CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Scope and Source of Review

E-recruitment has been addressed by researchers from diverse fields of research;

ranging from social science and cognitive psychology to information systems (IS) and

consumer behavior. Social scientists and cognitive psychologists have explored the

perceptions and attitudes of the various stakeholders towards the E-recruitment

process (Cable and Yu 2000; Stone et al. 2006), while IS researchers have looked at

the technical aspects of online recruitment systems (Ruta 2005; Lee 2007). The

marketing researchers have considered job seekers/ applicants as potential customers

and have tried to understand their preferences and expectations of applicants about job

websites from a consumer behavior perspective (Maurer and Liu 2007). Due to this

interdisciplinary nature of E-recruitment, the following literature review was

conducted with the objective of identifying E-recruitment studies published in the

context of different interdisciplinary domains. The time- frame chosen for identifying

the studies was 2000 to 2010. The rationale for choosing this particular time-period

for this review may be justified by the fact that there has been a lack of research in E-

recruitment in the preceding decades. Breaugh and Starke‘s (2000) review of

recruitment studies, one of the highly cited works in recruitment research, did not

cover any topic related with E-recruitment. A later review of E-recruitment studies by

Lievens and Harris (2003) also consisted of papers published during or after 2000. A

pilot search using keywords pertaining to E-recruitment in various electronic journal

databases also could identify only one article on E-recruitment published before 2000

– ―Internet recruiting and employee discrimination: a legal perspective‖ by Hogler,

7
Henle and Bemus published in the Human Resource Management review in 1998.

The choice of the timeframe was therefore justified from the literature search process.

The studies identified for the literature review were obtained from the electronic

databases EBSCO, JSTOR, PROQUEST, Science Direct, Emerald Insight and Google

scholar. Journals from different streams of management were searched ranging from

HR, IS, Marketing and other interdisciplinary journals. Search terms used to identify

potential studies included ‗E- recruitment‘, ‗Internet based recruitment‘, ‗Web- based

recruitment‘, ‗E-selection‘, ‗Online recruitment‘ and ‗E- HRM‘. Besides, studies

pertaining to the theme of E-recruitment such as traditional RJP studies, papers on

theoretical aspects and usability studies in the context of the internet were also

searched to identify potentially relevant papers. Only articles published in peer-

reviewed journals were considered for this review. Except for a few relevant papers,

conference papers and doctoral dissertations were excluded from the final set of

papers. The choice of peer- reviewed articles over conference and working paper

articles was prompted by the fact that the former are considered as the most credible

representations of research and such articles undergo rigorous peer review process to

get published (Lievens and Harris 2003). A few exceptions include one conference

paper proceeding by Kroustalis and Meade (2007) and one conference paper

presented by Wolfswinkel (2009) due to relevance of topic.

2.2 Perceived Advantages of E-Recruitment

E-recruitment has been found to help organizations in significantly reducing

recruitment related costs. As an example, Dow Chemical‘s was able to reduced its

hiring cycle from 90 to 34 days and cost per hire by 26 % through online recruitment

practices (Maurer and Liu 2007) A survey by the Society of Human Resource

8
Management (SHRM) in 2002 showed that major US MNCs such as Nike, Home

Depot and JC Penny have resorted to online recruitment and selection processes in

recent times (Chapman and Webster 2003). In the Indian context, a case study by

Kumari, Bhatt and Pandey (2010) on Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Pvt. Ltd.

revealed that the firm was outsourcing its recruitment and selection processes to major

Indian third party service providers such as Naukri and Monster. Majority of Indian

organizations have likewise shifted from the traditional HR system to an online

platform (Doh, Stumf, Tymon and Haid 2008). Costs associated with traditional

recruitment activities have been reduced by almost 80 % in India by using E-

recruitment media (Tyagi 2012). Thus E-recruitment has brought about a

revolutionary change in management of two traditional HR functions - recruitment

and selection (Bartram 2000; Maurer and Liu 2007).

2.3 Perceived Disadvantages of E-Recruitment

Despite having numerous promising advantages over traditional recruitment practices,

in one respect, there is a serious disadvantage of E-recruitment. Being a relatively

new medium of job advertisement, it has been found to be perceived as less credible

in comparison with traditional recruitment channels such as campus interviews,

newspaper ads and career fairs (Kuhn and Skuterud 2000; Zusman and Landis 2002;

Cable and Yu 2007). This is a major shortcoming of online recruitment, since

perceptions about credibility of job-related information posted in such websites may

have significant impact on the job-seekers‘ eventual preference to apply for jobs

through such websites over other media such as personal channels, newspaper ads and

job fairs (Kuhn and Skuterud 2000; Zusman and Landis 2002). From previous studies,

two factors could be identified to have significant impact on the perceived credibility

9
of the posted job advertisement- the believability of the information (trustworthiness)

and the usefulness of the information conveyed through the ad (expertise). Using

cognitive theories of information processing and attitude formation, researchers such

as Cable and Yu (2000) and Dineen and colleagues (2002) have found that people

tend to believe more in information received through face to face communication than

those received through remote sources. Add to that, since information can be posted

in the web by anybody owning a website or by a person with the license to modify

web content, the genuineness of such information has been found to be less than that

shared through more official media such as newspapers and television commercials.

Unfamiliarity with the World Wide Web (WWW) and computer systems may also

create less trust among job seekers regarding the authenticity of the job ads. At the

same time, the details of the information may get overlooked in the background of a

complex website design.

