College students and HR professionals: conflicting views on information available on Facebook

• Author: Steve Zappala,Peter Draus,Michael J. Curran,Michael Schrager
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12033
• Published date: 01 November 2014
• Date: 01 November 2014

College students and HR professionals: conflicting

views on information available on Facebook

Michael J. Curran, Strayer University

Peter Draus, Robert Morris University

Michael Schrager, Slippery Rock University

Steve Zappala, Robert Morris University

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 24, no 4, 2014, pages 442–458

Increasingly employers are using social media as a mechanism to screen potential job candidates. This

study examined college students’ perceptions of the amount and degree of information available to

potential employers who use social media. The study employed a survey of college students to determine

how much information they felt someone could learn about them through their Facebook page. Results

indicated that participants did not perceive much information about key job categories could be derived

from their pages and they planned very few changes even though many believed it highly likely an

employer would review their page. A subgroup also had their pages reviewed by HR professionals. A

comparison analysis revealed that in several key job-related areas, such as potential unethical behaviours

and communication skills, HR personnel felt that they were able to learn significantly more about the

participants than the participants believed themselves.

Contact: Dr Michael Joseph Curran, Business, Strayer University, 1212 4th Avenue, Coraopolis,

PA 15108, US. Email: michael.curran@strayer.edu

INTRODUCTION

The importance of social media has been well documented and continues to be a driving

force in communications (Wiley and Sisson, 2006; Boyd and Ellison, 2007; Debatin et al.,

2009; Facebook, 2010; Miller et al., 2010; Kalpidou et al., 2011; Kelm, 2011; Hurt et al.,

2012). Social media has become a mechanism that is used by employers and recruiters to gain

additional insights into the backgrounds of potential employees (Forster, 2006; Brandenburg,

2008; Brown and Vaughn, 2011; Elmer, 2012). The legal and ethical ramifications of this trend

are currently being played out, as numerous states have begun discussing the necessity of legal

protections for both employers and employees in this emerging area. While the legality of

asking a potential job candidate for his user name and password to social media sites continues

to draw scrutiny from privacy advocates, the legal system has consistently upheld the right of

a company to review social media as an element of public information and, therefore, outside

the issue of privacy (Elzweig and Peeples, 2009; Mary et al., 2010; Aldred, 2011; Ezold, 2012).

The purpose of this study was to answer several questions regarding future employees

(college students) and social media. The research questions were the following: Are college

students aware that potential employers may use social media sites like Facebook to gather

information about them during a job search? How concerned are college students about

employers using social media to gain information about them? Are there other privacy issues

related to social media that concern college students? How accurate are college students’

perceptions regarding the amount of information a potential employer can access by using a

person’s social media? These issues reflect the growing trend of companies that continue to use

social media and can have a significant impact on college students as they prepare to graduate

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doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12033

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 24 NO 4, 2014442

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Curran, M.J., Draus, P., Schrager, M. and Zappala, S. (2014) ‘College students and HR professionals: conflicting

views on information available on Facebook’. Human Resource Management Journal 24: 4, 442–458.

and enter the workforce. This study also looked at several demographic factors as potential

variables that impacted college students’ perceptions about their information on Facebook.

BACKGROUND

The growth of social media and Facebook

The growth of social media in the last decade has been one of the most important technological

events in history. Social media, led primarily by the development and popularity of Facebook,

has transformed the landscape of how we communicate and interact with one another; it has

increased the global reach of people and made it almost possible to live a virtual existence

(Boyd and Ellison, 2007). The trend toward social media has been driven in large part by young

people, especially teenagers and college students (Facebook, 2010). Much has been written

about how the experience of using social media both impacts and shapes our perceptions and

self-images, and this again is especially prevalent among younger users (Walker, 2000; Zhao

et al., 2008; Utz, 2010; Moreno et al., 2011).

The power of social media in recent years has spawned interest in understanding how this

technology has transformed society and the impact that it has on individuals. Some argue that

this transformation has been primarily positive and has had an important impact on globalising

the planet. Others contend that social media can distort reality for people and make it difficult

to draw a line between a ‘virtual presence’ and true self-image (Vazire and Gosling, 2004).

There is conflicting research on just how accurately people portray themselves in social media

and whether or not the information they display for others is accurate or presents an idealised

image (Back et al., 2010; Chou and Edge, 2012). The extent to which people now identify

themselves through the network of social media ‘friends’ and the willingness of people to

devote considerable time to social media speaks to its growing significance (Walther et al., 2008;

Young, 2011).

Social media and college students

The transformation of social media into the phenomenon it is today had been driven in large

part by teenagers and college students (Kelm, 2011). The reasons college students have adopted

Facebook as a primary outlet for social media are both diverse and complex (Boyd, 2007;

Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). There are numerous studies that have examined how students

use Facebook and the important role that social media now plays in the lives of young people

(Peluchette and Karl, 2009; Kalpidou et al., 2011). There are also studies that assess personality

issues involved in creating, using and developing a social media persona (Buffardi and

Campbell, 2008). In the brief history of social media, the primary usage has been social, and

students have shown a remarkable lack of concern with the content they are willing to share.

As a mechanism of social interaction, Facebook has taken the place of college students

interacting face to face and discussing things they have done (Hurt et al., 2012). This gives the

students a much wider audience, sometimes unintended, for behaviours that in the past were

only shared privately with close friends. The perceived anonymity of social media may also

play a role in the willingness of students to post some inappropriate content (Peluchette and

Karl, 2007; Pempek et al., 2009).

As social media has opened up large networks of ‘friends’ for users, it seems, for college

students, that there is a lack of concern on their parts for issues of accuracy, privacy and

consequences for the content posted on Facebook (Robinson, 2006; Debatin et al., 2009; Mishra

et al., 2012). This larger network exposes users to uninvited viewers reading content that may

Michael J. Curran, Peter Draus, Michael Schrager and Steve Zappala

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 24 NO 4, 2014 443

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.