Applicant attraction through social media: the importance of recruitment message form, content and function

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Applicant attraction through social media:

the importance of recruitment message

form, content and function

Master’s Thesis, MSc BA, specialization Business & ICT University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

Richard Booij

November 2014

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Applicant attraction through social media:

the importance of recruitment message

form, content and function

Master’s Thesis, MSc BA, specialization Business & ICT University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

Richard Booij

(s1306596)

Supervisor: Dr. U.Y. Eseryel Co-assessor: Dr. J. Rupert

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Abstract

Purpose

This research is aimed to provide an insight in what potential applicants consider important in recruitment

messages, transferred through social media, or more specifically the social media network LinkedIn, by focusing on message form, content and function. The goal of this study is to contribute to the existing research on social media and recruitment, which has been criticized for being too theoretical and lacking practical relevance (Saks, 2005; Breaugh, 2008; Ployhart, 2006; Cheikh-Ammar & Barki, 2014), by not only focusing at the theory but also at social media behavior of successful employers in practice.

Research method

Content analysis was conducted on corporate LinkedIn pages of the Fortune Magazine 100 “Best companies to work

for” (Fortune, 2014) to discover which message characteristics are important for the interaction success of

company status updates, measured by the number of likes and comments the message has received.

A list of 28 measures was constructed for this research with message characteristics considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness, organized around three main categories: form, content and

function.

Findings

Independent samples t-tests indicated that the interaction success of company status updates on LinkedIn, was influenced by form, content as well as function of recruitment messages. Message content and characteristics considered important by potential applicants in determining job and organizational attractiveness include

pictures, the use of color to highlight certain aspects of the picture, reputation, public image, ethical standards and

the use of a question.

The use of external links and the mention of pay and promotion opportunities appear to be of negative influence on the interaction success of recruitment messages on LinkedIn, as measured by the number of likes and

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Research implications

Future research is needed to find explanations for the both positive and negative relations between applicant attraction and message form, content and function, as indicated by the results of this study. Also, future studies are encouraged to use different research populations, perhaps based on other company rankings than the Fortune

Magazine list of 100 “Best companies to work for” (Fortune, 2014) and other social networking sites, like for

example Facebook and Twitter.

Practical implications

The results of this study confirm the importance of form, content and function in relation to job and organizational attractiveness, as also emphasized by other authors (Powell, 1984; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban, Forret, &

Hendrickson, 1998; Carless & Imber, 2007; Cober, Brown, & Levy, 2004b). This study provides a practical insight into which message characteristics or content to convey through online recruitment expressions.

Originality

A significant part of this study was based on information retrieved from existing recruitment literature.

Also, the content analysis on corporate LinkedIn pages of the 100 “Best companies to work for” (Fortune, 2014) was an adaptation from earlier research by Cober et al. (2004b), in which they evaluated corporate employment sites, on content and stylistic features. As for the originality of this study, it is believed that no study focused this kind of research on corporate LinkedIn pages before.

Keywords

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Acknowledgements

Writing this thesis could not have been completed without the help of others. First of all, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. Yeliz Eseryel, as well as my previous thesis supervisor, Dr. Eric Lim, for their feedback and guidance. My gratitude also goes out to Dr. Joyce Rupert for her willingness to co-assess my thesis.

I would also like to express my thanks to my friends, colleagues and family who supported me during the long process of writing my thesis.

And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my wonderful wife, Mariëlle, and our two kids, Kirsten and Milan, as writing this thesis has made a definite impact on our lives. Not only has my family helped me by just being there for me, but Mariëlle has also assisted me tremendously in the creation of this thesis, either by

discussing it with me, acting as second coder during the actual research or just lending a willing ear at times when I needed it most.

I wish I could adequately describe just how grateful I am for her endless and loving support during the creation of my thesis. Therefore, with this thesis being finalized, I am very much looking forward to enjoying all the extra family time we will have from now on again.

Richard Booij

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Introduction

War for talent

Back in 1998, the term “war for talent” was first introduced in a report by McKinsey & Company, named “Better

talent is worth fighting for” (Chambers et. al, 2003). In this report, the “war for talent” was described as “a war for senior executive talent that will remain a defining characteristic of their competitive landscape for decades to come”.

Companies were already having difficulty finding high-skilled employees and these difficulties were expected to remain so for the next decades. And the authors were right, as we see now that “the war for talent” still rages on. It may sound contradictory, that in these times with high unemployment rates and job shortage (International Labour Organization, 2014), organizations are still having problems filling in vacancies (McKinsey Global Institute, 2012). As stated in a report by the McKinsey Global Institute (2012), “despite elevated unemployment rates, jobs

today go unfilled in mature economies because employers cannot find the skilled talent they need”.

A recent survey (ManPowerGroup, 2013) showed a similar outcome, as “worldwide, 35% of over 38,000 employers

surveyed report they are experiencing difficulty filling jobs due to lack of available talent”. This survey showed two

main reasons for not being able to fill vacancies: “lack of technical competencies (hard skills)” and “lack of available

applicants/no applicants”. Especially the lack of available applicants or having no applicants at all, seems strange in

these times of high unemployment.

Need for practical recruitment research

So the “war for talent” still rages on and the demand for qualified candidates will continue to grow, as recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute (2012) suggested that “by 2020, the world could have 40 million too

few college-educated workers and that developing economies may face a shortfall of 45 million workers with secondary-school educations and vocational training”.

Considerable research has been carried out on various topics related to recruitment (Breaugh, 2008), and more specifically the search for high-talented, qualified employees, in recruitment literature mentioned as “applicant

attraction” (Chapman et al., 2005). However, the recruitment research literature has been criticized for being too

theoretical and lacking practical relevance (Saks, 2005; Breaugh, 2008; Ployhart, 2006).

Saks (2005) even stated that “for the time being, organizations that wish to learn about creative, innovative, and

effective recruitment practices are best advised to find out what other companies are doing and consult the

practitioner rather than the research literature”.

Taylor and Collins (2000) also raised doubts regarding the practicality of recruitment research, stating that “if

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Focus of recruitment research

It seems practical for employers to focus their recruitment efforts on message content, as several researchers pointed out the importance of the recruitment message (Barber, 1998; Breaugh, 2008; Chapman et al., 2005). Uggerslev et al. (2012) even suggested that “recruiters should spend their first recruitment dollar focusing on

fostering perceptions of fit through message content”.

