Applicant reactions to social media assessment: A review and conceptual framework

Applicant reactions to selection procedures have attracted much scholarly attention in the work and organizational psychology literature over the past three decades. While this body of literature is quite robust, scholarly research into applicant reactions to social media assessment more specifically is sparse. In this article, we develop a comprehensive theoretical framework to better understand applicant reactions to social media assessment. We explicate the process by which various individual, organizational, and labor market antecedents elicit different reactions from job applicants and the resulting behavioral consequences. We argue that SM assessments are very different from traditional assessments and thus require a new theoretical framework that is context specific to capture applicant reactions, and in so doing, add value to extant reactions frameworks. Our theorizing advances the applicant reactions literature by providing an expanded view of the significant role of social media in the hiring process and how applicants are likely to respond to this new assessment tool. Drawing on this conceptual framework, we offer propositions and discuss the implications for research and practice.