CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. The rise of internet has revolutionized the traditional human resource (HR) function

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1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction The rise of internet has revolutionized the traditional human resource (HR) function of recruitment of employees. Electronic recruitment (henceforth, E-recruitment), the application of internet technologies in recruitment related activities, has developed into a cost and time efficient proposition for the HR departments for searching and hiring potential talents (Maurer and Liu 2007; Tyagi 2012). In the United States of America (USA) alone, there were 110 million jobs and 20 million resumes posted in various job portals by 2007 (Maurer and Liu 2007). Today, we have specialized corporate and commercial websites to cater to the work force requirements of organizations. Today, online job posting and hiring accounts for a significant bulk of recruitment activities. There are different platforms of online recruitment the company career website, online newspaper classified advertisements, through third party E- recruitment service providers / job boards/ E-recruitment portals (henceforth referred to as E-recruitment portals) or job postings through professional job sites (Borstroff et al. 2005). E-recruitment portals are web - based companies, which provide an interfacing medium for the job hunters/ corporate recruiters to search for potential candidates and for the job seekers in search of potential job opportunity (Borstroff et al. 2005). Companies can advertise their vacancies on these sites, and job seekers can navigate through the vacancies and apply for the jobs, which are of their interest by submitting their resumes. 1

2 1.2 Background Being a relatively new phenomenon, research in the field of E-recruitment may be considered to be still at an early stage. It is only a decade ( ) old field of research but already receiving huge attention for its growing research potential. There are three major themes of research pursued by researchers in the context of E- recruitment, namely- research centering around the issue of analyzing the design adequacy of E-recruitment websites (Koong et al 2002 ; Cober et al 2004 ; Tong et al 2004) ; research on factors affecting job seeker perception towards such websites (Braddy et al 2003 ; Borstroff et al 2005 ; Allen et al 2007 ; Lin 2010 ; Dineen et al 2002 ; Dineen & Noe 2004; Braddy et al 2006; Van Hoe & Lievens 2007) and in the area of model development for E-recruitment (Ruta 2005 ; Terzis & Economeidis 2005 ; Maurer & Liu 2007 ; Lee 2007). Questions still remain as to how to enhance the credibility of online job advertisements since traditional advertising media are considered more credible than electronic media (Cable et al 2000 ; Young & Foot 2005 ; Cable et al 2006). Recruiters have tried to enhance credibility of their recruitment message by providing employee testimonials in the ads to give the applicants an insider view as to what it feels like to work in that organization (Dineen, Ash and Noe 2002; Cable et al. 2000, 2005). Through these employee testimonials, applicants may find the work environment to be meeting their expectations and thus become interested in applying for the jobs. However, practical applications of employee testimonials as well as previous empirical studies involving employee testimonials in e-recruitment context have been confined to use of positively framed testimonials only portraying only the brighter side of the work place as their agenda. For example, firms often provide 2

3 employee testimonials in print advertisements of job vacancies in newspapers highlighting the positive aspects of their organization. But do job seekers believe in such claims? In traditional recruitment context, research has found that providing job-seekers with realistic job previews (RJPs) at the time of recruitment led to enhanced commitment among employees (Barksdale et al. 2003). The concept of RJPs have developed from the realistic information hypothesis which posits that if prospective employees are provided with positive as well as negative information about the job and the organization in context, it may lead to enhanced trust on the organization s integrity and honesty (Dugoni and Ilgen 1981). Sadly, realistic job preview (RJP) research has been restricted mainly to traditional recruitment channels, and has been so far neglected in E-recruitment research (Breaugh and Starke 2000; Strohmeyer 2007). In fact, studies examining impact of employee testimonials on jobseeker attitude towards E-recruitment are very rare. Hence, the influence of RJPs in enhancing the credibility of E-recruitment websites needs to be examined. At the same time, it is still not known as to how to communicate such information to the jobseekers? Should RJPs be presented through company owned websites such as corporate career portals or should they be posted in neutral cyber platforms? In recent years, some revolutionary technical advances have made the web experience more interactive and today, the users can participate more actively in the cyberspace. Speaking of such new IT revolutions, a recent phenomenon in this field has been the increasing popularity of Web 2.0 technology (Gokhale and Chandra 2009). Such technologies comprise of blogs, internet chat rooms and social networking sites which have steadily gained popularity in recent years. There is a shared belief among researchers and industry practitioners about the potential of web 2.0 technology to improve e commerce adoption. In E-recruitment s context, this technology may have 3

