THE EFFECT OF ETHICAL SIGNALS ON RECRUITMENT ...

ecruitment process. These ethical signals are detected by applicants and influence their
attraction to the organization.
Study 2 nicely compliments the findings from Study 1. Study 1 had a small
sample size and some missing data that limited some of the analyses. Study 2, however,
had a large sample size that allowed for the testing of all the hypothesized relationships.
Study 2 was also able to examine the performance moderator, which was not tested in
Study 1. In addition, Study 2 was conducted in the laboratory, where the manipulations
could be controlled.
The significant 2-way interaction of recruitment practices and SIMI suggests that
applicants with a higher SIMI are, in fact, more influenced by the ethical recruitment
practices of organizations than those with low SIMI. These applicants with a higher
moral identity appear to be more positively attracted to ethical recruitment practices than
applicants with low moral identity. Drawing on signaling theory, this could be because
individuals with high SIMI care more about the ethical signals of their (potential) future
company. Because high SIMI individuals consider morality as a central component of
their identity, they would be more attracted (than low SIMI individuals) to an
organization signaling ethical recruitment practices. The finding that low SIMI
individuals are more attracted to organizations with unethical recruitment practices and
high SIMI individuals are more attracted to organizations with ethical recruitment
practices (Figure 3) is consistent with Schneider’s attraction-selection-attrition model as
well as the fit literature. Individuals will seek organizations that are the most similar to
them and their values. This research is important because an ethical fit/misfit between
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