Information seeking behaviour in recruiting: examining the background and motivation of job-seeking employees in their search for job content and job context information

Abstract

Recruitment involves number of decisions; some are made by the organization and others by individual job seekers. If done well, recruitment can lead to success for organizations and job satisfaction for job holders. If done poorly, organisational success suffers, and individuals can be dissatisfied with their job, make poor decisions, and perhaps leave the firm. Job dissatisfaction occurs when jobs fail to meet the individuals’ expectations or fulfil their needs. Such job dissatisfaction often leads to a new job search.

In the job search literature, the type and attributes of the job information available are important for job seekers. However, the most valued specific job-related information varies across potential employees. This variation exists because the search for specific job-related information differs among individuals, influenced by individuals’ needs and expectations. The process of matching individuals’ needs and expectations with the selection of specific job-related information may help avoid job dissatisfaction and turnover.

This research combines theory from the context of individuals (backgrounds of potential employees), the theory of motivation to search (for jobs), and the theory of job information into a new research framework. This research will examine the relationship between job dissatisfaction, motivation to search and specific job-related information to search. Though job dissatisfaction appears to differ among jobseekers, it is analysed in terms of job categories such as engineers, technicians, managers and clerical staff. The second construct, motivation to search, is dependent on individuals’ needs for improvement in terms of salary, Current Working Conditions or the Job Itself. Finally, these two constructs will be examined in terms of selecting Specific Job-Related Information that has been provided in job advertisements. This research also explores the technical and non-technical job categories and their impact on Motivation Factors and Specific Job-Related Information constructs. The findings of this research will contribute theoretically and practically to the job search field.

To test these effects, 10 hypotheses were proposed in this thesis. Data was collected from 302 employees who have 3 years or less working experience in their organisation. The results were analysed by using Bivariate Correlation in SPSS software.

Results show that no differences were found in the relationship between job supervision responsibility levels and specific job-related information. However, between job search motivation and specific job-related information, employees with different employee motivational perspectives were found to seek different specific information.