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Personnel ReviewEmerald Article: Factors influencing the adoption of online recruitmentEmma Parry, Hugh Wilson

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To cite this document: Emma Parry, Hugh Wilson, (2009),"Factors influencing the adoption of online recruitment", Personnel Review, Vol. 38 Iss: 6 pp. 655 - 673

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Factors influencing the adoptionof online recruitment

Emma Parry and Hugh WilsonCranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK

Abstract

Purpose – The internet is initially hailed as the future of recruitment and is expected to replace othermedia as the preferred recruitment method, but the adoption of online recruitment has not been ascomprehensively predicted. In addition, empirical research regarding online recruitment from anorganisational perspective is sparse. This paper aims to examine the reasons behind an organisation’sdecision to use online recruitment, and reports on the development of a model of the factors affectingthe adoption of this recruitment method.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses in-depth interviews and a survey of humanresource (HR) managers with recruitment responsibility. The factors that affect the adoption of onlinerecruitment are explored, and related to Rogers’s diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) and Ajzen’stheory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Findings – Factors related to the adoption of corporate web sites and commercial jobs boards arefound to be different, with positive beliefs/relative advantage, subjective norms and negative beliefsemerging in the case of corporate web sites and positive beliefs/relative advantage and compatibilityfor jobs boards. These results provide some fit with both Ajzen’s and Rogers’ factors.

Originality/value – This paper addresses an important area that is under-researched academicallyand provides a basis for further research into how organisations may adopt online recruitmentsuccessfully.

Keywords Online operations, Recruitment, Human resource management, Internet, United Kingdom

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionThe use of online recruitment has risen dramatically over the past ten years. However,it has not – as yet, at least – become as dominant a recruitment method as waspredicted by many researchers and practitioners. Despite this, research regarding theadoption of online recruitment is sparse. This study examines the reasons behind anorganisation’s decision of whether to use online recruitment, developing a model of thefactors influencing adoption.

BackgroundRecruitment “includes those practices and activities carried out by the organisationwith the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees” (Breaughand Starke, 2000) and is an important part of human resource (HR) management as it“performs the essential function of drawing an important resource – human capital –into the organisation” (Barber, 1998). Lievens et al. (2002) asserted that the “war fortalent” meant that the emphasis in organisations moved from the selection to theattraction of employees, and that labour market shortages and recruitment difficultiesled to a more competitive recruitment market. Research by HR prospects (2003) foundthat recruitment was the second highest priority for HR practitioners (after absence

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

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The adoptionof online

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Received 13 March 2007Revised March 2007,

May 2007Accepted 2 September 2008

Personnel ReviewVol. 38 No. 6, 2009

pp. 655-673q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0048-3486DOI 10.1108/00483480910992265

management). Given the importance of recruitment, it is surprising that little researchhas been conducted into the decision making processes that form the basis of anemployer’s recruitment strategy.

The internet first emerged as a recruiting tool in the mid-1990s and was hailed bythe popular media as the driver behind a “recruiting revolution” due to the benefits itcould bring to recruiters (Boydell, 2002). It was predicted that the recruitmentindustry’s “future is on the net” (Edgeley, 1995) and that the internet had brought“radical change to corporate recruiting” (Cappelli, 2001). Online recruitment has indeedgrown rapidly over the past ten years and is now widely used by both recruiters andjob seekers across the world. In the USA, Cober and Brown (2006) found that over50 per cent of new hires were sourced from the internet and that this was expected toincrease. Crispin and Mehler (2006) found that 20 per cent external hires were fromcorporate web sites and another 13 per cent were from jobs boards. In the UK, Totaljobs (2004) found that two thirds of UK organisations used jobs boards – independentweb sites matching multiple recruiters to job applicants, typically through recruiteradvertisements – during the 12 months up to July 2004, supporting the assertion thatthe internet is now a part of recruitment practices within many organisations.

There is still a large proportion of organisations in the UK who have not yet adoptedonline recruitment at all, and those who do use online recruitment often do so inconjunction with other techniques such as print advertising and recruitment agencies.The Recruitment Confidence Index (Cranfield School of Management, 1999-2006) hastracked the use of online recruitment over time, and showed its use has levelled out ataround 40 per cent of companies for corporate web sites and 25 per cent for commercialjobs boards. This was supported by the CIPD’s (2006) finding that 64 per cent oforganisations used online recruitment. The RCI also showed that the use of moretraditional methods such as national newspapers (29 per cent), regional newspapers(33 per cent) and employment agencies (44 per cent) remained comparable to that ofonline methods. While online recruitment is becoming well established, then, it has nothad the overwhelming impact on the recruitment process that many predicted.

