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Organizational Dynamics (2013) xxx, xxxxxx

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/orgdyn

Facebook and personnel selection:

Whats the big deal?
Rahul S. Chauhan, M. Ronald Buckley, Michael G. Harvey

FACEBOOK: WHAT IS IT? SHOULD WE CARE?

Considering the fact that Facebook.com is worlds most
frequently visited website in the world, it is hard to imagine
that every single person reading this article does not know
of someone who has a Facebook profile. Facebook users
range from modern popular Hollywood celebrities, such as
Justin Bieber and Jason Timberlake, to elderly individuals
including a 102-year-old great-grandmother. According to a
variety of sources, individuals spend more time on Facebook than they do on Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube,
and Yahoo combined. So what exactly is it about this
website, which was only founded in 2004, that attracts
over 18 percent of the entire worlds population and keeps
them coming back?
Facebook.com is a social networking website (SNW).
Facebook and most other SNWs allow their users to create
a personal profile that displays information about the user
and articulate a network of friends or others users
between whom profile information is shared. Facebook
provides multiple services to its users. Users begin by
creating a personal profile, which generally includes information about their education and work experience, birth
date, location and contact information, hobbies, personal
interests, and more controversial information such as political affiliations, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation.
Facebook users may also choose to upload a changeable
photograph that will be associated with their account at all
times. Users may then decide to configure privacy settings,
allowing only select individuals such as those within their
work or school network, as well as general friends, to
view this information. Regardless of an individuals privacy

Note: The authors would like to express their appreciation for the
valuable input of Professor Slocum in the revisions of this manuscript.

settings, however, a users networks, mutual friends, and

profile picture are generally visible to anyone who searches
for any particular user, including interested organizations
and employers (with the exception of those users who
request themselves to be unsearchable). It is important
to note that friends, family, colleagues, and individuals
who are within a users networks are generally given more
access to the users profile information when compared to
the general public.
After a user has created a personal profile, she or he can
then search for other friends to add to their friends list.
Conversely, Facebook users may also choose to defriend
any of their previously added friends, at which point that
individual will have restricted access to the users information if privacy settings are enabled. Similarly, other individuals may also request that the user add them to their
friends list. Built-in tools are in place to help users find each
others friends. For example, a mutual friend of two users
(whom are not Facebook friends with each other themselves) may find each other through this mutual friend.
Furthermore, users can choose to send private messages,
instant messages, and publicly comment on their friends
Facebook wall.
The wall acts as a forum where the profile page holder
and other users can write public messages. Unless a user
sends a private message to another user, however, the activities that a user performs on Facebook such as uploading a
picture or commenting on another users wall is broadcast to this users friends in the form of a newsfeed. This may
allow anyone, even non-Facebook users, to view all of these
activities if privacy settings are not in place to prevent this.
Users may also choose to tag their friends in photos that
are uploaded; enabling those photos to also show up on the
profiles of the tagged individuals. It is critical to note that
a photograph of a user may be tagged without his or her
consent, although they are generally notified through an
automatic system.

0090-2616/$ see front matter # 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.006

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FACEBOOK VERSUS OTHER SOCIAL

NETWORKS
There are a plethora of SNWs in the marketplace today, many
of which provide similar services as Facebook. Some, such as
MySpace, have been around even longer than Facebook and
at one point had a larger number of users. So then why is
Facebook the indisputable dominate social network today?
Specifically, what makes Facebooks 900 million users
actively return to the website and spend hours of their
day on it? Let us first briefly describe and mention some of
the competing SNWs.
Twitter has over half a billion users, but only allows its
users to send and read solely text-based messages
(tweets) that can be up to 140 characters. Users can
follow other users, which essentially acts as a subscription
service that notifies subscribers whenever the user they are
following tweets. Considering that Facebook offers the
same exact service via status updates, Facebook users are
able to utilize this same feature in addition to the seemingly
endless other features available to Facebook users, such as
instant messaging and the sharing of photos and videos.
Myspace was the first widely recognized SNW and currently has approximately 25 million users. Although Myspace
did have a larger number of users than Facebook up until
2008, Myspaces decline has been attributed to a number of
reasons, including lack of innovation and particular focus
towards music, entertainment, and customization of the
users profile. In contrast, Facebook provides a uniform,
easy-to-use interface that is well-received with minimally
distracting arbitrary graphics.
With over 175 million members across the world, Linkedin
claims it is the worlds largest professional network. Since
this SNW is specifically designed to appeal to professional
networking, it offers only a minimal amount (particularly
geared towards communication) of the features that Facebook offers. Furthermore, this network appeals to a unique
demographic (e.g., business professionals) Facebook, on the
other hand, appeals to virtually all categories of individuals
regardless of age, sex, race, and a variety of other individual
differences. For example, for adolescents and young adults,
Facebook may primarily offer a means of entertainment
beyond social interconnectedness. For middle-aged individuals, Facebook may provide a means of communicating or
keeping in touch with friends, families, and colleagues
through a central source (Facebook.com). For elderly individuals, Facebook may provide a means of viewing photographs and videos of their families in a convenient and easyto-navigate manner.
Although Twitter, Myspace, and Linkedin are free and
generally accessible from more than one platform; Facebook
provides its users with all of the features that these other
SNWs provide (and more) in one convenient, user-friendly
location. For example, Facebook allows its users to communicate with anyone who has Internet access globally through
a variety of media such as photographs, videos, email-like
personal messaging, public messaging on the Wall, sharing of
internet links to virtually anything, and recently even video
chat (currently being developed and implemented by Facebook), without being charged a single cent. The benefit of
free and infinite communication through a variety of media
without any financial cost is a powerful benefit to any

individual who may value the services that Facebook offers.

