Recruitment-Related Information Sources and Organizational Attractiveness: Can Something Be Done About Negative Publicity?

The present study begins to fill a gap in the recruitment literature by investigating whether the effects of negative publicity on organizational attractiveness can be mitigated by recruitment advertising and positive word‐of‐mouth. The accessibility–diagnosticity model was used as a theoretical framework to formulate predictions about the effects of these recruitment‐related information sources. A mixed 2 × 2 experimental design was applied to examine whether initial assessments of organizational attractiveness based on negative publicity would improve at a second evaluation after exposure to a second, more positive information source. We found that both recruitment advertising and word‐of‐mouth improved organizational attractiveness, but word‐of‐mouth was perceived as a more credible information source. Self‐monitoring did not moderate the impact of information source on organizational attractiveness.