Social media snooping on job applicants

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how HR professionals use social networking website information to evaluate applicants’ propensity to engage in counterproductive work behaviors and suitability for hire. Design/methodology/approach Using an experimental design, 354 HR professionals participated in a two-part study. In part 1, participants viewed a fictitious resume and rated the applicant’s likelihood to engage in counterproductive work behavior as well as likelihood of a hiring recommendation. In part 2, participants viewed a fictitious social networking website profile for the applicant and repeated the ratings from part 1. The authors analyzed their responses to determine the effect viewing a social network website (SNW) profile had on ratings of the applicant. Findings Unprofessional SNW information negatively affected ratings of applicants regardless of applicants’ qualifications, while professional SNW profile information failed to improve evaluations regardless of qualifications. Originality/value Anecdotal reports suggest that many employers use SNW information to eliminate job applicants from consideration despite an absence of empirical research that has examined how SNW content influences HR recruiters’ evaluation of job applicants. This study represents one of the first attempts to understand how HR professionals use such information in screening applicants. The findings suggest that unprofessional SNW profiles negatively influence recruiter evaluations while professional SNW profile content has little to no effect on evaluations.

Personnel selection in the digital age: a review of validity and applicant reactions, and future research challenges

“…However, using SNWs, especially non-professional SNWs, and AI to screen and evaluate applicants is associated with many concerns, such as raising potential bias and discrimination issues among minority groups, evoking applicants privacy concerns when using their SNWs' information without consent, which in turn, can lead to legal and ethical challenges (Drouin, O'Connor, Schmidt, & Miller, 2015;Roth, Bobko, Van Iddekinge, & Thatcher, 2016;Van Iddekinge et al, 2016). Indeed, a recent study by Becton, Walker, Gilstrap, and Schwager (2019) showed that using applicants' information on their nonprofessional SNWs negatively influenced recruiter ratings of applicants, whereas no effects were found when using their information on professional SNWs. This questions the validity (job relevance), and reliability of such information, and further raise fairness and privacy concerns (Brown & Vaughn, 2011;Clark & Roberts, 2010).…”

Social Media Posts About Racism Leads to Evaluative Backlash for Black Job Applicants

“…The findings of this study advance research in this area. Whereas past research has primarily focused on the effect that unprofessional posts (e.g., excessive comments and/or pictures related to alcohol consumption, the use of profanity, sexually explicit language, pictures, and/or references to sexual activity; Becton et al, 2019;Bohnert & Ross, 2010) have on an evaluator's perceptions of job applicants, this study focused on how social media posts about racism influence an evaluator's judgments of Black job applicants.…”

“…Although social media posts are primarily seen by people in an user's social network (e.g., Facebook friends, twitter followers), there are also situations in which an individual's social media profile and posts are seen by people outside their social network. In either case, what an individual chooses to post online has been shown to influence the perceptions that others have of them (Becton et al, 2019;Bohnert & Ross, 2010;Forest & Wood, 2012). For example, it is becoming increasingly common for human resource (HR) personnel and recruiters to use the information found on SNWs to help them determine whether to hire someone (Becton et al, 2019;Roth et al, 2013).…”

“…In either case, what an individual chooses to post online has been shown to influence the perceptions that others have of them (Becton et al, 2019;Bohnert & Ross, 2010;Forest & Wood, 2012). For example, it is becoming increasingly common for human resource (HR) personnel and recruiters to use the information found on SNWs to help them determine whether to hire someone (Becton et al, 2019;Roth et al, 2013). Indeed, 70% of employers reported using social media to screen applicants during the hiring process and 54% of those employers stated that they did not hire at least one applicant based on the information they found (Salm, 2017).…”

“…Although this data is informative, it is limited because it only provides us descriptive information. The empirical studies that have examined how social media posts influence perceptions of applicants have primarily focused on how inappropriate and unprofessional social media content influences hiring selection outcomes (Baert, 2018;Becton et al, 2019;Bohnert & Ross, 2010;Roth et al, 2013). No studies to date have examined whether individuals' experience bias during the hiring selection process due to their social media posts about experiences of racism.…”