2.4 Factors Affecting E-recruitment Message Credibility

Despite the benefits of E-recruitment as a low cost job search medium, information

about job vacancies posted on online recruitment websites has been found to be

considered as less trustworthy by job seekers compared with more traditional

recruitment sources such as newspaper advertisements, employee referrals and career

fairs (Kuhn and Skuterud 2000; Zusman and Landis 2002; Cable and Yu 2006). As an

explanation to this, researchers have referred to the Media Credibility Theory (Cable

and Yu 2006). Media Credibility Theory suggest that indirect and non-expert channels

of communication may be perceived as less credible compared to more direct and

expert channels such as face-to-face interaction or traditional print media. Media

credibility, which is, ‗the perceived accuracy and believability of a particular source

10
of information‘ (Cable and Yu 2006; 2007) may also differ from media to media

depending on how interactive a medium is. Credibility has two distinct dimensions-

expertise and trustworthiness (Cacioppo et al. 1986; Cable and Yu 2007).

Expertise refers to ‗the volume of information that is available in a media, which is

perceived to be important or interesting by the information processor‘ (Cable and Yu

2007). In E- recruitment‘s context, the expertise of a recruitment source will be the

extent to which the job seekers perceive the information available in the source to be

relevant for their job search and job application. Trustworthiness dimension of media

credibility refers to ‗the extent to which an information source is perceived to provide

truthful and bias free information‘ (Cable et al. 2000; 2006).

2.4.1 Empirical Research on Media Credibility in E-Recruitment Context

Cable and Yu (2006) have propounded that in general, organizations try to overhype

their risk-taking culture and subdue their rules orientation to attract talent. But

jobseekers typically undervalue such information and make their own judgment based

on prior work experience with the organization or they prefer to rely on word of

mouth publicity. In E-recruitment context, the scope of the organization glorifying its

image to attract talent increases. Simultaneously, job seekers too can become

disillusioned with the facts presented in the corporate career sections and consider the

information lacking in credibility. Therefore, firms need to redesign the content of

their corporate websites so that jobseekers can be convinced of the credibility of the

information posted through such sources. In an earlier study, Cable and his associates

(2000) have conducted a research on understanding how jobseekers use different

sources of information about an organization to form their attitude to apply in those

organizations. This study showed that word-of-mouth information about an

11
organizations‘ image was considered to be more authentic by job-seekers compared to

the message portrayed in the corporate career websites. Therefore the traditional

recruitment media were considered to be more credible by the respondents compared

with E-recruitment.

Zusman and Landis (2002) conducted an experimental design to see if there is any

difference in credibility perceptions of job seekers between traditional and web-based

recruitment. Their results revealed that paper and pencil recruitment formats were

more preferred than web-based format by job applicants. The researchers suggested

that one possible reason for such finding could be that applicants got distracted by the

different peripheral features of the web-based format. The traditional paper based job

advertisement could have been considered to be more informative and concise.

Zusman and Landis also found out that web-sites with more attractive and interactive

features were more favorably perceived by the job applicants compared to less

attractive ones.

The preference for face-to-face recruitment channels such as personal networking and

contacts with headhunters as job search options have been confirmed in the research

of Feldman and Klass (2002) who found that internet job search engines were

preceded by personal networking and headhunters as the most preferred outlet for

getting a job. However, Feldman and Klass also found that the respondents kept

internet based job portals ahead of newspaper ads and other forms of media such as

career fairs and campus placement services. This finding indicated that E-recruitment

may be gradually able to replace newspaper ads and other indirect methods of

traditional recruitment (eg. job fairs) for job search by today‘s labor pool.

12
Speaking of information credibility in case of E-recruitment, organizations have the

power to manipulate the contents of their career pages to suit their recruitment needs.

Firms may use their online career websites to reflect a positive image of their

organization. If job seekers perceive organizations to be deliberately exaggerating the

facts, they may view the recruitment message with less trust and belief. Young and

Foot (2005) conducted a content analysis of the fortune 500 company‘s corporate

career websites which showed that corporate organizations try to glorify their image

as benevolent employers in the contents displayed in their career websites. From this,

it may be inferred that E-recruitment lacks the same level of believability and

credibility as associated with the traditional recruitment media to win the trust of job-

applicants.

On the other side of the coin, E-recruitment also does have some potential advantages

which are lacking in traditional recruitment sources such as cost effectiveness and a

wider job market (Lievens and Harris 2003). However, initially, the job-seekers must

be free of any apprehensions related to the believability of the information posted in

the E-recruitment websites. Job seekers may develop a favorable attitude towards E-

recruitment only when they get the justification for the validity of the information

posted in such sites. This justification can be provided in terms of perceptions about

the believability, accuracy, trust and depth of the information provided in the job

portals among jobseekers. Thus, it may be inferred that jobseeker perception about a

recruitment website may be influenced by those design parameters of the website

which may invoke a sense of trust and believability about the website in the minds of

the users (such as the source of the information, the message content etc).

Existing research has indicated that candidates have to be absolutely convinced about

the authenticity of the job related information before they wish to apply for it. In case

13
of job boards, the medium is low in credibility due to the lack of interactivity. The

challenge is to provide them with a job preview which appears realistic in its content.

As suggested by Van Hoye and Lievens (2007), it remains to be explored how

multiple employee testimonials affect applicant attraction. At the same time, there is

no study to investigate the impact of RJPs in the testimonials on the overall credibility

of the message. Most of the RJP research has been restricted to traditional

recruitment research only, which makes studies in this aspect all the more necessary.

Previous research has found that job seekers tend to feel attracted towards an

organization if they can identify some attributes about their prospective employer/

organization which they value/desire (Kristoff 1996). This concept, known better as

the person-organization (P-O) fit, has been extensively researched over the past fifty

years, with results showing employees with high P-O fit were less willing to quit their

organization and vice versa. In order to increase the trustworthiness of the

recruitment message, it is important that the job-seekers believe in the organization

first. The question arises as to how to give the applicants a sense of high P-O fit?

