Why dishonest job seekers are attracted by Corporate Social Performance.

Abstract

Although past research investigates how job seekers react to information about a firm’s Corporate Social Performance (CSP), an unexplored question is whether CSP is more (or less) likely to attract employees that behave according to higher ethical standards. Focusing on individual propensity towards dishonesty we offer the first systematic evaluation of how CSP contributes to the moral preferences of the workforce that an organization attracts. Contributing to research on the micro-level processes that explain job seekers attraction to CSP, the study shows that, contrary to current accounts, organizations promoting social and environmental programs are equally attractive to both honest and dishonest job seekers. Furthermore, the mediating mechanisms linking CSP to organizational attractiveness are systematically different for individuals with different propensity towards honest behavior and the impact of CSP signaling on attractiveness is moderated by extrinsic attributions only for individuals with high propensity for honest behavior. Finally, we hypothesize and show that dishonest job seekers are attracted to CSP because of a social signaling mechanism that is especially valuable for them; the association with a firm promoting CSP is a way to disguise individual predatory tendencies and ensure that dishonest prospects are trusted by others in social interactions.