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Recruiting Through Job Advertisements

 

The Effects of Cognitive Elaboration on Decision Making

 

We applied a model of persuasion – the elaboration likelihood model – to investigate whether individuals’ decisions about responding to job advertisements are affected by how deeply they process recruitment messages (i.e., elaboration likelihood, EL). We manipulated individuals’ (N 5 112) motivation and ability to carefully process job advertisements (ads).

Recently, Chapman and Jones (2002) suggested that the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) might offer a strong theoretical basis for understanding the cognitive processes involved in applicant attraction which might, in turn, inform recruiting practice. In the present study, we use this model to understand and predict how individuals’ depth of processing might influence decisions about the job advertisements to which they would most likely apply.

Recruitment Through Job Advertisements:

In the earliest stage of the recruitment process, organizations attempt to draw job seekers into the applicant pool (Rynes, 1991). Initial recruiting practices have been shown to have a profound influence on the size of the applicant pool and, in turn, selection system utility (Boudreau & Rynes, 1985). In the earliest stage of recruiting, organizational attraction is largely dependent upon employment advertising (Barber, 1998). Although Internet-based recruiting is on the rise (Chapman & Webster, 2003), job advertisements (ads) placed in newspapers are still one of the most commonly used recruitment tools. As recently as 1999, evidence suggested that newspapers ads were the most common method of recruitment (Olsten Forum, 1999).

Reeve and Schultz (2004) recently noted the lack of research on the topic despite repeated calls for more research on the early stages of recruitment and on job ads in particular.Thus, practitioners who create job ads often rely on their own experience, trial and error, and anecdotal evidence (Ryan, Gubern, & Rodriguez, 2000).

Applying the ELM to Job Advertisements:

 We utilized the ELM (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), which is a well-supported model of persuasion that describes how an individual’s depth of information processing affects the persuasiveness of message content and delivery strategies. The ELM might be well-suited for the study of job ads because they can be viewed as persuasive communications (Thorsteinson & Highhouse, 2003).

Elaboration refers to the extent to which an individual  thinks carefully about issue-relevant arguments (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). To be high in elaboration likelihood (EL), high levels on two antecedents must be present: an individual must possess both the motivation and ability to process argument relevant information. Motivation refers to a person’s desire to carefully process information, and ability is affected by a person’s cognitive capacity and their opportunity to process information deeply. EL, then, represents the likelihood of a temporary psychological state that is influenced by both individual differences and aspects of the situation that affect either motivation, ability, or both.

According to the ELM, when EL is high, individuals carefully consider the content of a message and persuasion is a function of argument quality. Thus, when EL is high, people’s attraction to job ads will be influenced primarily by the quality of the recruitment message. In contrast, when EL is low, individuals engage in less effortful processing. Consequently, people with low EL can be persuaded by aspects of a message that are unrelated to argument quality – termed peripheral cues – such as the perceived attractiveness of the message source (Petty & Wegener, 1998). Peripheral cues can be persuasive when EL is low through several mechanisms, including the use of heuristic rules of thumb (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)

Variance in Cognitive Elaboration:

 While Reading Job Ads During the initial stages of recruitment, individuals may differ in their EL because of differences in their motivation and ability to carefully process a recruiting message (Chapman & Jones, 2002). Researchers have noted that more casual job seekers, such as passive job seekers who are already employed, tend to ‘‘skim’’ the ads in the classifieds section of a newspaper (Redman & Mathews, 1992), and this may occur because these individuals are not highly motivated to process the information carefully. Perceived credibility of the information might also affect motivation. Van Hoye and Lievens (2005) speculated that individuals may process information contained in job ads less carefully because of perceptions of lower credibility, relative to other recruitment sources.

EL might also be low among job seekers who may be motivated to process the information carefully, but do not have the ability to do so. Ryan et al. (2000, p. 359) noted that ‘‘one of the main problems with advertising in newspapers is the sheer clutter of ads vying for the readers’ attention. When a reader is confronted with so many ads, [s]he will normally browse through the pages and pay attention to a small subset.’’ The environment may also affect an individual’s ability to carefully process job ad information.

REFERENCES:

·       Boudreau, J.W. and Rynes, S.L. (1985) Role of recruitment in staffing utility analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 354–366.

·       Barber, A.E. (1998) Recruiting employees: Individual and organizational perspectives. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

·       Chapman, D.S. and Jones, D.A. (2002) Recruiting as persuasion: Making the square hole appear round and making the round peg feel square. Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Academy of Management, Denver, Colorado.

·       Petty, R.E. and Wegener, D.T. (1998) Attitude change: Multiple roles for persuasion variables. In D.T. Gilbert, S.T. Fiske and G. Lindzey (Eds), The handbook of social psychology, Vol. 2 (pp. 324–390). New York: McGraw Hill

·       Petty, R.E. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1986) Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer-Verlag

·       Ryan, G., Gubern, M. and Rodriguez, I. (2000) Recruitment advertising: The marketing–human resource interface. International Advances in Economic Research, 6(2), 354–364.

·       Reeve, C.L. and Schultz, L. (2004) Job-seeker reactions to selection process information in job ads. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 12, 343–355.

·       Ryan, G., Gubern, M. and Rodriguez, I. (2000) Recruitment advertising: The marketing–human resource interface. International Advances in Economic Research, 6(2), 354–364.

·       Rynes, S.L. (1991) Recruitment, job choice, and post-hire consequences: A call for new research directions. In M.D. Dunnette and L.M. Hough (Eds), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, 2nd Edn, Vol. 2 (pp. 399–444). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

·      Thorsteinson, T.J. and Highhouse, S. (2003) Effects of goal framing in job advertisements on organizational attractiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 11, 2393–2412.

·       Van Hoye, G. and Lievens, F. (2005) Recruitment-related information sources and organizational attractiveness: Can something be done about negative publicity? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 13, 179–187.

 

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