The impact of publicity and subsequent intervention in recruitment advertising on job searching freshmen’s attraction to an organization and job pursuit intention

This study investigates the impacts of publicity exposure and recruiting advertisement sequence on freshmen’s job search attraction to organizations and their job decisions. The current research uses a two-factor experiment design, publicity (positive vs. negative) and recruiting ads (detailed vs. general), and recruits 415 undergraduates (seniors are the majority). Results indicate that negative publicity has greater effect on applicant attraction than positive publicity. The perceived truthfulness of sequential intervening recruiting advertisement rules the reaction to job ad, then further impacts on organizational attractiveness and job pursuit intention. With negative publicity exposure, higher specificity of recruiting advertisement has more significant mitigation effects than lower specificity. This work discusses implications and directions for future research.