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The role of social media in Role of social

media in
e-recruitment process: empirical e-recruitment
process
evidence from developing
countries in social network theory
Mushfiqur Rahman Received 8 December 2019
Revised 15 April 2020
University of Wales Trinity Saint David, London, UK 23 June 2020
Erhan Aydin Accepted 26 June 2020

Department of Management and Organization, Usak Universitesi, Usak, Turkey and

IPAG Business School Paris Campus, Paris, France
Mohamed Haffar
Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, University of Bradford,
Bradford, UK, and
Uzoechi Nwagbara
University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims at demonstrating how social media shape the recruitment and selection processes
of individuals in developing countries. It further explores the impacts of social media on business productivity,
cost efficiency, widening of search, less employee turnover and competitive advantage mediated by adopting
e-recruitment processes. This research adopts social network theory to discuss the findings and highlight the
new mechanisms that legitimise business manipulation in e-recruitment process by exploring the usage of
social media.
Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data based on literature review is triangulated with 37 semi-
structured qualitative interviews with managerial and non-managerial members of staff.
Findings – The findings show that e-recruitment has immense advantages to businesses. However, the
authors also consider the dark side of social media and e-recruitment process by considering social network
theory as a manipulation tool in organisations of developing countries.
Originality/value – Having adopted the social network theory, this research highlights the new mechanisms
that legitimise business manipulation in e-recruitment process. Thus, it demonstrates technological
advancements that reshape the dynamics of social networks and recruitment processes.
Keywords Developing countries, Social/new media, E-recruitment, Recruitment and selection, Social network
theory
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Many research studies (e.g. Jones et al., 2015; Melanthiou et al., 2015; Archer-Brown et al.,
2018) consider social media as a tool to create a significant impact on the operation,
effectiveness, strategy and success of a business (Hamouda, 2018). Also, it can serve as a
veritable tool in productive, competitive and strategic recruitment and selection (Jones et al.,
2015). To this end, Barnes et al. (2012) contend that online communication offers virtual
interactions amongst individuals and businesses. However, online tools can have a dark side
to some companies in developing countries since the recruiters can have discriminative
behaviour against some candidates that have a digital footprint. The footprint that refers to Journal of Enterprise Information
Management
all data of individuals on the Internet (McPeak, 2013) is critical because it provides prior © Emerald Publishing Limited
1741-0398
knowledge on a potential candidate, and the recruiters may have a tendency not to employ the DOI 10.1108/JEIM-12-2019-0382
JEIM ones who do not have the same political thoughts, religion or lifestyle. Thus, the present
research demonstrates how social media shapes the recruitment and selection processes of
individuals in Bangladesh and Nigeria. Also, it explores the potential impact of social media
on business productivity, cost efficiency, widening of search, less employee turnover and
competitive advantage mediated by adopting e-recruitment processes. The main reason for
exploring the role of social media in aforementioned issues comes from the need for
understanding technological change and its impact on business operations and e-recruitment
of individuals because the companies need to adopt change and to understand its impact in
order to survive in the stiff competition.
Social media entails contents disseminated via social interaction on virtual platforms.
Accordingly, it permits businesses to communicate with, listen and learn from other social
networks, competitors and partners (Grewal and Levy, 2013). It is also an appropriate tool for
recruitment and selection. Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting
prospective employees. Selection deals with the process of making decisions to select
potential employees via the recruitment process (Noe, 2008). Currently, the Internet helps
organisations to locate, attract and select applicants, while it also enables employers to run an
instant background check on applicants. Social media is the process of using information
technology (IT), including the Internet, to perform, speed up or improve recruitment and
selection procedures and strategies (Melanthiou et al., 2015; Nisar et al., 2019). Social media
plays a role in social networking, which is a network of interaction amongst people or
businesses based on ties and relationships (Wasserman and Faust, 1994; Zoonen and Rice,
2017). In developed countries, research has been undertaken to investigate the relationship
between social media adoption and business productivity and competitive advantage (see
Jones et al., 2015) and how social media helps to create and foster social networks (Scott, 2017;
Ollington et al., 2013). These studies emphasise that social media allows organisations to
sustain growth, innovate, succeed and have a competitive advantage (Boyd and Elliston,
2007). Also, since many developed countries have robust legal protection for any strands of
diversity, many research studies (e.g. Ollington et al., 2013; Scott, 2017) highlight the positive
aspects of social media and e-recruitment. However, developing countries such as
Bangladesh and Nigeria may not have legal protection for any strands of diversity like
developed countries. For this reason, the role of social media in recruitment processes and the
impacts of business operations are critical to be explored in such countries in terms of
understanding employers’ behaviours in the contexts. The present research contributes to
the literature in providing empirical evidence from Bangladesh and Nigeria by adopting
social network theory that explains social relations with reference to nodes and ties. Thus,
this theory helps to deepen and to expand research on how businesses can appropriate social
media in developing countries through e-recruitment and selection. This research extends
social network theory by considering technological advancement and business innovation
that reshape the dynamics of social networks. Also, having adopted social network theory,
we highlight the new mechanisms that legitimise business manipulation in e-recruitment
process based on the findings of this research.
Based on the research of Karim et al. (2015) and Islam and Rahman (2006), understanding a
country’s peculiar national realties is pertinent in order to appropriately shed light on
adoption of social media through e-recruitment for business success and competitive edge.
Also, given the fact that both countries are fast developing economies (Andaleeb et al., 2016;
Chowdhury et al., 2015), it is critically important to investigate the impact of e-recruitment on
businesses. Additionally, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bangladesh (as well
as Nigeria) is one of the world’s next growth markets that require exploration (BCG, 2015). In
operationalising the aforementioned aim, the present study is based on an exploratory,
qualitative study of two organisations in both countries. It utilises a case study approach that
primarily considers two organisations in both countries. In total, 37 semi-structured
interviews with managerial and non-managerial members of staff in Bangladesh and Nigeria Role of social
were undertaken. The findings demonstrate that e-recruitment and social media have both media in
advantages and disadvantages, and it also indicates that developing countries have a
different nature in adopting and using social media, e-recruitment and related business
e-recruitment
operations. process
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: first, a literature review is presented,
which takes into account meaning of social/new media, recruitment and selection and
e-recruitment and social network theory. Second, the study context is highlighted; third,
methodology is presented. Fourth, findings and discussion are considered; and finally,
conclusions, implications, contributions and future research are presented.