In terms of convenience and accessibility, Facebook users can
access the service through their desktop computers, laptop
computers, tablets such as an iPad, virtually most modern
mobile phones, Internet-equipped televisions, and entertainment consoles such as a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or
Wii, among other means. Although the entire line of features
that Facebook offers to its users is only available to individuals using desktop or laptop computers, the most utilized
features of Facebook are generally accessible through any
device that can access it. Facebook is also a popular method
for users to share photographs and videos with their Facebook
friends (be it family, friends, or colleagues) without physically having to mail them or without the need to have their
Facebook friends present in person.

WHERE IS FACEBOOK GOING?

We believe the population of Facebook users will continue to
grow, due to its increasing popularity, and as technology
expands and becomes increasingly available across the globe.
Indeed, at Facebooks launch in 2004, the SNW had only 1
million users. In only one year, the number of users jumped to
5.5 million users. In subsequent years, Facebook had over 12
million users in 2006, 50 million users in 2007, 100 million
users in 2008, 350 million users in 2009, 500 million users in
2010, 800 million in 2011, and over 900 million in 2012. This
incredible growth rate is unlikely to subside in the near
future, considering the fact that the number of Facebook
users has exponentially increased in recent years.
In response, it is predicted that employers and their HR
departments will begin utilizing Facebook more in the near
and distant future. Beyond simply examining applicant Facebook profiles, organizations will likely find alternative means
to benefit from this social media giant. For example, employers have already begun advertising on Facebook. Considering
that nearly 33 percent of the United States population has a
Facebook account, advertising through Facebook could lead
towards massive benefits for many businesses. In addition to
advertisement, companies have also created corporate Facebook pages that they encourage all users to Like, essentially subscribing these users to daily updates and newsfeeds
with regard to the businesses activities and PR efforts. Some
organizations, such as restaurants and banks, have begun
rewarding individuals who Like their official Facebook
page through unique and exclusive promotions such as discounts. It is important to note that these are only some of the
unique ways organizations utilize Facebook for their benefit,
and it is expected that additional and potentially novel ways
will continue to be developed.

FACEBOOK: CAN IT BE AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

FOR EMPLOYERS?
Organizations and employers commonly utilize the Internet
in their recruitment and selection procedures. Indeed,
employers often utilize the Internet as a means of collecting
prospective employee applications, Internet-based testing,
post vacancy advertisements, and to collect data on applicants. The Internet allows applying for a position to be a
simple and inexpensive process; generally only requiring a

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few mice clicks. Although Internet-based recruitment and
selection procedures may not necessarily cater to all applicants, including older individuals who are less familiar with
technology and minorities who may not have access to the
Internet, the use of the Internet for these purposes has been
shown to have significant benefits. These benefits include the
ability to screen and process huge numbers of applications in
addition to providing a dramatic savings in the cost and time
associated with hiring procedures. Specifically, Internet sites
can potentially reduce the cost-per-hire from $3,295 for
traditional advertising formats to $377 for online recruiting.
Furthermore, there has been an increasingly marked trend
with regard to Internet-based recruitment within the last
decade in comparison to traditional paper-based application
procedures, despite the fact that applicant reactions to
Internet-based recruitment has not been studied.
Unfortunately, the domain of utilizing SNWs, such as
Facebook, Google, LinkedIn as a tool for hiring practices
has seldom been explored. Despite the increasing rise in
the use of these technologies, few studies have examined
the role of the Internet in selection. That is, few studies have
empirically examined the impact and implications that using
the Internet as part of recruitment and selection procedures
may have on HR-related decisions for both applicants and
employers.
Regardless, considering the cost-effective benefits that
organizations may gain from utilizing the Internet in their
hiring procedures, a number of managerial guidelines have
been proposed. First, organizations should consider posting
job openings on their websites. This allows for applicants to
apply for a plethora of positions with minimal effort on the
part of employers (e.g., manually going through paper applications). This process allows for a quick and efficient means
of screening through applicants and selecting those that are
worthy of an interview based on the jobs desired qualification criteria. After an applicant has successfully progressed
though this initial screening phase, employers may consider
utilizing a general search engine, such as Google, to type in
the applicants name as part of an initial background check in
order to find out any additional information that will help
them avoid hiring bad apples.
Second, employers have also utilized the Internet to avoid
negligent hiring issues. It is common practice for organizations to type an applicants name into Internet search
engines, as Google or Yahoo, as part of their standard background check procedure. Indeed, courts seem to be recognizing Googling and Internet searches on parties as part of
a due diligence search for missing defendants and have
overturned cases when this was not done. That is, employers
are now expected to type an applicants name into an Internet search engine as part of their background check process
before hiring the individual as an additional means for
determining whether an applicant is a threat or danger to
themselves and/or others in the workplace. This may be in
addition to seeking other information about the applicant
that may benefit selection decisions, such as information
about past accomplishments or history that is available on
the Internet. Consequently, practitioners have warned that
in order to avoid missing potentially relevant evidence, they
must look beyond traditional venues and look at SNWs (e.g.,
Facebook) due to the plethora of information about an
individual that is available on them (pictures, language,

3
patterns, etc.). However, the legality of this practice and
its effectiveness remains a grey area in the literature.

