus of this study is to determine whether perceptions of media credibility can be determined by media reliance and media richness.

THEORY

The first section of this paper revealed that perceived credibility could be a proper indication for the effectiveness of media channels for recruitment. The most relevant evidence for such statement can be found in the research of Allen, Van Scotter and Otondo (2004). Allen et al. (2004) successfully linked job seekers’ attitudes towards joining an organisation to their perception of the credibility of job information. A recruitment message was kept unchanged and was transmitted through different media. Allen et al. concluded that responses to different media for recruitment (e.g., television, radio, text) are based on cognitive and affective responses to different features of this media. These perceptions led to a perceived credibility of media features which influenced job seekers’ attitudes towards the organisation itself. In the second part of this chapter I will further elaborate on the term ‘perceived media credibility’.

Secondly, I will introduce variables that might help to clarify what triggers media credibility. These variables are media richness and media reliance. After exploring existing research in the field of media and recruitment, several relationships will be suggested. These relationships in turn lead to hypotheses about the influence of media richness and media reliance on media credibility. These hypotheses form a framework for the rest of the research.

However, first, four media channels will be examined. Aided by previous research, I will show why these media are important to the executive, when looking for a job.

Different recruitment media

transmitter of the message. Therefore I will only use the term medium, as this paper is focused on media channels for sending out recruitment messages.

Printed job advertisement (e.g. in newspaper or trade magazine)

Printed recruitment advertisements historically play a key role in finding external talent for executive level positions (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). Recruitment advertising can be defined as a paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of an organisation as an employer by the organisation itself (Highouse & Hoffman, 2001). Advertisement in associated sectors of the newspaper and magazines can be a highly effective means of attracting candidates (Ryan, Gubern & Rodriguez, 2000). Practically all executives read about information concerning their company and sector or the economy in general to keep in touch with the marketplace and out of general interest (Mathews & Redman, 1998). Matthews & Redman’s (1998) revealed that 80% of managers read recruitment advertising frequently (54% weekly, 83% monthly).

This way, even executives who are not actively looking for a new role can be reached by advertising. Findings from the Fairfax executive conversion study (2007) showed that 80% of executives wanting a new position were not actively searching and 25% was not considering moving when they changed jobs. Similar to Mathews & Redman’s results, this research also concluded that executives can be persuaded to apply for jobs, although this was not their initial intention when reading a job advertisement.

Not everyone is positive about using printed ads to attract executives. For example, it has long been believed that newspaper advertisements are unlikely to provide good leads for upper-level positions (Keller, 1993).

Online job advertisements (e.g. on job website or company website)

position openings, many of these job boards have grown and now provide many other options (e.g., salary comparison, resume building tips) for applicants to utilize. These developments have not only made job searching more convenient but also more enjoyable (Rooy & Fairchild, 2003). Van Rooy & Fairchild (2003) also found that job seekers who do not use these technological advances are limiting their search and are at a competitive disadvantage, relative to their peers, when searching for a job. Online advertisements share some characteristics (e.g. focus on text) with printed ads, but also give possibilities for illustrations and hyperlinks. Furthermore, the World Wide Web allows advertisements to be revealed to a much wider audience without hardly any demographic restrictions (Johnson & Kaye, 2002).

Recruiter (e.g. executive search service or recruitment agency)

When an executive position needs to be filled, it is ideally for both the employer and employee to find an appropriate fit between the candidate and the role (Carless & Imber, 2007). Therefore both candidates and organisations often turn to executive search service to facilitate them in their search (Clark, 1992). Executive search service can be described as the business of helping client organisations identify and evaluate the suitability of job candidates for top, senior and middle level management and executive positions (Lim & Chan, 2001). A recruitment agency works with the same principles as an executive search firm, but focuses less on executives. For this research, I use the term ‘recruiter’ to indicate both these media.

