A study on the effectiveness of aesthetically appealing print recruitment advertisement

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of intervention of job seeker’s perception of organizational attraction and attitude toward ad and organization in the application intention produced by aesthetics of print job ads. Design/methodology/approach - An aesthetically appealing faculty-opening job advertisement was used as stimuli and around 250 responses to an administered questionnaire were collected from among job seekers in the academic domain. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesis. Findings - According to the results of the study, aesthetic features of print recruitment ad, even though insignificant in directly inducing job seeker intention to apply, significantly enhanced their organizational attraction and attitudes, and thereby, their application intention. Therefore, job seeker’s perception of organizational attractiveness and attitude were found to full mediate this relationship, regardless of the job seekers’ degree of familiarity with the organization. Practical implications - This study encourages recruiters in the academic job sectors to design and administer aesthetically appealing job advertisements to maximize the high talent pool of applicants from which to choose. Originality/value - This study is the first of its kind in the Indian context in terms of print recruitment advertising. This study is also original in reporting organizational attraction and attitude towards ad and organization as mediators of application intention produced by ad aesthetics.