THE EFFECT OF ETHICAL SIGNALS ON RECRUITMENT ...

CHAPTER VI
GENERAL DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY
Ethics research is both timely and important. In the wake of a down economy
rampant with corporate scandals, today’s organizations face employees, clients, and
customers who are highly sensitive to organizational ethics (Clegg et al., 2007). Both
researchers and practitioners have a vested interest in identifying why and under what
conditions applicants are attracted to particular organizations based on ethical standards
presented during the recruitment process. The current research integrates the ethics and
recruitment streams of research in order to bring more clarity to this process.
Drawing on signaling theory, this dissertation proposes that applicants detect
signals, or cues, from the recruitment process that help them form perceptions and
influence attraction toward the organization. The model in Figure 1 visually depicts the
hypotheses developed and tested. Organizations send “ethical signals” via their
organizational and recruitment practices. These ethical signals have a direct influence
on recruitment outcomes such as organizational attraction. They also have an indirect
influence on attraction through the mediating effect of perceptions of the organization as
ethical. Finally, the model suggests that there are individual difference and firm
performance moderators that affect the relationship between ethical signals and
organizational attraction.
Although each study had its own unique limitations (see Chapters IV and V),
overall, results of both studies generally supported the model in Figure 1. A summary of
the findings is located in Table 11. The field study and laboratory study provided
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