Several factors contribute in explaining the popularity of the recruiter. First of all, a recruiter is able to search and screen candidates, providing the company with talented managers in a timely fashion through their expertise in the field and their pool of potential candidates, while HR departments often don’t have time or the in-depth knowledge of the market to find the right person (Jones, 1995; Lee, 1997). Secondly, because of the importance of the positions involved, the professional expertise of the recruiter and the ability to compare multiple candidates may improve organisations change of success in finding and recruiting the best long-term ‘fit’ for an organisation and may lower the risks of making costly selection mistakes (Rubin & Powers, 2003; Lim & Chan, 2001)

while recruiting) may help attract candidates without arousing competitors’ attention or creating panic inside the organisation (Myer, 1995; Taylor, 1984 in Lim and Chan, 2001)

An executive looking for career opportunities reaps these benefits as recruiters will provide the candidate with a clear overview of open positions and can assist the executive with finding the best suited role (Purkiss & Edlmair, 2005). However, there are reasons to believe that job seekers are not always that sincere about these benefits. Fisher, Ilgen & Hoyer (1979) showed that individuals often perceive recruiters as dishonest with the information they provide. Furthermore, it is believed that since recruiters make their income by filling certain vacancies they will push applicants into these positions.

Personal network (friends or colleagues)

Traditionally, individuals looking for work would often ask relatives and friends about open positions, either in their company or in general. Quaglieri’s (1981) research results showed a 25 percentage of employment occurring through referral by a person in the personal network. In the present days, informal channels still play an important role in the job seeking process. Also, since in-house promotion is popular in organisations, individuals have an advantage in applying for such jobs in the company where they are employed (Chan, 1996).

Rynes (1989) reviewed several post-hire studies and found referrals to be the most successful channel for candidates in three of the six studies. Most of this success was due to the realistic job preview when the media were friends or colleagues. Unfortunately, other researches showed no significant differences. Rynes (1989) concluded there has been little consistency in previous findings concerning source-performance relationships.

Dependent Variable

importance in this chapter. Insights in credibility and its determinants might help to explain popularity of certain media channels and can assist organisations in improving the effectiveness of their recruitment activities.

Media Credibility

Credibility refers to the extent an audience believes or trusts information from a given medium (Cable & Yu, 2006; Ilgen et al., 1979, etc). Perceptions of credibility are based on a judgement of the believability, accuracy, fairness and depth of the information from a certain medium (Soh, Reid and King, 2007; Johnson & Kaye). When media are perceived to be credible, they are viewed as more personally relevant and more useful than less credible media by message recipient (Cable & Yu, 2006).

In relation to recruitment, Popovich and Wanous (1982) argued that recruitment communication is a form of persuasion and that attitudes towards organisations and towards joining the organisations are affected by the way information about the job and organisation is provided. In research concerning persuasive communication and attitude change, researchers found credibility to be especially important (Buller, 1986 and Perloff, 1993 in Allen et al., 2004; Pornpitakpan, 2004). Pornpitakpan (2004) for example, found high-credibility sources of information to be highly persuasive. These theories imply that recruitment sources vary in the degree to which potential applicants perceive them as providing credible employment information, which might explain the variance in recruitment outcomes (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). I suggest media channels to have similar effects. I expect these channels (with persuasive messages) to possess different credibility in the eyes of the job searcher, making some media channels more successful than others.

Another study (Breaugh & Billings, 1988) showed even more verification for the relevancy of this study, when by focusing on the link between job previews and recruitment communication, credibility proved to be a major factor in explaining successful recruitment communication.

interpretations, especially perceived credibility will determine favourability towards particular recruitment media.

In summary, in the judgement of a recruitment medium, perceptions of depth, accuracy, fairness and truthfulness play an important role in determining the perceived credibility of a media. This perceived credibility affects the choice of executives in the recruitment media they utilize in a job search.

Independent variables

Since media credibility has been found to be a good indicator to measure the success of recruitment media, I now aim to establish how this variable is influenced. I propose two possible determinants for influencing the perceived credibility of media based on previous scientific research.

