An Eye Tracker Analysis of the Influence of Applicant Attractiveness on Employee Recruitment Process: A Neuromarketing Study

Tourism sector is one of the largest service sectors in the world economy both in terms of revenues and the numbers of tourists involved. One of the structural problems in the Turkish tourism industry is the high level of labour turnover. This study aims to explore the role and influence of attractiveness/attractivity on the recruitment process in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The study particularly aims to measure the influence of attractiveness on the selection of job candidates by managers involved in recruitment. Particularly, the study aims explore to what extent managers act rationally or under the influence of Pavlovian conditioning in making their recruitment decisions. That is to what extent managers resort to heuristics, i.e. shortcuts regarding attractiveness of job applicants for backstage positions in a hotel. The study has used a neurological data gathering tool, the Eye Tracker (ET, to determine the influence of attractiveness on the recruitment decisions of managers in the hospitality sector.