J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159
DOI 10.1007/s10869-011-9215-8
Friend or Foe? The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Social
Networking Sites for HR Decisions
H. Kristl Davison • Catherine Maraist
Mark N. Bing
•
Published online: 4 May 2011
Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract The Internet has changed many Human
Resource (HR) practices, and techniques such as online job
postings and testing have become quite common in HR.
However, the use of social networking websites such as
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter for recruiting,
hiring, or terminating individuals is relatively new, but
their use for these purposes is clearly growing while
research on these practices is lacking. Many questions
about using these sites for HR practice have yet to be
addressed, including questions about the validity and usefulness of information obtained on these sites, applicant
perceptions of employers’ use of these sites, and the
legality of using these sites, among others. The current
study describes issues associated with using social networking websites for recruiting, staffing/selection, and
discipline/termination, and provides recommendations for
future research studies in this area.
Keywords Social networking Internet Web-based
HR Recruiting Selection Termination Reliability Validity Legal issues Fairness
H. K. Davison (&) M. N. Bing
Department of Management, School of Business Administration,
University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-1848, USA
e-mail: kdavison@bus.olemiss.edu
M. N. Bing
e-mail: mbing@bus.olemiss.edu
C. Maraist
Valtera Corporation, 1701 Golf Rd., Suite 2-1100,
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008, USA
e-mail: cmaraist@valtera.com
An organization posted a job on a few LinkedIn engineering groups hoping to find some good candidates.
Within a day of posting the advertisement, the company
had received hundreds of resumes from qualified applicants
and could immediately start their screening process.
The hiring process seemed to be going well for a college
student who applied for a summer job as a camp counselor.
Her references were excellent, the interviews went well,
and she was reassured by the director that everything
looked good. However, eventually she wasn’t hired
because they had seen pictures on her MySpace page of her
binge drinking.
An employee left his workplace upset one day because
he had to work late on a project that he felt was not worth
his time. He sent a brief ‘‘tweet’’ via his Twitter account
that said, ‘‘I hate my job at ABC Company. They are a
horrible employer. As soon as I can find a new job, I’m out
of here.’’ The ‘‘tweet’’ was read by several of his managers
and he was fired the next day.
These scenarios illustrate an emerging issue in Human
Resources (HR)—the use of social networking websites
(e.g., MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) for making
HR decisions. Although other uses of the Internet (e.g., job
postings, on-line testing) have become quite common in
HR, the use of social networks in the process of recruiting,
hiring, or firing individuals is relatively new. A recent
survey by the Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM 2008) reported that in 2006, only 21% of organizations had used social networking sites as an HR tool, but
in 2008, 44% had used these sites for HR. The same SHRM
(2008) survey also reported that 34% of organizations
currently use social networking sites to recruit or contact
potential applicants, and 19% plan to in the future. Use of
these sites for screening applicants is also growing.
According to SHRM (2008), 13% use social networking
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sites for screening applicants and 18% plan to in the future.
With regard to using these sites for terminating employees,
anecdotal evidence abounds. For example, in the case
Spanierman v. Hughes (2008), a Connecticut teacher’s
firing for inappropriate postings on his MySpace page was
upheld. Organizations are understandably concerned about
how their employees use such sites, given that 74% of
employees believe it is easy to harm a company’s reputation on such sites (Deloitte 2009).
These statistics clearly indicate a growing interest on the
part of management and HR in using social networking
sites for various HR purposes. Such sites are useful for
attracting qualified (as well as unqualified) applicants, may
be able to reveal untapped job-relevant (and job-irrelevant)
applicant characteristics, and may be useful for identifying
employees who are harming the company’s mission and
reputation. Thus, these sites can be valuable ‘‘friends’’ for
HR, but also have the potential to be dangerous ‘‘foes’’ if
used improperly.
Research Needed
The goal of this article is to suggest a number of research
questions about the use of social networking websites by
personnel in HR that need to be addressed to provide
practitioners with guidance in this area. Below we elaborate on the need for research in these areas. In addition,
Table 1 provides a summary of the current and potential
uses of social networking sites for HR decisions, including
information about the current state of empirical research.