Media richness

The role of richness in the capacity of communication media to transfer information to an audience has been widely explored in many different disciplines, such as marketing, politics, and journalism (e.g. Fulk & Boyd, 1991; Fulk, 1993). Communication media possess a set of characteristics that individuals use to determine a medium’s capacity to carry rich information (Cable & Yu, 2006)

The term ‘rich media’ refers to communication media that permit timely feedback (e.g. real-time exchange of messages), the ability to convey multiple language cues (both verbal and non-verbal, e.g. words and body posture), the tailoring of messages to personal circumstances (e.g. providing information related to knowledge of a recipient) and provide language variety (e.g. written text, graphs, and verbal expressions) (Fulk, 1993; Cable & Yu, 2006). Face-to-face interactions, for example, are therefore believed to be richer than written media (e.g. news paper) (Webster, 1995).

perceptions of media richness, rather than any objective characteristics were related to change in people’s beliefs. They suggest that media that are perceived as richer, lead to more effective communication not only because more information is transmitted but also because people are more likely to accept and internalize information from media they perceive as rich.

Although regularly researched in communication theory, media richness is still hardly used as a variable in the recruitment context. Besides the above mentioned research of Cable & Yu (2006), only find one study could be found that applied media richness theory to the recruitment literature. Allen et al. (2004) found that recruitment messages communicated through different media (face-to-face, video, audiotape and text) strongly affected the attitude of jobseekers towards joining an organisation (e.g. requesting additional contact and information about employment opportunities). The authors further established that this attitude was foremost influenced by the perceived credibility of the media. They suggest that richer information is perceived as more credible since richer media provide more types of information which helps the receiver to make judgements. This study by Allen et al. (2004) is relevant for this study as it supports the idea that recruitment messages delivered through different media influences perceived credibility of the jobseeker based on a judgement of the richness of the media. Building on the general communication media theory and the scarce recruitment communication media studies, it is expected that the perceived credibility of communication media is positively influenced by the perceived richness of the media.

Media reliance

When executives have successfully found a job through a particular medium, there are reasons to believe that they rely more on this medium the next time they are looking for new job opportunities. Likewise, unfamiliar types of media could be used less by unexperienced users.

credible users judged online news, candidate literature and issue-oriented sources (Johnson & Kaye, 1998; Johnson & Kaye, 2000). In relation to recruitment, I expect a positive influence of medium use on the perceived credibility of job information from a particular medium.

Similarly, past researchers have also studied the subjective preference of individuals to measure media reliance. In a comparison between news on TV and Newspaper, Rimmer and Weaver (1987) found no correlation between frequency of use and credibility of TV or newspaper in general, but did found credibility to be higher when individuals chose for a particular medium. Such finding could imply the following: When a job searcher prefers to apply for jobs through a certain medium, he or she might perceive this medium as more credible. Consequently, I will therefore also measure the influence of reliance in the form of preference.

Unexplored in communication and recruitment theory, is how media reliance can be influenced by media richness. The first phase of recruitment is to inform individuals about the role, the company and the requirements. The goal of this message is to persuade the individual to apply for the job. As mentioned, several studies suggest richer information to be more effective in communicating information (Allen et al., 2000; Webster & Trevino, 1995). It is expected that individuals will rely on rich media for their job search and therefore I suggest a positive relation between media richness and media reliance

FIGURE 2

Possible influences of credibility

Hypotheses

Although recruitment activities are recognized as one of the important factors in managing human resources within a company, practitioners still lack insight in preferences of executives in their choice of communication media for recruitment messages. I hope to answer the need for insights in this underexposed subject in recruitment literature. The discussed studies have given an impression of the importance of carefully selecting the medium for sending out recruitment message. Since media will differ in their ability to persuade individuals as a result from the perceived credibility, several factors have been discussed to clarify triggers of credibility. To predict the perceived credibility of the four different communication media the following relationships are hypothesised (relations are shown in figure 2).