4 significant influence in increasing credibility of the information provided. Such previews may help to make the job information more credible than plain text based previews due to the interactive unbiased nature of medium of communication. However, there is lack of empirical validation against such claim. Studies have also shown that poor design of E-recruitment websites can have negative impression on job seeker s attitude towards the portals and may lead to their reluctance to apply for the jobs posted in such websites (Maurer and Liu 2007). In a survey conducted in the US, it was found that badly designed websites are costing the corporate career portals $ 30 Million per day (Maurer and Liu 2007). There is strong empirical evidence about the impact of website design features such as color, layout, and page loading time and customized search options on perceptions about quality of the website (Kuhn and Skuterud 2000). Studies have also found that information delivered in audio-visual mode has been considered to be more engaging and enriching than that delivered in text mode (Walker et al. 2009). In context of E- recruitment, the application of audio-visual mode of information delivery has not received any serious attention so far. Considering the fact that the purpose of E- recruitment websites is to present the job as a desirable career opportunity for candidates, the lack of effort to market the employer or the job position seems unwise. Hence this thesis aims to present a strong case for incorporation of audio-visual corporate previews to make the job advertisement more attractive and attention grabbing for the jobseekers. 4

5 1.3 Thesis Objectives The primary objectives of this thesis are to test several design manipulations involving E- recruitment websites in terms of their ability to create a trustworthy and quality medium of job search for jobseekers. Special emphasis has been given to design manipulations with respect to employee testimonial content, the mode of delivery of corporate information and positioning of the advertisement through company independent channels. The above research can be of major significance in context of India. India is a country with tremendous potential as a developing nation (Chatterjee 2007). By 2020, India will provide 250 million workers to the world labor pool at a rate of 18 million workers/ year, as per latest projections by the United Nation s World Population Prospects (2010). Add to that, the fact that almost half of India s current population is less than 25 years in age makes it a hub for young and dynamic workforce for future. In fact, in the coming decades, India may be able to move ahead of China in the race to become the world economic and financial powerhouse. Keeping in mind the importance of India s labor force and its role in India s future role in world economy, it is necessary that studies be conducted to understand how the internet is influencing the Indian labor market. As per the India Online report on internet usage in India (Tyagi 2012), India had 65 million active internet users in 2011 as compared to 51 million in Although the number of internet users in India has risen considerably, online job search ranked fifth (62% of respondents) in terms of intensity of cyber activities, behind ing (95 %), casual internet surfing (76 %), information searching (74 %) and downloading of music (69 %). Although the percentage of internet use for job searching has increased from 2010 by about 6 % in 2011, the average Indian job seeker is still reluctant to use 5

6 the internet as the preferred mode of job search (Tyagi 2012). At the same time, in recent years, E-recruitment service providers such as Monster, Naukri and professional networking websites such as LinkedIn have witnessed a significant rise in their memberships. LinkedIn now has over 120 million professionals registered in its database; while Monster boasts of a huge membership of over 2.5 Crore jobseekers and approximately 20,000 jobseekers are registering with Monster daily. The above data indicates that although there has been an increase in the number of registered job seekers in Indian E-recruitment channels, the frequency of use of such channels by the users have been comparatively lower. Therefore, there is a need for conducting usability studies in E-recruitment context in India so that more user friendly jobsites can be developed to increase the overall appeal and credibility of E-recruitment. To do that, one way is to incorporate various design modifications in current job site web pages by including RJPs, audio-visual testimonials and Web 2.0 platforms. In a nutshell, this thesis wishes to address the following issues- Whether job seekers perceive job descriptions provided with realistic job previews more credible than positive only testimonials Whether job seekers perceive job ads posted in Web 2.0 channels such as third-party employee testimonial blogs more credible compared to those presented through company owned career websites Whether use of audio visual corporate previews can help in enhancing the credibility and quality of E-recruitment messages compared to text based previews The subsequent influence of above perceptions on applicant attitude towards the ads and intention to apply for the jobs.. 6