2. Conceptualising social media

Social media is a form of new media (Goggin and Newell, 2003; Nisar et al., 2019). New media
are often contrasted with “old media” (traditional media), which include radio, television and
print media. Social media involves technologies that enable digital generative or interactive
system and processes, such as microblogs, weblogs, social blogs, wikis, videos, ratings,
podcasts, pictures and social bookmarking (Kim and Ko, 2012). The technologies facilitate
innovative, fast, effective and speedy dissemination and sharing of information, for example,
recruitment and selection. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and
others (Hosain and Liu, 2020; He et al., 2019). The emergence of new technologies has
engendered intensified “richness” of communication, reduced communication costs and
dramatically reduced travel cost, which helps to explain its adoption by business all over the
world (Peled, 2000; Aharony, 2009). It also personalises communication by decentralising
information dissemination as well as enables user-generated content (Cunningham, 2010;
Schroeder, 2014; Zavi
sicand Zavi
sic, 2011).
The growth and development of social media have considerably increased the critical role
and influence of individual consumers in the business world (Lorenzo-Romero, Alaarcon-del-
Amo and Gomez-Borja, 2011; McClure and Seock, 2020; Rauniar et al., 2014). In one global
survey, over three-quarters of participants indicated that they consider reviews regarding
product and services by other consumers enabled by new media than on direct advertising.
Accordingly, Schroeder (2014) notes that:
As a result, most firms now need to work at building a positive image and active presence online and
to interact continuously with their customers and other Internet users via social media sites. In many
industries, the use of Facebook groups, company blogs and Twitter accounts, among other social
media tools, have become an indispensable part of organisational strategies for growth and
competitiveness and for managing new types of business risks (p. 12).
To this end, it was reported by McKinsey (2012) in 2012 that 70% of organisations were
frequently using some form of social media for business effectiveness. For example, the birth
of Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006, as well as other social networking
platforms (sites) have brought an unparalleled wave of social engagement, marketing and
interaction among employers and employees and stakeholder engagement. No matter the
criticisms levelled against new media platforms, they are powerful tools in providing a free
space to communicate that individuals have freedom of expression and social interaction
through exchanging data about products or services (Lorenzo-Romero et al., 2011). Indeed,
this revolution is reflected not only in the digitisation of social networking but also in the
networking of data and information about recruitment and selection (Shiraz, 2013;
Christensen, 2011; Ghannam, 2011).
Social media transforms into a recruitment tool in the current business world. Also, the
inclusion of the younger generation to the workforce is one of the reasons for this
transformation (Zehir et al., 2020). For instance, based on the exploratory conceptual
JEIM modelling approach, Mishra and Kumar (2019) discuss this situation by considering the
positive impact of Internet recruitment on the younger generation because social media
profile of companies can create a positive impact to attract potential applications. Some
research studies, for example, raise the role of social media to attract potential applications in
younger generations. However, this progress has been considered from the employers’
perspectives in many research (e.g. Wozniak, 2016; Khlebarodava and Remeikiene, 2019).
Contrariwise, the research of Melanthiou et al. (2015) on 85 employers regarding recruitment
on social media demonstrates that the companies adopt social media to screen applicants and
this approach provides prior knowledge on any applicants.

3. Recruitment and selection

With the developments and fierce competition in the contemporary world of business,
organisations across the globe are utilising opportunities and advantages provided by the
Internet in virtually all types of their social engagements and operations (Hoffman and
Novak, 2000). It is based on this premise that contemporarily, people who maintain a social
network profile on Facebook and LinkedIn are respectively more than 1.94bn and 467bn (Ma
and Leung, 2019). This situation is evident in human resource management (HRM),
specifically, recruitment and selection (Broughton et al., 2013). In the context of HRM,
recruitment is a method of sourcing and acquiring the right applicants by a particular
organisation (Tyson and York, 2000). The process includes seeking and attracting a pool of
qualified applicants by leveraging effective recruitment strategies and processes
(Cascio, 1998).
Selection deals with choosing from a pool of applicants a suitable candidate to fill a given
post. As stated by CIPD (2010), this process consists of a variety of strategies central to
making sure job holders have the right skill sets, experience, knowledge and attitudes
requisite to help a company to achieve its organisational aim and objectives. Selecting or
recruiting people to fill particular positions within a company can be carried out externally or
internally by recruiting within the organisation or recruiting people from outside
(Armstrong, 2009). Quint and Kopelman (1995) using the Job Search Behaviour Index
(JSBI) asked participants (59% employed, 37% currently seeking for employment) to indicate
ten dichotomous items, which are “yes” or “no” about whether they had undertaken ten
different job search activities over one year. Their findings indicate that predicted job
acquisition success is positively connected with the nature and level of job search behaviour.
Additionally, comparing Quint and Kopelmans’ (1995) work, Kuhn and Skuterud (2000)
investigated the frequency and incidence of Internet job search among US workers including
the nexus between Internet search and traditional job search strategies (Holm, 2012).
Amongst others, their findings demonstrate the rise of Internet job search. This trend
indicates the rise of new media in facilitating and impacting recruitment and selection.