Companies need to know which information to include in job advertisements and company descriptions, in order to attract applicants (Twenge et al., 2010). With regard to content, it seems eminent for companies to include important information about the vacant job and the organization itself, as many researchers pointed out the importance of job and organizational attributes like salary, promotional opportunities, reputation and location (Powell, 1984; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban et al., 1998; Carless & Imber, 2007; Cober et al., 2004b).

Considering that applicants often lack this information about important job and organizational attributes, when deciding whether to apply for a certain job (Breaugh, 2013), companies should be focusing on improving the content of their recruitment communication, aimed at potential employees.

Although recruitment research has been primarily focused on content (Barber, 1998; Breaugh, 2008; Chapman et al., 2005; Cober et al., 2003), research has also shown that both aesthetic attributes and ease of navigation could attract job seekers’ attention and generate interest in the organization (Cober et al., 2003).

Cober et al.’s (2004b) study combines content, stylistic features and functionality, in order to demonstrate that

form, content and function of organizational recruitment websites influence applicant attraction (Girard & Fallery,

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Recruitment and social media

A few years ago, corporate employment websites were one of the most effective mechanisms for recruiting on the Internet (Cober et al., 2004b), but today social networking sites are also being seen as a powerful weapon in the war for talent. Many companies are using social media for recruiting purposes, as a recent survey by Jobvite (Jobvite, 2013) showed that 94% of all companies have used or were planning to use social media to support their recruitment efforts.

It is no surprise that job seekers have always been using their social networks to search for potentially interesting jobs, since recruitment research has indicated that learning about interesting vacancies through other people has a positive effect on applicant attraction in comparison with other sources (Saks, 2005; Van Hoye & Lievens, 2005). Given the fact that social media have made it so much easier for job seekers to make use of other people in their network (Dekay, 2009; Kane, Alavi, Labianca, & Borgatti, 2014) and the rapidly rising number of members on social networking sites like LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a), it is clear that companies cannot afford to ignore social media in their recruiting efforts.

Despite the popularity of social media in the world of recruitment, there is little recruitment research literature focused on recruitment in relation to social media (Breaugh, 2013; Alalwan, 2014). Most research on social media use by companies, focus on other organizational activities than the attracting of new employees, like for example the promotion of products and services, optimizing the relationship with customers or minimizing the costs of marketing campaigns (Alfaro, Bhattacharyya, & Watson-Manheim, 2013).

Also, research that is available on recruitment in relation to social media, is often focused on activities like pre-screening people who have already applied (Kluemper & Rosen, 2009), rather than on the most important challenge of HR departments: actually getting potential employees to apply for a job (Rynes & Barber, 1991, Chapman et al., 2005).

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Research method

This research is aimed at providing a useful contribution to the existing research on social media and applicant attraction, from a practical angle. As mentioned earlier, researchers like Taylor and Collins (2000) and Saks (2005) have made it clear that recruitment research literature needs a more practical approach. Knowledge on what successful employers are currently doing to attract applicants is highly needed.

A core activity of recruitment is communicating job and organizational information in order to get prospective employees to consider applying for a position in the company (Popovich & Wanous, 1982). Especially in the early stages of the recruitment process, potential applicants are trying to gather information on many companies and jobs, without actually speaking to a recruitment contact (Barber, 1998).

Therefore, this research is aimed at discovering which information successful employers include in their recruitment message, in order to attract their high-skilled, talented applicants through social media, or more specifically LinkedIn. This platform is by far the most popular social media network for recruiting purposes (Jobvite, 2013) and is regarded as the largest professional social media network (Dekay, 2009; Caers & Castelyns, 2010).

In order to do so, this research is set up as an adaptation from the study of Cober et al. (2004b), who developed a method for evaluating corporate employment sites, on content and stylistic features (e.g. aesthetics and

navigational usability). In their study, the authors suggest the interaction between form, content, and function is considered to be critical for the effectiveness of corporate employment pages (Cober et al., 2004b). Based on these three constructs, a list of 28 measures was constructed for this research with message characteristics considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness.

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Research population

The corporate LinkedIn pages of the 100 “Best companies to work for” (Fortune Magazine, 2014) were used in this research because inclusion on this list indicate a corporate focus on progressive Human Resource practices to external audiences (Cober et al., 2004; Levering & Moskovitz, 2000) and because these companies are known for having workplace cultures that lead to satisfied employees (Levering & Moskovitz, 2000), which is suggested also to be attractive for potential applicants. Also, research has shown that a good place on the rankings of companies by a business publication like Fortune Magazine does have a positive effect on applicant attraction (Turban & Cable, 2003).

Research question

This research is aimed to provide an insight in what potential applicants consider important in recruitment messages, transferred through social media, by focusing on message form, content and function.

The main research question therefore is:

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Theoretical background

Literature search

This thesis involves research in both Organizational Behavior and Human Resources (OBHR) as well as Information

Systems (IS). The top journals in these two main fields of research were used for the current study over a period of

five years (September 2009 - August 2014), by searching for keywords like Social Media, Social Networking, Social

Networking Sites, Social Networking Services, Social Networking Applications, Social Networking Website, SNA, SNS, SNW, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Job and organizational attractiveness, Recruitment, and Applicant attraction.

In the field of OBHR, the journals searched were Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organizational Behavior and

Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, Research in Organizational Behavior, Human Relations, Human Resource Management, The Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly, and Work and Occupations.

For Information Systems literature, the Basket of 8 Journals of the Association for Information Systems (AIS, 2014a) was used, including journals like European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal,

Information Systems Research, Journal of AIS, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of MIS, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and MIS Quarterly.

Further, for more recent literature in the field of Information Systems, proceedings of AIS Conferences (AIS, 2014b) held in 2013 or 2014 were also searched for the keywords mentioned above.

Finally, relevant studies referenced in the articles found during the literature search process, were also used for the current research.

What is recruitment?

In starting a literature review on recruitment, it is important to have a clear definition of what recruitment exactly is. And because there is so many research on recruitment in general, there are also many different definitions of the term recruitment given.

According to Rynes (1991), recruitment is defined as “encompassing all organizational practices and decisions that

affect either the number, or types, of individuals that are willing to apply for, or to accept, a given vacancy”.