Recruiting
The use of social networking sites for recruiting seems to
be widely accepted because of its close relation to the act
of posting a job advertisement on the Internet. This type of
activity just posts the advertisement on a social networking
site. Some social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook) have even added classified sections for job seekers
and job posters. However, little empirical research (e.g.,
DeKay 2009) has been conducted on using social networking sites to recruit employees. Given the dearth of
research, we propose that a variety of questions need to be
investigated so that a greater understanding of the implications of using the Internet for recruiting efforts is
achieved.
The first issue is how the use of these sites for recruiting
affects the applicant pool, especially in terms of quality and
also in terms of other characteristics. Some research on
Internet recruiting in general has indicated that employers
not only get more qualified applicants, but also more
Table 1 Current and potential uses of social networking websites in HR decision-making
Recruiting
Screening and selection
Disciplinary action and terminations
Current
uses
Applicants research
organizations by searching
their Facebook pages and
‘‘Tweets’’, etc.
HR professionals search social networking sites Organizations mandate employees can only
to gather information about applicants, screen provide certain information about the
out individuals, or develop targeted interview company on their social networking sites and
questions.
if they do not follow the agreement, be subject
to discipline.
Applicants locate job postings by
organizations on social
Organizations terminate employees who
networking sites.
provide negative, confidential, or
embarrassing information in posts on their
social networking sites.
Potential
uses
Organizations engage in targeted HR professionals systematically code jobmarketing to reach the desired
relevant information from social networking
applicant pool.
sites to assess and measure personality or
other characteristics.
Organizations access all employees’ social
networking sites and regularly monitor them
for what the organization considers
inappropriate postings.
Correlate measures of these job relevant traits
with measures of job performance to
determine their ability to predict future job
success.
Current
Almost no empirical research on Limited empirical research in this area.
Almost no empirical research in this area; some
state of
this area.
Some evidence that personality can be measured court cases provide guidance.
research DeKay (2009)found that only a
reliably and validly from web pages (e.g.,
Students were neutral about employers’
small percentage of LinkedIn
Marcus et al. 2006; Vazire and Gosling 2004). reviewing their social networking websites
members were passive job
(Baglione et al. 2009).
Image presented and inappropriateness of
seekers.
content on the social networking profile was Courts have upheld firing of employees for
associated with students’ comfort with family, inappropriate postings on the Internet (e.g.,
friends, and employers viewing the profiles
Spanierman v. Hughes 2008).
(Peluchette and Karl 2009).
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unqualified applicants (see Mathis and Jackson 2008).
However, because using these sites can allow for more
targeted recruiting (i.e., applicants may be identified by
certain characteristics), it is possible that using some sites
may produce more qualified applicants. Also, many organizations use these sites to identify passive job-seekers
(SHRM Staffing Research 2008), who use the websites to
indicate that they are interested in and available for certain
job positions and occupations. Passive job-seekers are
often assumed to be well-qualified, stable employees (see
DeKay 2009). However, the quality of passive job seekers
relative to active job seekers is unknown, and whether
social networking websites attract more passive job seekers
is also in question. For example, in DeKay’s (2009) study,
he found that a majority of LinkedIn members indicated
they could be contacted for career opportunities, and thus
might not be considered truly passive job-seekers. Thus,
the quality and passivity of job-seekers on these sites need
further investigation.
Another question is whether there are differences
in applicants across different websites (e.g., LinkedIn,
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) given their potentially
different clientele. For example, LinkedIn is a professional
network, whereas Facebook and MySpace are largely used
for making social connections. There are some indications
that Facebook and MySpace differ in their clientele, with
Facebook attracting individuals of a higher socioeconomic
status (Atal 2007; Levy 2007). Twitter, in contrast, may be
used for professional or social purposes. Thus, whether
applicants have different reasons for accessing the various
websites has important implications for recruiting insofar
as recruiters may want to consider the types of applicants
most likely to be identified from the different sources.
Applicant reactions to job postings on social networking
sites are also an important area of needed research. Specifically, do applicants consider the postings on these sites
favorably and fair, particularly in comparison to more
traditional recruiting means? Because social networking
sites are not publicly accessible (even though most individuals can get an account on the major sites), prospective
applicants may view the fairness of using these sites for job
postings differently than they view postings on company
websites, public job boards, etc. It is also possible that
there will be generational and racial differences in the
acceptance and use of these sites for job seeking and
recruiting. For example, some research has suggested that
younger individuals (e.g., Generation Y) may be less
concerned about privacy than prior generations (see
Peluchette and Karl 2009). Thus, members of younger
generations might be more accepting of the use of these
sites to recruit. Further, if older generations are less technologically savvy or have more limited access to the
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technology, they may consider recruiting through these
sites to be less acceptable.