4. E-recruitment and social network theory

Given the pressure of globalisation and competition as well as the need for a more skilled
workforce, attracting and recruiting talented and skilled applicants are getting tougher
(Schroeder, 2014; Chang and Chin, 2018). The use of traditional recruitment strategy is no
longer valid in order to attract the right and qualified applicants. Therefore, many companies
have resorted to adopting sophisticated recruitment process, including e-recruitment (Tong
and Sivanand, 2005). E-recruitment can be defined as a web-based (online) or Internet
recruitment process, characterised by varied elements as well as a variety of practices, tools
and procedures in connection with recruiting. In this study, we adopt the definition of
e-recruitment as the organisation of recruitment strategies and process as well as activities,
which, using human agents and technology, facilitates time and space independent Role of social
interaction and collaboration to identify, attract and influence the right, competent media in
candidates for a job (Parry and Tyson, 2008). In sum, e-recruitment consists of the
following digital HRM practices: career portals, advertisement on job databases, corporate
e-recruitment
websites and intranets, social networking sites and other online resources that facilitate the process
screening of candidates, managing application submission, tracking and managing
recruitment system through search engines. As indicated by Jones et al. (2015), research
suggests that it costs only about one-twentieth as much to hire someone online as it does to
hire that same person via traditional advertisement and other offline processes. Also,
e-recruitment process reduces hiring costs by about 87% as compared to conventional
recruiting via newspapers and magazines. It also enables the hiring of better candidates and a
larger applicant pool (Holm, 2012). From a strategic perspective, it can help organisations to
ascertain a potential employee that can contribute to person–organisation fit (Lievens and
Harris, 2003). Some organisations even use corporate websites to recruit people while others
cashed in on this change to become e-recruitment service providers (Tong, 2009). In
comparison to the most traditional recruitment strategies, many firms prefer to buy
e-recruitment services from the third-party e-recruiters using their websites for job
advertisements as well as viewing potential applicants’ posted curriculum vitae at a cost
lower (Barnes et al., 2012). With the fast growth of third-party e-recruitment websites, this
process has fundamentally changed the way job seekers search jobs and the way
organisations recruit; however, little is known of their impacts on businesses and those within
a particular social network (Boyd and Elliston, 2007).
Social network theory came from sociology but has been appropriated in business
studies and HRM. It refers to social relations with reference to nodes and ties (Cheng et al.,
2020). As noted by Papakonstantinidis (2014), nodes are the individual actors in the
networks, while ties represent the relationships between the actors. This situation allows a
form of exchange between two or more linked business relationships where the exchange
takes place. Thus, organisations and their social networks – involving applicants and
recruitment agencies – are in a connected business relationship (Boyd and Elliston, 2007;
Gentina et al., 2018). The idea of the network is premised on the creation of ties amongst
business partners, which leads to the establishment of social networks (Kimball and
Rheingold, 2000). However, social networks vary depending on heterogeneity and size.
While small homogeneous groups can be seen in workgroups, larger, more heterogeneous
networks are characteristically more sophisticated and are linked to more diverse social
groups (Wasserman and Faust, 1994). Technological advancement and business
innovation have reshaped the dynamics of social networks (Boyd and Elliston, 2007;
Muninger et al., 2019).
In contrast to traditional social networks, interactions are currently mediated by
computers, which indicate a more impersonal type of communications as well as enhance
heterogeneity. Members of an online network in a social network can thus exchange
information and offer solutions from and to diverse locations globally in a short duration of
time. So, in view of the significance of social networks and the Internet that enables direct
unmediated interpersonal and inter-organisational relationships, it is argued in this paper
that social-media-enabled system, and specifically e-recruitment, can support businesses in
developing countries by helping build relationship between organisations and their networks
and strategically position them. Accordingly, it should not be considered as a technology that
changes how individuals live their life, but a tool to further it (Papakonstantinidis, 2014). This
contention is vital to this study.
In particular, previous studies have examined motivation for the usage of the Internet-
enabled system (Clark and Roberts, 2010), privacy and ethical matters (Papakonstantinidis,
2014) and its adoption in e-recruitment (Melanthiou et al., 2015). Nevertheless, there is a
JEIM paucity of research from developing countries’ perspective (Islam and Rahman, 2006).
Accordingly, Papakonstantinidis (2014) notes that “the spread of computer network
communications worldwide is extremely patchy” specifically in developing countries owing
to poor infrastructure and government’s investment in IT. Consequently, social networks
including Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin have popularised online communities, and as
Murugesan (2007) notes they will be leading the next phase in human resource recruitment as
demand for more effective tools increases (Boyd and Elliston, 2007). The emergence of the
BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries testifies to the realisation of potential in Internet
communications regarding HRM. Recruitment strategies in BRIC countries demonstrate that
technological innovation is a form of global market power nowadays. There are also
criticisms against the use of e-recruitment, such as potential theft of identity and profile and
security problems (Holm, 2012). Nevertheless, it is lauded as an effective means of positioning
an organisation strategically. This is the preoccupation of this study: to investigate the
impacts of e-recruitment on business in Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Social network theory came from sociology but has been appropriated in business studies
and HRM. It refers to social relations with reference to nodes and ties (Cheng et al., 2020). As
noted by Papakonstantinidis (2014), nodes are the individual actors in the networks, while
ties represent the relationships between the actors. This situation allows a form of exchange
between two or more linked business relationships where the exchange takes place. Thus,
organisations and their social networks – involving applicants and recruitment agencies –
are in a connected business relationship (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Gentina et al., 2018). The
idea of the network is premised on the creation of ties amongst business partners, which leads
to the establishment of social networks (Kimball and Rheingold, 2000). However, social
networks vary depending on heterogeneity and size. While small homogeneous groups can
be seen in workgroups, larger, more heterogeneous networks are characteristically more
sophisticated and are linked to more diverse social groups (Wasserman and Faust, 1994).
Technological advancement and business innovation have reshaped the dynamics of social
networks (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Muninger et al., 2019).
Based on the theoretical lens that we adopt in this study, social media enriches social
