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Black and white and read all over: Race differences in reactions to recruitment Web sites
Author(s) -
Goldberg Caren B.,
Allen David G.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
human resource management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.888
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-050X
pISSN - 0090-4848
DOI - 10.1002/hrm.20209
Subject(s) - race (biology) , diversity (politics) , allowance (engineering) , web site , social psychology , psychology , moderation , sample (material) , white (mutation) , attraction , sociology , the internet , world wide web , computer science , gender studies , engineering , biology , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , chromatography , anthropology , gene
Based on signaling theory, this study examines the impact of Web‐site design and content characteristics on applicants' intentions to pursue employment, the mediating effects of engagement with the Web site and attitude toward the organization, and the moderating effects of applicant race on these relationships. The design characteristics of ease of use and usefulness impact attraction indirectly through Web‐site engagement and attitude toward the organization. Further, Web sites' parasocial interaction (allowance for two‐way communication) predicts intentions to pursue both directly and indirectly through engagement and attitude toward the organization. Unexpectedly, diversity statements did not impact attraction in the full sample. Multigroup analyses revealed that many of the paths between the predictors of parasocial interaction and (to a lesser extent) diversity statements and the outcomes differed by race, with stronger effects observed for blacks than whites. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.