Hypothesis 1. Perceived richness of a particular recruitment medium will positively influence the perceived credibility of that medium.

Hypothesis 2. Perceived reliance of a particular recruitment medium will positively influence the perceived credibility of that medium.

METHOD

Participants

A survey measuring the defined variables of the media channels was sent out to 107 executives. The candidate list was obtained by drawing a sample from a recruitment agencies’ database. It consists of former candidates who applied to any of the four mentioned channels (responded to online ad, responded to printed ad, contacted a recruiter directly, or found out about a job through friends or colleagues). For further reliability of the measure, this list was complemented with a random sample of executives found on the internet. The survey’s target group consists of individuals, working in senior and executive level positions with an extensive experience in applying to jobs through different media channels in their career.

A cover letter urging the executives to take part in the survey was sent as email, with a hyperlink to the online questionnaire. As an incentive to participate, the results of the study could be made available to the participating executives, giving them the opportunity to improve their company’s policy in recruitment. Participants were assured of anonymity of participation.

Many executives refused to participate in the survey, mainly due to shortage of time and the sensitivity of the survey questions. Follow-up calls were conducted to secure more cooperation from the respondents. The final sample consisted of 39 complete responses, representing a response rate of 40.2%.

Survey questions

No predesigned questionnaire on the variables examined in this research, were before researched in recruitment communication theory. For this reason I extracted the questions from general communication literature and media credibility literature, and altered them to suit the goal of this survey. These questions have previously been successfully applied in the field and designed by prominent researchers. The source of each measurement will be mentioned in the discussion of the variables

consuming positions, the amount of sub questions for each variable was kept to a minimum in order to ensure sufficient response. Furthermore, no demographic information was collected from respondents to help maintain confidentially.

Dependent variable

Credibility

Credibility is a multidimensional construct and has been operationalised very differently throughout different studies. However, since Gaziano and McGrath’s (1986) analyses of the components of credibility, four measurement factors have been found to be most important to determine credibility. (1) Believability, (2) accuracy, (3) lack of bias, and (4) depth are the four measures that have consistently emerged from past studies and have been successfully applied in media credibility research (e.g., Johnson & Kaye, 2002; Soh et al, 2007; Wanta & hu, 1994, Gaziano & McGrath, 1986).

Each media was judged on credibility with help of these four items. The items were rated on a five-point Likert rating scale. For example, participants were asked their agreement on the statement; I find job information communicated by recruiters normally believable, with ratings ranging from 1 meaning ‘strongly disagree to 5 for ‘strongly agree’.

To determine if the four items indeed measure credibility, a reliability analysis was performed. The alpha value was .86 which is above .70 and is acceptable (Nunnally, 1978). Therefore it can be concluded that the questionnaire was internally consistent.

Independent variables

Media richness

medium on the extent the medium is able to (1) provide timely feedback, (2) transmit verbal and nonverbal cues, and (3) the tailoring of messages to personal circumstances, and (4) language variety. For example, one of the questions was: “To what extent would you characterize the following media as having the ability to tailor messages to personal circumstances?” These questions could be rated on a four-point scale from ‘not at all’ to ‘to a very great extent’. The mean of these factors revealed the perceived richness of the researched media. The internal reliability (alpha value) of the questions is .74.

Media reliance

The concept of reliance has been operationalised in numerous ways, depending on the background and goal of the study. In a comparison between social and rational theories in communication media choice, Webster and Tevino (1995) suggested that candidates might rate rational factors such as situational determinants higher than social factors, but in actual choice situations, the ranking of these factors may be reversed. Another study (Rimmer & Weaver, 1984) addressed this issue as well, and researched whether the type of media reliance question asked, has any influence on the relationship between media use and media credibility. I will measure media reliance both subjectively and objectively to properly address this issue.

