To read this content please select one of the options below:

Unintended consequences of a digital presence: Employment-related implications for job seekers

Jennifer A. Harrison (People & Organizations, NEOMA Business School, Mont-Saint-Aignan, France)
Marie-Hélène Budworth (School of Human Resource Management, York University, Toronto, Canada)

Career Development International

ISSN: 1362-0436

Article publication date: 10 August 2015

58676

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how job seekers’ digital profile influences employment-related outcomes, namely recommendations on hiring and salary.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 118 job seekers sharing information online about job searching was identified using a social networking platform. Using an impression management (IM) framework, two research assistants coded for use of verbal IM (e.g. utterances) and the use of nonverbal IM (e.g. professional images). Three HR managers evaluated the profiles and provided hiring-related recommendations. Data were analyzed used OLS moderated regression and simple slope analysis.

Findings

Consistent with IM theory, use of verbal and nonverbal IM were both positively related to employment-related recommendations. Gender was found to moderate the use of IM utterances and employment-related recommendations in an unexpected direction for women.

Originality/value

Findings suggest that an IM framework can be applied to studying digital social spaces of job seekers. The study provides evidence in support of the notion that previously established effects of IM efforts extend from an interview setting to a digital context.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Citation

Harrison, J.A. and Budworth, M.-H. (2015), "Unintended consequences of a digital presence: Employment-related implications for job seekers", Career Development International, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 294-314. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-06-2014-0080

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles