The relationship between recruiter characteristics and applicant assessment on social media

Given the growing practice of social recruiting, this study is an investigation of how job applicant assessment on social media differs based on recruiter characteristics. In particular, this study touches upon how the assessment of both non-professional and professional categories of content on job applicants' social media differs by recruiters' gender and national culture, and whether these characteristics and how recruiters view non-professional content on social media are associated with the recruiters' perceived tendency to exclude applicants from the recruitment process. The theoretical foundations of this study were based on the selectivity model and the existing literature on national culture. The analysis of data collected from 256 Italian and Dutch recruiters using ANCOVA and logistic regression indicated that the assessment of job candidates' non-professional content differed by recruiters' culture but not by their gender, whereas the assessment of job candidates' professional content on social media differed by recruiters' gender but not by their culture. Factors related to the recruiters' perceived tendency to exclude candidates from the recruitment process were also identified. The findings of this study provide practical implications for recruiters and job seekers, and present new suggestions for future research. •Female recruiters assess professional content on applicants' social media more positively.•Dutch recruiters assess non-professional content on applicant's social media more negatively.•Dutch recruiters tend more to exclude applicants during the social media-based screening.