Firstly, reliance is measured by former frequency of use of media for finding job information. The questions are based on communication media theory (Rimmer & Weaver, 1984; Johnson & Kaye, 2002). To some media, as newspapers, more passive exposure to recruitment information will naturally occur, compared to for example contact with a recruiter. To avoid possible bias, participants were only asked how often they applied and actually found a job through each media. I made the decision to ask only the use of media in the past five years, to ensure correct data, as respondent might not exactly remember use previous to that. An example of the questions was: “In the last 5 year I have found a job applying to online advertisements …. times”.

RESULTS

The primary focus of this study is to determine whether perceptions of recruitment media credibility can be determined by media reliance and media richness. A series of correlation analyses were conducted to test these statements for each medium. I start this section off by with pointing out the respondents’ opinion of recruitment media in terms of credibility, richness and reliance. Secondly the correlations of the studied variables will reveal whether the proposed hypotheses can be confirmed.

Perceptions

Media credibility

The first questions asked the respondents to indicate to what degree they consider printed ads, online ads, recruiters and the personal network to be a credible medium for finding job information. To give a better insight in the results the data is divided in percentages respondents found them ‘not at all/not very credible’, ‘somewhat credible’ and ‘moderately/very credible’. Table 1 shows that media for recruitment are in general viewed as credible. The personal network is perceived as the most credible medium for recruitment information according to responding executives, 89.7% rate them as moderately or very credible medium. The respondents were also positive about advertisements, both printed (69.2% rated as moderately/very credible) as well as online (59.0%). Recruiters are seen as the least credible medium, with the lowest percentage (41%), many see them as ‘not at all or not very credible’ (25.6%) or somewhat credible (33.3%). The means of the scores can be found in figure 3.

TABLE 1

Perceptions of credibility of recruitment media

Printed advertisement Percentage Online advertisement Percentage Not at all/not very

credible 2.6

Not at all/not very

credible 7.7

Somewhat credible 28.2 Somewhat credible 33.3 Moderately/very

Recruiter Percentage Personal network Percentage Not at all/not very

credible 25.6

Not at all/not very

credible 5.1

Somewhat credible 33.3 Somewhat credible 5.1

Moderately/very

credible 41.0 Moderately/very credible 89.7

Media richness

As suggested in the theory section of this study, not all types of recruitment media will be able to transfer information to a job seeker as straightforward as others. Participants indicated to what extent they found a medium to (1) permit timely feedback, (2) convey multiple language cues, (3) be able to tailor messages and (4) provide language variety. Richness theories seem to fit in the recruitment context research. In accordance with these studies (e.g. Webster, 1995), oral and synchronous media (e.g. phone by recruiter or friend) are believed to be richer than written and asynchronous media (e.g. web pages containing ads). The means on the results can be found in figure 4. Again, the personal network scored highest, friends and colleagues received an average richness of 3.6 on a scale from 1 to 5. The internet was perceived as a richer medium to find job information (2.76) compared to recruitment information in printed media (2.14).

FIGURE 3

Means of perceived credibility

3,69 3,47 3,24 4,01 Print ad (sd .61) Online ad (sd 0.62) Recruiter (sd 0.93) Netw ork (sd 0.63) FIGURE 4

Means of perceived richness

Media reliance

I proposed two different methods for measuring reliance: ‘rank of preference’ and ‘Previous use’. In the first, respondents ranked the four media in their preference, 1 being the most favourite media for searching jobs, 4 the least favourite.

TABLE 2

Media reliance – rank order of preference1

Printed advertisement (mean 2.92)

Rank Frequency Percent

Cumulative Percent 1 5 12,8 12,8 2 9 23,1 35,9 3 9 23,1 59,0 4 16 41,0 100,0 Total 39 100,0

Online advertisement (mean 2.21)

Rank Frequency Percent

Cumulative Percent 1 13 33,3 33,3 2 10 25,6 59,0 3 11 28,2 87,2 4 5 12,8 100,0 Total 39 100,0 Recruiter (mean 2.62)

Rank Frequency Percent

Cumulative Percent 1 8 20,5 20,5 2 9 23,1 43,6 3 12 30,8 74,4 4 10 25,6 100,0 Total 39 100,0