Finally, research is needed on applicant reactions to an
organization that has its own Facebook or Twitter presence.
Does the organization’s presence on certain sites convey a
particular image, and are different applicants attracted to
the organization as a consequence?
In sum, there is very little research about the consequences of recruiting using social networking websites,
including the types of applicants identified and the reactions of applicants to the use of such recruiting. Survey
research could investigate the success organizations have
had when they used these sites for recruiting, including the
cost-effectiveness of using these sites relative to more
traditional approaches. Research could also include surveys
and laboratory studies with applicants as well as website
users and non-users to examine their perceptions of the
web-based recruiting process.
Screening and Selection Decisions
Using social networking sites poses a particular problem
for screening and selection. Almost no research has
investigated the use of social networking websites for
personnel screening. The challenge presented by the use of
these sites is related to how well they provide reliable and
valid, job-relevant information. Little is also known about
the accuracy of the information provided within social
networking profiles or about the prevalence of different
types of faking (e.g., ‘‘fake good’’ vs. ‘‘fake bad’’) on web
pages, and research should investigate the potential impact
of such distortions on hiring decisions. The following are a
variety of topics that need to be investigated.
The first issue is whether job-relevant characteristics can
be measured reliably and validly from web pages. For
example, it may be possible to measure an individual’s
personality traits based on his/her postings on web pages
(e.g., Buffardi and Campbell 2008; Marcus et al. 2006;
Vazire and Gosling 2004). For example, Vazire and
Gosling (2004) gathered website owners’ self-ratings of the
Big Five personality factors along with observer ratings of
those websites, and found correlations between the selfratings and observer-ratings ranging from 0.21 to 0.42.
However, such research has generally been conducted in
laboratory settings using college students, and research has
not been conducted yet in a personnel selection context. In
addition, almost nothing is known about whether other jobrelevant characteristics, such as cognitive ability, creativity, person-organization fit, etc., can be measured reliably
and validly from web pages.
The prevalence of inaccurate information on web pages
is also in question. Employers often assume that the
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information posted will be more accurate than what candidates provide in a cover letter, resume, interview, etc.,
because they do not expect the website to be viewed by
employers (i.e., they have no motive to ‘‘fake good’’). In
fact, it has been suggested that information might be more
accurate on a website such as LinkedIn because one’s
connections (i.e., current and former colleagues) can view
and presumably verify or contradict the information (see
Narisi 2009). Nonetheless, an individual who creates a
webpage may be trying to impress friends, family, potential
mates, and/or employers, and the type of distortion or
‘‘faking’’ may differ depending on the intended viewer. For
example, individuals may ‘‘fake good’’ if they think their
parents or employers will see the webpage, or even ‘‘fake
bad’’ if they think friends will view the webpage. Further, it
is unknown exactly what kind of information (e.g., work
experience, degrees held, etc.) is provided accurately, and
what kind is provided inaccurately. Thus, research similar
to that conducted on faking in resumes and application
forms is needed (see Gatewood et al. 2008). Finally, the
accuracy of information obtained from third parties (e.g.,
friends’ web pages) is another issue that needs to be
addressed.
The legality of using social networking websites for
screening also requires more study. Many employers
assume that it is acceptable as long as specific laws (e.g.,
civil rights laws) are not violated (see Genova 2009;
Peluchette and Karl 2009; Roberts and Roach 2009).
However, even if an employer does not violate civil rights
laws by engaging in disparate treatment, there are other
legal issues that need to be considered, including employee
privacy rights with respect to their social networking profiles, potential defamation of character by third parties’
web postings, and even adverse impact based on using
social networking websites for gathering job-relevant
information.
The above questions suggest important areas for
research. In particular, the reliability with which information can be obtained from websites and the validity of such
information should be investigated in the field. For example, multiple HR personnel could evaluate applicant websites for job-relevant characteristics, and even assess those
same characteristics via other means (e.g., personality tests,
ability tests) to assess interrater reliability or convergent
validity. Research is needed in which HR professionals rate
the job-relevant traits of applicants from the applicants’
web pages and subsequently correlate those ratings with
measures of job performance once those applicants are
hired and have been on the job for adequate time periods.