Research regarding online recruitment is sparse, particularly from an employer’sperspective. Lievens et al. (2002) noted that research into online recruitment is “veryscarce” and that “all the studies we retrieved focused on applicant reactions”. Our ownsearch supported this assertion, with the majority of literature found about onlinerecruitment being from the candidate’s perspective. For instance, Dineen and othersfocused on the use of online information to promote person-organisation fit (Dineenet al., 2002, 2007; Dineen, 2003); Cober et al. (2004) addressed the impact of web sitecharacteristics on applicant attraction; and Zusman and Landis (2002) looked atapplicant preferences for web-based and traditional job advertisements. Very littleattention has been paid to the reasons why organisations adopt online recruitment inthe first place. There are two main exceptions to this. One is Williamson and Cable’s(2003) study, which suggested that recruitment sources were adopted mainly due tomimetic processes. The other is Chapman and Webster’s (2003) survey research in theUSA which found that most organisations implemented technology based recruitmentand selection tools to improve efficiency, enable new assessment tools, reduce costs,standardize systems and expand the applicant pool. Chapman and Webster’s study,however, focused mainly on applicant management and assessment rather thanattraction.

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For the purpose of this paper, we will use Breaugh and Starke’ (2000) definition ofrecruitment (above) and will therefore define online recruitment as the use of theinternet to identify and attract potential employees. The internet may also be used forthe selection of candidates once they have made contact with the company via theinternet or otherwise, but we focus on its use prior to this point as this is more commonin the UK (CIPD, 2006), and yet has been the subject of less empirical research. Onlinerecruitment will be divided into the use of an organisation’s corporate web site forrecruitment and the use of commercial jobs boards (such as monster.com) for postingjob advertisements.

Given that the adoption of online recruitment has yet to be studied in any detail, weneed to turn to literature outside of this area in order to provide a theoreticalframework. While we are interested in organisational adoption of online recruitment, itcould be argued that the decision to adopt this method is primarily driven by anindividual such as the head of resourcing. It may therefore be appropriate to examinethe literature on individual decision making. A model that has been used to explain thedecision of individuals to act in a particular way is the theory of planned behaviour(TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) which was developed as an extension of the theory of reasonedaction (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). This model proposed that the intention to perform aparticular behaviour is based upon attitudes and beliefs about that behaviour.Individuals who hold favourable attitudes towards a given behaviour will hold afavourable attitude towards performing that behaviour, while a person who hasnegative attitudes towards behaviour will hold unfavourable attitudes towardsperforming it. In addition, individuals hold beliefs that specific individuals orgroups think they should or should not perform a particular behaviour, known assubjective norms. A person who believes that those who he is motivated to complywith think he or she should perform the behaviour will perceive social pressure to doso. Therefore, the intention that a person has to perform any action is based upon acombination of their attitudes and normative beliefs towards that behaviour. Ajzen andFishbein suggested that an individual’s intention to perform a particular behaviour,and therefore the likelihood of them actually performing that action, can be predictedby the measurement of attitudes and subjective norms. TPB was developed in order toaddress the point that the performance of any action is not based solely on the intentionto perform that action but also on the perceived behavioural control that an individualhas over the action. TPB therefore suggests that behaviour is based upon acombination of attitudes towards the behaviour, subjective norms and perceivedbehavioural control.

TPB has been used as a framework for the examination of the adoption of a numberof technological advances, including internet technology (Venkatesh et al., 2007). Forinstance, the model has been used to explain internet purchasing (George, 2004), theuse of mobile internet services (Pedersen, 2005; Wang et al., 2006), internet banking(Ravi et al., 2007) and information systems (Chang, 2007). TPB may also have facevalidity as a framework for the explanation of the adoption of online recruitment asindividuals who have positive attitudes towards online recruitment, who perceive thatthere are normative pressures for them to use online recruitment, and who believe theyhave behavioural control over this decision, may decide to adopt online methods withintheir organisations. TPB has not previously been used to explain organisationaladoption of technology. We have proposed that the perceptions of those individuals


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responsible for organisational decision-making around recruitment will have animpact on the adoption of online recruitment but it may be that this framework alonewill not be sufficient to explain organisational decisions. We have therefore sought acomplementary framework that has been used previously to explain the organisationaladoption of technology.

An examination of the literature on the adoption of innovations in general mayallow us some insight into the processes behind the organisational adoption of onlinerecruitment. The use of the internet for recruitment can, after all, be described as aninnovation in the same way as any other. Zaltman et al. (1973) defines an innovation asbeing “any idea, practice or material artefact perceived to be new by the relevant unit ofadoption”, and Kanter (1985) as “the generation, acceptance and implementation of newideas, processes, products or services”. Innovation has been the subject of a vastnumber of academic studies on topics ranging from factors influencing innovativeproduct success (Cooper, 1980; Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987) and types of innovation(Clarke and Staunton, 1989; Damanpour, 1990) to the study of innovative environmentsand cultures (Ekvall, 1983; Cooper, 1980) and the role of leadership (Van de Ven, 1989;Peters and Waterman, 1982). The key theme in the innovation literature of interest isthe study of factors affecting the extent of adoption or diffusion.

Rogers (1995), the best-known author in the field, defined the diffusion of innovationas: “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channelsover time among the members of a social system” and provided a framework forexplaining the adoption of innovations by organisations. Based on studies rangingfrom farming practices to the spread of religions, Rogers (1995) describes a generic setof five factors affecting adoption:

(1) relative advantage: “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as beingbetter than the idea it supersedes”;

(2) compatibility: “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistentwith the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters”;

(3) complexity: “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as relativelydifficult to understand and use”;

(4) trialability: “the degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on alimited basis”; and

(5) observability: “the degree to which the results of an innovation are visible toothers”. This last factor is sometimes termed communicability by otherresearchers (Daniel, 1998).

No previous studies are known which apply diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) toonline recruitment specifically, but studies within information systems include Li’s(2003) survey of electronic newspaper adoption, Bradford and Florin’s (2003) study ofERP systems and Benyon-Davies and Williams’ (2003) study of IS developmentmethods. Perhaps, closest to the online recruitment domain are applications of thetheory to other areas of e-commerce such as Eastin’s (2002) study of B2C e-commerce,Martins et al.’s (2003) survey on the adoption of the internet as a teaching tool, andMolesworth and Suortti’s (2002) examination of car purchases online. DIT maytherefore provide a valid complement to TPB for our analysis of the adoption of onlinerecruitment within organisations.

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These two theoretical frameworks on first glance appear very different to eachother. However, many of Rogers’ factors may fit with Ajzen’s idea of positive ornegative beliefs towards a particular behaviour. For instance, the perception thatonline recruitment will provide advantages over other recruitment methods could bedescribed as a positive attitude by Ajzen and “relative advantage” by Rogers.Similarly, Rogers’ factor of “complexity” may be related to perceived behaviouralcontrol. Therefore, while these two frameworks are different in their attention onindividual versus organisational adoption of behaviour, they do have some similarityin structure. This study will examine the factors affecting the adoption of onlinerecruitment within both of these frameworks in order to analyse the efficacy of eachmodel to explain organisational adoption of online recruitment. We report on anexploratory study that elicits the factors influencing an organisation’s decision toadopt online recruitment, via a set of in-depth interviews and the development andapplication of a survey instrument, and we then reflect on the fit of these factors withthese prior frameworks.

A comprehensive analysis of literature was conducted in order to identify factorsthat had been speculated to affect whether an organisation adopts internet recruitment.As listed in Table I, various positive and negative attitudes about online recruitmentwere identified from six practitioner and six academic sources.

It cannot be assumed that the factors affecting the adoption of corporate web sitesand commercial jobs boards will be the same. Indeed, recent research on onlinerecruitment (Zusman and Landis, 2002; Cober et al., 2000) has treated these innovationsseparately. Therefore, we will be led by the initial qualitative research results as towhether the factors influencing the adoption of these two channels differ.

The unit of analysis in both stages of this research will be the organisation.However, in order to obtain insight into the organisational adoption of onlinerecruitment, we will use key informants (recruiters) within each organisation that areresponsible for decision making in recruitment.

Stage 1: interviewsThe hypothesized list of factors of Table I was initially explored using 14semi-structured interviews with UK HR managers, responsible for recruitment. Asthe purpose was to elicit all relevant factors, the sample was chosen to gain a spreadon a number of relevant dimensions (Wilson, 2004). Firstly, ten interviewees workedfor organisations that did use online recruitment, while four did not. Secondly, theformer’s use included both corporate web sites and commercial jobs boards, andthirdly, this usage ranged from comprehensive users across all vacancies to highlyselective users.