THE APPLICATION OF FACEBOOK IN AN HR

CONTEXT
One primary reason that organizations utilize Facebook as a
tool is that the fact that it allows them to recruit new
employees and attract potential applicants. Organizations
can do this by posting information in the form of text,
pictures, or videos that they post on the companys Facebook
page. It is important to note that a Facebook page is different
from a Facebook user profile in that Facebook pages have
fans instead of friends and are also completely public,
so they can show up on simple search engines like Google as
well. Furthermore, current employees can send out job
postings on behalf of their organizations via a link to the
companys Facebook page. Additionally, employers can simply post job openings on the companys Facebook page. This
will appear on the newsfeeds of the Facebook users who have
Liked the companys Facebook page. Although Facebook
accounts for less than one percent of total hires that companies have made, Facebook is predicted to rival job traditional job boards in the near future. Indeed, Monster.com,
one of the worlds largest employment websites, has
acknowledged its presence as a rapidly growing recruiting
platform.
Potentialpark, an online recruiting research lab, interviewed HR professionals with regard to their motives for
incorporating Facebook into their HR-related procedures.
Among their reasons to use online search are the fact that
Facebook is a two-way interactive and engaging medium for
communication. Furthermore, Facebook is a massive network with nearly 1 billion members that is completely free,
allowing for rich media such as pictures and videos to be
posted by both the applicant and organization. Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook offers one single service to all of its members. That is, members do not need to pay an additional fee in
order to access and use certain features. Employers are able
to uniformly view the full range of information available on
an applicants Facebook page.
Beyond recruitment and selection, organizations utilize
Facebook for a variety of reasons that may significant benefit
their organization. An organizations Facebook page offers
active, dynamic, and immediate communication with regard
to any updates the organization may wish to provide. This is
in contrast to an organizations website, which generally
provides more information such as archival and background
information. Furthermore, Facebook pages are completely
free, reducing the burden and cost of constantly updating
and maintaining the organizations website. Organizations
may also create and publish calendar events that are available to view by all Facebook users. Such events may include
recruitment, on-campus interviews, charity, or any other
event that an organization may wish to host. Furthermore,
Facebook users that RSVP to these events can invite their
Facebook friends to join as well, expanding the network and
demographic that is reached. Organizations may also decide
to post important links on their Facebook pages status
updates that can redirect Facebook users to relevant or
desired information (such as to the organizations website).

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Marketing, market-research, e-commerce, advertisement, and customer service are some additional and valuable
uses that Facebook offers to organizations. With regard to
marketing and advertising, organizations can advertise their
latest products on their Facebook page and thus cut advertising costs dramatically, as they can spend less on traditional
means of advertising such as television commercials. In
addition to simply providing a link to a new product, they
may also advertise through rich media including online video
marketing, allowing Facebook users and the general public to
view this video much like they would a commercial seen on
television. Furthermore, organizations may choose to pay to
advertise their ad on Facebook as well. Although this is a
relatively new feature, organizations seem to have the
option to advertise on the side panel that is visible for every
Facebook user. These advertisements will show up on a
Facebook users side panel depending on their likes and
preferences, allowing organizations to target the audience
they wish for their ads to reach. This allows a powerful
medium for organizational marketing research. Indeed,
Facebook is among the worlds largest self-maintaining databases available to organizations, allowing them to track the
latest trends and purchasing behaviors of their most influential consumers. Organizations may do this via a feature known
as Facebook Connect, which allows organizational websites (such as those used for e-commerce) to link with a
Facebook users profile and their overall preferences.
In addition to simply advertising new products on an
organizations Facebook page, organizations may also provide links to their store, where the Facebook user can buy
products including those that the organizations decides to
market and advertise at the time. Furthermore, organizations may also decide to provide Facebook users or individuals who visit the organizations Facebook page with
exclusive discounts or deals that are exclusively available
to those who Like the organizations Facebook page.
Such deals or discounts may be conducted in a similar
manner as Groupon or Livingsocial, both of which are
websites exclusively dedicated to providing their members
with exclusive deals to a variety of participating businesses.
In terms of customer service, there seems to be a
growing trend with regard to customers turning to an
organizations social networking website when they a question, issue (particularly technical), complaint, or compliment to share with the organization and/or others. The
reason for this seems to be that such customers expect a
prompt response, and when this is not met the organizations page may be plagued with increased complaints,
ultimately leading towards a poor public impression of
the organization or business.

