title: Understanding Public Talent Referrals: The Effects of Job Application Methods on the Job Search Readiness of Passive Talent
Creators: name: Mielke, Clemens
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2024

description: With the majority of the workforce being passive talent, e.g., not actively searching for a new job, organizations have only limited access to the pool of potential candidates. The implication of this limitation is wide-reaching and ultimately results in the dilemma of organizations not being able to reliably access vast portions of the potential talent available in the market - leading to researchers and practitioners in the field of talent acquisition facing a pressing issue of finding effective solutions to include or activate passive talent in the recruitment process.

In this dissertation, I aim to understand public talent recruitment, specifically Public Talent Referrals (PTR), as a novel recruitment method via two empirical studies. Drawing on the theoretical framework of value co-creation, I compare PTR as a public referral method with the conventional Career Portal Application (CPA) in terms of their impact on the job search readiness of passive talent. Then, further building on regulatory focus theory, I checked whether potential gains (e.g., the chance of a candidate being successful in their job application by having their CV reviewed by the employer) strengthen the effect of application methods on job search readiness. Furthermore, I examine the effect of cost minimization through PTR on candidates’ job search readiness. I conducted an experimental study featuring a two-by-two vignette design among 201 randomized participants to examine the hypotheses. The results showed that PTR leads to a higher job search readiness than CPA, that potential gains increase job search readiness, and that the difference between job search readiness in PTR and CPA is larger in the condition of low potential gains than in the condition of high potential gains.

I then conducted an action study of semi-structured interviews with eight individuals who experienced PTR as candidates to make sense of the results obtained through the experimental study. The action study showed that candidates experience PTR as a job application method that features a multitude of beneficial features that exceed ‘just’ potential gains and cost minimization, such as pre-qualification of their profile through the referrer, the referrer vouching for their relevance to the job, less competition through other applicants, an increased chance of receiving feedback through the involvement of the referrer, benefitting from the referrer’s inside knowledge of the organization, and experiencing positive emotions when being referred.

This dissertation contributes to the body of knowledge regarding PTR, suggesting that 1) individuals are more encouraged to submit their job applications through PTR than CPA, rendering PTR to be a valid tool to attract passive talent, 2) that there now is a better understanding of the features of PTR from the perspective of a potential job applicant, and 3) that there now is a better understanding of PTR from the perspective of multiple theories.