Using Artificial Websites in E-recruitment Research: An Example in Applicant Attraction

Abstract

Fake employer websites were created using Wix.com to manipulate recruitment messages. Several weeks after completing a questionnaire measuring personal values and job search behaviors, participants (N=433) viewed websites displaying Corporate Social Performance that espoused pro-environmental, pro-diversity, or pro-family-work balance values. While objective person-organization fit between the participants’ values and the organizations’ values was predictive of recruitment outcomes, this effect was mediated by participants’ subjective person-organization fit. Respondents reported the internet as the main source of job seeking and few were not currently looking for work or employed, suggesting that experimental research using artificial websites with students may have ecological validity.