Respondents were asked to describe their use of online recruitment, the reasonswhy they did or did not use each method and their attitudes towards each.Respondents were then probed regarding any parts of the hypothesised list that theyhad not addressed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed usingNVivo, a computer package for the analysis of qualitative data. Each interview wascoded according to the factors in the hypothesized model, and any new factors thathad arisen during the interview were added. This produced a number of factors thatwere used to develop the survey instrument for the second stage of the research (seeTable II).


recruitment

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Table I.Factors influencing theadoption of onlinerecruitment – literaturereview

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FactorNo. of

interviews

Relative advantageReachPool size: the size of the candidate pool that online advertising reaches wasseen as a major advantage of online recruitment 2International: The ability to reach international job seekers was seen as apositive attribute but the numbers of overseas applicants without thenecessary permits was a disadvantage 6Passive jobseekers: There was some concern about the ability to reachpassive job seekers 1Diversity: there was some concern about the diversity of applicants 4Candidate targetingTargeting the right people: the use of niche jobs boards and corporate websites allows targeting of particular job seekers 13Provision of information: more information can be included in onlineadvertisements, especially on a corporate web site 4Computer literacy: Belief that online applicants had a certain degree ofcomputer literacy 1Ease of sifting responses: some interviewees used their corporate web sitebecause of the potential for sifting candidates electronically 10Unsuitable applications: organisations were put off of online recruitment,particularly jobs boards, after being swamped by unsuitable applications 12Convenience: perceptions of how convenient it was to use online methodswere mixed, with some interviewees finding it more convenient to useemployment agencies 11Talent database: some organisations had created a database of potentialfuture candidates through their corporate web site 15Personal touch: Some interviewees felt that the use of the internet wasimpersonal and meant that they lost the personal touch offered byagencies 3

ImageCompany image: some organisations have adopted online recruitment as ameans of maintaining their cutting-edge image 5Employer brand: some interviewees felt that the use of their corporate website allowed them to promote their employer brand 3Relative cost: all of the interviewees cited cost savings as one of the mainbenefits of online recruitment 14Speed to hire: Interviewees felt that using the internet meant thatrecruitment was much faster 9Complexity: it was suggested that both the process of selectingcommercial jobs boards and setting up a corporate recruitment site couldbe difficult 6

CompatibilityHR function and working practices: some organisations reported thatonline recruitment fitted well with existing practices, while others receivedresistance from line managers 10Technological systems: in those organisations that already have a website and communicate electronically, online recruitment may seem like anatural next step, whereas it is more problematic in organisations thathave not already moved online in other areas 8

(continued )

Table II.Positive and negativebeliefs identified from

interviews


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Stage 2: surveyA survey instrument was developed to organise those items identified during theinterviews into factors and to investigate the relationship between these factors and theadoption of online recruitment. The questionnaire was constructed using a number ofstatements that were taken directly from the interview transcripts. These statementswere selected based upon the issues and attitudes elicited above so that thequestionnaire contained at least one statement regarding each of the 15 factors, andaccording to their simplicity and ease of understanding. The interview results showedthat the factors affecting the adoption of corporate web sites and commercial jobs boardswere different; therefore two separate sets of questionnaire items were developed, with25 items for corporate web sites and 21 items for commercial jobs boards. An additional10 items were included regarding online recruitment and the organisation in general.Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with each statement on a five-pointLikert scale anchored by “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree”. Respondents werealso asked to indicate percentage of vacancies advertised corporate and commercial websites, to form a dependent variable representing the extent of adoption. This follows Shihand Venkatesh’s (2004) argument that adoption is best represented as a continuousrather than a dichotomous variable, with the extent of usage being a better measure thanthe sheer ownership of a product or contractual right to use a service.

The questionnaire was piloted using eight HR managers with responsibility forrecruitment. Several minor modifications were made to the questionnaire at this stage.For the full survey, respondents were taken from a database of 8,000 HR directors andmanagers, managing directors and finance managers. This database has beendeveloped over six years by a UK business school. The survey was conducted entirelyonline. Potential respondents were emailed and asked to access the survey via a linkincluded in the email. The survey was targeted at those HR managers and directorswith responsibility for making decisions about recruitment and the use of recruitmentmethods. Those individuals contacted were asked to pass the survey onto a moreappropriate person if they did not indeed have this responsibility. The surveyremained online for completion for three weeks.

A total of 439 respondents completed the survey representing a response rate of5.5 per cent. Non-response bias was estimated by comparing earlier and later responsesto the survey, indicating that there was no significant difference between the two sets

FactorNo. of

interviews

Trialability: Interviewees felt that it was relatively easy to experimentwith jobs boards but more difficult with corporate web site 4Contextual factorsVolume of recruitment: online recruitment, particularly corporate websites, may be more suitable for those organisations that recruit in bulk 3Extent of competitive adoption: some interviewees had been motivated toadopt online recruitment because their competitors had 4Extent of job seeker adoption: some interviewees were driven to use onlinerecruitment because it was expected by job seekers in their industry 6Table II.

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of responses with regard to the adoption of either corporate web sites (t ¼ 0.576 NS) orcommercial web sites (t ¼ 0.328 NS).

Table III shows a summary of the respondents’ level of use of corporate web sitesand commercial jobs boards for recruitment. It can be seen that the respondentsdemonstrated a wide range of usage of online recruitment.

