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- Title
The Effect of Gender Expectations and Physical Attractiveness on Discussion of Weakness in Online Professional Recommendations.
- Authors
Aggarwal, Rohit; Midha, Vishal; Sullivan, Nicholas
- Abstract
Companies are using online professional networks at an increasing rate to find qualified candidates to interview for job openings. Although recommendations published on these sites can provide valuable information and influence hiring decisions, the information may suffer from credibility issues due to the medium by which it is shared. In this study, we investigate whether including a discussion of a candidate's weakness in a recommendation may be an effective way to increase the perceived credibility of the recommender and thereby improve the candidate's chance of receiving an interview. We surveyed hiring managers and recruiters to collect data to measure the impact different recommendations have on their decisions. Our findings show that including a discussion of weakness in a recommendation increases the perceived credibility of the recommender, which has a positive effect on the candidate's likelihood of being interviewed. However, when the discussion of weakness counters common gender-based expectations, it is harmful. When the discussion of weakness is consistent, it is helpful. Furthermore, we find that the physically attractive candidates (as shown in their profile picture) are harmed regardless of the weakness discussed. We investigate this further and find that additional discussion of the candidate's strengths can reduce the negative impact of the discussion of weakness, but only if the strengths are consistent with common gender-based expectations. In the current professional environment, recruiters are using online professional networks at an increasing rate to find qualified candidates for job openings. Online professional recommendations on these sites can provide valuable information; however, because of the medium by which they are provided, their effectiveness may suffer from lower levels of trust. We theoretically conjecture why including a discussion of a candidate's weakness (termed, scope of improvement) can lead to a higher likelihood of a recruiter being willing to interview a candidate. We theorize that the effect of scope of improvement will depend on the nature of the weakness discussed and the physical attractiveness of the candidate, which is only relevant in an online context where that information is known. Analysis of the data we collected from industry professionals indicates that for average candidates, scope of improvement has a positive effect when the scope discussed does not counter expectations derived from common gender stereotypes (referred to as gender-expected scope), and a negative effect when it does. For attractive candidates, any discussion of scope has a negative effect. A theoretical contribution is our explaining the process of how different types of scope effect the likelihood of interview across different levels of attractiveness. Another theoretical contribution was the counterfactual performed in a second study to show how reinforcement of gender-expected strengths can attenuate the penalty of gender-expected scope for attractive candidates. Findings indicate that the penalty observed for attractive candidates can be avoided by reinforcing traits commonly associated with their gender. Data for both studies were collected from industry professionals involved in the hiring process, allowing us to offer practical guidelines to users of online professional networks. History: Anandasivam Gopal, Senior Editor; Yili (Kevin) Hong, Associate Editor. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2021.1032.
- Subjects
PERSONAL beauty; EMPLOYEE selection; JOB vacancies; VIRTUAL communities; GENDER stereotypes; GENDER
- Publication
Information Systems Research, 2024, Vol 35, Issue 1, p87
- ISSN
1047-7047
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1287/isre.2021.1032