networks, and it provides a highly diverse environment for businesses that aim at
attracting qualified potential applicants because the businesses can reach individuals who
have different backgrounds such as gender, race and ethnicity (Rad et al., 2020). Thus, this
situation creates a heterogeneous employee pool that can increase creativity in the
organisations (Cornelius et al., 2001). However, since some minority and disadvantaged
groups may face discriminative behaviour from potential employers in the e-recruitment
process, this issue brings a new agenda for social network theory because the theory does
not encompass the role of prior knowledge from social media tools in decision-making
processes. This situation causes a legitimised discriminative behaviour against certain
groups since the potential employees have an online public profile that provides
information for the potential employers who can have bias following on the prior
knowledge (Aydin, 2019). Also, the experimental study of Acquisti and Fong (2020)
demonstrates similar discriminative behaviour in e-recruitment processes. In their
experiment, they created applicant profiles, manipulated information and submitted job
applications to 4,000 employers, and the results show that many employers search for
potential applicants and adopt a discriminative behaviour. For this reason, this research
contributes to the social network theory by encapsulating the role of technological
advancements/digitalisation in reshaping the dynamics of social networks. In order to
justify this contribution, we focus on Bangladesh and Nigeria by adopting a comparative
approach. Thus, we can explore cases in developing countries. The next section includes
information related to the contexts.
5. Study context Role of social
Social network theory came from sociology but has been appropriated in business studies media in
and HRM. It refers to social relations with reference to nodes and ties (Cheng et al., 2020). As
noted by Papakonstantinidis (2014), nodes are the individual actors in the networks, while
e-recruitment
ties represent the relationships between the actors. This situation allows a form of exchange process
between two or more linked business relationships where the exchange takes place. Thus,
organisations and their social networks – involving applicants and recruitment agencies –
are in a connected business relationship (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Gentina et al., 2018). The
idea of the network is premised on the creation of ties amongst business partners, which leads
to the establishment of social networks (Kimball and Rheingold, 2000). However, social
networks vary depending on heterogeneity and size. While small homogeneous groups can
be seen in workgroups, larger, more heterogeneous networks are characteristically more
sophisticated and are linked to more diverse social groups (Wasserman and Faust, 1994).
Technological advancement and business innovation have reshaped the dynamics of social
networks (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Muninger et al., 2019).
Although the use of the Internet emerged late in Bangladesh, starting in 1993, and IP
connectivity in 1996, the number of Internet users and subscribers is increasing exponentially
(Karim et al., 2015). As of 2014, the total number of Internet subscribers was 37172.05
thousand (Karim et al., 2015). Connectivity via the Internet serves a myriad of functions and
purposes, including e-recruiting. Consequently, the scope and reach of online recruiting are
substantially expanding. At its incipient stage, e-recruitment system was used mainly by the
private sector, such as transnational corporations (TNCs), non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and private banks. However, at the moment, both private and public sectors rely on
the online system. Currently, the PSC, which is the most considerable recruiting authority for
public sector jobs, similarly adopts online recruitment process. The use of new media-oriented
strategies in recruitment and selection culminating in e-recruitment significantly impacts
positively on business in Bangladesh (Karim et al., 2015). Also, job seekers are mostly relying
on the Internet for job search and application. It also simplifies the entire recruitment and
selection process in Bangladesh.
Social network theory came from sociology but has been appropriated in business studies
and HRM. It refers to social relations with reference to nodes and ties (Cheng et al., 2020). As
noted by Papakonstantinidis (2014), nodes are the individual actors in the networks, while
ties represent the relationships between the actors. This situation allows a form of exchange
between two or more linked business relationships where the exchange takes place. Thus,
organisations and their social networks – involving applicants and recruitment agencies –
are in a connected business relationship (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Gentina et al., 2018). The
idea of the network is premised on the creation of ties amongst business partners, which leads
to the establishment of social networks (Kimball and Rheingold, 2000). However, social
networks vary depending on heterogeneity and size. While small homogeneous groups can
be seen in workgroups, larger, more heterogeneous networks are characteristically more
sophisticated and are linked to more diverse social groups (Wasserman and Faust, 1994).
Technological advancement and business innovation have reshaped the dynamics of social
networks (Boyd and Elliston, 2007; Muninger et al., 2019).
In parallel to Bangladesh, Nigeria is not an exception in the adoption of new media
technology in business and social interaction (Ozuru and Chikwe, 2015). As has been noted, as
of 2013, there were over 53m users of the Internet in Nigeria compared to 8m users in 2003
(Adomi et al., 2003). Currently, the number of Internet users is estimated at 91.6m, surpassing
Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, which are some of the biggest economies in Africa (Sahara
Reporters, 2010). More than half of Nigeria’s population use the Internet. It is also projected
that in 2010 more than 70% of Nigerians will be Internet users (Vanguard, 2017) given the
rising level of computer skills and literacy including an upsurge in the quest for information
JEIM literacy (Adomi et al., 2003). According to Ozuru and Chikwe (2015), Nigeria is experiencing
high unemployment rate and economic meltdown; however, e-recruitment is one of the ways
employers can appropriate to rise above Nigeria’s bleak economic and employment situation.
Given the advantages associated with new media, employers in Nigeria are fast
appropriating social media technologies in recruitment and selection. This is evidenced in
the high rise of Internet users from 2003 to date (Adomi et al., 2003). The use of the Internet in
recruitment and selection in Nigeria has enormous benefits for organisations, including
competitive business edge, cost reduction and clarity in selecting and hiring the right
candidates. These perspectives are also similar to the Bangladeshi context. Next section
presents the research methodology adopted.
In terms of industrial conditions, Bangladesh has an underdeveloped banking sector;
however, it grows at a very rapid rate that means they need to recruit more individuals in
comparison to other industries (IHS Markit, 2019). For this reason, within the context of this
research, we adopt the banking sector for Bangladesh. For Nigeria, we consider oil industry
as a case, because multinational and state-owned companies dominated the industry;
however, there is increasing participation of private organisations in the sector (The
Economist Intelligence Unit, 2019). For this reason, this situation makes the oil industry
attractive rather than other sectors such as banking and service industry. Also, this is an
indicator of the need for recruiting individuals in the oil industry.