Breaugh (1992) gives a similar definition: “Employee recruitment involves those organizational activities that (1)

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▷ Page 14/53 This research is focused on external recruitment, which is defined as “an employer’s actions that are intended to (1)

bring a job opening to the attention of potential job candidates who do not currently work for the organization, (2) influence whether these individuals apply for the opening, (3) affect whether they maintain interest in the position until a job offer is extended, and (4) influence whether a job offer is accepted” (Breaugh, 2008).

There are also several researchers, like Barber (1998), who only include intended recruiting activities by the organization and choose to exclude factors like organizational image and applicant reactions to selection procedures. Chapman et al. (2005) state that the latter definition of Barber (1998) is too narrow and that it wrongfully excludes important unintended influences of organizational behavior. For example a factor like organizational image can be a very important factor in the attraction of applicants. Therefore the broader

definition of recruitment, as given by Breaugh (1992), will be used in this research: “employee recruitment involves

those organizational activities that (1) influence the number and/or types of applicants who apply for a position and/or (2) affect whether a job offer is accepted”. Especially the first part of this definition is important, as the focus

of this research is on the first stage of the recruitment process: attracting applicants.

Stages of the recruitment process

According to Barber (1998), the recruitment process consist of three stages: generating applicants, maintaining

applicant status and influencing job choices. Many researchers have stated that companies should focus their

recruitment efforts on the first stage of the recruitment process: generating applicants (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2009; Breaugh, 2008; Uggerslev, Fassina, & Kraichy, 2012).

Key activity in this stage of the recruitment process is communicating information about jobs, working conditions, organizational values and work climate in order to persuade applicants to consider working for the organization (Popovich & Wanous, 1982).

Harold and Ployhart (2008) conducted research for changes in applicant’s appreciation of job and organizational attributes over time and suggested that “companies would be wise to tailor the information they present according

to recruitment stage”. For example, information like location and reputation influenced job and organizational

attractiveness early in the recruitment process, while information regarding salary is mostly evaluated in a later stage of the recruitment process (Harold & Ployhart, 2008).

Applicant attraction

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▷ Page 15/53 Companies are acknowledging that attracting (and retaining) a high quality of human resources could provide them a sustained competitive advantage over other companies, as is also stated by Turban and Greening (1997). According to Berthon, Ewing and Hah (2005), “intellectual and human capital is the foundation of competitive

advantage in the modern economy”, again emphasizing the importance of attracting high-quality talent.

Williamson, King, Lepak and Sarma (2010) stated that applicant attraction consisted of two components:

“prospective applicants’ perceptions of an organization as a desirable employer and the extent to which prospective applicants are willing to exert effort to pursue a job with an organization”.

Job and organizational attractiveness

In order to be successful at attracting applicants, companies need to enhance their job and organizational attractiveness, according to recruitment literature (Chapman et al, 2005, Turban & Cable, 2003). Whether a job seeker actually applies for a vacancy is strongly related to the perceived attractiveness of both the job and the organization (Ehrhart & Ziegert 2005).

Turban and Cable (2003) also emphasize the importance of job and organizational attractiveness, by stating that attractive firms can usually choose from larger and higher-quality applicant pools. Barber and Roehling (1993) even state that job seekers will exit the recruitment process in an early stage when an organization is not seen as attractive.

In order to determine the attractiveness of a job and/or organization, it is important to know how job seekers evaluate job and organizational attractiveness and, more important, how they use this evaluation to decide whether or not to accept a job offer (Behling, Labovitz, & Gainer, 1968).

Three theories on job and organizational attractiveness

Behling, Labovitz and Gainer (1968) proposed three theories on job and organizational attractiveness: the

objective factor theory, the subjective factor theory and the critical contact theory.

According to the objective factor theory (Behling, Labovitz, & Gainer, 1968) applicants make job choices based on objectively measurable job and organizational attributes, such as salary and location. If firms make good use of these attributes, they can significantly increase the effectiveness of their recruitment messages (Behling, Labovitz, & Gainer, 1968).

The subjective factor theory (Behling, Labovitz, & Gainer, 1968) indicates that applicants choose their jobs based

on subjective attributes which fit their personal emotional and psychological needs, for example the ethical

standards of the company or the organizational culture. Companies should focus on customizing their recruitment

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▷ Page 16/53 At last, critical contact theory (Behling, Labovitz, & Gainer, 1968) suggests that applicants base their judgment of the organizational attractiveness solely on the forms of contact with the company during the recruitment process, for example a company visit or contact with a recruiter or human resources employee. In this theory, the

assumption is made that especially young applicants (for example graduated students) cannot compare job offers based on objective or subjective factors due to a lack of experience. The only way for companies to be attractive for these types of job seekers, is by focusing on optimizing their recruitment process, for example by handling

incoming job applications in a timely manner (Rynes, Bretz, & Gerhart, 1991) and through friendly and personal contact towards the prospective applicant (Turban et al., 1998).

Job and organizational attributes

Many articles have indicated that the applicant’s perception of job and organizational characteristics has a positive effect on applicant attraction (Powell, 1984; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban et al., 1998; Carless & Imber, 2007). Rynes (1991), even stated that “job and organizational attributes are the most powerful predictors in applicant

attraction”. These instrumental job and organizational characteristics include factors such as salary, promotional

opportunities, career development and organizational structure.

Early studies on job and organizational characteristics were mainly focused on which single attributes were of influence on potential applicants’ job choices. One of the most important studies was the research of Posner (1981). Posner introduced an 18-item job and organizational characteristics scale on which many future studies were based (Powell, 1984, 1991; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban, Forret, and Hendrickson, 1998).

In later studies, researchers focused more on categorized groups of attributes than on the single job and

organizational attributes. Researchers like Powell (1991), Harris and Fink (1987) and Turban et al. (1998) focused on 3 to 5 categories, rather than using 18 to 25 different job and organizational attributes.

Carless and Imber (2007) introduced a five-factor model of job and organizational characteristics, based on earlier studies (Posner, 1981; Powell, 1991; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban et al., 1998). This model consisted of five factors: (a) Challenging Work, (b) Coworkers, (c) Pay and Promotion Opportunities, (d) Reputation and (e) Location, with in total 17 underlying attributes.