Personal network (mean 2.23)

Rank Frequency Percent

Cumulative Percent 1 12 30,8 30,8 2 13 33,3 64,1 3 7 17,9 82,1 4 7 17,9 100,0 Total 39 100,0 1

Note 1 = most preferred 4 = least preferred

Executives preferably seek for job opportunities online. In the ranking, 33.3% of respondents placed online advertisements first as preferred media. The personnel network is also willingly used. 30.8% ranks this media first, 33.3% ranks it second. Recruiters score less well, but executives especially prefer not to rely on printed advertisements for finding new job opportunities, just 12.8% ranks this media as preferred, and 41% even ranks them as least favourite media.

is 5 times (online). With the goal of comparing attempts to success, also the times that respondent applied for a job through a medium is shown is table 3.

TABLE 3

Mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum of times applied for a job or found a job in the last 5 years.

Applied Print Found Print Applied Online Found Online Applied Recruiter Found Recruiter Applied personal Found personal Mean ,74 ,08 2,50 ,57 2,18 ,65 ,97 ,57 Std. Deviation 1,811 ,277 5,564 1,015 4,355 ,949 1,423 ,801 Minimum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Maximum 8 1 30 5 20 4 5 3

Especially the times an online source or a recruiter is approached for a job search varies. In general, the results show that printed advertisements is not only the least preferred medium (table 2), it is also used least of all (0.08 jobs found in 5 year). The other media are more often successfully utilized, about 0.6 times. Notable is also that while executives need to apply for several jobs before being successful, the ratio in the personal network is very low. For the 0.57 jobs found, respondents only had to apply .97 times, meaning 56% of the attempts through the personal network were successful.

Following such results, we can conclude that the responding executives not always rank recruitment media in accordance with the frequency they used the media for finding a job. Whether use and rank can be a reliable predictor of perceived credibility is a question that will be answered in the next paragraph.

Correlations

TABLE 4

Correlations of variables of different media

Printed advertisement Variables Mean s.d. 1 2 3 1 Credibility 3,6861 0,609 2 Richness 2,1382 0,753 ,412* 3 Rank 2,0802 1,085 ,525** 0,313 4 Use 0,0801 0,277 0,138 0,270 -0,015 Online advertisement Variables Mean s.d. 1 2 3 1 Credibility 3,4741 0,620 2 Richness 2,7612 0,696 0,177 3 Rank 2,7902 1,056 0,273 0,106 4 Use 0,570 1,015 -0,123 0,006 ,395* Recruiter Variables Mean s.d. 1 2 3 1 Credibility 3,2371 0,932 2 Richness 3,2812 0,767 ,704** 3 Rank 2,3802 1,091 ,387* ,333* 4 Use 0,650 0,949 0,083 ,345* 0,275 Personal Network Variables Mean s.d. 1 2 3 1 Credibility 4,0061 0,632 2 Richness 3,6012 0,635 ,452** 3 Rank 2,7702 1,087 ,356* 0,167 4 Use 0,570 0,801 0,104 0,314 0,243 *p < .10 **p < .01

Notes: 1 Rating on a scale 1=lowest score; 5=highest score

2

H1 – Perceived richness will positively influence the perceived credibility

The perceived richness was expected to positively correlate with the perceived credibility of each type of medium. Indeed table 4 shows that, when respondents perceived a recruitment medium to be rich in information sending capabilities, this medium was also found to be more credible. This was true for printed ads (r=0.41, p<.05), recruiters (r=.70, p<.01) and friends (r=.45 p<.01). Between the richness of online recruitment information and the credibility of this medium, no consistent relationship could be found.

H2 – Perceived reliance will positively influence the perceived credibility

As discussed, reliance was measured in form of the frequency of use of each medium, as well as with a rankorder of preference. First, the frequency of times respondents had successfully used a medium seemed to have no influence on the perceived credibility of that media. No significant relationship was found.