WHY DO EMPLOYERS LOOK AT APPLICANT

SNWS?
In addition to avoiding negligent hiring lawsuits and beyond
providing information that is generally not available through
traditional screening tools such as resumes, SNWs allow
employers the ability to efficiently and conveniently examine readily available information at minimal cost to themselves and their organizations. This allows for a variety of

professionals to engage in this practice, ranging from small

business to large organizations. The additional information
available on an applicants profile may assist potential
employers in their attempts to draw inferences about the
applicants character and personality that may not be simply
obtained through standard means, potentially influencing
the employers decision-making process with regard to the
applicant. Employers may also obtain this information with
minimal time and capital costs. Furthermore, many argue
that applicants waive an expectation of privacy when they
place information onto their SNWs.
Employers may also use Facebook as a means of gathering additional information about their potential applicants
by attracting them to their company Facebook pages.
According to a recent study, 84 percent of job seekers
have a Facebook profile, 48 percent of all job seekers have
done at least one social job hunting activity on Facebook
within the last year, and 16 percent have received a job
referral form a Facebook friend. Furthermore, one in five
job seekers have added professional information on their
Facebook profile in the past year, and over 40 percent are
college graduates. Indeed, if an employer draws in current
or potential applicants though a business page that is
specifically designed for recruitment-related purposes,
than employers may post interesting content on these
pages that generally leads to comments, discussions, and
interactions from potential applicants. These communications may allow employers to infer characteristics from
potential applicants that may ultimately lead to hiring
decisions.

IS THERE ANYTHING TO BE GAINED FOR THIS

SOURCE OF INFORMATION?
Potential Adverse Impact
Adverse impact is difficult issue that employers must face
when utilizing Facebook as part of their HR-related procedures. Facebook and other SNWs provide visitors with information that is not generally available on a resume. This
information can include information about age, sex, and
race. For example, if an applicant had a profile picture of
him or herself, employers who search for this individual will
be able to determine age, sex, and race despite whether
the individual has any privacy settings (recall that an individuals profile picture is almost always visible to all users).
Furthermore, the information available on Facebook about
individuals is not always necessarily truthful, accurate, or
representative information about the individuals performance in the workplace. For example, an individual appearing obviously intoxicated in a party setting may seem like a
poor potential employee to employers, when in reality the
individual may be an excellent employee, despite how they
appear beyond working hours. This may lead employers to
make inaccurate judgments and predictions about the applicants personality and predicted behavior in the workplace.
Alternatively, individuals may also design Facebook profiles
in a manner that specifically appeals to employers by providing only information that will be accepted positively. Indeed,
there is nothing in place to prevent any Facebook user from
engaging in this practice.

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Invasion of Privacy
While many consider employers to have a legitimate right to
monitor workplace Internet use as a means to minimize legal
exposure, increase productivity, and avoid proprietary information loss, employees tend to believe that they do have an
expectation and right to privacy on SNWs off-the-clock.
Furthermore, we believe that there should be an expectation
of privacy for off-duty current employees that should extend
to their SNWs. Indeed, the states of Colorado, North Dakota,
and New York protect off-duty conducts that include legal
recreational activities such as the consumption of legal
products and political activity. Other states (e.g., Kansas,
North Carolina, for example) have also enacted more limited
statutes protecting specific categories of lawful off-study
conduct and lifestyle such as sexual orientation and marital
status.
Regardless of this expectation of privacy, employers continue to examine applicant Facebook profiles. Specific
instances include obtaining information on individual applicants and using the information gathered from their profiles
to make hiring decisions. One recent survey found that 63
percent of employers that utilize SNWs websites as part of
their hiring processes rejected candidates based upon the
information found on their profiles. Indeed, Careerbuilder.com reported that detrimental information found on a SNW
resulted in a decision to not hire applicants due to a variety of
reasons including discovering content that suggested provocative or inappropriate photographs and information, alcohol and drug use, bad-mouthing previous employers, poor
communication skills, discriminatory comments, lying about
qualifications, and sharing confidential information from
previous employers. Conversely, employers also reported
that information from applicant SNWs actually encouraged
them to hire candidates as well. Such information included a
good feel for the candidates personality and fit within the
organization, support for the candidates professional qualifications, creativity of the candidate, solid communication
skills, others posting good references about the candidate,
awards and accolades that the candidate received.
There are no federal or state laws that specifically prevent
employers from viewing and/or using information gathered
from an unrestricted SNW profile to make hiring decisions
with regard to unrestricted profiles. Although one may immediately consider the simple solution of increasing the privacy
settings available on most SNWs, the majority of Facebook
users (including current employees) fail to utilize the privacy
settings available to them. This may partially be attributed to
the scattered privacy settings on Facebook that force users to
access multiple areas of the site in order to change their
privacy settings, making the overall process confusing and
tedious. Furthermore, Facebook may offer conflicting privacy settings in two different areas. For example, you may
prevent others from viewing a particular photo, but if you do
not prevent others from viewing the album that the photo is
in, they may still have access to the photo. When this is the
case, Facebook automatically obeys the less restrictive setting. Finally, previous literature has suggested that most
users believe invasion of SNW privacy is a serious threat to
others with regard to exposing private information; but one
that they doubt will ever affect them. This ultimately results
in Facebook users choosing to avoid configuring and fortifying