6. Research method
As variously observed by scholars (Saunders et al., 2009; Hammersly, 1992), the selection of
research method largely predicated upon the purpose and circumstance of research being
undertaken, rather than on prior philosophical and methodological preference or
commitment. In view of the dearth of empirical research on social media and e-recruitment
from developing countries’ perspective as well as exploratory nature of the present study, we
chose to undertake interpretivist, inductive research involving two case studies. The
overriding aim for selecting the samples for both the pilot and main data collection was for us
to have the opportunity to collect a detailed and reliable data sample for analysis (Saunders
et al., 2009). A purposive sampling (non-probability sampling) approach was employed. A
well-established range of questions was asked so as to obtain reliable data from each
participant in the two organisations. Also, in order to limit the risks associated with random
sampling, we decided to use a smaller number of organisations; hence, the application of the
case study. Our objective was to consider experiences of key stakeholders (managerial and
non-managerial members of staff in case studies A and B in both Bangladesh and Nigeria) in
recruitment and selection in order to tease out impacts of e-recruitment on business. Table 1
gives details of companies used.
In the present research, we employed an interview protocol that consists of three stages.
First, we created interview questions based on the research questions of the present study.
Second, in order to be sure that the questions have clarity, simplicity and answerability, the
three experts in the field read and gave feedback on the questions. Based on the comments, we
update the interview questions. Then, we conducted three pilot interviews. Through the pilot

Staff
Pseudonym Descriptions Industry strength

Table 1. Company A Nigerian oil company engaged in oil tools supply and production Petroleum 63
Interview brief as well as support services
information Company B Bangladeshi bank providing financial and investment services Banking 31
study, we aim at having a realistic perspective to understand how long the interview takes Role of social
and whether the interviewees can answer the questions or not. This process provided the final media in
revisions to interview questions (Maxwell, 2013). Also, we employed the protocol during the
interviews. First, we asked permission of participants in conducting interviews, and they
e-recruitment
signed a consent letter. Second, we explained the purpose of the research and the process
confidentiality of the interviews that mean the transcription and record of the interviews will
not be shared with any other third parties. Third, after transcribing of the interviews, we sent
the transcribed documents to the participants to check whether they want to remove or
change any sentences or not. Thus, the process of the interview protocol demonstrates that
the ethical process is achieved. Also, to eliminate bias in our research, during the data
analysis process, a second researcher selected three interviews in each context to compare the
themes that come from the analysis of the first researcher. As a result, when we examined the
themes through double-check process, we realised that the themes that come from two
different researchers are similar.
We conducted semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews with a total of 37
participants; 21 interviewees in Nigeria and 16 in Bangladesh. This research strategy
facilitated comparing notes with participants’ views in both countries. In total, 13 participants
participated in a face-to-face semi-structured interview in Bangladesh between June and
September 2014. Interviews lasted between 50 and 55 min. Correspondingly, between August
and November 2014, 16 interviewees were undertaken in Nigeria, which lasted 55–
60 min each.
Interviews took place within interviewees’ workplace and involved both managerial and
non-managerial members of staff. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed
verbatim. We reminded interviewees that their confidentiality was assured and that their
honest opinions were sought. Interviewees were literate enough and had a good
understanding of how social media can impact e-recruitment and business effectiveness
and competitive edge. They have also worked in these organisations between 6 and 13 years.
Moreover, for research ethics, interviewees’ anonymity was assured (Robson, 2002). After
undertaking an initial 28 interviews, an additional nine interviews were carried out, and it
was observed that there were no new emerging themes signifying that data saturation has
been attained (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). As observed by Patton (2015), sample size is not
actually an issue in qualitative research, the crucial point is data saturation. The study of
Francis et al. (2010, p. 1234) describes what data saturation level means and how the
researchers understand to reach the level. They point out two criteria that are initial analysis
sample (IAS) and stopping criterion (SC). They suggest conducting 10 (ten) interviews as IAS,
and after ten interviews “when three further interviews have been conducted with no new
theme emerging, researchers will define it as the point of data saturation as SC”. We adopt the
same criteria in this research in order to finalise the numbers of interviewees. We deployed
the six-phase thematic content analysis framework as recommended by Braun and Clarke
(2006), which helped in structuring analysis. This process provided a rigorous data analysis
procedure in which associations were made between the claims by the researchers and
empirical data gathered, including theories underpinning the study. Data were coded by
carefully and rigorously going line-by-line interview schedule and research data in order not
to miss any vital aspect of information garnered (Silverman, 2006). We adopt the NVivo 12
software in order to provide data categorisation. Also, whilst an author conducted the
analysis of interviews, another author randomly selected three interviews in each context,
and we compared the similarity of themes that are done by two different authors. This
approach contributes to the trustworthiness of this research. Therefore, typical and atypical
repetitive information was identified and drawn together into themes so as to gain rich
understating of the emergent key areas about e-recruitment as well as the impact of social
media on businesses. Through the combination of codes, which had comparable underlying
JEIM concepts, three main themes, with two sub-themes each, were identified (see Table 2 for more
detail).

