Recruiting and Strategic Human Resource Management: Hr Bundles, Organizational Culture, and Individual Differences in Applicant Attraction

I examine the responses of job applicants to the human resources (HR) system and organizational culture to explain why individuals vary in their choice of potential workplaces. Prospective applicants subjectively interpret various signals from organizations, and they make decisions as to whether to apply for jobs at a particular organization based on those signals. While there is a growing body of research identifying the linkage between individual HR practices and recruiting outcomes, little research addresses how different vocation interests differentiate preferences for particular HR bundles. Utilizing signaling theory and person–organization fit (P-O fit) theory, I explore the impact of individual differences on organizational attractiveness to organizations described by two factors: HR bundle (cost reducing and performance enhancing) and culture type (bureaucratic and innovative). Through this research, I also examine how different HR bundles deliver different signals to applicants and the way in which these signals are supplemented by appropriate contextual factors (e.g., organizational culture). I found a strong main effect of high-performance work systems---it attracts most people. This main effect becomes stronger when combined with a higher social person. When applicants’ socialness is high, they are even more likely to choose high-performance work systems than cost-reducing bundles. Linking the bundling research to recruiting, this study provides insightful evidence of interactions among HR bundles and job applicants’ individual differences for organizational attractiveness as well as evidence of interactions among HR practices and job applicants’ individual differences for organizational attractiveness.