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Signaling theory and applicant attraction outcomes

Anthony Celani
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, and

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Received 1 February 2009 Revised February 2009 Accepted 4 January 2010

Parbudyal Singh
School of Human Resource Management, York University, Toronto, Canada
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to discuss the application of a multi-level perspective to signaling theory in a recruitment context. Then to discuss how the integration of signaling theory and the social identity approach may provide an improved understanding of the associations between an organizations recruitment activities and applicant attraction outcomes. The paper, rst, summarizes the existing research and theoretical developments pertaining to signaling theory, multi-level theory, and the social identity approach. From this literature a theoretical model from which research propositions are developed is suggested. Design/methodology/approach This is a literature review, within recruitment contexts, on signaling theory, the association between market signals and applicant attraction outcomes, and the integration of signaling, social identity, and self-categorization theories as a theoretical foundation for research propositions. Findings Despite widespread acceptance of signaling theory in recruitment research, surprisingly little is known about the boundary conditions in the association between an organizations recruitment activities and applicant attraction outcomes. Practical implications A greater understanding of the application of signaling theory will enable managers to design and administer recruitment activities and processes in order to improve applicant attraction to recruiting organizations. Originality/value This paper lls a void in the recruitment literature by integrating signaling theory, social identity theory, and self-categorization theory and providing avenues for future work. Keywords Recruitment, Social theories, Employee turnover, Product endorsement, Job applications Paper type Conceptual paper

Personnel Review Vol. 40 No. 2, 2011 pp. 222-238 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0048-3486 DOI 10.1108/00483481111106093

1. Introduction The world of work is undergoing dramatic change due to factors such as globalization, technological innovation, and increasing demographic and cultural diversity in the workplace (Cascio, 2003). As a result, there are greater demands on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal attributes that organizations require of current and future employees. These changes also underscore the importance of an organizations ability to attract and retain the most qualied applicants in order to remain viable in the current business environment. Given the competitive nature of this environment, organizations would undoubtedly benet from a greater understanding of how applicants react to the use and administration of their recruitment activities. Over the last two decades, theorists have commented on the hierarchical, multi-level nature of organizational activities (Kozlowski and Klein, 2000), with an increase in the application of multi-level theory to recruitment and selection phenomena (e.g. Ployhart, 2004; Ployhart and Schneider, 2002, 2005). While progress has been made toward

understanding multi-level issues in recruitment and selection research, many unanswered questions remain. Signaling theory offers considerable promise in this regard. Signaling theory (Rynes, 1991; Spence, 1973) is commonly used to explain how applicant attraction to a recruiting organization may, in part, can be inuenced by information, or signals, about an organizations characteristics revealed during recruitment activities. It is recognized that applicants construe many recruitment-related activities and information as signals of unknown organizational characteristics (Collins and Stevens, 2002; Turban and Cable, 2003), and recruiter characteristics and/or behavior (Rynes, 1991; Turban et al., 1998). In this paper, we suggest that signals from recruiting organizations may be conceptualized from individual-level and organizational-level perspectives. While signaling theory demonstrates the potential to explain the inuence of many predictors on applicant attraction outcomes (Ehrhart and Ziegert, 2005), social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and self-categorization theory (Turner et al., 1987) have the potential to help researchers understand the conditions under which applicants look upon certain signals more favorably than others. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, we discuss the application of a multi-level perspective to signaling theory in a recruitment context. Second, we discuss how the integration of signaling theory and the social identity approach may provide an improved understanding of the associations between an organizations recruitment activities and applicant attraction outcomes. In addition to this theoretical contribution, the investigation of these research issues is of practical importance to organizational recruiting activities. Providing organizations with a greater understanding of the psychological processes that applicants engage in when assessing the attractiveness of a recruiting organization will enable them to improve applicant attraction to their respective organizations. In the following sections, we also present a theoretical model of applicant attraction outcomes and develop propositions drawn from signaling theory, multi-level theory, and the social identity approach. 2. Multi-level theory Multi-level theory argues that organizational phenomena are structured as nested hierarchical units. Failure to acknowledge this hierarchical structure can lead to inaccurate research ndings (Kozlowski and Klein, 2000). Accordingly, multi-level theory suggests theoretical processes connecting organizational levels, known as top-down processes, or contextual effects, and bottom-up processes, or emergent effects. Contextual effects occur when higher-level variables either directly affect lower-level variables, or moderate lower-level relationships, while emergent effects involve the transformation of individual-level characteristics into higher-level collective phenomena (Kozlowski and Klein, 2000). Composition and compilation models capture two types of bottom-up processes. Compilation models describe the transformation of related, yet distinct, individual-level constructs into group-level constructs while composition models describe the amalgamation of lower-level characteristics to form higher-level properties that are conceptually similar (Kozlowski and Klein, 2000; Rousseau, 1985). Examples include additive, dispersion, and direct consensus composition models that relate individual and group-level constructs using summation or averaging