Challenging work

The factor challenging work, or “work that extends individual capabilities” (Carless & Imber, 2007), consists of five underlying attributes, all related to the job itself: challenging and interesting work, opportunities to use abilities,

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Coworkers

The mention of coworkers in recruitment messages, for example in the form of employee testimonials, is known to be positively related to job and organizational attractiveness, especially when presented through video with audio on a rich medium (Walker, Feild, Giles, Armenakis, & Bernerth, 2009).

Carless and Imber (2007) defined three underlying attributes: competent and sociable coworkers, warm friendly

coworkers and coworkers who support my development.

Pay and Promotion Opportunities

Many researchers have indicated that salary is one of the most important predictors in applicant attraction (Powell, 1984; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban et al., 1998; Carless & Imber, 2007; Aiman- Smith, Bauer, & Cable, 2001).

In this study Pay and Promotion Opportunities will be operationalized by three underlying attributes, as suggested by Carless and Imber (2007): opportunity for rapid advancement, good salary, good fringe benefits and a prestigious

job title.

Reputation

The employer’s reputation is regarded as a key attribute in potential applicant’s decisions, as research has shown that employees like to impress others with their job at a respected organization (Highhouse, Lievens, & Sinar, 2007; Turban & Cable, 2001). Also, jobs at an organization with a good reputation are known to be more attractive to potential applicants (Cable & Turban, 2003; Williamson, King, Lepak, & Sarma, 2010; Dineen & Williamson, 2012).

Especially the mention of awards an employer had won, is known to have a positive effect on potential applicant’s intentions to apply for a certain job (Braddy, Meade, & Kroustalis, 2006). A reasonable explanation for this effect is that awards can be regarded as an objective assessment of the organization, as opposed to information generated by the company itself (Breaugh, 2013). The mention of awards is operationalized in this research as good

reputation. The other two underlying attributes in this study are good public image and high ethical standards, as

suggested by Carless and Imber (2007).

Location

The mention of organizational location is also found to be of influence on applicant attraction (Carless & Imber, 2007) and is operationalized by two underlying attributes: desirable geographic location and a location near family

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Recruitment and Internet

Dineen and Noe (2009) suggest that the use of the Internet at the earliest stages of the recruitment process is a

“win–win for both organizations, by achieving leaner applicant pools, and job seekers, by being able to focus on better long-run opportunities and apply to organizations with which they fit on valued dimensions”. Also, the use of Internet

for communicating information about the organization itself and vacant positions has the potential to reach more potential applicants than the use of traditional media (Williamson, King, Lepak, & Sarma, 2010).

The use of Internet for recruitment purposes is not only a powerful tool to gain easier access to potential

applicants, it also has the potential of reducing recruitment costs (Cober, Brown, Keeping, & Levy, 2004). Research has also suggested that online recruitment activities have a positive effect on the quality of the job applicant pool as attracted job seekers seem to be more qualified for the advertised job (Cober, Brown, Keeping, & Levy, 2004; Williamson, King, Lepak, & Sarma, 2010).

Corporate employment websites are considered one of the most effective mechanisms for recruiting on the Internet (Cober et al., 2004b), and with the rising use of social media for recruiting purposes (Jobvite, 2013; Kluemper, Rosen, & Mossholder, 2012), the Internet is becoming even more important for companies in the attraction of applicants.

Evaluation of recruitment websites

Several researchers developed methods for evaluating corporate recruitment websites (Cober et al., 2004b; Terzis & Economides, 2005; Lee, 2005) in order to understand how applicants react to the information presented on these websites. Research has shown that vividness, content and functionality are important to job seekers (Cober et al., 2004; Allen et al., 2007).

However, one of the few studies that offers useful practical recommendations for companies’ recruitment efforts on the Internet, is Cober et al.’s (2004) method for evaluating corporate employment sites, on content and stylistic features (Ployhart, 2006; Allen et al., 2007; Chien-Cheng et al., 2012). The authors suggested applicant attraction is influenced by the interaction between the three defining features of the Internet: form, content and function (Cober et al., 2004b).

Form

In order to attract potential applicants, the recruitment message must be drawing their attention. The most

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▷ Page 19/53 Zusman and Landis (2002) also found that the quality of an online recruitment advertising had an effect on the attractiveness of a potential employer. In both marketing and recruitment literature, it is suggested that the use of

pictures, colors, animation, audio and video in product and job advertisements is positively related to

organizational attractiveness (Coulter & Punj, 1999; Cober, Brown, Keeping, & Levy, 2004).

Content

Potential applicants are highly interested in information such as compensation, organizational culture, and job previews (Rynes, 1991; Cober et al., 2003). This type of information is very suitable to be included on

organizational websites, and could enhance potential applicant’s attraction to the company (Cober et al., 2003). In their qualitative analysis, Cober et al. (2004b) found, for example, that organizations readily present some information about themselves, such as culture, but were less forthcoming about other information, such as compensation.

Function

Cober et al. (2004b) focused their research on employment websites, and by function, the authors meant “the

ability to interact and navigate a Web site and use it to achieve a goal (e.g. application)”. According to the authors, “navigational menus guide job seekers to specific areas of information” (Cober et al., 2004b).

Key aspect is interactivity, defined as “the degree to which two or more communication parties can act on each

other, on the communication medium, and on the messages and the degree to which such influences are synchronized”

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Social media

In the last decade, the number of people using social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn has risen at an impressive rate (Facebook Inc., 2014; LinkedIn Corporation, 2014b). While the term social media is fairly mainstream (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), literature emphasizes that this term applies to more than just platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Ellison & Boyd, 2013; Kane et al., 2014) and that it is sometimes difficult to clearly distinct social media from other technologies (Kane et al., 2014).

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the

ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content”. In their research, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) classified six different types of technologies that qualify as social media: blogs, collaborative projects (like Wikipedia), content communities (like YouTube), virtual social

worlds (like Second Life), virtual game worlds (like World of Warcraft) and finally social network sites like

Facebook and LinkedIn, which is the focus of this research.

Social network sites

The most used definition of social network sites is given by Boyd and Ellison (2007), in which they refer to

“web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”.

In 2013, Boyd and Ellison reconsidered their definition, given the way social network sites had evolved in the past few years and because they felt their original definition no longer accurately described the landscape of social network sites: “A social network site is a networked communication platform in which participants 1) have uniquely

identifiable profiles that consist of user-supplied content, content provided by other users, and/or system-provided data; 2) can publicly articulate connections that can be viewed and traversed by others; and 3) can consume, produce, and/or interact with streams of user-generated content provided by their connections on the site”.

