Social identity and applicant attraction: Exploring the role of multiple levels of self

• Author: Sven Kepes,Anson Seers,Mahendra Joshi,George C. Banks
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2043
• Published date: 01 April 2016
• Date: 01 April 2016

Social identity and applicant attraction:

Exploring the role of multiple levels of self

†

GEORGE C. BANKS

1

*, SVEN KEPES

2

, MAHENDRA JOSHI

3

AND ANSON SEERS

2

1

University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.

2

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.

3

Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, U.S.A.

Summary Applicant attraction is a critical objective of recruitment. Common predictor variables of applicant attraction

are limited in that they do not provide a comprehensive understanding of the process that shapes the percep-

tions and beliefs of job applicants about the firms for which they aspire to work for. Because individuals have

the inherent desire to expand and enhance their social identities (e.g., personal, relational, and collective iden-

tities), they are likely to be attracted to organizations that allow them to do so. Building on recent work on

levels of self, our paper suggests that social identities mediate the relation between currently established

predictor variables of applicant attraction (e.g., compensation, type of work, and organizational image) and

important applicant attraction outcomes. Common predictor variables of applicant attraction can lead to the

activation, evaluation, and identification processes described by social identity theory. A theoretical frame-

work is presented that illustrates the mediating influence of social identity on the relations between common

predictor variables and applicant attraction outcomes. This framework may lead to more effective recruitment

strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: predictors of applicant attraction; recruitment strength; identity strength; identity activation;

identity evaluations; identification processes

Applicant attraction, the level of job seeker attraction toward an organization, is a key objective of recruitment. Al-

though recruitment, the primary means of attracting applicants, received little research attention until a few decades

ago, recent reviews in this area (e.g., Breaugh, 2008, 2013) illustrate an increased awareness of its importance.

Attracting qualified applicants is vital for organizations’attempts of achieving a sustained competitive advantage

(Chapman, Uggerslev, Carroll, Piasentin, & Jones, 2005; Ployhart, 2006; Rynes, 1991; Taylor & Collins, 2000). De-

spite the tremendous advances in the area of recruitment and, in particular, its primary goal of applicant attraction,

most of the recruitment research tends to focus on the procedures and actions by the organization in the recruitment

process, and not the perceptions, values, or self-beliefs of the applicant (Breaugh, 2013). Without clear comprehen-

sion of the perceptions and beliefs of potential applicants, organizations are unlikely to select and utilize the most

effective recruitment strategies and tactics.

As individuals tend to define themselves based on multiple levels of self

1

(Brewer & Gardner, 1996; Cooper &

Thatcher, 2010; Sluss, Ployhart, Cobb, & Ashforth, 2012), derived from social relations and memberships, social

identity theory might help explain the reasons job seekers are attracted to particular organizations. Social identity

theory argues that individuals tend to affirm the continuity of their self-concepts by drawing positive self-

comparisons with the groups they identify with and by distancing themselves from those groups that negatively re-

flect on their self-concept (Cooper & Thatcher, 2010). In other words, individuals define themselves by

*Correspondence to: George C. Banks, Belk College of Business, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte,

NC 28223. E-mail: gcbanks@gmail.com

†

Suggestions by John Batchelor and Charles White were valuable in the improvement of this manuscript.

1

The terminology “levels of self”is preferred to “levels of analysis”because the focal point of interest is an individual’s conception of his or her

own identities (Sluss & Ashforth, 2007).

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 12 September 2013

Revised 20 May 2015, Accepted 22 June 2015

Journal of Organizational Behavior, J. Organiz. Behav. 37, 326–345 (2016)

Published online 4 August 2015 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/job.2043

Research Article

characteristics and values of the groups of which they are members. Accordingly, a better understanding of such

social identification processes may be used to improve organizational recruitment strategies and help in explaining

the organizational tendency toward employee homogeneity (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005;

Schneider, Goldstein, & Smith, 1995). Such inquiry would respond to previous calls for research exploring the me-

diating mechanisms between the procedures and actions by the organization in the recruitment process and applicant

attraction (e.g., Breaugh, 2008, 2013; Griepentrog, Harold, Holtz, Klimoski, & Marsh, 2012).

The major contribution of this work is a comprehensive theoretical framework that explores the relations between

common predictors of applicant attraction (e.g., compensation, type of work, and organizational image; Chapman

et al., 2005), social identities, and applicant attraction outcomes. This framework serves to accomplish the objective

of combining the disparate literatures of social identity and applicant attraction that have only previously been

loosely discussed in an integrative fashion. Although prior empirical work has made some isolated attempts to bring

those literatures together (e.g., Celani & Singh; Griepentrog et al., 2012; Herriot, 2004; Highhouse, Thornbury, &

Little, 2007; Judge & Cable, 1997), work to date has not addressed how different types of social identities, the social

identity processes, and the contextual factors that activate such processes influence applicant attraction and thus the

potential effectiveness of the recruitment process. Nor has recent work successfully incorporated a discussion of how

multiple levels of self simultaneously operate to affect attraction outcomes (Sluss & Ashforth, 2007).

In our proposed theoretical framework, using social identity theory, we explain how social identities mediate the re-

lation between common predictor variables and applicant attraction outcomes. Additionally, we draw upon signaling the-

ory in order to better understand the role of organizational recruitment signals, as well as self-categorization theory to

better understand the application attraction process. Such a multifaceted approach to applicant attraction can help explain

the psychological benefits applicants derive from being associated with a particular or ganization. This should be impor-

tant as not only applicants but also organizations themselves are likely to gain from the psychological connection be-

tween them (e.g., Mael & Ashforth, 1992; Pratt, 2000; Sluss & Ashforth, 2007). We begin with a review of the literature.

Literature Review

Our literature review is divided into three parts. First, we provide a brief overview of the commonly examined pre-

dictors of applicant attraction. Then, we discuss social identity theory and its related constructs. We conclude our

literature review with a brief discussion of tentative previous efforts to combine these two disparate literature areas.

In the subsequent theoretical framework section, we will integrate both literature streams and develop a social iden-

tity framework for applicant attraction. Our framework will specify how and why social identity theory could aid in

the development of a more detailed understanding of applicant attraction. As, as we will argue, social identities are

affected by various commonly examined predictors of applicant attraction (e.g., compensation, type of work, and

organizational image; Chapman et al., 2005), it could also add predictive power and utility. This, combined with

the fact that employee identification with the organization

2

relates positively to important outcomes, such as orga-

nizational commitment, citizenship behaviors, retention, and job performance, may improve the selection process

of organizations (Mael & Ashforth, 1992; Pratt, 2000; Sluss & Ashforth, 2007). It could thus be in the best interest

of a firm to target, attract, and select individuals that are likely to identify with it.

Commonly examined predictors of applicant attraction

Applicants tend to use characteristics (e.g., compensation, type of work, and organizational image; Chapman et al.,

2005) as screening mechanisms to eliminate less attractive job opportunities for the purpose of focusing their energy

2

Organizational identification describes the extent to which individuals label themselves in terms of a specific organization (Ashforth & Mael,

1989).

SOCIAL IDENTITY 327

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav. 37, 326–345 (2016)

DOI: 10.1002/job