7. Findings and discussion

Based on data gathered, we analysed three main themes, which are: cost efficiency and
productivity, widening of search and clarity and less employee turnover and competitive
advantage. The analysis starts with cost efficiency and productivity.

7.1 Cost efficiency and productivity

One of the findings of this research is cost efficiency and productivity. Advertising jobs and
recruiting and selecting candidates on the Internet as opposed to traditional forms of
recruitment and selection, such as using magazines and newspaper as well as employment
agencies, are significantly cheap (Parry and Tyson, 2008). This process facilitates
productivity and returns on investment (ROI).
7.1.1 Less administrative cost. Virtually all interviewees expressed the view that
e-recruitment has profound cost-effectiveness and efficiency due to the fact that it reduces
operational cost, paperwork and administrative cost. The following cluster exemplifies this:
I have been working in this company for upwards of 28 years, but the kind of transformation in
business operation and activities brought about by e-recruitment has enormous effect on how we do
things here (INTERVIEWEE A3).
My organisation is quite on track as it has embraced new media technology in recruitment and
selection, which is producing positive results in so many ways (INTERVIEWEE A1).
As can be gleaned from the aforementioned excerpts, participants admit that e-recruitment
has radicalised the way things are done in their organisations as well as brought an
unprecedented change in organisational behaviour and business strategy. Accordingly,
Schroeder (2014) notes that new media-oriented recruitment processes have huge business
benefits including a reduction in operational cost, increase in social networking, interaction
and accessibility, which are critical success factors in the contemporary world of work and
business venturing (Adomi et al., 2003). Likewise, an interviewee stated that his organisation