Such a study could provide preliminary evidence that
criterion-related validity can be obtained via the use of
web-posted information. Studies using both self- and peerratings of information on websites could be used to study
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the accuracy of web-postings. Finally, research on the
legality of using social networking websites for selection is
particularly needed.
Disciplinary Actions and Terminations
Another area in which HR decisions are made is with
respect to disciplinary actions, up to and including firing,
based on information on social networking sites that is
posted by employees of the organization. Although there
have been some cases described in the popular press that
have occurred based on this information, empirical
research has not investigated the implications of using this
type of information to make HR decisions.
First, one area that needs more research deals with what
type of information can be gathered from social networking
sites that is related to potential disciplinary actions and
firing decisions. It is possible that employers are searching
for information about an employee’s participation in illegal
activities, but also legal activities that are potentially
embarrassing to the employer. However, in many states,
employees’ participation in legal activities (e.g., tobacco
use) is protected under lifestyle protection statutes (Genova
2009), and determining to what extent employers are
gathering this information has legal implications. In addition, employers may be searching for employees’ criticisms
of the organization, which may have First Amendment
(i.e., freedom of speech) implications, as well as watching
for employees’ disclosure of confidential company information, some of which may constitute a form of
whistleblowing.
A second issue is how employees perceive the monitoring of their social networking websites. The Deloitte
(2009) study found that 53% of employees considered it
none of the company’s business what was on the sites. A
recent study by Baglione et al. (2009) found that students
were somewhat neutral about employers’ reviewing of
their social networking websites. However, even more
importantly, neither study directly asked about the use of
information obtained from the websites for decisions about
disciplinary actions or firings. Further, many organizations
are creating formal policies as to employees’ use of social
networking websites and what can be said online with
respect to the organization (see Deloitte 2009), which could
affect employee reactions to monitoring. Thus, more
research on the perceptions of the fairness of using such
information is needed.
Finally, the quality of the decisions made on the basis of
such information is another area for research. As with
selection decisions, little is known about the reliability and
validity of the discipline and termination decisions made
based on information from social networking websites.
Thus far, the primary information available comes from the
J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159
results of court cases such as the Spanierman v. Hughes
(2008) case described earlier, in which the courts determined whether the discipline or firing was legal and
justified.
As noted above, research is needed to determine what
information is being collected, how employees feel about
this information being collected, and whether quality
decisions are being made with this information. To investigate these questions, surveys of employers and employees
would certainly be advantageous. The survey would have
to ask about the nature of the information being collected,
if employees think such information gathering is fair, and
whether HR professionals believe quality decisions can be
based on such information. Lab studies could also present
scenarios of employees being disciplined or fired based on
information on social networking sites, and students or
employees could judge the fairness of these scenarios.
Finally, research on the quality of decisions could not only
be performed via the same methods as evaluating selection
decisions, but may also be informed by a review of court
cases on these issues.
Overarching Research Questions
Finally, given that use of social networking sites for
making HR decisions is so new, there are several broad
questions that need to be addressed across each of these HR
practice areas. Research on these questions will help guide
practitioners in deciding how to best use social networking
sites for HR decision-making. As noted in some of the
previous sections, research is needed on whether applicants
and employees consider the use of information obtained
from social networking sites as fair for making HR decisions. Of particular importance would be the determination
of what parameters and HR policies (e.g., signing a document acknowledging that web-posted information will be
used) make applicants and employees feel that using these
types of media for HR decisions is fair. Also, research
should investigate whether there are generational cohort
differences that impact the appropriate use of social networking sites for HR decisions, such as differences in use
across generations. Last, and perhaps most important,
research should address the utility or return-on-investment
of using social networking sites for HR decision-making.
At present it is unknown whether or not better quality
information is being obtained at a lower cost as compared
to more traditional HR sources. Certainly searching social
networking websites appears less costly than traditional
background checks, but when potential legal risks are
factored in the traditional method may end up being the
one that is preferred. Clearly, research is needed to determine if any cost savings are negated when taking these
legal risks into account.
