Changing an unfavorable employer reputation: the roles of recruitment message-type and familiarity with employer

Corporate social responsibility and job applicant attraction: A moderated-mediation model

Based on the social identity theory, this study investigates the mediation and moderation mechanism of CSR on job applicant attraction. A total of 395 job seekers are recruited to join in the experiment survey. The results indicate that job seekers' perceptions of CSR positively relate to job applicant attraction, employer reputation and expected pride mediate this relationship, respectively, and the serial mediating role of employer reputation and then expected pride in the relationship between CSR and job applicant attraction. Additionally, the findings show that job applicants' materialism orientation plays a moderating role in the indirect effect of CSR on job applicant attraction via expected pride, but the moderating effect of job seekers' materialism orientation in the indirect effect of CSR on job applicant attraction via employer reputation is not statistically significant. These findings enrich the new culture-driven evidence on the impacting mechanism of CSR on job applicant's attitude and provide valuable insight into how CSR motivates job applicant attraction.

The role of extracurricular activities in shaping university students' employment self-efficacy perceptions

Purpose

The present study aimed to understand how participation in university extracurricular activities has a beneficial or detrimental impact on students’ employment self-efficacy through the intervening mechanism of information search strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data from active job-searching university students across two time-points and hypothesized that the breadth of extracurricular activity participation would positively impact employment self-efficacy perceptions and information search strategies (focused, exploratory and haphazard) would mediate this relationship.

Findings

Results indicate that the breadth of students' participation in extracurricular activities was positively associated with employment self-efficacy perceptions, and this relationship was mediated by focused and exploratory information-search strategies. Extracurricular activities exhibited a negative relationship with a haphazard search strategy.

Research limitations/implications

This research extends the understanding of the role of participation in extracurricular activities for influencing a job search. Future research may replicate these findings with different samples of job seekers.

Practical implications

Extracurricular activities are typically offered at universities as a way for students to develop skills and to improve employers' perceptions of students. The present results suggest that participating in extracurricular activities may also help university students to effectively conduct a self-directed job search.

Originality/value

We examined the role of extracurricular activities from the applicant's perspective, extending prior research examining extracurricular activities from the employer's perspective. The present results suggest that extracurricular activities play an important role in shaping the job search process of university students by influencing students' confidence for finding employment. Information search strategies mediated the effects of extracurricular activities on employment self-efficacy perceptions, suggesting that participating in extracurricular activities changed the way that applicants searched for jobs.