Purpose Job information through word-of-mouth (WOM) has a crucial impact on employer attractiveness. The phenomenal rise of social media offers alternate WOM platforms for sharing job information, which is quite different from traditional face-to-face WOM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential impact of traditional word-of-mouth (t-WOM) and social media word-of-mouth (s-WOM) on employer attractiveness along with the difference in the job attributes and relationship strength with the information source. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to examine the impact of information source (t-WOM and s-WOM), job attributes (tangible and intangible) and relationship strength (strong and weak), on employer attractiveness. Source expertise and source trust were treated as the control variable. Findings The result shows the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness. Moreover, t-WOM from strong relation source found to have a high impact on employer attractiveness than s-WOM. No significant difference due to job attributes was found. Research limitations/implications Use of only positive WOM and not the negative one, student as the subjects, etc. Practical implications The present study suggests using t-WOM and s-WOM to attract talented job seekers. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness.

Drawing on signaling theory (Spence 1978), we propose that communicating work–life balance benefits offered along with favorable employee recommendations and valued job attributes could be construed as signals organizations deliberately use to influence potential applicants' perceptions of employer attractiveness and enhance job pursuit intentions. We test these ideas in two experiments. In study 1, using carefully constructed vignettes to manipulate work–life balance (WLB) benefits, employee recommendation, and job attributes in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design and with data gathered from 320 Indian MBA students, we found support for the direct and interactive effects of these variables on employer attractiveness. In study 2, using a 3 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design and data from 360 Indian MBA students, we examined the influence of three different alternative work arrangements, a form of WLB benefit, and how such benefits interact with employee recommendations and job attributes to influence job pursuit intentions. We discuss implications for theory, research, and practice.

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PurposeWhile the information source is likely to affect job search process, it is still unknown how the information source interacts with the information content and information valence. In this study, first, the authors examine the influence of information source, information content, and information valence on employer attractiveness and job pursuit intention; and second, the authors estimate the interaction of information source with content and valence of information on employer attractiveness and job pursuit intention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted a 2 (information source: company-independent vs company-dependent) x 2 (information content: instrumental vs symbolic) x 2 (information valence: positive vs negative) between-subject factorial design to achieve the study’s research objectives, using a sample of 240 job applicants; and applied multivariate analysis of covariance for estimating the main and interaction effects.FindingsThe authors find a significant interaction of information source with the content and valence of information, indicating a differential effect of content and valence, depending on the information source. The study reveals that the effect of information content (i.e. symbolic vs instrumental) on employer attractiveness varies depending on the source of information (i.e. company-independent vs company-dependent), with the company-independent source having a higher effect than the company-dependent source.Practical implicationsConsidering that the information source has a differential effect on job seekers, it would be useful to account for such differences in designing recruitment communications. Results guide managers in deciding the appropriate recruitment information outlet for communicating symbolic and instrumental attributes. The use of symbolic attribute content is recommended for generating favourable evaluations about an employer.Originality/valueThis study is a novel attempt to examine on how information source interacts with information content type and information valence in influencing recruitment outcomes. The authors provide valuable insights to human resource managers or employer brand managers to design effective recruitment communications and leverage the company-independent information sources appropriately.

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