Boyd and Ellison (2007, 2013) prefer “social network sites” over the more commonly used term “social networking

sites” because networking implies that people are using these sites to initiate new relationships, often with

strangers. On social network sites it is certainly possible to meet new people, but more often people are using these social media to interact with their current family, friends and acquaintances, according to some researchers (Ellison & Boyd, 2013; Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter & Espinoza, 2008).

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▷ Page 21/53 Another limitation of the definition given by Ellison and Boyd (2013), is that it excludes technologies like wikis, blogs and therefore also a microblogging platform like Twitter, although Twitter is generally seen as one of the largest social media platforms out there (Kane et al., 2014).

Hence, Kane et al. (2014) constructed an updated definition in which they no longer refer to social network “sites”, but more generally to “social media networks”. According to the authors, the updated definition is “more reflective

of the current state of the technology”.

Their updated definition of social media networks consists of four essential features, “such that users (1) have a

unique user profile that is constructed by the user, by members of their network, and by the platform; (2) access digital content through, and protect it from, various search mechanisms provided by the platform; (3) can articulate a list of other users with whom they share a relational connection; and (4) view and traverse their connections and those made by others on the platform”.

Key distinctions from earlier definitions are that this definition no longer excludes social media like Twitter and focuses not only on current social relationships, but also emphasizes the possibilities to broaden current

relationships and finding new opportunities (Kane et al., 2014). In particular the latter aspect is important in this research, because of the focus on a professional social media network like LinkedIn which is all about finding new business opportunities (Steininger, Wunderlich, & Pohl, 2013; LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a). That is why the definition of social media networks as given by Kane et al. (2014) will be used in this research.

LinkedIn

While the private social media network Facebook (Dekay, 2009; Caers & Castelyns, 2010) still has the biggest member-base with over 1.3 billion monthly active users (Facebook Inc., 2014), in its wake the most popular social media network for business purposes, LinkedIn (Dekay, 2009; Caers & Castelyns, 2010), also continues to grow and has over 300 million members worldwide (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014b).

LinkedIn started in 2003 and is aimed at “connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful” (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a). According to LinkedIn, their social media network “enables members to become more successful in their careers through three value propositions: managing and sharing who they are through their digital professional identity; engaging and expanding who they know through their professional network; and discovering professional knowledge and insights making them better at what they do” (LinkedIn

Corporation, 2014a).

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Interactivity

As the definitions of social media networks (Kane et al., 2014) and social network sites (Ellison & Boyd, 2013), as well as the business strategy of LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a) show, interactivity is a key and unique characteristic of social media networks.

According to Liu and Shrum (2002), interactivity can be defined as “the degree to which two or more

communication parties can act on each other, on the communication medium, and on the messages and the degree to which such influences are synchronized”. Flew (2005) also emphasizes the importance of interactivity by stating

“that is what the new social media sets apart from the traditional mass media”. Most media are focused on merely broadcasting information, but with social media it is possible to actually interact with the audience (Flew, 2005; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).

On the professional social media network LinkedIn, companies have the opportunity to set up a corporate page in order to interact with their audiences. As of this moment, more than 3 million companies have a so called Company

Page on LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014c) which can be used to communicate information, advertise jobs or

highlight certain brands, products or services (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a). Members on LinkedIn have the option of following the company, after which they automatically receive recent updates posted on the corporate page (LinkedIn Corporation, 2014a).

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Research method

In order to find out how successful employers are attracting applicants through corporate social media pages, this study was conducted. The research is an adaptation from the study of Cober et al. (2004b) and is aimed to evaluate corporate pages on the social media network LinkedIn. Although Cober et al. (2004b) evaluated whole corporate employment websites, in this research the corporate pages on LinkedIn are evaluated on the level of the individual messages (or Updates on LinkedIn).

Instrument

A content analysis was conducted to collect data on the messages posted on corporate LinkedIn pages of the 100

“Best companies to work for” (Fortune, 2014). The content considered important in determining the job- and

organizational attractiveness was included in the coding form. A list of 28 measures was developed, partly based on the work of Cober et al. (2004b), organized around three main categories: form, content and function.

Form

The vividness of the recruitment message is operationalized as four different variables: use of pictures, use of

colors, use of animation, use of audio and video. Literature suggests that these variables are positively related to

applicant attraction (Coulter & Punj, 1999).

Content

Content, or employment-related information, is organized around five main categories from the model of job and organizational characteristics by Carless and Imber (2007): challenging work, coworkers, pay and promotion

opportunities, reputation and location. In this research, content is operationalized by 22 measures in total,

including these five categories and 17 underlying attributes.

Function

Although Cober et al. (2004b) described function as “the ability to interact and navigate a Web site and use it to

achieve a goal”, this research will only be focused on the aspect of Interactivity as companies lack the ability on LinkedIn to distinguish their corporate pages on the aspect navigational functionality.

Interactivity, defined as “the degree to which two or more communication parties can act on each other, on the

communication medium, and on the messages and the degree to which such influences are synchronized” (Liu &

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Coding form pretesting

To evaluate the developed coding form (Appendix A), three pretests were conducted. First, the descriptions of measures and categories in the coding form as well as the coding instructions were discussed with the coders. The main goal was to reach consensus on the understanding and wording of the categories and measures. Afterwards, the coding form was tested by two independent coders on a number of messages on a randomly chosen corporate LinkedIn page. After discussion of the results, minor textual changes were made to the coding form, as shown in Appendix A. Finally, intercoder reliability was calculated during the third pretest.

Intercoder Reliability calculation

The intercoder reliability of the coding form was calculated using percent agreement since the variables were only coded for either the presence or absence of certain message characteristics or content. According to Neuendorf (2002), percent agreement is “particularly appropriate to measures that are categorical (i.e., nominal), wherein each

pair of coded measures is either a hit or a miss".

The sample in the intercoder reliability test consisted of 10 randomly chosen corporate LinkedIn pages

representing 10% of the whole population, which meets the directive by Mayring (2000). Coding was performed by two independent coders.

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Procedure

Initially, the corporate LinkedIn pages would be analyzed during a certain timespan (2-3 months depending on the amount of messages posted). However, the pretests of the coding form showed great differences in the frequency companies posted updates on LinkedIn, varying from multiple messages per day to only a few messages per month. This variation caused much difference in the amount of messages coded per company, making it difficult to draw relevant conclusions from the research results.