5
their accounts with privacy settings and leaving themselves
open to employer examinations of their SNWs and the personal information on them.
Perhaps most surprising is the fact that employers can
access potential applicants social network profiles in a
variety of ways even when these applicants have privacy
settings configured. For example, some employees may be
former or current students with Facebook profiles themselves. As former students, they may be part of their former
universitys network, and be able to access applicant Facebook profiles (assuming the applicant is from the same university) through such a guise if the applicant allows members
of their universitys network to access their information. As
current students, employers can generally circumvent any
privacy settings a targeted applicant may have if there is a
mutual university affiliation between the applicants and the
employers. Furthermore, there is no legal precedent clearly
addressing whether invasion of privacy can apply towards an
individuals Facebook profiles.
In a recent case, a plaintiff sued the defendant over an
injury claim and loss of life enjoyment. When the defendant requested that the plaintiff disclose her Facebook
profile as evidence, the court ordered the plaintiff to disclose
her Facebook information to the defendant. Specifically, the
information available on her MySpace and Facebook profiles
revealed that she has an active lifestyle and had traveled to
Florida and Pennsylvania during the time period she claims
that her injuries prohibited such activity. The court found
that the information on the plaintiffs previously deleted
profile was both material and necessary to the case.
The courts therefore concluded that any privacy settings
that the defendant had enabled were void due to the fact
that her physical condition was at issue. This decision was
justified in that it was fair for the defendant to gather
evidence that may contradict the assertions of injury claim.
Although the defendant pleaded that such a procedure would
invade her right to privacy as stated under the Fourth
Amendment, the courts rejected this plea. Ultimately, the
court ruled in favor of the defendant based on the information gained from the plaintiffs Facebook profile, stating that
privacy is no longer grounded in reasonable expectations,
but rather in some theoretical protocol better known as
wishful thinking.
This is perhaps the most robust and recent decision ever
made regarding SNWs and invasion of privacy to date. For the
average Facebook user, this implies that even with most strict
privacy settings are enabled, information on their SNW can
still be accessed under certain circumstances.
While applicants may intend for their Facebook profiles
and information to cater towards a particular audience with
similar socially acceptable norms (such as friends), there may
be multiple audiences with different social mores that may
not be as understanding or accepting as the users targeted
audience of friends and family. Specifically, what an individuals friends may perceive as normal behavior within their
culture, others (e.g., organizations) may perceive as being
different and/or negative. For example, an individual and his
or her friends may perceive consuming alcohol and appearing
intoxicated at an event or party as perfectly normal beyond
the scope of working hours, whereas the organization of the
employee may not agree with this assessment. This may be
because organizations consider how employees present

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themselves, even if it is outside of the workplace, and may be

incongruent with or detrimental to the goals of the organization or its intended image and reputation.
With regard to employee retention, there has been a
recent increase in cases where employees are being reprimanded or even terminated because of information that they
have on SNWs. While there have been precedent cases of law
enforcement successfully utilizing Facebook to identify suspects, such precedents are not as prevalent as cases where
employers utilize Facebook for retention decisions. There
are several examples of cases and situations where individual
employees were being reprimanded or terminated because of
their behavior on SNWs (including Facebook). Indeed, the
authors state that SNWs are among the most prime ways to
commit career suicide. For example, a Florida sheriff was
terminated due to comments he made on his SNW profile with
regard to women and his preference for heavy drinking. A 22year-old waitress was fired for leaving negative comments on
her Facebook profile with regard to customers who did not
leave a tip and continued to dine after the restaurant closed.
A police officer who posted information about arresting a
celebrity on his SNW profile, which resulted in an internal
affairs investigation finding him guilty of invasion of privacy.
A Delta Airlines flight attendant was terminated for inappropriate conduct after posting photos of herself in uniform
on a company airplane while engaging in suggestive poses. In
the latter case, most airlines tend to regulate their employees post-work conduct, and such a precedent likely led to
the result of this case. This argument does have merit, as
organizations have a stake in the reputation of their company. And detrimental comments against the organizations
made by its own employees are a threat to such a reputation.
Perhaps the most famous case involved an education
student at a Midwestern university that lost her teaching
placement and was refused her degree after a photo of her
labeled drunk pirate was discovered on her SNW profile.
The student sued but lost the case, as the courts determined
that since she was an employee of the public, she is essentially representing the public during and beyond her working
hours. One critical fact to consider in this case is the fact that
this student had no privacy settings activated on her SNW
account. This case implies that people are always in the
public eye, and SNWs such as Facebook do not protect or
provide a defense against behavior that may not be accepted
as appropriate.

IS FACEBOOK REALLY A GOOD HR TOOL?

