Digital footprint in Web 3.0: Social Media Usage in Recruitment

Abstract

Social media plays important role in many aspects of organizational life, and have become increasingly important in recruitment decisions. The purpose of this study is to understand the key issues in the use of digital footprint in recruitment, by using theme analysis as the research method, 10 managers of human resource department at Iranian banks who were responsible for recruiting of employees were interviewed. Nine themes emerged from the analysis: (a) Digital footprint usage enhances the complexity of employment processes, (b) The use of digital footprint in employment processes leads to the optimization and acquiring visions with regard to job applicants, (c) The impact and significant positive role of social media on maintaining employees, (d) Connecting networks available on social media lead to detection of reciprocal opportunities and bridging among job applicants and employers, (e) The role and desired implication of social media in post-employment processes, (f) The need for updating the knowledge of HR managers with respect to the continuous changes in environmental conditions , (g) The necessity of offering an opportunity to job applicants in high level posts within an organization to explain the negative results of information collected from applicant’s digital footprint on cyber space, (h) The need for measuring the accuracy of information collected from social media, (i) The necessity of educating, culture-building and creating the essential infrastructures for social media use in the society and among employees. The results of this study provide insight to effects of digital footprints on recruitment decisions, reduction of disciplinary actions and firing of employees.

Keywords

• digital footprint
• social media
• recruitment
• human resource management