The responses to the attitudinal items were analysed using principal componentsanalysis to organise the items into factors. Two analyses were carried out. The first ofthese included the 25 items on the use of corporate web sites plus the ten neutral items.The second analysis included the 21 items regarding commercial jobs boards plus theten neutral items. A varimax rotation was used in each case in order to produce a moreparsimonious factor structure.

Following each PCA, those factors with an eigenvalue of more than one wereaccepted. Items with a factor loading of less than 0.4 and those in factors with two items orless were removed from the analysis before it was repeated. This ensured that a series ofmulti-item factors with items that loaded strongly onto each factor was produced.

Factor analysis – corporate web sitesFor corporate web sites, after five iterations of a PCA, a five-factor structure wasproduced, and the internal reliability of each factor was examined using Cronbach’salpha (Table IV).

The alpha values for factors 1-4 were over 0.6 indicating reasonable internalreliability. As the alpha value for factor 5 was extremely low, this factor was removed.The four remaining factors explained 48.1 per cent of the variance. An examination ofthe items showed that each factor centred upon a particular theme. These themes canbe related back to the factors in both Ajzen’s TPB and Rogers’ DIT. Factor 1 wasnamed “subjective norms”; factor 2, “positive beliefs/relative advantage”; factor 3,“negative beliefs”; and factor 4, “internal compatibility”.

Factor analysis – commercial jobs boardsFor commercial jobs boards, following eight iterations of a PCA, a two-factor structurewas produced (Table V). The internal reliability of the two factors was examined usingCronbach’s alpha.

These two factors explained 51.1 per cent of the variance in the sample. The alphavalues for both factors were over 0.7 indicating reasonable internal reliability. Based onthe items in each factor, factor 1 was named “positive beliefs/relative advantage” andfactor 2 “compatibility”.

Each respondent was given a score for each factor by summing the responses toeach of the items in each factor. The relationship between each factor and adoption was

Percentage of vacanciesadvertised using method

Corporateweb site (%)

Commercial jobsboards (%)

0 19 361-25 13 3826-50 6 1851-75 9 576-100 53 3

Table III.Use of online

recruitment (n ¼ 405)


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then examined. Correlations between the predictors are shown in Tables VI and VII.While these correlations are significant in each case, they are all less than 0.5 and notlarge enough to warrant concern.

The relationship between the predictors and criterion variable was investigatedusing linear regression, using the enter method and listwise deletion of cases(Tables VIII and IX).

Regression analysis – corporate web sitesThe model for corporate web sites was highly significant ( p , 0.01) and produced anadjusted R 2 value of 0.243. The regression analysis showed that subjective norms andnegative beliefs had a highly significant ( p , 0.01) impact on the use of corporate websites. Positive beliefs/relative advantage also had a significant effect at the 5 per centlevel. Internal compatibility did not have a significant effect.

Factor Item Factor loading Cronbach’s alpha

Please indicate to what extent you agree with thefollowing statements about the use of corporate websites for recruitment

1 Our potential employees tend to look for work oncorporate web sites 0.588 0.77

1 Most of our competitors use their corporate web sitefor recruitment 0.688

1 Online access among our target workers is high 0.7231 Our organisation needs to use online recruitment to

move with the times 0.6711 The culture of our industry is very much online 0.5722 It delivers cost savings 0.624 0.712 It is no faster than using any other method (reversed) 0.5202 It makes it easier to sift out the right candidates 0.7162 It speeds up the recruitment process 0.7452 It allows you to build up a database of candidates for

talent searching 0.6383 The quality of candidates is lower than through

other methods 0.583 0.663 Companies that use them get swamped by

unsuitable applicants 0.7243 The sheer number of responses to online adverts

makes it labour intensive 0.7483 It is very expensive to set up a recruitment web site 0.5303 Online recruitment is less personal than other

recruitment methods 0.4784 Our HR systems are readily compatible with the use

of corporate web sites 0.709 0.644 Our company welcomes the use of new technology 0.6754 Most of my organisation’s HR procedures are

already electronic 0.7415 Applications are limited to certain types of people 0.586 20.055 People who apply for jobs online tend to be more

computer literate 20.7235 It is more appropriate for younger, technology-based

organisations 0.639

Table IV.Factors relating to the useof corporate web sites forrecruitment

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Regression analysis – commercial jobs boardsThe model was highly significant ( p , 0.01) and produced an adjusted R 2 value of0.102. Both positive beliefs/relative advantage and compatibility had a highlysignificant impact on the criterion of the percentage of vacancies advertised usingcommercial jobs boards ( p , 0.01).