Therefore, a fixed number (25) of messages on each corporate LinkedIn page was coded. This number was chosen during pretesting, which provided insight in the amount and frequency companies posted updates on LinkedIn. Further, only messages that were posted at least one month ago, were coded. Newer messages were discarded, because the number of likes, shares and comments (dependent variables) of these messages could still change significantly, whereas the chance of this happening with older messages is smaller.

All company updates were coded for the presence or absence of the 28 measures used in this research. When the message included mention or usage of the attribute, it was coded with ‘1’, and otherwise with ‘0’. For each company update, the number of likes, comments and shares (the dependent variables) were also registered. After all the companies were coded, independent samples t-tests were conducted on the acquired data, in order to research whether the tested independent variables were of significant influence on the three dependent variables: the number of likes, comments and shares a status update on LinkedIn has received.

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Research population

The research population consists of the messages, named company updates, on corporate LinkedIn pages posted by companies that are in the Fortune Magazine list of “Best companies to work for” (in the United States).

The Fortune list is compiled each year from data gathered by the Great Places to Work Institute and is used to identify the companies with the most satisfied employees.

The ranking of the companies is determined by the results of an employee survey on workplace culture and quality (⅔ of the score), and a so-called “Culture Audit” from the Great Places to Work Institute (⅓ of the score).

The companies on the Fortune Magazine list of “Best companies to work for” were chosen because their inclusion on this list indicate a corporate focus on progressive Human Resource practices to external audiences (Cober et al., 2004; Levering & Moskovitz, 2000), making the companies suitable for researching their recruitment efforts on the Internet, even if these companies are not necessarily representing all successful employers.

Further, the companies on this list are also known for having workplace cultures that lead to satisfied employees (Levering & Moskovitz, 2000), which can be evenly attractive for potential applicants.

Turban and Cable (2003) too concluded that a good place on the rankings of companies by a business publication like Fortune Magazine does have a positive effect on applicant attraction. Companies with a good ranking on the

Fortune Magazine list of 100 “Best companies to work for” received more applicants and saw applicant behavior

being influenced. For example, some participants would even be willing to work for a company with a good reputation in this Fortune Magazine list for a 7% decrease in salary (Turban & Cable, 2003).

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Results

The goal of this research was to find out which message characteristics are important for the interaction success of company status updates on the social media network LinkedIn, measured by the number of likes and comments the message has received on LinkedIn (dependent variables).

The research population consists of the messages posted on corporate LinkedIn pages of the 100 companies that are mentioned in the Fortune Magazine list of 100 “Best companies to work for” (Fortune, 2014). For each of these companies, the 25 most recent company updates posted on their corporate LinkedIn page were coded, between February 2nd and May 16th of 2014, for message characteristics considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness. A list of 28 measures was used to operationalize these message characteristics, organized around three main categories: form, content and function.

Research Sample

The sample size of this research is 2020 recruitment messages (N = 2020), whereas 2500 was the maximum amount of messages possible (100 companies * 25 messages = 2500). This is because some companies were not using the possibility on LinkedIn to post company updates at the time of coding (7 out of 100 companies) and some companies didn’t have 25 company updates on their corporate LinkedIn page (22 out of 100 companies).

For most measures, there were more instances of the information not being included in the recruitment message. Only the conditions where a ‘picture’ (n=1649) or ‘link’ (n=1819) was mentioned in the company update, occurred more often than their counter-conditions ‘no picture’ (n=371) and ‘no link’ (n=201). The frequencies of all variables are shown in Appendix C. The mean number of company updates per corporate LinkedIn page was 20,20 message per company (M=20.200, SD=8.666, Minimum=0.0, Maximum=25.0).

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Data analysis

Independent-samples t-tests were conducted in order to research whether the interaction success of company status updates on LinkedIn, is influenced by the presence of content considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness, divided into three categories: form, content and function.

Form

The form of the recruitment message is operationalized as four different variables: use of pictures, use of colors, use

of animation, use of audio and video. For each of these variables, independent samples t-tests were conducted to

compare the number of likes as well as the number of comments in conditions where one of these variables was present or absent in the recruitment message, as posted on LinkedIn.

Picture, Color, Animation and Audio/Video

Independent samples t-tests showed there was a significant difference in the number of likes for the conditions ‘No

Picture’ (M=50.798, SD=145.028) and ‘Picture’ (M=71.950, SD=149.226); t(2018)=2.479, p=0.013.

Color, operationalized as the prominent use of color to highlight aspects of the picture in the message, is also

significantly related to the number of likes, as the conditions ‘No Color’ (M=60.833, SD=129.604) and ‘Color’ (M=147.798, SD=272.045) show; t(173.941)=4.101, p<0.001.

These results indicate that the use of pictures does have a positive effect on the number of likes the recruitment message is getting (p=0.013). In other words, when pictures are included in a recruitment message, the number of interactions with LinkedIn members, including potential applicants, is higher. The effect of using color to highlight certain aspects of the picture in the message, is even more significantly related to the number of likes (p<0.001).

Audio/Video, the use of audio and/or video in the message, was not significantly related to the number of likes

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▷ Page 29/53 Table 2: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Form

The number of comments is, in contrast to the number of likes, not significantly influenced by the use of pictures, as the scores for the conditions ‘No Picture’ (M=4.132, SD=13.805) and ‘Picture’ (M=4.248, SD=10.959) show; t(2017)=0.175, p=0.861.

However, the influence of Color is significant in relation to the number of comments, as it also is in relation to the number of likes, which can be concluded from the scores for the conditions ‘No Color’ (M=3.834, SD=9.831) and

‘Color’ (M=8.554, SD=22.702); t(172.729)=2.672, p=0.008.

As mentioned before, the variable Animation was never coded in this research. The use of Audio/Video was not significantly related to the number of comments: ‘No Audio/Video’ (M=4.242, SD=11.543) and ‘Audio/Video’ (M=3.869, SD=11.303) show; t(2017)=0.290, p=0.772.

As for the form (or vividness) of a recruitment message: only the use of Color seems to have a positive effect on the number of comments of a recruitment message (p=0.008). The use of pictures, animation and audio or video is not significantly related to the number of comments.