What are the key elements of a website which can reflect the employer as a perfect fit

to the talent pool out there in the labor market?

Dineen, Ash and Noe (2002) tried to see if person organization (P-O) fit theory could

be used to predict job seeker attitude towards online recruitment. They administered a

survey on 312 students from a Midwestern university in USA by asking them about

their perceptions of objective and subjective fit regarding a career webpage of a

fictitious company, Office Pro Inc. The site provided a fit-check option to the

candidates where they could check how much the organization was fitting with their

expectation and get, on a scale of 100, their P-O fit scores instantly. Different versions

of the same organizational webpage were created and were shown to two separate

14
groups of respondents. One webpage provided additional information about the

organizations‘ values reflecting the organizational culture, while the other showed

only job related information. The results gave implication that providing additional

information about the organization‘s values and culture in the career websites may

have some impact on the applicant‘s subjective and objective P-O fit and their

subsequent attraction towards that organization. This study provided indications that

using E-recruitment websites to increase P-O fit perceptions of job-seekers may be a

very good strategy for talent acquisition and retention.

The culture of an organization has been found to be a vital factor in affecting

employees‘ turnover intentions. E-recruitment websites can be designed specifically

to give an implication about the organization‘s culture (Braddy et al. 2006).

Therefore, E-recruitment channels can be used by the HR department of a firm to

promote a positive culture of the firm. To understand to what extent organizational

familiarity affects job seeker‘s decision to apply, Allen and his fellow researchers

(2007) used the brand equity theory from the marketing literature to explore the

impact of an organization‘s brand name on the perceptions of jobseekers. A structural

equation modeling was done which revealed that jobseekers tend to be attracted to

apply in an organization depending on the amount of information accessible in the

webpage about it, the brand image of that organization and based on personal attitude

towards that organization. The authors suggested that organizations should take

necessary endeavors to project a favorable public image in the web content of their

recruitment websites, which may help them to attract potential employees.

As is with the case of the authenticity of the recruitment message, another issue with

online recruiting is the perceptions regarding fairness of the online recruitment

process itself. How fairly do the corporate recruiters screen the resumes of online

15
applicants? Dineen, Noe and Wang (2004) examined this question. Their literature

review suggested that individuals‘ trust in e commerce systems is largely dependent

on the user‘s familiarity with the technology, perceptions about its reliability and on

the control mechanisms to check for system redundancies. E-recruitment systems are

relatively new in the job market compared to traditional recruitment media. Therefore,

there is a high probability that job seekers may be apprehensive about the reliability of

such systems. Then again, the job boards and career websites are free to display any

message tailored to their needs by manipulating the web content. This may seriously

reduce the trust factor among the users. Basing their view on the procedural justice

theory of fairness and the theory of technology acceptance, Dineen and colleagues

(2004) hypothesized that job seeker‘s perceptions about the decision making agent

(most often the recruiting manager/ executive), the time taken to follow up for the

interview and their level of comfort with E-recruitment systems may be some crucial

factors behind applicant perception towards e recruiting. Their analysis yielded

support for the relationship between procedural justice and website content

parameters such as consistency, provision for appeal, provision for additional

information, the nature of the decision agent (human/ automated) and timeliness of

reply.

Although the above studies give some strong implications about the impact of positive

employer branding campaigns on job seeker‘s application decision, Van Hoye and

Lievens (2007) have argued that neutral word-of mouse publicity may serve a better

purpose of promoting the organizations to the job seekers compared to company

fabricated culture and value testimonials based on the postulates of the source

credibility framework. They used a sample of 108 nurses registered in a Belgian

university in a simulation study. Participants were divided into two groups. Each

16
group was asked to visit the website of a medium-sized regional hospital to search for

job vacancies. The website was modeled on an actual hospital website. The homepage

displayed information regarding the organization. The job vacancy page listed a job of

a head nurse. For one of the groups, an employee testimonial page was provided along

with the job vacancy page. The other group was directed to another website, where

they received information about the same job from a neutral person. Both the

employee testimonial as well as the word of mouse pages featured the same person- a

lady clad in a nurse uniform. The result showed that word of mouse was definitely

considered to be a more credible source of information than employee testimonials.

At the same time word of mouse information about the organization/ work

environment was considered to be more credible than personal facts/ experience of the

individual. However, as suggested by the researchers, it remains to be seen the impact

of multiple employee testimonials and RJP based testimonials on applicant

perceptions of credibility. Also other modes of word of mouse such as weblogs, chat

rooms, social networking sites and newsgroups need to be examined to better

understand the role of word of mouse in job seeker behavior.

2.4.2 Application of Realistic Job Previews in E-Recruitment: Empirical

Evidence

Popovich and Wanous (1982) define an RJP is a "persuasive communication" that is

designed to change attitudes about the job and the organization (i.e., to make them

more realistic). RJPs have developed based on the assumptions of the realistic

information hypothesis (Meglino et al. 1997; Breaugh and Starke 2000), which states

that people recruited through certain sources (eg. employee referrals) are likely to

possess more accurate information about the job and the organization compared to

other sources of job information (for eg. campus placement officers, newspaper ads

17
etc). This may be because when candidates are contacted for job through referrals,

they receive the job related information from a current employee of that organization.

As a result, the information received is considered more realistic than those portrayed

by third party officials or advertisements. Therefore, online job ads may find it

difficult to establish a sense of realism in their content to attract potential employees.