Factor Item Factor loading Cronbach’s alpha

Please indicate to what extent you agree with thefollowing statements about the use of commercial jobsboards for recruitment

1 It improves the diversity of applicants 0.718 0.811 It is easy to attract the right candidates 0.6321 It is much easier than other recruitment methods 0.6991 It helps promote the image of being a leading edge

organisation 0.7381 Speed to hire is one of the big attractions of using

them 0.7151 Their use extends the reach of our advertising 0.7022 Our company welcomes the use of new technology 0.658 0.732 Most of my organisation’s HR procedures are

already electronic 0.7212 Online access among our target workers is high 0.6972 Our organisation needs to use online recruitment to

move with the times 0.5742 The culture of our industry is very much online 0.757

Table V.Factors relating to the use

of commercial jobsboards for recruitment

Mean SDExternal

compatibilityRelative

advantage DifficultiesInternal

compatibility

Subjective norms (1-25) 16.17 3.78 0.465 * * 0.178 * * 0.461 * *

Positive beliefs/Relativeadvantage (1-25) 16.34 3.46 0.465 * * 0.489 * * 0.267 * *

Negative beliefs (1-15) 16.79 3.33 0.178 * * 0.189 * * 0.108 *

Internal compatibility (1-15) 9.62 2.51 0.461 * * 0.267 * * 0.108 *

Percentage of vacanciesadvertised 62.05 42.20 0.421 * * 0.115 * 0.277 * 0.223 * *

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01

Table VI.Bivariate correlations

(Pearson’s productmoment), for corporate

web sites

Mean SD Relative advantage Compatibility

Positive beliefs/relative advantage (1-30) 19.12 3.84 0.381 * *

Compatibility (1-25) 16.75 3.71 0.381 * *

Percentage of vacancies advertised 17.13 23.30 0.270 * * 0.283 * *

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01

Table VII.Bivariate correlations

(Pearson’s productmoment), for commercial

jobs boards


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DiscussionThis study has examined the factors affecting the organisational adoption of bothcorporate web sites and commercial jobs boards for recruitment, within the twoframeworks of the TPB and DIT. Initial qualitative investigation demonstrated thatthe factors affecting the adoption of these methods were not the same; therefore, theyhave been treated separately in subsequent stages of investigation.

Corporate web sitesThe survey results identified four factors with relation to the adoption of corporate websites for recruitment – these have been named subjective norms, positivebeliefs/relative advantage, negative beliefs and internal compatibility, in line withterminology used by Ajzen and Rogers. The first three of these factors were found tohave a significant impact on the use of a corporate web site for recruitment.

The significance of subjective norms suggested that those organisations that comefrom an industry in which both organisations and workers tend to be online are morelikely to use online recruitment. This relationship was highly significant and yetsubjective norms have not been discussed at any length in the literature on onlinerecruitment. A number of authors have discussed the importance of using onlinerecruitment for companies within the technology sector (Galanaki, 2002, Arthur, 2001,Bartram, 2000) but the idea that certain types of organisations may feel compelled touse the method because their competitors and target jobseekers are using it has notreceived much attention. Ajzen asserted that individuals that believe that specificindividuals or groups think they should or should not perform a particular action willperceive social pressure to do so. In the case of online recruitment, those organisationsthat perceive that their industry or target job seeker is online may feel pressure toadopt this method and therefore be more likely to do so.

The “negative beliefs” factor was negatively related to the use of online recruitmentsuggesting that those HR Managers who perceive the use of corporate web sites forrecruitment negatively are less likely to use the method. This factor is in accordancewith Ajzen’s suggestion that negative perceptions of actions are negatively related tointentions to perform and therefore the actual performance of that behaviour.

b Std. error b t Significance

Subjective norms 4.787 0.626 0.426 7.647 0.000Positive beliefs/relative advantage 21.595 0.638 20.130 22.499 0.013Negative beliefs 23.082 0.591 20.243 25.213 0.000Internal compatibility 0.575 0.875 0.034 0.657 0.512(Constant) 246.300 13.401 23.455 0.001

Table VIII.Multiple regressionanalysis (corporateweb sites)

b Std. error b t Significance

Positive beliefs 1.051 0.359 0.177 2.925 0.004Compatibility 1.278 0.376 0.206 3.397 0.001(Constant) 224.249 6.940 23.494 0.001

Table IX.Multiple regressionanalysis (commercialjobs boards)

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Therefore, organisations that perceive online recruitment negatively are less likely toadopt this method. This perception of online recruitment as somewhat problematic –particularly with respect to targeting, which accounts for four of the five items in thisfactor – is in accordance with the literature reporting organisations being “swamped”by applications (Lievens and Harris, 2003; Falke, 2003, Arthur, 2001) and receiving highlevels of unsuitable applications (Lievens and Harris, 2003). Practitioners mayovercome these difficulties by using web site functionality to filter out unsuitablecandidates.

