Whom to Believe: Recruiting Information Source Credibility and Organizational Attractiveness

Abstract

This study uses a policy-capturing methodology to investigate how job seekers faced with conflicting recruiting information make organizational attractiveness judgments. It proposes that when considering recruiting information, the credibility of the information source, in terms of trustworthiness, expertise, integrity, and liking, will be positively related to the extent to which information from each source is used when judging the attractiveness of organizations. The results indicated that some sources are seen as more credible than others, and that this credibility is related to the use of information from that source. In addition, the dimensions of credibility most highly related to information use are different for interpersonal and institutional sources. The implications for employee recruiting research and practice are discussed.

Maximising the credibility of realistic job preview messages: the effect of jobseekers’ decision-making style on recruitment information credibility

“…Another issue that is worth noting is the use of Fisher et al's (1979) credibility scale. The discriminant validity check and CFA results not only fully support the results in H2 (for overall source credibility), but are also consistent with Mumford's (2012) proposition that the Fisher et al's three credibility components were all essential elements when an information receiver evaluates the credibility of an information provider. The inter-relatedness of the three components indicates the overall rating of the three components could be considered to represent the overall perception of source credibility.…”

“…These outcomes support Mumford's (2012) propositions that the three components are related and all validly contribute to the overall source credibility perceptions but are also worthy of individual examination (see also Fisher et al, 1979). Therefore, we first view the three factors as 'determinants of credibility' (Fisher et al, 1979, pg.…”

“…A CFA (AMOS 20) using all items of both constructs indicated a good fit for the two-construct measurement model [CMIN 320.25,df 89 GFI .83 RFI .96 CFI .86 RMSEA .08 standardised RMR .092 (and an improvement on the one-factor model For source credibility, Mumford (2012) argues that the three dimensions proposed by Fisher et al (1979) are all essential components that an information receiver uses to evaluate the credibility of an information provider. From this point of view, to gain information on overall credibility, the dimensions could be combined to create a single mean rating.…”

The influence of political climate on job pursuit intentions and the moderating effect of Machiavellianism

“…Along similar lines, future research that more holistically examines the effects of political climate information on job pursuit intentions (e.g., by simultaneously also considering factors, such as pay or organizational image) would also be informative, especially considering the effect size magnitude of political climate information was smaller in Study 1, where additional job information was presented, relative to Studies 2 and 3, where other job characteristics were not provided. Furthermore, research that integrates other theoretically relevant job search factors identified in prior research (e.g., multiple information sources, conflicting information, and vacancy availability; e.g., Highhouse et al, ; Mumford, ; Saks & Ashforth, ) into our model of politics information and Machiavellianism would also be particularly insightful.…”

“…Furthermore, research that integrates other theoretically relevant job search factors identified in prior research (e.g., multiple information sources, conflicting information, and vacancy availability; e.g., Highhouse et al, 1998;Mumford, 2012;Saks & Ashforth, 1997) into our model of politics information and Machiavellianism would also be particularly insightful.…”