To counter such effect, organizations have tried to use employee testimonials in E-

recruitment ads to give jobseekers a peep into the real work environment. However,

such practices have been limited to using only positive feedback about the workplace

from the employees (Breaugh and Starke 2000). RJPs, which have been used

extensively in traditional recruitment research, have been completely neglected in E-

recruitment research till date (Strohmeyer 2007; Wolfswinkel 2009). Hence it is not

known whether providing employee testimonials with realistic previews will be

considered more credible by job seekers compared with positively designed

testimonials. It has already been discussed in the previous section that since the

content of a webpage can be manipulated by the firm owning the website, therefore, if

jobseekers find only good feedback given by employees about their organization in

the testimonials, they may consider such feedback less credible and lose the desire to

apply for job in that organization (Young and Foot 2005). Hence providing positive as

well as negative information about the job may induce a sense of authenticity about

the information among job seekers. It has also been found that people consider any

information as trustworthy if they receive information that is different from what is

expected by them (Breaugh and Starke 2000). In this regard, RJPs definitely provide

unexpected information about a job.

From the above discussion it becomes evident that an RJP can actually change job

seeker attitudes by increasing the credibility of the advertisement. Drawing upon the

18
Yale Persuasive Communication Model (YPCM) as suggested by Popovich and

Wanous (1982), it becomes further evident that the source of the message and the

message content both are crucial elements of persuasive communication to be

effective. Hence it is essential that the persuasive message comes from a credible

source and with a believable content. Another critical property of an RJP is that it

contains important information about the job and the organization being considered

by the applicant from a neutral point of view (Barksdale et al. 2003).

Given this brief explanation of RJP effectiveness, the importance of the timing of the

RJP becomes apparent. If the RJP is given after a job offer has been accepted, it is too

late for the individual to get any prior idea of the workplace atmosphere. Thus, the

RJP is unlikely to affect employee satisfaction and turnover (Breaugh and Billings

1988). Therefore, it is necessary that RJP based applicant attraction strategies should

be implemented at a very early stage of career cycle, favorably for those job seekers

who are about to enter the job market for the first time in their lives. Traditionally,

RJPs have been utilized for lower level and entry level jobs that are being filled

externally through recruitment advertisements (Dugoni and Ilgen 1981; Breaugh

1983). It has been found that RJPs are more effective when used for attracting

inexperienced job seekers (Meglino et al. 1997). To be effective, an RJP must convey

accurate information. However, the information must be more than accurate; it must

be both specific and broad in scope. Concerning specificity, if an applicant is to be

able to make an informed decision about a job offer, the individual must receive

information that is sufficiently detailed to allow such a decision (Breaugh and Billings

1988). Similarly, the information conveyed in the RJP should cover a broad range of

topics (e.g., job duties, coworkers, supervision, reward practices, company politics,

and work unit climate).

19
For most part of the job search process, information that is already known to the

applicant will not be perceived as important. Thus, information conveyed in the RJP

should be largely information that the applicant is lacking. Furthermore, it should deal

with aspects of the job that are of concern to the applicant (Breaugh and Billings

1988; Saks and Cronshaw 1990; Phillips 1998). To insure realism and relevance, the

organization should do everything it can to provide information that is accurate,

specific, and broad in scope, credible, and important. Concerning the source(s) of the

information to be communicated in the RJP (whether a booklet, conversation, film,

etc.), multiple sources of work-related information should be utilized in order to

develop an RJP that provides realistic and relevant information (e.g., job incumbents,

the immediate supervisor, the job description, employee manuals, personnel

department representatives, exit interviews with former employees). With rise of Web

2.0, we now have a host of interactive online platforms where job related information

including RJPs can be posted. RJP based employee testimonials can be more effective

especially when such information is posted in company independent forums. Such a

medium of RJP presentation may help in enhancing the persuasiveness of the message

conveyed through RJPs (Popovich and Wanous 1982).

It remains to be seen whether and how the nature of the testimonial content (positive/

realistic) affects the credibility of E-recruitment advertisements. The research

question which can be drawn from this query is – will job seekers consider employee

testimonials with realistic information as more authentic and believable compare to

testimonials with only positive information about a firm? Based on this research

question, it is proposed that online job descriptions be designed with employee

testimonials having realistic job previews (both positive and negative information

20
about the job). This study wishes to understand how such design manipulation affects

the credibility of online job advertisements in the minds of job seekers.

2.4.3 Use of company independent sources for posting employee testimonials:

empirical evidence

Due to the possibility of content manipulation by the website owner in case of E-

recruitment, it has been time and again observed that job seekers have relied less on

job related information posted online and have preferred more traditional media to

seek such information. Such user behavior can be interpreted through the source

credibility framework (Van Hoye and Lievens 2007), which posits that more credible

information sources are considered more persuasive in changing attitudes as well as

behaviors. In E-recruitment context, this theory suggests that job seekers perceive

credibility of different recruitment sources based on the level of neutrality of the

sources. This is because, the more neutral a recruitment source, less is its motivation

to explicitly promote the recruiting firm. Therefore, company independent sources of

E-recruitment should be considered as more credible than company dependent sources

(Van Hoye and Lievens 2005; 2007).

Earlier E-recruitment was conducted primarily through company-dependent sources

such as job boards (e.g., [Link]) that post job descriptions and specifications

for organizations for a fee or via organizations‘ official websites, including pages

dedicated solely to recruiting. In recent years, a new wave of internet revolution has

taken place with the advent of Web 2.0 technology (blogs, chat-rooms, social

networking sites etc.), which has made the cyber experience of users more interactive

and real-time (Russell 2008). Nowadays, we have several WEB 2.0 enabled web-

based platforms such as social networking websites (MySpace, Facebook etc.) being

used by headhunters to recruit passive job seekers and independent blogs such as

21
Glassdoor ([Link]) where ex and current employees can post their

testimonials about their previous and current workplaces respectively (Russell, 2009).