Positive beliefs/relative advantage had a small, less significant and indeed negativeimpact on the use of online recruitment (b ¼ 20.13, p , 0.05). This finding issurprising given that this factor revolves around cost and time savings which havegenerally been associated with the use of online recruitment (Kerrin and Ketley, 2003;Arthur, 2001). We suggest that as the corresponding correlation between positivebeliefs and adoption is small but positive, the negative beta value should probably bediscounted, as there may be a suppressor effect occurring. Nonetheless, the effect ofpositive beliefs seems small compared to that of the subjective norms and negativebeliefs. This in itself is of considerable interest. While the existence of this factor is inline with both TPB and DIT, positive beliefs/relative advantage do not play as central arole in the adoption of online recruitment as these theories might typically suggest.We suggest that adoption of corporate web sites is becoming a hygiene factor fororganisations in some sectors, where subjective norms are prevalent: HR managers doit because it is expected of them, rather than to achieve specific measurable benefits.If this interpretation is correct, a clear implication for practitioners is that planning forrecruitment in a more strategic way, choosing the most cost and time effective methodrather than just copying other firms within their sector, may be beneficial.

The relationship between the above factors and the use of corporate web sites forrecruitment can be summarised in Figure 1.

Commercial jobs boardsThe survey identified two factors impacting the adoption of commercial jobs boards:compatibility and positive beliefs/relative advantage. Both were highly significant.The importance of positive beliefs for the adoption of jobs boards is in line with TPB’spositive beliefs and with Rogers’ factor of relative advantage. This result also supportsthe literature on online recruitment that the use of online recruitment allows access to awider range of candidates (Galanaki, 2002) and is more convenient (Arthur, 2001).These advantages seem more prominent with respect to commercial jobs boards than

Figure 1.Model of the adoption of

corporate web sites forrecruitment

Subjective norms/compatibility

Positive beliefs/relative advantage

Negative beliefs (–)

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with corporate web sites. This may be because jobs boards are viewed by potentialrecruits who may not have considered approaching the advertising organisation, henceexpanding reach or due to more conscious consideration of relative advantage in thecase of commercial jobs boards: after all, every time a commercial jobs board is used,cash leaves the organisation in the form of the advertisement fee. Further research isneeded to establish whether one or both of these interpretations is correct.

Compatibility was important for the use of commercial jobs boards as well ascorporate web sites. The compatibility factor for commercial jobs boards was largelyconcerned with subjective norms, through items such as “the culture of our industry asvery much online” although two of the items relate to internal compatibility issues(“Our company welcomes the use of new technology” and “Most of my organisation’sHR procedures are already electronic”). Again, further investigation of the impact ofcontextual factors on the adoption of online recruitment is needed. This factor thereforedemonstrates some consistency with both Rogers’ factor of compatibility and Ajzen’ssubjective norms.

The relationship between the above factors and the use of commercial jobs boardsfor recruitment can be summarised in Figure 2.

Contrasting jobs boards and corporate web sitesOne of the most striking aspects of these findings is that the factors that affect theadoption of corporate web sites and commercial jobs boards, while in some respectssimilar, are not the same. The majority of the literature discusses online recruitment asa single entity, although some authors (Zusman and Landis, 2002; Cober et al., 2000)have treated these methods separately. Our findings suggest that organisations’attitudes towards these two methods are different, demonstrating that onlinerecruitment methods have developed sufficiently not to be seen as a single entity. Thispremise is also supported by the different levels of use of the two methods. Thissuggests that corporate recruitment web sites and commercial jobs boards should betreated independently in future research. We have produced different factors for thesetwo methods as dictated by our interview results. However, a comparison of thesemethods over the same dimensions may be a useful avenue for future investigation.

The findings in relation to theoryBoth of the models displayed in Figures 1 and 2 resemble TPB. The factors of positivebeliefs/relative advantage for both online methods and negative beliefs for corporateweb sites fit well with Ajzen’s suggestion that the intention to perform actions (andtherefore the actions themselves) are related to individual’s positive and negative

Figure 2.Model of the adoptionof commercial jobsboards for recruitment

Compatibility

Positive beliefs/relative advantage

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attitudes towards that action. The factors of subjective norms for corporate web sitesand compatibility for commercial jobs boards may be similar to Ajzen’s subjectivenorms. It should be noted that, by selecting respondents that are responsible fordecision making in recruitment, we have perhaps partially removed the notion ofbehavioural control from our examination. Potentially for this reason, the notionof behavioural control was not elicited as an important factor in the consideration ofonline recruitment adoption.

