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Finding Meaning in Contradiction on Employee Review Sites — Effects of Discrepant Online Reviews on Job Application Intentions

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  • Könsgen, Raoul
  • Schaarschmidt, Mario
  • Ivens, Stefan
  • Munzel, Andreas

Abstract

Sharing experiences with peers through online reviews has amplified the impacts of individual articulations on the reputations of firms across many industries. With employee review sites, current and former employees share their positive and negative experiences with their company, which has become an increasingly important aspect for reputation management and for job seekers' decision-making on where to apply. In the present study, the effects of discrepant reviews (i.e., reviews with a high variance in company evaluations) are examined in the context of employer review sites. In particular, we investigate how review discrepancy, persuasion knowledge activation, and constructive company responses affect job seekers' trust in the company and the resulting application intentions. In our preliminary study, we analyzed a sample of 25,827 published company reviews on the German employee rating site Kununu.de. The results revealed that high levels of discrepant reviews for the same company exist, thus underlining the need for additional studies. In our main study, a 2 (review discrepancy) × 2 (persuasion knowledge activation) × 2 (company response) between-subject-design experiment was conducted with 311 respondents. We find that high levels of discrepancies lead to increased intentions to avoid submitting applications to the focal company and reduced intentions to pursue employment. This study complements the research concerning online reputation by highlighting the relevance of discrepant reviews for job seekers' application intentions.

Suggested Citation

  • Könsgen, Raoul & Schaarschmidt, Mario & Ivens, Stefan & Munzel, Andreas, 2018. "Finding Meaning in Contradiction on Employee Review Sites — Effects of Discrepant Online Reviews on Job Application Intentions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 165-177.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:165-177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2018.05.001
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    1. Wæraas, Arild & Dahle, Dag Yngve, 2020. "When reputation management is people management: Implications for employee voice," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 277-287.
    2. Beier, Michael & Früh, Sebastian, 2018. "Nutzung von Social Media Plattformen durch Schweizer Spitäler - Eigene Accounts, Nutzungsintensitäten und Reichweiten," EconStor Research Reports 184655, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Beier, Michael & Früh, Sebastian, 2021. "Attitudes, Preferences and Usage Behavior of the Population Regarding Social Media Pages of Hospitals - Results of a Quantitative Survey in the DACH Region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)," EconStor Research Reports 233853, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Srikanth Parameswaran & Pubali Mukherjee & Rohit Valecha, 2023. "I Like My Anonymity: An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Multidimensional Review Text and Role Anonymity on Helpfulness of Employer Reviews," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 853-870, April.
    5. Schaarschmidt, Mario & Walsh, Gianfranco, 2020. "Social media-driven antecedents and consequences of employees' awareness of their impact on corporate reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 718-726.
    6. Beier, Michael & Früh, Sebastian, 2020. "Nutzung von Social Media Plattformen durch Schweizer KMU - Eigene Profile und erzielte Reichweiten," EconStor Research Reports 224773, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Alberto Lopez & Eva Guerra & Beatriz Gonzalez & Sergio Madero, 2020. "Consumer sentiments toward brands: the interaction effect between brand personality and sentiments on electronic word of mouth," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(4), pages 203-223, December.

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