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techniques, within group variance, and within group agreement indices respectively (Chan, 1998). Consistent with multi-level theory, we suggest that during initial recruitment episodes, applicants are likely to receive signals from recruitment sources from at least two levels of activity, the individual-level and the organizational-level. Examples of individual-level recruitment sources from which applicants likely receive signals include recruitment interviews and word-of-mouth endorsements while examples of organizational-level recruitment sources are corporate advertising and recruitment advertising. We contend that both individual and organizational-level signals inuence individual-level outcomes, such as applicant job pursuit intentions, applicant attraction to the organization, and applicant acceptance intentions. Additionally, these signals will inuence organizational-level outcomes such as applicant pool quantity and quality that can be operationalized as an aggregation of the aforementioned individual-level recruitment outcomes through the use of composition methods. In the next section, we further discuss multi-level theory in the context of the model outlined in Figure 1. We will also discuss the proposed role of organizational identication and organizational identity salience in the associations between recruitment signals and applicant attraction outcomes. 3. The model The theoretical model shown in Figure 1 posits associations between individual-level and organizational-level market signals from recruitment activities, applicants organizational identity salience, applicant inferences, applicants organizational identication, and applicant attraction outcomes. The extent to which applicants believe that membership in the organization is relevant to their social identity (i.e. organizational identity salience) will moderate the extent to which they infer positive

Figure 1. A multi-level model of the association between market signals, instrumental and symbolic inferences, applicant organizational identication, and applicant attraction outcomes in a recruitment context

information from the organizations instrumental and symbolic attributes communicated through its recruiting activities. Specically, the greater the extent to which applicants believe that being a member of the recruiting organization is relevant to their social identity, the more likely they are to infer a greater number of positive inferences about the organization from its recruiting activities and thus have a more positive view of that organization. It is also expected that applicants with a greater number of positive inferences about the recruiting organization will more likely identify with the recruiting organization. In turn, stronger organizational identication by applicants will provide more of a positive impact on applicant attraction to the recruiting organization via outcomes such as job pursuit intentions, job-organization attraction, and job acceptance intentions. Increased applicant attraction to the recruiting organization will also positively impact the quantity and quality of the organizations applicant pool. Although much recruitment research has examined associations at the individual and organizational levels of analysis, relatively little empirical or theoretical research has examined constructs, processes, and associations across levels of analysis (Ployhart, 2004). For example, Ployhart (Ployhart, 2004) and Ployhart and Schneider (2002, 2005) use multi-level theory to examine the contextual, or top-down, inuence of stafng practices on the selection of individuals. Specically, they argue that appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes contribute to the emergence of human capital, which creates a human capital advantage that is believed to positively inuence organizational performance. The proposed model goes beyond existing multi-level models in the following ways. First, our model focuses on the inuence of specic recruitment practices, such as recruiting interviews, word-of-mouth endorsements, recruitment advertising, and recruitment outcomes that include applicant pool quantity and quality. Second, in addition to discussing the contextual, or top-down, inuence of recruitment practices at the organizational-level of analysis, we discuss the inuence of recruitment practices at the individual-level of analysis. Third, our model incorporates an applicants perspective by discussing how applicants become attracted to an organization through its organizational-level and individual-level recruitment practices. Finally, we also discuss how our theoretical framework may be applied to develop existing recruitment theory, such as signaling theory, and provide specic recommendations to further inform recruitment practice. In the following sections, we further discuss the proposed theoretical linkages of our model. 4. Organizational-level and individual-level market signals, and applicant inferences Recruitment refers to the activities undertaken by organizations in an effort to identify and attract potential applicants (Ployhart, 2006). Many reviews of the recruitment literature have advanced our understanding of the inuence of recruitment activities on applicant attraction outcomes (e.g. Barber, 1998; Breaugh, 1992; Breaugh and Starke, 2000; Highhouse and Hoffman, 2001; Ployhart, 2006; Rynes, 1991; Rynes and Cable, 2003; Saks, 2005; Taylor and Collins, 2000). Signaling theory has been used in the recruitment literature to explain how applicant attraction occurs; however, as some scholars comment, this theory has neither been fully developed nor sufciently tested in the eld (Breaugh, 2008; Hausknecht et al., 2004).