Themes Sub-themes Illustrative extracts

Cost efficiency and Less administrative The constraints . . . are removed . . .We do not brother
productivity cost about some overheard and time consuming
administrative issues
Return on . . . my company is making appreciable financial . . .,
Investment (ROI) part of which is coming from investment in IT and new
media
Widening of search and Widening of search Our jobs and advertisements are currently listed on job
clarity boards . . . most candidates that respond come from
online advertisement
Clarity of process (My company) ensures that job information and
candidates is . . . processed in a clearer and more
standardised way
Less employee turnover and Less employee
Table 2. competitive advantage turnover
Themes with examples Competitive
from extracts advantage
has drastically reduced operational cost, for instance, advertisement cost given the Role of social
opportunities provided by e-recruitment (INTERVIEWEE A8), a point supported by media in
INTERVIEWEE A6, INTERVIEWEE B1 and INTERVIEWEE A19. For INTERVIEWEES
B4 and A2, the adoption of e-recruitment is built on management strategy, which celebrates
e-recruitment
economic benefit as well as cost reduction. This viewpoint is in agreement with comparable process
studies on this phenomenon (see, e.g. Melanthiou et al., 2015).
Employers can have prior knowledge through social media during the e-recruitment
processes. For this reason, the applicants who have similar backgrounds such as religion,
belief and ethnicity with employers have more chance to get a position. For this reason, it
reduces the cost of firing the one who is a member of a minority or disadvantaged groups.
Based on 41 semi-structured interviews with employers in six European countries, Bonoli and
Hinrichs (2012) demonstrate that employers do not tend to recruit applicants who belong to
certain groups or minority and disadvantaged groups. The following cluster exemplifies that
e-recruitment and the use of social media create an opportunity to have a quick decision on
participants, and this reduces the administrative cost:
Using social media is an important tool if a company adopts the e-recruitment processes because It
provides to eliminate, and sometimes even to filter the desirable candidates for the company in a
candidate pool (INTERVIEWEE A9).
Social media is a critical success factor for our company because we can search for any applicants
there and any information is useful to take a decision on recruitment.... (INTERVIEWEE B4).
The findings of this research demonstrate that the employers can use social media as a tool
for hiring desirable participants who have a similar background with the employers, and the
companies perceive this situation as cost advantage in terms of reducing
administrative costs.
7.1.2 Return on investment (ROI). Holm (2012) has noted that e-recruitment has been
fundamental to productivity as it helps organisations to not only cut cost but also ROI.
Regarding this point, many participants confirmed that since their organisations started to
take jobs online as well as recruit and hire candidates, they have made a substantial financial
gain, which was not possible before. For example, INTERVIEWEE A10 claimed that her
company made a profit of 4.7m previous years as opposed to 3.3 the year before, which the
organisation stated was as a result of e-recruitment process it currently uses. In particular,
INTERVIEWEE B2 observed that his organisation is reaping financial gain from
e-recruitment as “market research and interaction between” impact positively on ROI.
Recruiting the right candidate that online system provides helps organisations to know the
right candidate that will help build corporate financial gain; hence, an applicant with the right
skill sets and expertise as well as experience will be easily detected and recruited (Melanthiou
et al., 2015). A similar view is painted here:
We’ll be giving some employees bonus and other incentives this year because my organisations has
made good profit already! Credit to new ways of detecting and hiring those that are championing the
affairs of the organisation (INTERVIEWEE B3).
Additionally, both INTERVIEWEE A5 and INTERVIEWEE B7 concur to the above and take
the issue to another level. For example, INTERVIEWEE A5 noted that “despite the harsh
economic realities in Nigeria, my company is making appreciable financial and business
success, part of which is coming from investment in IT and new media”. For INTERVIEWEE
B7, “the fast growth and adoption of social media, as well as its use in the country, has a huge
role to play in my company’s productivity”. This perspective is supported by the findings of
Holm (2012). Although virtually all participants agreed with this position, in particular, both
INTERVIEWEE B16 and INTERVIEWEE A21 mentioned specific areas concerning this
JEIM factor: organisational success and productivity. Thus, the effective and timely response of
potential employees enabled by social media use helps to bring about immediate response
regarding an interview for jobs and recruiting and selection of the right candidates.
Table 3 demonstrates the difference between the findings in the study based on countries
and the managerial positions of the participants. Thus, the table provides evidence for how
many participants and which positions in the organisations raise the issues.
7.2 Widening of search and clarity
Applying e-recruitment strategy helps organisations to not only deal with the limitation of
the traditional model of recruitment and selection, and it aids in dealing with challenges of
employing suitable candidates because of the reach and clarity of process. Two main aspects
of this theme are analysed subsequently.
7.2.1 Widening of search. Use of new media (the Internet) removes restriction and barrier
as well as provides global reach within a fraction of second. This process and resource
support recruitment by creating a massive pool of potential candidates (Tong, 2009). The use
of corporate websites and online search engine has been instrumental in harnessing and
recruiting the right candidates for jobs. One of the interviewees stated that “within tens of
second of advertising or placing available jobs on the internet, we usually see a flurry of
applicants, given the reach of this tool” (INTERVIEWEE A14). Another participant in
Bangladesh makes a similar point: “Many applicants visit our homepage looking for jobs as it
is easier for them” (INTERVIEWEE B12). INTERVIEWEE A9, INTERVIEWEE B6 and
INTERVIEWEE A18 admitted to this perspective. Given these views, there is no gain saying
the fact that digital communication – new media-propelled recruitment strategy – has a
tremendous impact on how employers and employees engage, interact and relate in terms of
employment (Tong and Sivanand, 2005), which makes it relatively more comfortable to get
the right people for jobs as it provides a wide array of candidates to choose from.
Some of the interviewees also indicated that new media makes it possible for their
organisations to use specialised firm and professionals – commercial job boards – that have
large databanks that job applicants can visit about job availability. For example,
jobberman.com, hotnigeria.com, joblistnigeria.com and ngcareers.com (Nigeria) and
bdjobscareers.com, jobsbangladesh and everjobs.com.bd (Bangladesh), among others. This is
exemplified in this cluster:
At present, my organisation lets some Nigerian job boards know vacancies we want to fill and within
minutes, applicants are contacting us or applying (INTERVIEWEE A7).
Our jobs and advertisements are currently listed on job boards as well as done by traditional
methods; however, most candidates that respond come from online advertisement
(INTERVIEWEE B5).
Evidence provided earlier supports the notion that social media is important in facilitating
convenience, strategy and productivity in getting the right candidates for jobs. It also helps to

Nigeria (Sample) Bangladesh (Sample)

Manager Non_manager Manager Non_manager
Themes Sub-themes (4 people) (17 people) (3 People) (13 people)