In the E-recruitment context, the most representative Web 2.0 tools are:

 Blogs, created by applicants and employers and headhunters (High-

tech-job, Glassdoor etc.).

 Online Social Networks: Facebook or professional networks

(LinkedIn) to find customers, partners and future employees, to hunt

and contact ―passive‖ applicants.

 Virtual worlds: Second Life.

Such platforms have the advantage over company owned websites for being

considered as credible, due to the fact that such media are free from any outside

corporate influence and generally firms do not have control over the content of such

websites (Van Hoye and Lievens 2007). Employee testimonials are an important

means which organizations can use in their website design features to portray their

culture. Fazio and Zanna (1981) found that jobseekers like testimonials because they

are first-hand personal accounts of the organizational culture and anecdotal evidence

indicates that testimonials are highly persuasive in recruitment contexts (Highhouse,

Hoffman, Greve, & Collins, 2002). Cober et al. (2003) also suggested the positive

aspect of using employee testimonials citing the fact that such testimonials provide a

human touch, enhancing feelings of identification with the hiring organization. Web

2.0 platforms such as web blogs have opened up a new avenue for communicating

free thoughts to the masses in this digital age.

In online recruitment, there may be simultaneous advantages and disadvantages of

using RJPs in employee testimonials. There is a possibility that job seekers may find

22
negative information about the firm shared by an employee as a shock and as a result

may lose interest in applying (Cable et al. 2000). There remains the possibility that

irrespective of the testimonial‘s content, job-seekers may perceive any feedback by

employees being fabricated by the firm itself in an attempt to glorify its image. This

may have negative repercussions on the perceived credibility of the job site. However,

if the same information is posted through a neutral third party channel, then the

message may be able to project a greater air of honesty (Popovich and Wanous 1982)

among the job seekers. Providing job related realistic information through neutral web

channels such as company independent social networking sites and blogs can

therefore be an important medium for providing RJPs since they provide a neutral and

inside view of the workplace environment and at the same time are not influenced by

the company. Such information can lead to online word-of-mouse publicity (Van

Hoye and Lievens 2007).

The main difference made by the company independent recruitment channels is that in

the latter, both positive and negative message can be propagated depending on the

sender‘s choice. The message host is not compelled to glorify the information as he/

she is not part of the organization. Therefore, company independent media are more

capable of propagating a sense of realism and as such can be ideal for hosting RJP

type information. Earlier research has not addressed the question as to whether

communicating job vacancies through word of mouse channels such as blogs can

enhance the credibility of E-recruitment advertisements. Hence, it is proposed that

online job ads be posted through company owned career pages as well as company

independent sources such as a neutral blog featuring testimonials from past

employees. Websites dedicated to such testimonial hosting have recently been started

in the USA, for example Glassdoor ([Link]) is a website where

23
anonymous bloggers can post what they feel about their present or previous

workplaces. It is still to be seen whether providing realistic previews through

company independent web blogs leads to a higher perception about credibility in the

minds of the jobseekers and their eventual willingness to apply for the job compared

with those hosted through company dependent sources. Therefore, this study wishes

to compare perception of testimonials propagated through company owned (company

dependent) platforms with those hosted through company neutral (company

independent) sources.

2.5 Factors Affecting E-recruitment Website Quality

2.5.1 Empirical Research on Website Quality in E-Recruitment Context

Does the quality of an online job website have any effect on the overall the job search

process? Jansen, Jansen and Spink (2005) asked this specific question in their study of

e job queries and real time site visits recorded at the transaction logs of the website

[Link], a major job search engine during 1999- 2001. The transaction log of

[Link] had three sub-fields. The first one, time of day- kept record of at what time

the users logged into excites‘ website and for how long they stayed there. The user

identification section consisted of an anonymous user code which helped in

identifying the specific users, and the query term section which kept record of the

exact query terms typed by the users during the job search. The results showed that on

an average, job seekers spent relatively less time during their job search sessions. The

most frequently used search terms were ‗employment‘, ‗job‘, ‗monster‘ and ‗resume‘.

It was also found that only 52 % of the respondents were satisfied with the job search

process- the biggest problem faced by them being the inability to locate jobs in time

(Jansen et al. 2005). The search terms used frequently by the job seekers may not

have matched those used by the recruiters. Deficiency in the design features of these

24
websites have been cited by other researchers as well (Maurer and Liu 2007) as a

major reason why job seekers have been less willing to rely on E- recruitment media

compared to traditional channels.

It has been argued from the perspective of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

theory, that, a positive perception about the ease of use and usefulness dimensions of

web quality is very much essential for the development of a favorable attitude for the

job seekers towards the job portal (Zeithaml et al. 2002; Koufaris 2002; Loiacano et

al. 2007). The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory states that ‗the

acceptance of a new technology to an end user will depend on the perceived ease of

use (user friendliness) and perceived usefulness of the technology‘ (Koufaris 2002;

Loiacano et al. 2007). Hence the goal of E-recruitment website developers should be

to make the websites more user-friendly and full of useful information.

Braddy and associates (2003) found that navigational ease was positively related with

a favorable recruitment message. Another paper which provides additional

justification to the TAM theory is that by Tong et al (2005). Tong and his fellow

researchers (2005) wanted to understand how the overall performance time and the

mental workload exerted to perform a task influence‘s a user‘s perceived service

quality. In E-recruitment term, this performance time was defined as the overall time

taken to apply for a job through an online job board. It was found that for website

with faster performance time, users had a higher perception of website quality. This

gave empirical justification to their hypotheses that site quality and response time may

have major impact on the user‘s perceived service quality of E-recruitment websites.