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Spences (1973, 1974) work on signaling in the economics literature dealt extensively with the employers perspective. As he contended, in most job markets, employers are not sure about the productive capabilities of an individual when he/she is hired. The recruitment literature discusses signaling theory from an applicants perspective. This body of literature suggests that, in the absence of information about the characteristics of an organization, applicants form impressions of an organization based on information, or signals, conveyed to them through recruitment activities or episodes (Rynes, 1991; Rynes et al., 1991). Research has demonstrated that applicants interpret many recruitment-related activities and information (Collins and Stevens, 2002; Turban and Cable, 2003) and recruiter characteristics and/or behavior (Rynes, 1991; Turban et al., 1998), as signals of organizational characteristics. Employer or workplace branding is a related concept that is beginning to attract some attention. The approach is similar to that used in the marketing of an organizations products and services. In marketing terms, the word brand is, like any reputation, linked to what customers believe about a specic product or service of a company (Keller, 2003; Hoefer and Keller, 2003). Workplace branding has been dened as a targeted, long-term strategy to manage awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees and related stakeholders with regards to a particular organization (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004, p. 2). Essentially, workplace branding allows the organization an opportunity to distinguish itself from the competition and develop a recognizable identity, through practices that are perceived as desirable to employees and the public. Effective employer branding generates images of the organization as a distinct and desirable employer (Lievens et al., 2007, p. 48). Empirical evidence suggests that a good image or brand has several advantages in recruitment. A meta-analysis conducted by Chapman et al. (2005) found that an organizations image is a strong predictor of the applicant attraction outcomes of job pursuit intentions (r 0:51; job-organization attraction (r 0:48; and acceptance intentions (r 0:41: Furthermore, recruiter behaviors (i.e. personableness, competence, informativeness, and trustworthiness) moderately correlated with job pursuit intentions (r 0:37; job-organization attraction (r 0:29; and acceptance intentions (r 0:29: Consistent with signaling theory, the authors suggest that applicants may perceive recruiter behavior as signals of organizational characteristics. Other research suggests that applicants also make use of organizational reputations, operationalized as a ranking in a business publication, as signals during the recruitment process (Turban and Cable, 2003). Specically, the authors found that organizations with more positive reputations had a greater number of applicants in comparison to organizations with less positive reputations. Research also demonstrates that organizational reputation and the conceptually similar construct of organizational image positively inuence the size and quality of an organizations applicant pool (Belt and Paolillo, 1982; Saks, 2005), and applicant job pursuit intentions (Collins and Stevens, 2002; Gatewood et al., 1993). Collins and Stevens (2002) suggest that organizations can employ the marketing concept of brand equity (i.e. consumer beliefs held about a product name and/or logo that inuence the decision to purchase that product) in their recruiting activities. Specically, the authors argue that the creation of a positive brand image can inuence positive reactions from applicants, thus creating a competitive advantage for organizations that enables them to attract a larger and more qualied applicant pool.

