Cybervetting of organizational citizenship behavior Expectations: Profile summary as a Key in LinkedIn-based assessments

Abstract

Cybervetting, the screening of applicants' social media profiles in personnel selection, is widely established. However, so far, it remained unclear which profile contents affect recruiters' online assessments of applicants. Especially, a research gap concerning cybervetting impressions of applicants' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), has emerged: That is, many recruiters indicated to use social media for initial impressions of OCB, but on which cues they rely remained unclear. In this study, we provide an experimental investigation into how LinkedIn profile contents (presented in summary, volunteering, and posting) affect recruiters' perception of OCB. A total of N = 271 German working professionals cybervetted a candidate's profile, which we manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subject design (OCB high vs. low: summary x volunteering x posting). We assessed recruiters' impressions of the candidate's OCB, task performance, and Big Five personality traits. Results revealed that the contents of the LinkedIn profile summary had a substantial effect on expected OCB; mediated via perceived agreeableness. However, volunteering and an OCB-related posting had no effects. As the first experimental study to manipulate the OCB-related content of social media profiles, we provide novel insights into how specific LinkedIn content affects OCB impressions.