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Content

In this research, the content of the recruitment message, or more specifically employment-related information, is operationalized by the five-factor model of job and organizational characteristics, as introduced by Carless and Imber (2007). This model consisted of the five factors (a) Challenging Work, (b) Coworkers, (c) Pay and Promotion Opportunities, (d) Reputation and (e) Location with 17 underlying attributes in total.

Independent samples t-tests were conducted to research whether the five factors and the underlying attributes were of significant influence on the number of likes and comments the recruitment messages received on LinkedIn.

Challenging work

Independent samples t-tests showed there was a significant difference in the number of likes when there is mention of the factor challenging work at all: ‘No challenging work’ (M=62.411, SD=118.540) and ‘Challenging

work’ (M=85.914, SD=217.156); t(579.263)=2.281, p=0.023.

Table 4: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Content: Challenging work

Of the underlying attributes, only the mention of ‘Challenging and interesting work’ is positively related to the number of likes: ‘No challenging and interesting work’ (M=62.477, SD=120.961) and ‘Challenging and interesting

work’ (M=90.842, SD=228.020); t(453.191)=2.400, p=0.017.

The mention of ‘Opportunities to use abilities’ (p=0.386), ‘Opportunities to learn’ (p=0.472), ‘Variety of activities’ (p=0.808) and ‘Enjoyable type of work’ (p=0.350) were not significant in relation to the number of likes.

The mention of ‘Challenging work’ doesn’t seem to have significant influence on the number of comments (p=0.222), as well as all the underlying variables: ‘Challenging and interesting work’ (p=0.274), ‘Opportunities to

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▷ Page 31/53 Table 5: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Comments) - Content: Challenging work

Coworkers

The mention of Coworkers in general was not significantly related to the number of likes (p=0.222). More specifically, also the mention of ‘competent and sociable coworkers’ (p=0.775), ‘warm and friendly coworkers’ (p=0.911) and ‘supportive coworkers’ (p=0.218) was of no significant influence on the number of likes the recruitment messages received on LinkedIn.

Table 6: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Content: Coworkers

Independent samples t-tests showed that there was also no significant difference in the number of comments when Coworkers in general were mentioned in the recruitment message (p=0.886). The same conclusion can be drawn for the mention of the more specified groups of coworkers: ‘competent and sociable coworkers’ (p=0.775),

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▷ Page 32/53 Table 7: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Comments) - Content: Coworkers

Pay and promotion opportunities

The mention of Pay and promotion opportunities in general showed great significant difference in the number of likes as the scores from the independent samples t-test show: ‘No pay and promotion opportunities’ (M=69.686, SD=152.415) and ‘Pay and promotion opportunities’ (M=43.065, SD=63.346); t(228.706)=3.974, p<0.001.

The results show that mention of pay and promotion opportunities is negatively related to the number of likes the recruitment message received on LinkedIn. This indicates that messages without mention of pay and promotion

opportunities were more likely to receive likes on LinkedIn than messages which included these factors.

Of the underlying attributes, the mention of a prestigious job title seems to be the only factor which is displaying the same negative relation between the number of likes and the mention of pay and promotion opportunities: ‘No

prestigious job title’ (M=69.408, SD=151.412) and ‘Prestigious job title’ (M=38.933, SD=57.462); t(152.622)=4.355,

p<0.001.

For the other underlying attributes there were no significant results in the independent samples t-test:

Opportunities for rapid advancement (p=0.517), Salary (p=0.791), Fringe benefits (p=0.320). This indicates that the

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▷ Page 33/53 Table 8: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Content: Pay and promotion opportunities

As for the number of comments the recruitment messages received: independent samples t-tests showed no significant difference when pay and promotion opportunities were or weren’t mentioned in the company updates on LinkedIn (p=0.777). Also, the underlying attributes indicated no significant relationship to the number of comments: opportunities for rapid advancement (p=0.318), salary (p=0.706), fringe benefits (p=0.338) and

prestigious job title (p=0.600).

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Reputation

The number of likes that recruitment messages on LinkedIn received, seem to be positively influenced by the mention of Reputation. There was a significant difference in the scores for ‘No reputation’ (M=61.252, SD=144.875) and ‘Reputation’ (M=82.961, SD=155.680); t(2018)=3.052, p=0.002.

The independent samples t-tests for the underlying attributes showed similar results, as the mention of public

image (p=0.008) and ethical standards (p=0.024) also seem to have significant influence on the number of likes.

The score for the underlying construct ‘good reputation’ was not enough to be considered of significant influence on the number of likes (p=0.008).

Table 10: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Content: Reputation

The number of comments was also positively influenced by mentioning one of the underlying attributes of the factor Reputation as the independent samples t-test shows for the conditions ‘No reputation’ (M=3.873, SD=12.177) and ‘Reputation’ (M=5.000, SD=9.939); t(2017)=2.040, p=0.041.

Public image seems to be the construct responsible for the significance of the factor Reputation, as there was a

significant difference in the scores for the mention of ‘no public image’ (M=3.940, SD=11.882) and ‘public image’ (M=5.243, SD=10.137); t(2017)=2.107, p=0.035. These results suggest that the mention of public image does have an effect on the number of comments received on LinkedIn.

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▷ Page 35/53 Table 11: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Comments) - Content: Reputation

Location

The mention of Location in general, and also more specifically ‘Geographic Location’ and ‘Location near family and

friends’ have no significant influence on the number of likes or comments recruitment messages on LinkedIn are

likely to receive.

Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare the number of likes and comments when information about location was included in the recruitment message, and when this information was absent. There was no significant difference in the scores for ‘No location’ (M=68.285, SD=152.626) and ‘Location’ (M=65.265, SD=83.060); t(2018)=0.237, p=0.813.

The underlying attributes ‘Geographic Location’ (p=0.879) and ‘Location near family and friends’ (p=0.742) showed similar results.

Table 12: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Content: Location

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▷ Page 36/53 underlying construct ‘Geographic Location’ (p=0.052).

The other underlying construct ‘Location near family and friends’ (p=0.842) is also not considered significant in relation to the number of comments.

Table 13: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Comments) - Content: Location

Function

As discussed earlier, in terms of function, the focus of this research is on the aspect of interactivity, defined as “the

degree to which two or more communication parties can act on each other, on the communication medium, and on the messages and the degree to which such influences are synchronized” (Liu & Shrum, 2002).

Interactivity is operationalized by the use of Links (e.g. the use of an external link in the message) and the use of Questions in the updates on corporate LinkedIn pages.