Lievens and Highhouse (2003) have also drawn upon the marketing literature by applying the instrumental-symbolic framework to argue that initial applicant attraction to an organization is, in part, a function of two types of information that is derived from an organizational brand. This information includes instrumental attributes and symbolic meanings. Instrumental attributes refer to factual information about the job or organization such as pay, benets, working hours, advancement opportunities, and training programs (Cable and Graham, 2000; Highhouse et al., 1999; Honeycutt and Rosen, 1997; Lievens et al., 2001; Turban and Keon, 1993). Symbolic meanings refer to organizational attributes, such as personality traits, that applicants infer from organizational information. Examples of other traits that applicants may attribute to organizations include trendy, prestigious, and innovative. In support of their argument, Lievens and Highhouse (2003) found that instrumental attributes signicantly predicted organizational attractiveness and that symbolic meanings incrementally predicted organizational attractiveness. While research has established that organizational brands inuence applicant attraction outcomes, it is also important to note the factors inuencing organizational brand development. Collins and Stevens (2002) found that activities such as publicity, word-of-mouth, and recruitment advertising inuenced applicant decisions by inuencing an organizations brand image. Furthermore, the authors found that the use of these activities in combination had a stronger inuence on an organizations brand image. Related research by Collins and Han (2004) also found that low involvement recruitment practices, such as the use of general recruitment ads, increased applicant pool quantity and quality for organizations that engage in less corporate advertising or have lesser known reputations. Alternatively, for organizations that engage in more corporate advertising or have better known reputations, the use of high involvement recruitment practices, such as detailed recruitment ads and employee endorsements, increased applicant pool quantity and quality. According to Cable and Turban (2001), applicants will likely have less motivation to process information provided through high-involvement recruitment practices without prior brand awareness of the organization. Thus, high-involvement recruitment practices will likely have less impact on applicant attraction outcomes for organizations that have not created brand awareness amongst applicants than for organizations that have created brand awareness amongst applicants. The above research by Collins and Han (2004) and Collins and Stevens (2002) suggests a distinction between individual-level recruitment activities, such as word-of-mouth endorsements, and organizational-level activities such as corporate and recruitment advertising. In an extension of signaling theory we contend that, during the initial stages of the recruiting process, applicants form impressions of organizations based on signals transmitted to them from multiple levels of recruitment activities, as demonstrated in Figure 1. We will now discuss how organizational identity salience inuences what applicants infer from an organizations recruitment activities. 5. Organizational identity salience and applicant inferences Tajfel and Turner (1979) developed Social Identity Theory (SIT) to explain intergroup conict and discrimination. SIT suggests that behavior within groups is, in part, a

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function of the extent to which group membership becomes part of an individuals members self concept (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) (Turner et al., 1987) expanded upon SIT by proposing that social identity can be activated through depersonalization, a psychological process that enables an individual to stereotype themselves into certain groups, or categories. SCT and SIT, also known as the social identity approach, suggest that behavior within groups is not only a function of the extent to which individuals see themselves belonging to a group (i.e. identication) but is also a function of the extent to which individuals believe that group membership to be relevant to their social identity (i.e. identity salience). The application of SCT and SIT in organizational settings predicts that organizations with highly identied employees are expected to benet from better performance, lower absenteeism, less turnover, and the performance of more extra-role behavior. Highly identied employees are also expected to benet from higher job satisfaction. Research has demonstrated associations between organizational identication and outcome variables such as positive organizational evaluations (Cheney, 1983a, b), defense of the organization (Edwards, 2005; Tyler, 1999), organizational citizenship behavior (Van Dick et al., 2006), employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions (Van Dick et al., 2004; Van Dick et al., 2006). Meta-analytic results from Riketta (2005) show that organizational identication is positively correlated with demographic variables such as organizational tenure (r0:13 and work-related attitudes including occupational attachment (r0:47; job satisfaction (r0:13; and job involvement (r0:61: Furthermore, Rikettas (2005) meta-analysis demonstrates that organizational identication is positively correlated with work-related behaviors that include in-role performance (r0:17; and extra-role performance (r0:35 and negatively correlated with work-related intentions such as intent to leave the organization (r 2 0:48: This research provides insight into the cognitive and/or affective processes that may not only inuence the type of information that applicants perceive from recruitment activities as signals of the organizations characteristics, but may also inuence how applicants come to perceive those signals to reect positively and/or negatively upon the organization. Scholars have suggested that an organizations identity underlies its organizational image. For example, Dutton et al. (1994) distinguish between two types of organizational images. The rst of these images is an organizational identity, consisting of enduring characteristics, as perceived by employees. The second of these images is an external image comprised of employee perceptions of external evaluations of the organization. This perceived external image differs from actual external evaluations of the organization, known as corporate reputation. These scholars contend that both perceived organizational identity and perceived external image inuence the extent to which an employee identies with an organization. Research by Highhouse et al. (2005) suggests that the signaling process is not only dependent upon the signals sent via the recruitment activity, but is also dependent upon the inferences drawn by the applicants receiving those signals, prospective job seekers draw inferences about instrumental and symbolic features from signals in the marketplace (i.e. via advertising, word-of-mouth, corporate rankings, experience as consumers, etc.) (Highhouse et al., 2005, p. 136).

