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Recruiting Through Job Advertisements: The Effects of Cognitive Elaboration on Decision Making
Author(s) -
Jones David A.,
Shultz Jonas W.,
Chapman Derek S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of selection and assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.812
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1468-2389
pISSN - 0965-075X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2006.00342.x
Subject(s) - elaboration likelihood model , psychology , persuasion , elaboration , quality (philosophy) , social psychology , job interview , process (computing) , cognition , seekers , applied psychology , philosophy , neuroscience , humanities , epistemology , computer science , political science , law , operating system
We applied a model of persuasion – the elaboration likelihood model – to investigate whether individuals' decisions about responding to job advertisements are affected by how deeply they process recruitment messages (i.e., elaboration likelihood, EL). We manipulated individuals' ( N =112) motivation and ability to carefully process job advertisements (ads). As hypothesized, individuals in the lower (vs. higher) EL conditions chose more ads containing cues unrelated to the job (e.g., bolded font), and fewer ads containing higher quality arguments. Participants also reported that they “skimmed” and carefully read job ads in the past, providing evidence for variability in EL among job seekers. We discuss the implications of the findings for recruiters who wish to increase the size of their applicant pool.