Jones David A, Willness Chelsea R, Heller Kristin W
Grossman School of Business, The University of Vermont Burlington, VT, USA.
Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour, Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
Front Psychol. 2016 Mar 31;7:426. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00426. eCollection 2016.
Evidence shows that job seekers tend to be attracted to employers known for their corporate social responsibility (CSR), but relatively little is known about the underlying psychological processes. Moreover, the literature is silent about whether and why some job seekers are unaffected, or even repelled by, an employer's CSR. We conducted a substantive replication of recent empirical support for three signal-based mechanisms by adapting the experimental manipulation used in a prior study while employing an alternative approach to analyzing a distinctly different type of data. We also extended prior work by examining other possible explanatory mechanisms and exploring potentially negative reactions to CSR. Using signaling theory as an overarching framework, we assessed research questions and tested hypotheses grounded in theories of employee recruitment and the psychology of CSR, specifying how an employer's CSR practices send signals from which job seekers draw inferences about unknown working conditions, thereby affecting their attraction to the employer. Study participants (N = 108) reviewed the webpages of two hiring companies and responded to open-ended questions about each employer. We content-analyzed written responses pertaining to one employer's webpages in which we embedded an experimental manipulation of information about the employer's community involvement or its environmentally sustainable practices. The results supported hypotheses that corroborate prior evidence for the "perceived value fit" and "expected employee treatment" mechanisms, and provided some, but relatively limited, support for the "anticipated pride" mechanism. Assessment of research questions highlighted previously undiscovered signal-based mechanisms that might help explain job seekers' attraction to CSR (e.g., inferences about the employer's positive work environment and financial standing, and the nature of its employees). Results also showed that a few people were less attracted because of the employer's CSR practices. Analyses among those individuals, combined with one-third of the sample who reported their attraction was unaffected by the employer's CSR, provided insights about when and why CSR fails to enhance attraction, such as when job seekers focus on other priorities, or are deeply skeptical and cynical about the employer's CSR. We discuss the implications for advancing a signal-based theory of CSR and employee recruitment, and recruitment practice.
有证据表明，求职者往往会被以企业社会责任（CSR）著称的雇主所吸引，但对于其潜在的心理过程却知之甚少。此外，文献中对于是否以及为何有些求职者不受雇主企业社会责任的影响，甚至被其排斥也未作探讨。我们通过采用先前研究中的实验操作，并运用另一种方法来分析截然不同类型的数据，对最近基于三种信号机制的实证支持进行了实质性复制。我们还通过研究其他可能的解释机制并探索对企业社会责任的潜在负面反应，扩展了先前的研究。以信号理论作为总体框架，我们评估了研究问题并检验了基于员工招聘理论和企业社会责任心理学的假设，具体说明了雇主的企业社会责任实践如何发出信号，求职者据此推断未知的工作条件，从而影响他们对雇主的吸引力。研究参与者（N = 108）浏览了两家招聘公司的网页，并回答了有关每个雇主的开放式问题。我们对与其中一家雇主网页相关的书面回复进行了内容分析，在该网页中我们对有关雇主社区参与或其环境可持续实践的信息进行了实验性操作。结果支持了一些假设，这些假设证实了先前关于“感知价值契合”和“预期员工待遇”机制的证据，并为“预期自豪感”机制提供了一些但相对有限的支持。对研究问题的评估突出了先前未发现的基于信号的机制，这些机制可能有助于解释求职者对企业社会责任的吸引力（例如，对雇主积极工作环境和财务状况以及员工性质的推断）。结果还表明，少数人因雇主的企业社会责任实践而吸引力降低。对这些个体的分析，以及三分之一表示其吸引力不受雇主企业社会责任影响的样本，提供了有关企业社会责任何时以及为何无法增强吸引力的见解，例如当求职者关注其他优先事项时，或者对雇主的企业社会责任深感怀疑和愤世嫉俗时。我们讨论了对推进基于信号的企业社会责任和员工招聘理论以及招聘实践的启示。