Koong and others (2002) looked into five of the world‘s most popular job boards;

Monster, Vault, Dice, Future step and Headhunter; to compare and analyze the

different functions available at these premier job search engines for the corporate

25
recruiters as well as the job seekers. They identified forty-six desirable attributes to

facilitate the job search process based on a pilot survey. They then reviewed the web

content of those five job boards to see which of those attributes were present in the

website‘s design features. The authors categorized the attributes into primary,

secondary and unique attributes depending on the nature of their application. Their

study revealed that none of those job boards had all the attributes; in fact, only

Hotjobs and Monster had seventy five percent of the desired set of attributes. This

study gave evidence that there is a scope for improving the design of the recruitment

job boards to enhance the quality of the site for the job seekers as well as the

corporate recruiters.

Cober and others (2004) conducted a longitudinal study between 2000 and 2002 to

analyze the corporate career website features of Fortune‘s ‗100 best places to work

for‘. Their analysis revealed that interactive features allowing jobseekers to choose

their job search process led to better perception about P-O fit in the applicant‘s mind

about the organization. There was some evidence that targeted recruitment messages

may have a positive impact on user perceptions. Cober and his associates (2004) also

stated that there was a lack of understanding regarding exactly what sort of

information was considered valuable by the job seekers in E-recruitment websites.

Future research in this direction could be very much beneficial in redesigning the

form and content of these websites. There was also the scope and opportunity to

influence applicant‘s decision to apply online by implementing realistic job previews,

which, only a few of the Fortune 100 organizations had in place.

In one comparative analysis of Malaysian E-recruitment websites with respect to their

global counterparts, Tong and Sivanand (2005) underwent a case study analysis of six

E-recruitment service providers‘ websites. Three such websites belonged to

26
international organizations such as Monster, CareerBuilder and Hotjobs, and the other

three were indigenous Malaysian companies, namely, Jobstreet, JoblinkAsia and

JobDB. They identified three types web platform tools- primary, secondary and

auxiliary based on a literature review on form and content of web design. Their study

revealed that all the six websites provided the primary platform tools, which were the

basic navigational characteristics of the websites. These tools were log in, search,

search by location, job description, keyword, company search, e resume service, job

alert etc. The secondary tools were identified as those, which added aesthetical values

to the site and make the job search process more enjoyable experience. In this regard,

they found that CareerBuilder scored higher than any site, as it had a unique feature of

radio broadcasting of jobs in their website, which all the others lacked. Overall, the

Malaysian websites fared poorly compared to the international ones in terms of

secondary platform application. The same trend was observed in terms of auxiliary

support services such as career fairs, news/ press, online games and chatting. Several

empirical studies have time and again established the importance of ‗ease of use‘ and

‗usefulness‘ factors behind formation of perceptions of website quality. Lin (2010)

found that among factors such as the jobseeker‘s attitude, the subjective norms that

they develop, and perceived behavioral control, the website‘s perceived ease of use

and perceived usefulness also played their part in influencing perceptions of web

quality. Terzis and Economides (2005) also included navigability and ease of use as a

component in their proposed job site evaluation framework for evaluating the quality

of an E-recruitment website.

How important are aesthetic features of E-recruitment websites in influencing job

seeker‘s attraction to the site? Dineen and others (2007) addressed this query in a later

study. The researchers wanted to find the interrelationship between online recruitment

27
web aesthetics, customized information regarding perceived fit of applicants and

applicant willingness to apply. Their study revealed that providing customized P-O fit

information resulted in a better perceived fit towards the job by the applicants.

Applicants who perceived lesser fit due to such provisions were found to avoid

applying subsequently for these jobs. This trend was noticed to be more in websites

with better aesthetic designs. This gave evidence that web aesthetics can be a

moderator of the perceived fit of applicants and their eventual decision to apply. Flow

theory (Csikszentmihalyi 1990) suggests that human beings can sometimes

experience a state of flow, which is a cognitive state of the mind where people have a

sensation of being fully immersed in a task. From the flow theory, it may be inferred

that while designing websites for e commerce purposes, web developers must keep in

mind the salient features of a website, which can trigger a flow experience in the

consumers.

The empirical works done in this context support the logic proposed here (Koufaris

2002; Loiacano et al. 2007). From a job portal‘s perspective, unique creative features

like video podcasts of the organizations advertising the job will appear more

appealing and convincing to the job seeker in comparison to dull textual

advertisement (Koufaris 2002). Thus, from above studies, it becomes evident the

importance of making the websites more easy to use, more useful and entertaining in

order to enhance the perceived quality of a website becomes evident. High quality

websites will help in triggering central route of information processing from the

applicants (Petty et al. 1987) which in turn will help in engaging the job seekers to

devote more time towards online job search. This can help E-recruitment websites to

replace traditional recruitment channels as the most preferred medium for finding and

applying for jobs.

28
2.5.2 Application of A-V Media in E-Recruitment Ads: Empirical Evidence

Communication channels that permit timely feedback (e.g., real-time exchange of

messages), convey multiple language cues (e.g., words, facial expressions, body

posture), allow tailoring of messages to personal circumstances (e.g., customized to

the needs of a recipient), and provide language variety (e.g., written text, charts and

graphs, verbal expression) are referred to as rich media (Daft et al. 1987). As per the

media richness theory (Daft et al. 1987; Cable et al. 2000), synchronous media such

as face-to-face oral communication, telephonic communications etc. are richer than

asynchronous media such as mail correspondence or information in a webpage (Cable

and Yu 2006). In earlier studies, textual communication has been found to be the least

rich medium of communication (Zusman and Landis 2002; Cober et al. 2004; Cable

and Yu 2006). Previous studies have shown that pictures strongly enhance and

reinforce information about an organization‘s values (Cober et al. 2004) and can

impact memories more effectively than text (Cober et al. 2003). Moreover, the use of

pictures in addition to text increases the viewer‘s cognitive awareness, leading to an

increase in attention to the information provided (Daft et al. 1987). Audio-visual cues

have similarly been found to be more attractive for information processing compared

to text based cues (Walker et al. 2009).

