Newswise — Attributes of employers' Web sites, such as design and content, influence prospective employees' job search intentions—especially African American job seekers—finds a recent study by Caren B. Goldberg, a management professor at American University's Kogod School of Business and David G. Allen, a management professor at the University of Memphis. The study, "Black and White and Read All Over: Race Differences in Reactions to Recruitment Web Sites," was published in the summer 2008 issue of the journal Human Resource Management.
"The findings indicate that employers can attract more diverse applicant pools by paying more attention to site design and content," Goldberg said.
A combined sample of 662 African American and Caucasian job-seeking students was randomly assigned to visit the Web sites of prospective employers. Based on job seekers' evaluations of each Web site, Goldberg and Allen found that the more the students favored an employer's Web site, the more they favored the employer, and the more motivated they were to pursue employment. This was true across the entire sample, regardless of race, but the correlations were stronger among African Americans than they were among Caucasians.
The job seekers were asked to evaluate the Web sites in four areas: ease of use, usefulness, parasocial interaction (allowance for two-way communication), and engagement. The job seekers also indicated their attitudes toward the employer and the likelihood they would pursue employment with the organization. Additionally, the researchers collected information about the applicants' race and whether the Web sites had a diversity statement.
Of the Web site qualities, parasocial interaction was more strongly related to African Americans' attitudes toward employers and intentions to seek employment. Web site engagement and attitudes toward employers also had greater influence on African Americans' intentions to pursue employment.
Organizational diversity statements had no influence on the racially combined sample. However, when the sample was analyzed according to race, African American job seekers evaluated Web sites with diversity statements as more engaging.
Goldberg's areas of research are human resource management, workplace diversity, and sexual harassment.
American University's Kogod School of Business is the school of choice for interdisciplinary business education in the Washington, D.C., area. Kogod, established in 1955, has a highly diverse population of students who are motivated to make a difference in the world. The school works closely with the business community to create market-driven programs that produce outstanding candidates prepared for productive careers in the global business environment.
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