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Social Networking Websites: Friend or Foe?
The use of social networking websites to make HR decisions is definitely on the rise. Given the lack of research
and recommendations provided to HR decision-makers, we
believe that the use of these methods to make decisions is
within uncharted territory, and thus HR professionals may
be using them appropriately in one context and yet misusing them in others. For example, an organization trying
to gain a broader audience for job postings and providing
information about its culture, goals, mission, etc., through
social networking sites is likely an appropriate and potentially beneficial method to attract applicants. However, if
organizations move toward exclusively using this one form
of posting their job advertisements, then they may limit
their applicant pool by not sharing their job opportunities
as broadly as possible, and could even be violating civil
rights laws by accidentally excluding too many applicants
over the age of 40 given younger persons tend to be more
likely to use these websites. With regard to selection, there
are many legal issues that make using social networking
sites as a source of information more difficult. At this time,
we are cautious about the use of this medium for gathering
information in a selection context unless it can be done in a
manner that follows best selection practices and conforms
to our current standards of testing and assessment (e.g.,
SIOP’s Principles 2003). Finally, acting solely on the
information obtained from a social networking site to make
disciplinary or termination decisions without validation or
verification from another source is a potential serious pitfall for HR Departments that choose to rely on social
networking sites. Although job-relevant information may
be provided on such sites, this information should be verified before taking extreme disciplinary actions, including
termination. Therefore, all in all, use of social networking
websites can be a valuable ‘‘friend’’ when used properly by
HR professionals, but can be a dangerous ‘‘foe’’ when used
inappropriately. This call for research is necessary to
(a) more fully understand the value and implications of
using information from social networking websites to make
HR decisions and to (b) provide guidance to practitioners
who are already dealing with these issues and using this
technology. Table 2 provides a summary of the research
questions presented in this article that we believe need
to be addressed to shed more light on this emerging
HR-relevant technology.
Conclusion
In sum, many managers and HR practitioners are using
social networking websites to make important HR decisions such as recruiting, selecting, and terminating
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Table 2 Summary of research questions
Questions
Recruiting
1. How does recruiting in this manner affect the applicant pool, particularly in terms of quality?
2. Does use of these sites enable organizations to target passive job-seekers?
3. Are there differences in applicants across different websites (e.g., MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.),
given their potentially different clientele?
4. Do applicants consider posting jobs on social networking sites more or less favorably, more or less fair, etc.?
5. Are there generational differences in the acceptance of using social networking sites for recruiting?
6. What are the applicant’s reactions to an organization that has its own Facebook or Twitter presence? Does it
attract a different type of applicant?
Screening and selection
1. Can personality be measured reliably and validly from web pages?
2. Can other job-relevant characteristics, such as cognitive ability, person-organization fit, etc., be measured
reliably and validly from web pages?
3. How often do people provide inaccurate information on their profiles?
4. What types of information are people providing inaccurately (e.g., jobs held, education)?
5. How accurate is third-party provided information?
6. What are the legal issues relevant to using social networking sites for screening and selection?
Disciplinary actions and
terminations
1. What type of information can be gathered from social networking sites that is related to potential disciplinary
actions and firing decisions?
2. How would employees feel regarding their privacy if they knew that the organization would be monitoring
their ‘‘Tweets’’ and postings on social networking sites?
3. How do employees feel about the fairness of having a disciplinary action taken based on a ‘‘Tweet’’ or posting
on a social networking site?
4. What is the quality of the decisions made by using this type of information for disciplinary actions?
Overarching research
questions
1. Do applicants and employees feel the use of these types of technology is fair for making HR decisions, and
what parameters or limitations of use would make them feel that the use of these technologies is fair?
2. What is the utility of using these types of sites for HR decision-making?
3. Are there generational cohort differences that may impact the appropriate use of social networking sites?
individuals. However, most organizations do not have a
policy in place for using these sites (see Deloitte 2009;
SHRM 2008), nor is much scientific research available to
serve as guidance. In fact, many researchers are even
unaware that these sites are being used widely in HR, and
thus at this point practice is preceding research. Our primary goal here is to make researchers aware of these
emerging issues and their implications for organizations,
and to provide guidance on where research in this area
should be directed to assist HR practitioners in addressing
these issues when using social networking websites for HR
decisions.
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