Such media may also lead to enhancing the perceived quality of a website. In this

regard, the rise of video podcasts in recent times has opened up a whole new avenue

of presenting online information. Video platforms, such as YouTube or Youjob, give

companies the opportunity to present their job offers, and applicants the possibility of

introducing their CV through live streaming videos. Until recently, organizations were

only providing a brief text-based presentation about their profile. In MonsterIndia

website ([Link]), a recent addition has been the section of video

29
profile of organizations. The SHRM survey has shown the rise in use of interactive

voice response (IVR) technology to screen applicants over telephone followed by

computer aided interviews with selected applicants and finally face-to-face interviews

(Chapman and Webster 2003). McGowan (2010) reported that by 2011, use of

podcasts in online advertising will increase significantly and costs per download will

range from a few cents to approximately $2, making it a very cost effective channel to

host online advertisements. The podcast advertising industry has reached $400 million

by 2011, indicating rise in its use and popularity.

Presenting corporate previews through video podcasts/ vodcasts can have more lasting

effect on positive employer brand perceptions and consequently on better perceptions

of website aesthetics. Not only that, such audio-visual previews can be easier to

understand compared to the current practice of textual previews. In one study by

Adams, Morris and Van Scotter (1999), face-to-face communication was found to be

the best attention grabber, followed by video with audio, then audio only and

followed by text only. Thus, it may be inferred that audio-visual medium has a

definite advantage over text only medium because it helps in communicating complex

information with multiple meanings (Daft et al. 1987), provides more cues to help

engage the receiver with the message content and enhance a sense of affect (Allen et

al. 2004). Additionally, richer media can serve as a source of inside information about

the organizational atmosphere through cues such as facial expressions of supervisors,

non verbal behavior and speaking tone. Walker et al. (2009) presented job seekers

with employee testimonials in two different modes- audio-visual and textual. They

found that testimonials shown through audio-visual mode was considered richer by

the applicants than those delivered through text. However, their study did not focus on

joint effect of RJPs and audio-visual channels in unison on job-seeker perception.

30
As per the employer branding literature, empirical evidence has been found that

various early recruitment practices can be used to externally market the brand

(Ambler and Barrow 1996; Collins and Stevens, 2002) and that employer branding

has beneficial effects in terms of increasing applicant quantity and quality (Collins

and Han, 2004). In consumer literature, Park, Jaworski and MacInnis (1986) divided

brands in three categories on the basis of the consumer needs they fulfill: (a)

functional needs, (b) symbolic needs, and (c) experiential needs. Symbolic attributes

are linked to people‘s need to maintain their self-identity, to enhance their self image,

or to express themselves (their beliefs, their traits and their personality) (Aaker 1997,

1999; Katz 1960; Shavitt 1990).

In terms of E-recruitment, Lievens and Highhouse (2003) defined instrumental

attributes as describing the job or organization in terms of objective, concrete and

factual attributes that the job or organization either has or does not have such as pay,

perks and promotion. Symbolic attributes were described as subjective, abstract and

intangible attributes that convey symbolic company information in the form of

imagery and trait inferences that applicants assign to organizations such as an

organization‘s office ambience, non-hierarchical management and cooperative

working environment.

Lievens and Highhouse reported that symbolic image dimensions accounted over and

above instrumental attributes in predicting a bank‘s perceived attractiveness as an

employer. In another study, Slaughter et al. (2004) focused on the symbolic image

dimensions and confirmed that they were related to organizational attractiveness.

Finally, Lievens, Van Hoye and Schreurs (2005) confirmed that symbolic image

dimensions were more effective than instrumental image components in attracting

students to apply in the Army. Cable and Yu (2006) also gave similar implications

31
regarding the different perceptions about the credibility and richness of different

sources of recruitment in the minds of jobseekers and showed that a richer source of

recruitment led to a positive perception about the organization in the minds of the

jobseekers. The credibility of the information also depended on the richness of the

medium. These studies give important implications regarding the shortcomings of E-

recruitment in terms of lack of credibility and richness of information compared to

more direct and traditional modes of recruitment.

Earlier research has shown that audio-visual media has been a better channel to

persuade audience compared to oral or booklet based channels (Popovich and Wanous

1982). Baddeley‘s (1992) cognitive load theory does point in the same direction,

where it is explained why information presented in different modes (some through

audio, some through video mode) leads to easier interpretation of the message by the

receiver. It is not proven, however, whether use of video podcasts can help in

increasing the appeal of online job advertisements. Specifically, it is important to

understand how using video-based information delivery styles increase the richness of

the E-recruitment media thus enhancing credibility perceptions of the message. It has

also been observed that the working memory of human beings consists of a video-

spatial sketchpad and a phonological loop which can retain visual and audio stimuli

independently (Chandler and Sweller 1991; Baddeley 1992). Thus, information

distributed in parts through audio and visual channels such as in live streaming videos

(podcasts and vodcasts) can be more helpful for processing of information than that

presented as a whole.

Therefore, providing audio-visual cues in a message can help in enhancing the ease of

comprehension of the same. This can have positive impact on perceived ease of use of

the message. Again, taking cue from the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty et al.

32
1987), the information coming from a richer media will be processed with greater

attention as well, which will enhance the perceived usefulness of the message, which

can positively influence perceived usefulness of a message (Cable and Yu 2000).

Based on the above discussions, this study wishes to understand the influence of

audiovisual previews compared with text based previews on job seeker attitude

towards the credibility and quality of online recruitment platforms.