According to SCT (Turner et al., 1987), applicants assess the appropriateness of incorporating the organizations identity into their own identity through processes of comparative and normative t. Translated into a recruitment context, comparative t involves applicant comparisons of perceived differences between themselves and individuals that are believed to be typical applicants of the recruiting organization as well as applicant comparisons between themselves and typical applicants of competing organizations. Applicants will likely believe membership in the recruiting organization to be relevant if they perceive differences between themselves and typical applicants to that organization to be smaller than differences between themselves and applicants of competing organizations. Normative t involves applicant assessments of the nature of the differences observed. Applicants will likely believe membership in the recruiting organization to be relevant if perceived differences between applicants to the recruiting organization and applicants to competing organizations are consistent with their expectations. For example, a software designer who is a potential applicant to Company X, an organization that is perceived to be innovative, will likely consider its organizational identity relevant if he/she perceives greater similarity amongst applicants to Company X than amongst applicants of Company Y, an organization perceived to be less innovative. In addition to comparative and normative t, SCT (Turner et al., 1987) also postulates that perceiver readiness, or an applicants expectations, formed in part by previous recruitment experiences, also inuences the extent to which applicants determine an organizations identity to be salient. This means that people are more likely to dene themselves in terms of a particular identity to the extent that it has prior meaning for them(Haslam et al., 2003, p. 363). For example, a software designer who is a potential applicant to Company X will be more likely dene him/herself according to that organizations identity if he/she has had previous positive experiences with that organization. Accordingly, applicants that perceive membership in a recruiting organization to be relevant will likely pay closer attention to individual-level and organizational-level recruiting signals about the organizations instrumental and symbolic attributes. Furthermore, applicants with heightened perceptions of organizational identity salience will also be more likely to interpret recruiting signals in the manner in which they were intended, and will thus be more likely to make positive instrumental and symbolic inferences about the recruiting organization. Based on the above, the following is proposed: P1. An applicants organizational identity salience will moderate the positive association between organizational-level signals received and the extent to which applicants make positive instrumental and symbolic inferences about the organizations characteristics. Applicants with higher levels of organizational identity salience will more likely nd more positive organizational-level signals from which more positive and distinct symbolic inferences will be made about the recruiting organizations characteristics. An applicants organizational identity salience will moderate the positive association between individual-level signals received and the extent to which applicants make positive instrumental and symbolic inferences about the

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organizations characteristics. Applicants with higher levels of organizational identity salience will more likely nd more positive individual-level signals from which more positive instrumental and symbolic inferences will be made about the recruiting organizations characteristics. 6. Applicant inferences and organizational identication The extent to which applicants make positive inferences about the recruiting organizations instrumental and symbolic attributes positively inuences applicants organizational identity. We contend that applicants realize their organizational identities, or develop the perception that they share an identity, or similar characteristics, with the organization (Ashforth et al., 2008; Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Dutton et al., 1994), through the interpretation of organizational-level and individual-level recruitment signals. Applicants engaged in these identication processes attempt to determine the extent to which they share similar characteristics with the organization. For example, at the individual-level, signaling theory suggests that recruiter behavior is reective of the organizations characteristics and thus applicants who perceive many similarities between themselves and the organizational representative, such as a recruiter, during a face-to-face interview may also perceive many similarities between themselves and the recruiting organization. At the organizational-level, applicants exposed to recruitment advertising featuring an employer brand communicating personality traits, such as honesty, trustworthiness, and innovativeness, will likely become attracted to that organization if they believe that they share those traits with that organization. We believe that the greater the extent to which applicants perceive similar characteristics between themselves and the recruiting organization the greater the extent to which applicants will identify with the recruiting organization. Related research focusing on employee, rather than applicant, identication suggests such an association. For example, Lievens et al. (2007) found that employee perceptions of instrumental and symbolic employer attributes are positively associated with employer attractiveness. It was also found that, amongst employees, outsider perceptions of the organizations instrumental and symbolic attributes are positively associated with the extent to which employees identied with the organization. Carmeli et al. (2007) found that employee perceptions of their organizations perceived social responsibility and development is positively associated with organizational identication. Additionally, organizational identication was found to be positively associated with the extent to which employees t in with their organizations which, in turn, was positively associated with job performance. Based on the above, the following is proposed: P3. An applicants instrumental and symbolic inferences about the organizations characteristics will be positively associated with an applicants organizational identication.