Secondly, I tried to operationalise reliance in the form of a ranking, where respondent were ask to rank the four researched media in order of their preference. In this case, reliance did significantly correlate with credibility for most media (print r=.52 p<.01, recruiter r=.39 p<.05, personal network r=.36 p<.05). Again, for online advertisements this relationship could not be found.

H3 – Perceived richness will positively influence the perceived reliance

Finally, I proposed that higher richness of media will lead to a higher reliance on that medium. Hardly any evidence for this relationship could be drawn from the results. Surprisingly, for the medium ‘recruiter’, a weak relationship was found, both with the use of rank (r=.33 p<.05) and the frequency of former use (r=35 p<.05). All other relationships were not confirmed, so in general this hypothesis can not be supported.

DISCUSSION

This study is a contribution to recruitment communication media literature, offering insight into the role of richness, reliance and credibility in recruitment media choices. In contradiction to many earlier studies, I focused on pre-hire outcomes of recruitment activities, specifically the perceptions of credibility of different media used in the recruitment context. Research on post-hire outcomes, like performance or turnover, proved to come up with very inconsistent results (Barber, 1998). Barber (1998) and other researchers (Breaugh & Starke, 2000) therefore pled for new researchers to focus on the attraction of applicants.

Secondly, Swaroff, Bass and Barclay (1985) suggested that the success of recruitment media depends on demographic variables as education and experience. As far as recruitment communication media literature exists, studies are based on samples of students or starters. I acknowledged the importance of choosing a relevant study group and have focused on candidates working in executive level positions. The outcomes of the study have proven to be very exiting, showing where executives look for jobs, and revealing to what extent underlying attitudes help explain the choices made in use of recruitment media.

Concerning media research in the recruitment context, Allen et al. (2004) provided evidence that recruitment messages from credible media led to higher willingness to join an organisation and more applications. When significant effects were found in previous studies, the personal network of friends and colleagues were prone to be the most successful recruitment media. Indeed, my results showed that executives perceived the personal network as most credible, among the researched media. Whether this higher perceived credibility can be explained by the perceptions of media richness and reliance on that media, will be discussed in the next paragraph.

(1979) statements that recruiters would be viewed by applicants as lacking expertise concerning what a job involves and would be perceived as having a vested interest in filling open positions.

Another peculiar outcome is that for online advertisements the hypothesis was not supported. For this media, no positive relation between richness and credibility could be found. A possible explanation for this deviation is the variety in which web-based advertisement can express itself. While advertisements in newspapers and magazines are constrained to text and images, online media gives the opportunity to provide video (multiple language cues), hyperlinks and direct online application (timely feedback). Depending on the extent to which companies make use of these possibilities, richness will dramatically vary (Zusman & Landis, 2004) and might therefore not be a good indicator of perceived credibility for this medium. These finding all suggest that media richness is important in recruitment research. Improve the richness in which information is communicated and you will improve the credibility of this information.

I also expected media reliance to have a positive influence on media credibility. Reliance was measured as the frequency of use and the preference. Similar to Rimmer and Weaver’s (1985) research in general media use, the frequency of use of recruitment communication media is not correlated with how credible these media are perceived. In the recruitment context, the measure which involved choice of preference in media did show relevant correlations. When reliance is measured, by letting executives indicate their preference for a particular medium, the conclusion is that reliance and credibility did correlated for all media, with again the exception of online advertisements. Rimmer and Weaver (1985) suggested that differences in outcomes between measuring reliance as ‘preference’ or ‘use’, could be found in the fact that preference, like credibility, is attitudinal in nature, whereas the frequency of use is mostly behavioural.

Surprisingly, concerning internet advertisement, again no relationship could be found, contrary to the other media. Apparently ‘liking’ or using this media does not always mean finding it credible. Overall we can say that reliance, measured as preference is an important indicator of the credibility of the medium, which in turn will help attract candidates to the company (Allen et al, 2004).

perceived richness leads to a higher reliance proved to be false. This discussion leads to some interesting questions and implications which I will discuss now.

