Employers' social contacts and their hiring behavior in a factorial survey

DI STASIO, Valentina; GËRXHANI, Klarita

doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.015

Employers' social contacts and their hiring behavior in a factorial survey

dc.contributor.author	DI STASIO, Valentina
dc.contributor.author	GËRXHANI, Klarita
dc.date.accessioned	2015-11-09T15:11:35Z
dc.date.available	2015-11-09T15:11:35Z
dc.date.issued	2015
dc.description	Received 18 October 2013, Revised 17 December 2014, Accepted 30 December 2014, Available online 12 January 2015
dc.description.abstract	We investigate whether referrals from employers’ business and professional contacts matter in the hiring process. Additionally, we examine whether the effect of referrals varies depending on: (1) the signaling role of education during the hiring process, and (2) applicants’ level of education. Based on a combination of a factorial survey and an experimental design with a sample of English employers, we measure the effect of referrals on employers’ hiring assessments. We find only weak evidence that referred applicants are considered more trainable than otherwise identical applicants that do not have a tie with the employer. More detailed analyses show that referrals do matter for employers who consider education a noisy signal, in line with the argument that informal recruitment can represent a strategy for employers to compensate for poor signaling. Referrals are especially beneficial for highly educated applicants, probably because employers need some guarantee against possible wage or turnover costs.	en
dc.identifier.citation	Social science research, 2015, Vol. 51, pp. 93-107	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.015
dc.identifier.endpage	107	en
dc.identifier.issn	0049-089X
dc.identifier.issn	1096-0317
dc.identifier.startpage	93	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1814/37707
dc.identifier.volume	51	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.orcid.putcode	1814/78761:168388795
dc.orcid.putcode	1814/79195:56353238
dc.relation.ispartof	Social science research	en
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess	en
dc.title	Employers' social contacts and their hiring behavior in a factorial survey	en
dc.type	Article	en
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-9056-4920
person.identifier.other	35177
person.identifier.other	38769
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