Social media profiles, recruiters and recruitment decisions

Last registered on February 12, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social media profiles, recruiters and recruitment decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008793
Initial registration date
January 28, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 28, 2022, 10:31 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
February 12, 2024, 7:49 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Online

Primary Investigator

Name
Yuval Ofek-Shanny
Affiliation
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Veronika Grimm
PI Affiliation
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
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PI Name
Edmund Baker
PI Affiliation
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-02-01
End date
2022-03-28
Keywords
Behavior, Health, Labor
Additional Keywords
social media, recruitment, mental health, honesty, discrimination
JEL code(s)
J71, M51
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The importance of social media in recruitment is increasing. More and more people are open about many aspects of their personal life in their SM profiles and evidence from employers surveys and correspondence studies suggests data from social media is increasingly used and increasingly important in the hiring process.
However, correspondence studies do not identify the individual making the decision, and so, are limited in their ability to describe the mechanisms behind this result.
In our study, we use an experiment simulating the screening of job applicants to elucidate how the recruiter evaluation of the candidate is affected by the interaction between recruiter characteristics such as gender, education, and attitudes toward the social media, applicant characteristics available through social media profiles and lack of social media profile.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Baker, Edmund, Veronika Grimm and Yuval Ofek-Shanny. 2024. "Social media profiles, recruiters and recruitment decisions." AEA RCT Registry. February 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8793-1.3
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-02-01
Intervention End Date
2022-03-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Application Score
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Time spent on an application, Time spent on CV, time spent on SM, note length, questionnaire information
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
While we don't measure time on CV and time on SM data separately, we intend to use the recording of the mouse click to give proxies for these measures.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Subjects are asked to read a job description for an office manager and then to assess a number of randomly generated combinations of CVs and SM data that vary according to work experience, education, interests, and gender. Subjects are asked to give each CV a score from one to ten. SM information includes - Control SM profile, Bad SM profile, Mental health issues, Employment gap, and lack of SM profiles.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization by a computer program.

Randomization Unit
application
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1500

We intend to start with 100 participants, make sure the output is technically correct and then continue to the rest of the experiment.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1500
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1500X Control SM data
1500X Bad SM data
1500X Mental health issues SM data
1500X Gap (as in CV) SM data
1500X Gap (different from CV) SM data
1500X No SM data
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We calculate a power of 80% for detecting a 0.36 effect size (units: applicant score from 0 to 10) (Given Bonferroni correction for five hypotheses.)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2022-01-11
IRB Approval Number
hmgB38Ev
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 28, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
March 28, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1500
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
9000
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
1500 participants, each evaluating 6 resumes, 1 for each treatment arm
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
This paper extends the literature studying the effect of social media content on the evaluation of job candidates. In a large-scale online experiment that resembles real-life screening of candidates for a job in the hospitality sector, we find that information available on social media through hashtags and liked pages can have a substantial and significant effect on a candidate's chances of obtaining a good rating. Candidates with social media content indicating mental health problems receive lower ratings by an amount equivalent to the effect of having three years on-the-job experience. Interestingly, candidates with no social media profile receive even lower ratings than candidates with mental health problems. In addition, unappealing social media content leads to the strongest reduction in ratings, equivalent to the value of nine years of on-the-job experience. These findings persist across participant pools, including both the general public and experienced recruiters, highlighting social media's substantial and likely increasing role in the hiring process.
Citation
Baker, Edmund and Grimm, Veronika and Ofek-Shanny, Yuval, To Be or Not to Be on Social Media: How Social Media Content Impacts Recruitment (December 6, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4295354
URL
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4295354

Reports & Other Materials