Theoretical implications

By applying general communication media theory in the recruitment context, I made a contribution to recruitment literature. It was demonstrated that higher perceived richness and higher perceived reliance (preference) of a recruitment media will positively affect the perceived credibility of that media, thereby improving the effectiveness of the recruitment activity.

To generalise these finding, other researchers should replicate this research for other groups of candidates. Executives differ from other candidates, as they often have much experience and high education. Possible, they hold opposing views of favourable media and perceived credibility compared to starters, as their job seeking experience and knowledge varies. However, this study also found that using a media successfully when seeking a job does not mean the credibility of that media will increase, suggesting that candidates with different experience might agree on the credibility of the researched media.

Another implication of this research concerns the importance of defining different media. Previous research often assumed media could be divided in two general categories: formal and informal media. Referrals by colleagues and friends are a formal media to look for jobs and informal consist of other media as advertisement and recruiters (Vechio, 1995). My results show considerable differences between the perceived credibility of formal media, such as the difference between the perceived credibility of recruiters and printed advertisements. This simple categorising as done in the past proves to be inefficient in correctly measuring inter-media differences.

distinguish between these media to control variance in perceived credibility of these types of media.

Another interesting topic is the attitude of executives after using multiple media to apply for a position. The measurements in this study focused on the first encounter with a job vacancy. In real life situations, individuals will often find information about a company or job through different media before applying. For example, a recruitment agency can post an advertisement for a client (the employer). The candidate then bases his decision to apply, first on the advertisement and later on the information from the recruiter. Vecchio’s (1995) research of 700 employees, found that multiple recruitment media were used by roughly one-third of all respondents. However, the use of multiple media played no role in predicting attitudes, relative to using a single recruitment media. There is a need to further investigate such findings as this subject is neglected in previous studies.

Practical implications

This research is important for practitioners as it proves that the choice for a medium for sending out recruitment messages should be well thought out. The results show that the personal network is perceived as a rich and credible media for finding a new job. As referrals are often made as a personal favour, it is difficult for companies to improve the use of this media. However, what companies can do, is give incentives to people who refer suitable candidates to the company. As executives trust their personal network, this could lead to more successful applications.

Limitations

This study is unique in its kind, as the focus is on executives, a group of participants that is difficult to reach. This makes the study exciting, but also leads to some limitations.

The sample is drawn from a large number of executives. These people have very demanding jobs and it was difficult to get them to participate in the research. It is possible that the study outcomes could be biased as a result of nonresponse error, due to the relative small amount of respondents (Zikmund, 1994).

Another possible limitation of the sample of the study lies in the fact that it is drawn from people that worked in the media industry (e.g. publishing and television). I believe a major strength of the research lies in the insight in personal attitudes of executives. However, some respondents may have a personal stake in influencing the results, for example executives working in the online sector might rate their own medium more positive. As the invitation to participate emphasised that this paper is foremost a contribution to scientific literature, it is unlikely that responses will be biased. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to replicate this research in other industries.

I derived measurements in the questionnaire from prominent researches in the field of communication media and altered them if that was required. However, for measuring the frequency of use in the recruitment context, I was forced to design my own survey. I made the decision to ask only the use of media in the past five years, to ensure correct data, as respondent might not exactly remember use previous to that. Many executives indicated they did not change job the past five years. Due to the low amount of interesting figures it was difficult to do statistical analysis. This might be a reason that no significant relationship with other variables was found. Therefore I recommend academics to introduce different scales to measure frequency of recruitment media use. For example, individuals could be asked to mention their previous and current jobs and indicate how they found these positions. This could however lead to more non-response due to privacy reasons.

media reliance lead to higher credibility. However, finding correlations means that relations can go both ways. It could theoretically be possible, that higher credibility increases the dependent variables in stead of the other way around. I am confident that new recruitment media research, keeping in mind the mentioned suggestions, will confirm my findings.

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