Independent-samples t-tests were conducted in order to research whether the number of likes or comments of company updates on LinkedIn, are influenced by including a link or question in the message.

Links and questions

The inclusion of an external link in the recruitment message, is of highly significant influence on the number of likes as the scores of the independent samples t-test show for the conditions ‘No link’ (M=134.731, SD=216.371) and ‘Link’ (M=60.699, SD=137.278); t(218.140)=4.746, p<0.001.

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▷ Page 37/53 Table 14: Independent samples t-test (dependent variable: Likes) - Function

As for the number of comments received on LinkedIn, independent samples t-tests showed there was a significant difference for the conditions ‘No link’ (M=10.338, SD=16.523) and ‘Link’ (M=3.551, SD=10.631); t(218.677)=5.695, p<0.001. The number of comments, just like the number of likes, seem to be negatively influenced by the inclusion of an external link in the company update on LinkedIn.

The inclusion of a question in the recruitment message does have a significant positive effect on the number of comments received, as the scores for the independent samples t-test indicate: ‘No question’ (M=3.759, SD=10.569) and ‘Question’ (M=6.109, SD=14.647); t(509.406)=3.028, p=0.003. These results suggest that the use of a question in a company update, leads to a higher number of interactions with potential applicants on LinkedIn, in the form of comments.

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Discussion

The goal of this research was to discover how successful employers are currently trying to attract their high-skilled, talented applicants through their communication on social media, in order to provide a useful, practical contribution to the existing research on social media and recruitment, which has been criticized for being too theoretical and lacking practical relevance (Saks, 2005; Breaugh, 2008; Ployhart, 2006; Cheikh-Ammar & Barki, 2014).

In this study a content analysis was conducted to discover which message characteristics are important for the interaction success of company status updates on the social media network LinkedIn, measured by the number of likes and comments the message has received.

The company updates on corporate LinkedIn pages of the Fortune Magazine 100 “Best companies to work for” (Fortune, 2014) were coded for a list of 28 message characteristics considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness, organized around three main categories: form, content and function.

Research summary

Independent samples t-tests indicated that the interaction success of company status updates on LinkedIn, was influenced by the presence of certain content considered important in determining the job- and organizational attractiveness.

Form

As for the form of the message, both the inclusion of a picture and the use of color to highlight certain aspects of the picture were of significant influence on the number of likes messages received. The number of comments was only influenced by the use of color.

Content

The mention of challenging (and interesting) work was positively related to the number of likes received on

LinkedIn, as well as the mention of reputation and its underlying attributes public image and ethical standards. The

number of comments is also positively related to the mention of reputation in general and more specifically the underlying construct public image.

Messages with information regarding pay and promotion opportunities appear to be negatively influenced with regard to the number of likes.

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Function

Although most updates posted on corporate LinkedIn pages contain an external link, it appears to be of negative influence on the number of likes and comments the messages are likely to receive.

The inclusion of a question is of high significant positive influence on the number of comments on company updates posted on LinkedIn.

Discussion of results

These results provide an insight in which type of characteristics or information is important to include in

recruitment messages, in order to make the message appealing to potential applicants on LinkedIn. Given the need for more practical recruitment literature (Saks, 2005; Breaugh, 2008; Ployhart, 2006), this study provides a useful contribution to current recruitment research literature by not only looking at the theory but also at social media behavior of successful employers in practice.

For some characteristics, like for example the use of a picture and color, it was to be expected that this makes the message more appealing to potential applicants, as multiple researchers emphasized the importance of the form or vividness of the recruitment message (Cober et al., 2004b; Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Zusman & Landis, 2002; Coulter & Punj, 1999).

But for some measures, results are not completely in line with current recruitment literature. Especially the

negative influence of pay and promotion opportunities on the number of likes and comments is notable, considering that literature suggested salary is one of the most important predictors in applicant attraction (Powell, 1984; Harris & Fink, 1987; Turban et al., 1998; Carless & Imber, 2007).

However, researchers like Harold and Ployhart (2008) did suggest that information regarding salary is mostly evaluated in a later stage of the recruitment process, as opposed to information like location and reputation which influenced job and organizational attractiveness early in the recruitment process (Harold & Ployhart, 2008). Also, with the inclusion of an external link in the recruitment message, it seems that the number of likes and comments is actually lower than with messages without these external links. Remarkable, seeing that 90% of all company updates coded in this research contain an external link. One of possible reasons for this negative

influence, might be that messages which include an external link, contain less concrete information itself and need to be clicked on before the entire content of the message can be read. Another possible reason could be that companies have too much information about their organization or vacancy to share, to fit into one message on

LinkedIn, making it necessary to use a link to an external page like their own corporate or recruitment website.

More research should be conducted in order to find a scientific explanation for this.

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▷ Page 40/53 require an actual answer, in the form of a comment, whereas clicking the like-button is probably not sufficient to answer the question posed in the company update.

Limitations and suggestions for future research

In this study several relations between applicant attraction and message form, content and function have been demonstrated. However, more research is needed on explaining these relations to provide further practical advice to employers who wish to maximize their recruitment efforts on social media.

The research population consists of companies that are in the Fortune Magazine list of 100 “Best companies to work

for” (Fortune, 2014)). Although these companies seem suitable for researching corporate recruitment efforts on

the Internet, because the list indicates a certain corporate focus on progressive Human Resource practices to external audiences (Cober et al., 2004; Levering & Moskovitz, 2000), the list doesn’t necessarily represent all successful employers.

Also, LinkedIn was chosen as social media network of choice, and although this platform is the most popular social network used for recruiting purposes (Jobvite, 2013), future research should also be conducted on other social networking sites like for example Facebook and Twitter.

Another limitation is the fact that in this research the dependent variable comments was treated as an ‘interaction

success’ without looking at the actual contents of the comment itself which could also be of a negative nature.

Future research should also distinguish between positive and negative comments.

A problem for researching social media in general which other authors (Ellison & Boyd, 2013) have also indicated, is that due to the rapid technological development the research landscape of social networking sites is prone to changes which could eventually lead to literature becoming outdated.

Applicant attraction through social media: the importance of recruitment message form, content and function

Applicant attraction through social media:

the importance of recruitment message

form, content and function

Applicant attraction through social media:

the importance of recruitment message

form, content and function

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction

Theoretical background

Research method

Results

Discussion