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7. Applicants organizational identication and applicant attraction outcomes The extent to which applicants identify with the recruiting organization positively inuences applicant attraction outcomes such as job pursuit intentions, job-organization attraction, and job acceptance intentions. In a recruitment context,

SIT and SCT predict that applicants will be more attracted to recruiting organizations with which they identify, than to recruiting organizations with which they do not identify. Highly identied applicants that have dened themselves according to the recruiting organizations identity will likely seek to maintain positive self-esteem by pursuing a job with the recruiting organization. Conversely, less identied applicants will less likely seek a job with a recruiting organization with which they identify less because their self-esteem is less dependent upon getting a job with that recruiting organization. Based on the above, the following is proposed: P4. Applicants organizational identication is positively associated with applicant attraction outcomes such as job pursuit intentions, job-organization attraction, and applicant acceptance intentions.

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8. Implications and conclusion This paper has theoretical, research-oriented, and practical implications. Theoretically, the above model begins to address long outstanding research questions pertaining to signaling theory and applicant attraction outcomes (Breaugh, 2008). In this paper, we suggest that a better understanding of the signaling process can be achieved by integrating signaling theory with other theoretical perspectives such as social identity theory and multi-level theory. An analysis of signaling theory from a multi-level perspective provides a more unied approach to understanding the various types of signals that may be transmitted during the recruitment process. As recruitment research continues to accumulate on the inuence of various organizational and individual-level signals on applicant attraction outcomes, we suggest that the incorporation of a multi-level perspective will provide greater clarity and organization of types of recruitment signals that are of use and in need of further examination in the recruitment literature. In turn, this will help create consensus through the establishment of a nomological network of variables that will further our understanding of recruitment signals and the signaling process. While the incorporation of a multi-level perspective into signaling theory gives us greater insight into what recruitment signals inuence applicant attraction outcomes, we also posit that the integration of signaling theory and social identity theory will further our understanding of how and why those recruitment signals inuence applicant attraction outcomes. For example, signaling theory helps to describe the signaling process by providing explanations of the types of recruitment information that will likely inuence applicant perceptions of recruiting organizations. We argue that the social identity approach can complement explanations of the signaling process by describing how applicants process recruitment information and form perceptions about the recruiting organization. Amidst calls to develop theory in recruitment research (e.g. Ployhart, 2006), we encourage researchers to investigate and build upon the above propositions by considering alternative theoretical perspectives. From a research perspective, an improved understanding of how applicants are inuenced by recruitment signals will help to address outstanding research needs and assumptions in the recruitment literature. For example, research suggests that the most likely way in which an organization can improve its image is by increasing the amount of information available to applicants (Rynes and Cable, 2003). We also argue

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that an organization may also improve its image by giving careful consideration to the content of the information provided to applicants during the recruitment process. Consideration should also be given to the idea that the transmission of recruitment signals likely occurs simultaneously and not in isolation. This consideration provokes many interesting research questions that have yet to be addressed. For example, do organizational-level recruitment signals such as an organizations brand image interact with individual-level recruitment signals transmitted by recruiters to enhance or diminish applicant perceptions of the organization? If so, what are the underlying psychological processes used to interpret the transmission of multiple signals during the recruitment process? Additional consideration should be given to the inuence of multi-level recruitment signals on applicant attraction outcomes over the entire recruitment and selection process. For example, do recruitment signals promote lasting applicant perceptions of the recruiting organization? If so, are certain recruitment signals more likely to inuence applicant perceptions of an organizations selection process and/or post-hire applicant behaviors? Answers to these research questions have the potential to provide meaningful conceptual contributions to recruitment theory and offer useful recommendations to recruitment practitioners. Furthermore, signaling theory and the related research evidence show that all signals are not equally effective, in terms of generating perceptions of organizational attractiveness (Lievens and Highhouse, 2003). This raises questions about the reliability and validity of instrumental attributes versus symbolic meanings. However, it is possible that each set of signals may be equally effective but their usefulness may be more pronounced in different stages of the recruitment process. For instance, instrumental attributes highlighted in factual advertising (e.g. compensation and benets packages) may serve to get applicants interested in the organization but symbolic meanings, such as recruiter characteristics and behaviors, may actually help to close the deal. There is a need for research on these possibilities. Also, signaling theory in the recruitment context has largely been applied from the applicants perspective. That is, how applicants react to signals from the organization. And in this paper, we extend this theorizing. There is need, however, for research from the organizations perspective. That is, how does the organization read signals from applicants? This goes back to the early work of Spence (1973, 1974) and others who focused on applicant attributes, such as their educational attainments, as signals. There is a need for new theoretical and empirical insights on this issue. While our model can be empirically tested in many ways, we offer some suggestions. For example, at the individual-level of analysis, researchers can collect data from job applicants using existing, adapted, or newly created measures of applicants organizational identity salience, applicants organizational identication, applicant inferences, and applicant attraction outcomes. Individual-level analysis of these data can be conducted using, for instance, either multiple regression, or a combination of multiple regression and structural equation modeling. At the organizational-level of analysis, the construct of organizational market signals may be operationalized by creating a measure using a referent-shift composition model (Chan, 1998). For example, rather than being asked to answer questions about signals they perceive at the individual-level based on phenomena such as recruiter behavior,