Although SNWs do provide employers an additional tool that
provides them with cost-effective and additional information
about applicants, there has been limited research that has
examined the actual usefulness of SNWs as a tool for hiring
procedures. Indeed, one empirical study conducted over
utilizing Facebook examined the practicality of using applicant personal information obtained from SNWs to enhance
employment selection decisions. In this study, students from
a large public university in the southern United States rate
individuals on their predicted big-five personality traits (i.e.,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extroversion, and openness), general mental ability and GPA
(academic performance) based solely on the information

available on each targets SNW. Each rater had some previous

experience with human resources, statistics, and real work
experience as well as having been trained in personality/
intelligence testing and effective use of their scales. Furthermore, each participant was given a one-hour training program in order to become familiar with components of the
study such as reviewing the definitions of the big-five personality traits. Participants were then asked to identify
specific information on Facebook pages that could be used
to assess the focal characteristics of the study, consequently
familiarizing the participant with the rating form to be used.
Inter-rater reliability was assessed to confirm rater consistency, followed by an assessment of rater accuracy. The
targets in this experiment were all volunteer students who
took the big-five personality test, general mental ability test,
demographics questionnaires, and were asked to provide
their college GPAs (grade point averages).
The results indicated that judges were consistent across
their ratings; they were generally able to distinguish
between high from low performers based solely on the
information available to them from the targets Facebook
page. Furthermore, raters who scored high on intelligence
and emotional stability performed better than their counterparts in selecting high performing applicants.
These results have a number of implications. First, the
results of this study suggest that SNWs may indeed provide
information about an applicants personality beyond traditional self-report and interview measures, providing incremental prediction of job performance. Second, this study
suggests that raters with higher scores on intelligence and
emotional stability are better able to discriminate high from
low performers. This suggests organizations should allow
these individuals to screen and recruit potential employees
and current applicants based upon information gathered
from the applicants Facebook pages.
In order to further evaluation these implications, we
conducted a study examining participant predictions of a
variety of job-related outcomes based solely on information
available on Facebook pages. Specifically, we examined the
effect that the non-job-related predictor variables of personality, physical attractiveness, self-promotion, and privacy setting have on a variety of job-related outcome
variables including the likelihood of being offered an interview, starting salary range, predicted future performance,
and predictions of personality characteristics based solely
on information obtained from synthesized Facebook profiles. The predictor variables in this study had no significant
effect on the outcome variables, with the exception of
privacy setting influencing predictions of conscientiousness. Additionally, the participant personality characteristic of extraversion had a significant effect on most of the
willingness to take the position, reduced turnover and
increased performance. The results of this study seem to
provide support for the notion that information obtained
from an applicants Facebook page may in fact predict for
the applicants personality characteristics. However,
beyond personality, the results of this study also imply that
Facebook may not be as detrimental for selection purposes
as previously thought, considering that none of these nonjob-related variables (which generally presented on an
applicants Facebook page) had an influence on the jobrelated outcomes.

Please cite this article in press as: R.S. Chauhan, et al., Facebook and personnel selection:Q1, Organ Dyn (2013), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.006

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Facebook and personnel selection

IMPLICATIONS FOR FACEBOOK USERS AND

EMPLOYERS
The particular finding that privacy setting has a significant
effect on participant perceptions of conscientiousness is an
important finding that has a number of implications for
Facebook users in addition to employers. This finding indicates Facebook users should utilize privacy settings, as they
may increase employer and HR-professional perceptions of
their conscientiousness. Indeed, conscientiousness is arguably the most valued personality trait in the Big Five. It has
been found to be a powerful predictor of future performance
across a variety of domains. Therefore, Facebook users are
strongly encouraged to activate stringent privacy settings, as
this may lead to favorable impressions of conscientiousness,
in addition to reducing the likelihood of employer invasion of
privacy.
Considering this information, Facebook users and applicants are strongly encouraged to enable privacy settings.
Although and the process of enabling privacy settings may not
be clear and simple, the time required to enable privacy
settings is minimal, and doing so can prevent undesired issues
with regard to employment. Furthermore, Facebook users
are advised against posting any incriminating information as
an additional precaution against employer scrutiny. Indeed,
even the seemingly most trivial non job-related information
may lead a bad taste in employers mouths, potentially
costing them the very jobs for which they are applying.
Aside from enabling privacy settings, Facebook users
should consider utilizing their Facebook pages as an asset.
A well-crafted and appealing persona can serve as a powerful
impression management tactic that will appeal to employers.
For example, an applicants Facebook page may act as an
extension of his or her resume, because it allows the applicant to demonstrate a sense of passion and depth of knowledge for his or her respective area of expertise.
Facebook users should follow certain guidelines in order to
make their profiles especially appealing to employers. Specifically, Facebook users should begin with the profile picture. This photograph will act as the first impression that
applicants will have on potential employers. This photograph
should be a professional-looking headshot. Potential applicants should also begin posting pictures of themselves engaging in professional work-related actions that visually display
their skills with short captions if necessary. For example, an
individual seeking a job in advertising may display pictures of
themselves advertising a product at conventions or events.
However, it is important to note that the last five or so
pictures uploaded on Facebook where a user has been tagged
are the five most visible photographs. Specifically, the last
tagged photographs are displayed at the top of a users
Facebook page. Therefore, applicants should monitor these
photographs, and if necessary replace them with more professional ones. Such professional photographs may include
additional headshots, action snaps, and photographs from a
professional conference or event.
Applicants should also provide a description of their
unique talents and, if applicable, include any press about
them. If applicants have professional recommendations or
testimonials, they should certainly include these on their
Facebook pages as well. Applicants are also advised to join

