Applicant Reaction To Facebook Screening: A Cross-Cultural Examination

As Social Media becomes more widely used by organizations for hiring and selection, research investigating applicant reactions to fairness, privacy and justice to social network screening has also proliferated. Because these factors can affect organizational attractiveness and withdrawal intentions, researchers have constructed a model predicting applicant reactions across different contexts. One context that received less attention is Socio-Cultural variables. Such variables like Power Distance and Individualism (from Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions model) differ across cultures and could moderate applicant reaction to Social Network Screening. Two countries with significantly different Power Distance and Individualism scores are Turkey and the US. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate how Turkish applicant reaction to Social Network Screening might differ from US counterparts. The present study did not find significant relationships between certain social-cultural variables and Social Network Screening reactions as hypothesized. Further analysis revealed that the samples did not differ in relevant Socio-Cultural variables as predicted. Although the study did find other meaningful correlations between Socio-Cultural variables, Social Network Screening and applicant reactions. Findings are discussed.