applicants would be asked to answer questions about signals they perceive at the organizational-level based on activities such as recruitment advertising. By shifting the referent of the question content the two similar, yet distinct, constructs of individual-level market signals and organizational-level market signals could be appropriately measured and analyzed. Finally, all the aforementioned constructs can be analyzed using statistical techniques such as hierarchical linear modeling to determine the presence of statistically signicant cross-level direct and/or cross-level moderating effects. There are also several practical implications of the paper. The proposed research model has the potential to offer prescriptive information that positively inuences the practical application of recruitment sources that include newspaper advertisements, employee referrals, recruiters, employer websites, and job candidate site visits. While research has demonstrated the inuence of the above recruitment sources on recruitment outcomes, continued research is needed to further improve the extent to which these recruitment sources can inuence applicant attraction outcomes (Breaugh, 2008). The application of the social identity perspective, as shown in our model, suggests that these recruitment sources can be designed to positively change applicant perceptions of recruiting organizations. For example, newspaper advertisements may benet from the inclusion of more organization-specic information that illustrates specic characteristics with which certain applicants identify. Furthermore, newspaper advertisements targeting applicants from specic professions may also benet from the inclusion of information that helps applicants identify with the organization on the basis of their professional identity. Similar logic can be applied to non face-to-face recruitment sources such as employer websites. For face-to-face recruitment sources such as employee referrals, recruiters, and job candidate site visits, an application of the social identity approach suggests, for example, that appropriate representatives of the organization should be chosen to engage in recruiting activities with applicants. Specically, recruiting organizations should not only use representatives with the specic knowledge of the job vacancy, but should also use representatives that they believe embody the characteristics of the organization. Employing such a strategy would likely encourage desired candidates to identify with, and increase their attraction to, the recruiting organization. Conversely, undesirable candidates are less likely to identify with, and become attracted to, the recruiting organization. Furthermore, given the multi-level context of our proposed model, it is also of practical concern to give further consideration to the combined use of recruitment sources and activities to attract applicants. For example, an organization may wish communicate the companys general characteristics (i.e. brand image) using a newspaper advertisement that directs applicants to a website offering more specic information about the company and the vacancy in question. This strategy would facilitate an applicants identication with the organization, which would also likely increase an applicants attraction to the recruiting organization. As demonstrated in this section, the implications of the proposed model are of theoretical, empirical, and practical importance. Signaling theory has advanced the understanding of recruitment research and informed organizational recruitment practices. This paper attempts to further advance

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recruitment research by proposing how signaling theory in conjunction with multi-level theory and the social identity approach can serve as explanatory mechanisms through which applicants process organizational signals amongst various recruiting activities. It is hoped that this integration of theory may provide researchers with a more systematic and unied approach in future investigations into the association between organizational recruitment and applicant attraction outcomes.
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About the authors Anthony Celani is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Human Resources Management and Organizational Behaviour at McMaster University. His research interests within the area of Human Resources Management include understanding the antecedents and consequences of applicant reactions in recruitment and selection contexts. He has also gained experience as a Human Resources practitioner in various roles in both the Canadian public and private sectors. Anthony Celani is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: celania@mcmaster.ca Parbudyal Singh is an Associate Professor of Human Resources Management at York University, Toronto. He has published more than 60 refereed articles, many in top journals such as Industrial Relations, Human Resource Management Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Management International Review. His research focuses on compensation and other human resource management issues.

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