33
2.6 Evidence from Secondary Data Analysis

In order to provide further support to the research gaps of interest that have been

highlighted in the previous literature review sections, a secondary data analysis has

been carried out to check the extent to which the most sought after employers of today

have been applying realistic employee testimonials, company neutral testimonial

hosting platforms and audio-visual corporate previews in their corporate websites.

Since this dissertation is focused towards understanding Indian job-seekers‘

perception towards online recruitment, hence the websites of the most coveted Indian

employers as per the 2013 ‗India‘s Best Companies to Work for‘ report developed by

the Great Place To Work Institute ([Link]) have been selected for

a content analysis. The best companies to work survey, developed by Great Place to

Work Institute in collaboration with Economic Times, gives a glimpse of the crème de

la crème organizations in India.

The objective of this secondary data analysis is to provide further mettle to the

discussion that the design deficiencies which have been identified in the literature

review do exist in real world and therefore, should substantiate the reason for

conducting this study. The choice of the best places to work as unit of analysis in the

content analysis is prompted by the logic that if a significant portion of the most

desired employers do not consider incorporating the design modifications proposed in

this study in their websites, then such trend can be even more acute for firms with

lesser recognition and visibility as employers.

However, such a trend may contribute to a general lack of trust and comfort towards

online recruitment in India, a glimpse of which can be had from the India Online

Landscape Survey conducted by a private consultancy firm Juxt Consultants

([Link]) which points out that online job search is not a very popular activity

34
among active Indian job-seekers. Hence the secondary data analysis can help in

providing additional support to identify one, if not the most important factor behind

such reluctance.

Content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inference

from texts or other meaningful matter to the contexts of their use (Krippendorf 2004,

p. 18). Content analysis has found its application as a qualitative as well as a

quantitative analysis technique in different domains of research like analysis of

corporate policy statements, understanding advertisement messages, critical review of

political speech and others (Hara, Bonk and Angeli 1998; Peyrefitte and David 2006).

Researchers who have studied form and content of E-recruitment websites have

labeled various components of online job portals into mainly three broad divisions-

primary, secondary and auxiliary/ unique components (Koong et al. 2002; Tong and

Sivanand 2005). The most essential features required for the functioning of the online

job hosting platform such as ‗log in‘, ‗search menu‘, ‗search by location‘ option, job

description, keyword search, company search, e resume service, job alert etc. have

been categorized as primary components. The secondary tools were identified as

those, which added aesthetical values to the site and make the job search process more

enjoyable experience. Peripheral support services such as career fairs, news/ press,

online games and chatting came under auxiliary or unique features.

The websites were content-analyzed based on the criteria defined by Tong and

Sivanand (2005). The websites were scrutinized for the presence or absence of the

following components under three broad domains- Core content (company

background details, company history, separate webpage for services offered, clearly

specified job descriptions, position and location of job mentioned), Secondary content

(company culture, mission and corporate philosophy statement, profile of star

35
employees, awards or honors, community service, career growth and learning) and

Tertiary content (contact information of HR, navigation menu, provision to apply

online, campus recruitment information, job alerts).

Three additional criteria were included to check to what extent firms use audio-visual

corporate previews in the ‗About Us‘ section of the website, the nature of statements

given in employee testimonials, and whether the employee testimonials have been

provided through company dependent channels or company independent platforms.

The top hundred firms listed in the Best place to work survey were included in the

content analysis. The analysis was done in Microsoft Excel. Frequency of occurrence

of the above mentioned criteria was calculated using percentage method. The results

from the exercise have been summarized in Table 1. The specific findings which are

of highest relevance for this thesis are:

 Audio-visual corporate previews have been utilized by only 28 firms out of the

top 100 best places to work in India. Out of these, 19 have made use of both

text and video to describe the workplace to the website‘s visitors, while 9

firms have used exclusively video previews. Text based previews are more

prevalent (70 %). T

 There is lack of employee testimonials in over half of these websites (52 %),

while the remaining have showcased only positively framed employee

testimonials. There is no evidence of use of realistic job previews in any of the

websites of the 100 firms under investigation

 34 % of the websites do not have any social networking links, and there is zero

instance of linking a firm‘s employee testimonials to any external third-party

blog

36
Table 1: Content Analysis of Corporate Websites of 100 Best Places to Work

in India

Name of Unit of Analysis Frequency Percentage

Category Count (%)

Core Content Company Background 99 99

Company History 94 94

Separate page for services 100 100

Clearly specified job descriptions 80 80

Position mentioned 82 82

Location mentioned 79 79

Secondary Culture/ Life@Firm 74 74

Content
Mission statements 93 93

Corporate philosophy statements 91 91

Description of workplace

text 70 70

audio-visual 9 9

both 19 19

none 2 2

Profile of star employees 22 22

Awards and recognition 86 86

37
 Community Service 85 85

Content type of Employee Testimonials

Positive 48 48

Realistic 0 0

None present 52 52

Career growth prospects 57 57

mentioned

Tertiary Content Contact information of 94 94

HR

Search menu/ navigation 96 96

bar

Provision to apply 92 92

online

Campus recruitment 28 28

Job Alerts (RSS Feeds) 21 21

Source of Social Networking Links

Company Dependent 66 66

Company Independent 0 0

No link 34 34

38
From these findings the case for the research problem can be made more acute and

demanding. It is at least verified through secondary data analysis that even a

significant majority of websites belonging to the best firms in India have deficiencies

in use of audio-visual corporate preview, realistic employee testimonials and

company-neutral ad hosting channels. The findings further suggest the acute absence

of the proposed design modifications in existing website content of Indian corporate

firms, which further necessitates the timeliness and need for conducting the proposed

study.

39