7
professional groups and associations that are related to
networking opportunities and job news updates, as subscribing to these may provide the user information that they can
utilize as an advantage during their job-search. Similarly,
users should connect with current colleagues as well as
previous co-workers (if applicable), as expanding user networks may also provide access to a potential business opportunity. Facebook users should include any professional
contact information they may have, including a link to their
professional website or even their LinkedIn profile. This may
redirect interested employers to more favorable information
about the applicant.
Additionally, Facebook users are encouraged to avoid
posting information about the progress of their job searches
and the outcomes of any interviews they may have been part
of. Indeed, such a mistake could lead to the applicants
current employer finding out that the applicant is interviewing, which could be detrimental for the applicant if they did
not give their current employer notice that they were intending on leaving the organization. Furthermore, potential
employers may not like the idea of their interviews being
publicized, and could also be detrimental for the applicants
chances of being selected for employment. Last, Facebook
users are simply encouraged to keep their Facebook page
updated, proofread, and neat, much as they would do for
their resume.

Employers
There are a number of important implications for employers
to consider before utilizing SNWs as a tool for employmentrelated purposes. With regard to personality, employers are
strongly urged to consider the effect that the personalities of
their HR professionals may have on recruitment, selection,
and retention decisions. Indeed, the results of our study
suggest that certain personality characteristics, such as
extraversion, may lead HR-professionals (who exhibit this
personality characteristic) to be more susceptible in terms of
hiring individuals, offering them a higher starting salary, and
to predict higher future performance from applicants.
Considering that the additional information available on
Facebook is job-irrelevant in most cases, employers should
not be discouraged from looking at their applicants Facebook
pages. However, engaging in this practice should still be
conducted with caution and within reason. Indeed, since a
large amount of the information on Facebook profiles is jobirrelevant, engaging in this practice could lead to issues
concerning the validity of using Facebook as a tool to be
included in HR-related decision-making procedures. Furthermore, a court would see this practice as indefensible with
respect to being a job-related part of the selection process.
Employers are also urged to avoid invading or bypassing the
privacy settings of their applicants, as this procedure could
indeed lead to legal ramifications.
It is important to note that there may in fact be some
beneficial information about applicants that can be obtained
from their SNWs. Therefore, if applicant Facebook pages are
utilized as part of hiring procedures, employers are strongly
encouraged to examine these pages in an objective manner.
In order to maximize the impact and return of utilizing
Facebook as part of the hiring process, organizations are

Please cite this article in press as: R.S. Chauhan, et al., Facebook and personnel selection:Q1, Organ Dyn (2013), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.006

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R.S. Chauhan et al.

encouraged to examine applicant profiles for solely jobrelevant information. This job-relevant information may
be quite valuable. For example, an applicant may provide
his or her previous work experience, personal interests, and
future goals through the Facebook profile. However, employers should once again do their best to avoid allowing the nonjob-related information to influence their perceptions of the
applicant. In addition to physical attractiveness, employers
should attempt to disregard any information about the applicant in terms of political orientation, personal non-job-related
interests and hobbies, sexual orientation, age, race, and
gender. Although this is easier said than done, considering
solely job-related information obtained from an applicants
Facebook profile will protect the employer from legal ramifications. Furthermore, employers should avoid being influenced by personal photographs unless the participant is
clearly engaging in inappropriate behavior that would be
detrimental for the job for which they are applying. For
example, if an applicant is appearing obviously intoxicated
in at least one or several of their public photographs, this could
be enough reasonable information to conclude that the applicant should be removed from job-consideration.

THE BOTTOM LINE ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

AND HR
Regardless, employers are strongly urged to avoid bypassing an
applicants privacy settings (by any means) with the goal of
obtaining additional information about the applicant. As stated previously, this is a dangerously controversial area with
regard to the validity and legality of the practice. Indeed, in
order to maximize the impact and return of utilizing Facebook
as part of selection procedures while simultaneously minimizing risk, employers are encouraged to obtain information that
is available to them through the normal channels that the
applicant either intended or did not restrict through privacy
settings.

Overall, Facebook as a source of applicant information

should simply be a supplement to normal organizational
hiring procedures. Employers should still place primary
emphasis on and engage in their standard HR-related procedures in terms of recruitment and selection. For example,
the information obtained from resumes and screening interviews (such as phone interviews) should be valued more so
than the information that may be obtained from an applicants Facebook page. Both of these sources of initial information about applicants are commonly utilized and have
proven to be useful resources in terms of making hiring
decisions. Furthermore, considering the fact that resumes
can be viewed cost-effective and efficiently online, they
should be the first item that employers should consider during
their hiring procedures. Facebook, however, has not been
proven to be a useful resource for HR-related decision-making beyond potentially providing predictions of applicant
personalities. Indeed, although Facebook may in fact provide
some valuable job-relevant information about an applicant,
it may just as well (and even to a greater extent) provide
job-irrelevant information about the applicant that may
unjustifiably and detrimentally affect perceptions of the
applicant.
In conclusion, employers should remain cautious when
using Facebook as a tool for employment-related decisionmaking, as it provides minimal job-relevant information
and may not accurately portray the applicant of interests
actual performance at the job. Furthermore, due to the
fact that there are no legal guidelines that allow for the
use of SNWs as part of employment decisions, employers
are placing avoidable risk on themselves (as they may be
accused of illegal invasion of privacy) for potentially minimal gain.