There are a number of limitations to our use of the TPB as a framework. We havenot measured the intentions of individual recruiters or organisations to adopt onlinerecruitment, but have looked directly at the actual adoption of online recruitmentmethods, presuming that the link between intentions and actual adoption is strong. Wehave also not explicitly investigated perceived behavioural control.

We have used Ajzen’s model to examine organisational behaviour rather thanindividual behaviour. We justify this in that we have selected respondents who areresponsible for recruitment decision-making on the assumption that their attitudes andsubjective norms will be related to the behaviour of the organisation in adopting onlinerecruitment methods. We have also compared the fit of Ajzen’s framework with DIT(Rogers, op cit), which has frequently been applied to organisations, and have foundthat our data supports aspects of both models. This has wider implications for the useof TPB and for the impact of individual decision-makers’ attitudes on organisationalbehaviour.

Both of the models presented also bear some resemblance to the generic DIT modelproposed by Rogers (1995), including Rogers’ factors of “relative advantage” and“compatibility”. We have extended the notion of compatibility to include compatibilitywith the wider external context in the form of subjective norms. “Negative beliefs” maybe seen as similar to “complexity” in Rogers’ model as it concerns the difficulty ofusing corporate web sites for recruitment. Rogers’ other factors of “trialability” and“observability” were not found to be relevant in this context.

Limitations and research directionsOur use of an online survey provides some limitations through its conveniencesampling of those HR managers who are already at least to some extent internetusers – though the sample nevertheless contains a proportion of organisations that donot use corporate web sites (19 per cent) and commercial jobs boards (37 per cent). Thissuggests that the present study’s contribution is to focus on those organisations thathave the capacity to use online recruitment but may choose not to. The inclusion oforganisations without online access would presumably add the dimension of thoseorganisations that do not use the method because they are unable to. An extension ofthe research to include the attitudes of HR Managers in less technologicallysophisticated organisations could be of value. The nature of our sampling has also ledto a relatively low response rate so the testing of these suggestions within a largersample is important.

Another limitation of our study is the fact that there is no check to guarantee thatthe person completing the survey is also the person who has the discretion to adoptonline recruitment methods. As only one person from each organisation completed thesurvey, it was impossible to analyse whether views on the adoption of onlinerecruitment differed within single organisations and how this affected the adoption of


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the method. This use of multiple sources of data to validate our findings may be afruitful avenue for future research. However, our research design is in line with theliterature on the use of key informants (Kumar et al., 1993) that suggests that the use ofan appropriate key informant (in our case the person responsible for recruitmentdecisions) may be a valid way of collecting data within organisations.

We have focused on the main effects of attitudes on the degree of adoption of onlinerecruitment. It may be that these factors are moderated by factors such as organisationsize or industry. Future research should investigate this and should more generallyexamine the nature of those organisations that do and do not use online recruitment.However, our results suggest that there are some attitudes that may have an impact onthe decision of whether or not to adopt these methods regardless of the nature of theorganisation. In addition, our study has a strong UK focus and therefore may not begeneralisable to all countries. Indeed, legislation in countries such as the USA maymean that the use of online recruitment is somewhat different.

ConclusionsThis study has provided some insight into how recruiters make decisions about whichrecruitment methods to use. We may have presumed that organisations selectrecruitment methods based upon the benefits that they offer, but our results show thatrecruiters base their choice of recruitment channel largely on subjective norms, and ontheir negative beliefs towards that method, rather than selecting the methods that aremost successful, cost effective and efficient.

This study is intended as a first step towards establishing of what lies behind anorganisation’s use of online recruitment. The identification of those factors thatseparate an organisation that uses online recruitment methods from one that does notmay provide a platform for the further development of this recruitment method andtherefore may prove valuable to online recruitment providers and recruiters alike.A further step would be to examine the factors that enable an organisation to useonline recruitment successfully, going beyond adoption as the dependent variable toexamine the success of that adoption (Shih and Venkatesh, 2004) on such criteria as thequantity and quality of new employees gained: such research would help onlinerecruitment fully to realise its potential within the recruitment marketplace and wouldhave significant practical implications for both recruiters and providers of internetrecruitment tools.

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About the authorsEmma Parry is a Senior Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management. Emma hasconducted research across the spectrum of human resource management but her main researchinterests are in the use of technology for human resource management (particularly recruitment);managing an ageing workforce; HRM in the voluntary sector and international comparativeHRM. Emma Parry is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Hugh Wilson is a Professor of Strategic Marketing and Director of the Customer ManagementForum and Cranfield School of Management. His research interests are in the areas ofe-commerce, CRM and multi-channel marketing.


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