Please cite this article in press as: R.S. Chauhan, et al., Facebook and personnel selection:Q1, Organ Dyn (2013), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.006

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Facebook and personnel selection

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Facebook is a dynamically evolving social networking
website that has implemented many new features to its
users and employers since its launch in 2004. The following
articles explain Facebooks features and prevalence: Nielson Wire, State of the Media: The Social Media Report,
Nmincite. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/,
2011; D. M. Boyd and N. B. Ellison, Social Network Sites:
Definition, History, and Scholarship, Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 2007, 13, 210230; J. Cain,
Online Social Networking Issues Within Academia and
Pharmacy Education, American Journal of Pharmaceutical
Education, 2008, 72, 17; and E. Swallow, 7 Reasons
Why Recruiters Like Facebook More Than LinkedIn,
Mashable, http://mashable.com/2011/10/09/recruitersprefer-facebook/, 2011.
Several critical articles examine the benefits and detriments to employers when utilizing Facebook as a tool for
their HR-related procedures (and its effectiveness): C. Brandenburg, The Newest Way to Screen Job Applicants: A Social
Networkers Nightmare, Federal Communications Law Journal, 2008, 60, 597626; V. R. Brown and E. D. Vaughn, The
Writing on the (Facebook) Wall: The Use of Social Networking
Sites in Hiring Decisions, Journal of Business Psychology,
2011, 26, 219225, doi:10.1007/s10869-011-9221-x; L. A.
Clark and S. J. Roberts, Employers Use of Social Networking
Sites: A Socially Irresponsible Practice, Journal of Business
Ethics, 2010, 95, 507525; and B. Elzweig and D. K. Peeples,

Using Social Networking Web Sites in Hiring and Retention

Decisions, SAM Advanced Management Journal, 2009, 74,
2735.
A variety of implications were discussed with regard to
both employers and applicants in terms of Facebook use. For
example see: E. Brown, Internet Law In the Courts, Journal of Internet Law, 2011, 1, 3539; C. D. Davis, MySpace
Isnt Your Space: Expanding the Fair Credit Reporting Act to
Ensure Accountability and Fairness in Employer Searches of
Online Social Networking Services, Kansas Journal of Law &
Public Policy, 2007, 26, 237256; R. Haefner (2009) More
Employers Screening Candidates Via Social Networking Sites:
Five Tips For Creating a Positive Online Image, http://
www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-1337-Interview-TipsMore-Employers-Screening-Candidates-via-Social-Networking-Sites/; E. M. Marsico, Social Networking Websites: Are
MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints?, Widener Law
Journal, 2010, 19, 967976; L. Hockenson (2012), How
to Recruit with Facebook (infographic), Mashable,
http://mashable.com/2012/02/05/facebook-recruitinginfographic/; K. A. Zimmerman (2011), 5 Ways Youll Use
Facebook in 2012, BusinessNewsDaily, http://www.
businessnewsdaily.com/1350-new-facebook-small-businessuses.html; and A. Levin-Esptein (2011), Create the Perfect
Hire Me Facebook Page: 9 Simple Tips, CBSnews, http://
www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-47541557/create-theperfect-hire-me-facebook-page-9-simple-tips/.

Rahul S. Chauhan (M.A., University of Oklahoma) is a doctoral student in the industrial/organizational psychology
program at the University of Oklahoma. He is employed by the Center for Applied Social Research at the University
of Oklahoma. His research interests include social media and selection, personality and performance, and
efficiency in the workplace (Tel.: +1 405 325 2651; e-mail: Rahul.s.chauhan@ou.edu).

M. Ronald Buckley (Ph.D. in Industrial psychology, Auburn University) is the J.C. Penney Company Chair of
Business Leadership in the Michael F. Price College of Business and a professor of psychology at the University of
Oklahoma. His research interests include decision-making in the employment interview, performance appraisal,
organizational entry processes, and the issues surrounding unethical behavior in organizations. He has published
numerous articles in both practitioner and scholarly journals on topics related to human resource management
(Tel.: +1 405 325 2651; e-mail: mbuckley@ou.edu).

Michael Harvey is Distinguished Chair of Global Business in the School of Business Administration at the University
of Mississippi and has a joint appointment at Bond University (Australia). Mike has been an active researcher
and consultant for global organizations over the last 30 years (Tel.: +61 662 915 5830; e-mail: mharvey@bus.
olemiss.edu).

Please cite this article in press as: R.S. Chauhan, et al., Facebook and personnel selection:Q1, Organ Dyn (2013), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.006