Table 3. Cost efficiency Less 4 17 3 13

Findings based on the and productivity administrative
interviewees – cost cost
efficiency and Return on 3 15 1 13
productivity investment
create a sustainable, effective business based on the fact that the widened pool of candidates Role of social
provided by such means can be instrumental in business growth and competitive edge. media in
Additionally, it can engender effective recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).
7.2.2 Clarity of process. This is another issue that use of the Internet in recruitment affords
e-recruitment
organisations. It brings clarity to the whole process and strategies of recruitment and process
selection. Advertising jobs and positions in newspapers, employment news and magazines
usually has word limit (Melanthiou et al., 2015); this can bring misinterpretation of job and
person specifications. For instance, a firm advertisement announces vacancy for skilled
computer receptionist, while it intends advertising for MIS job. Such misinterpretation is
usually transcended by using e-recruitment process, which allows for unlimited word count
as well as offers opportunity to clearly and explicitly delineate areas of expertise, profile,
knowledge set and competencies needed (Armstrong, 2009). Some of the interviews remarked
that the clarity brought to bear by the Internet in their companies’ employment system is vital
in recruiting and retaining the right candidates. For example, INTERVIEWEE B15 noted that
his employer “ensures that job information and candidates is collected and processed in a
clearer and more standardised way”. This point of view continues here:
My company relies heavily on the harmony, standard and clarity of process that Internet-enabled
recruitment system brings. This advantage helps in placing my organisation on the league of
organisations succeeding in (INTERVIEWEE A4).
INTERVIEWEE AI and INTERVIEWEE B3, as well as other participants, concurred to the
above. In particular, INTERVIEWEE A20 indicated that such system permits her
organisation to collect and consolidate the information received from numerous sources in
addition to serving as the reservoir of information starting from job profile to candidate
profile and linking this to past applicant data. Also, INTERVIEWEE B8 specifically noted
that e-recruitment process in his organisation allows for systematic filing, coherent data
collection and profiles and more efficient administrative work. The theme of sustainable
business and competitive advantage will be analysed next.
Table 4 demonstrates the difference between the findings in the study based on countries
and the managerial positions of the participants. Thus, the table provides evidence for how
many participants and which positions in the organisations raise the issues.

7.3 Less employee turnover and competitive advantage

This is the last theme to be explored in this study. Two sub-sets of this theme are
subsequently analysed, starting with less employee turnover.
7.3.1 Less employee turnover. Labour turnover means the rate at which employers gain
and lose workers (employees). It is a significant element of the labour market. Labour
turnover is a correlate of HRM; and if it is not effective and cultivated, human capital, which is
the engine of organisations, will be lacking. This can also impact on sustainability and
growth in the current competitive market (Storey, 2001). Generally, firms place a high
premium on employee turnover; hence, it is fundamental to organisational success (Price,

Nigeria (Sample) Bangladesh (Sample)

Manager Non-manager Manager Non-manager
Themes Sub-themes (4 people) (17 people) (3 People) (13 people)
Table 4.
Widening of search Widening of 1 14 1 10 Findings based on the
and clarity search interviewees –
Clarity of 2 16 2 11 widening of search and
process clarity
JEIM 1977). As noted by Armstrong (2009), using effective e-recruitment strategies has the capacity
to engender less employee turnover, like the right, qualified and competent candidates will be
hired. Most of the participants confirm this position as seen in the following cluster:
My organisation has been experiencing less employee turnover for the last five years owing basically
to the fact that backgrounds of potential applicant are tracked via new media system, such as
LinkedIn, Facebook and others (INTERVIEWEE B13).
Just two months ago, my organisation detected that some of the candidates that apply for jobs have
had problem with their employment as revealed by their profile on the Internet
(INTERVIEWEE A13).
The central message contained in the aforementioned excerpt is that online platforms,
such as Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn and others, which are social/new media, can provide
employers with knowledge on whom to employ. This process can potentially limit
employee turnover, which usually has adverse effects on business sustainability and
competitive edge (Argyle, 1989). To further illustrate this, INTERVIEWEE A10 noted that
his company’s adoption of e-recruitment has considerably impacted on “involuntary
turnover”, which refers to a situation whereby an employee is being discharged by the
organisation, as opposed to voluntary turnover (Selden and Orenstein, 2011).
INTERVIEWEE A16’s comment corroborates this: “Moving jobs online has a limited
number of people that leave in my workplace”. This notion finds a counterpart in the views
expressed by most of the interviewees, in particular, INTERVIEWEE B9 and
INTERVIEWEE A12. Comparable viewpoint is painted here: “I can say unequivocally
that there is an appreciable level of those leaving my organisation since my organisation
took jobs online” (INTERVIEWEE A15).
7.3.2 Competitive advantage. As argued by Armstrong (2009), the actual, tangible
competitive advantage lies with human capital, which can be harnessed and achieved via
effective recruitment process including, in particular, e-recruitment (Lorenzo-Romero et al.,
2011). Human resource is the repository of skills, creativity and expertise that can move an
organisational forward. It is to this end that Storey (2001) emphasised that many corporate
managers who appreciate and understand the energies of this concept capitalise on it for
competitive advantage. This notion is instantiated in the following cluster:
If an organisation relies wholly on traditional sourcing methods and fails to understand the urgency
of new media systems in recruitment process, it will have itself to blame (INTERVIEWEE B14).
Having business strategy that endorses corporate recruiting through website and other
electronically enabled strategies has a lot of advantages that can translate into competitive edge
(INTERVIEWEE A6).
As revealed in the aforementioned statements, it is palpable that views expressed by
participants indicate that achieving and sustaining competitive advantage is implicated in
effective, virile e-recruitment strategies and processes that are in tune with the demands of
the modern market for productivity, ROI and business growth. Similarly, two participants
took this view to a different level: “I think an underlying reason why my company struggled
last year was it developed late its recruitment system” (INTERVIEWEE B11). For
INTERVIEWEE A18, his organisation is at the verge of going into administration because it
did not realise the power of e-recruitment as most of the jobs are currently placed on new
media-enabled platforms unlike a few decades ago. Some of the participants, specifically,
INTERVIEWEE B14 and INTERVIEWEE A6, stressed this point. Therefore, the impact of
new/social on e-recruitment process cannot be over-emphasised as it provides companies
with incalculable resources to perform effectively and profitably in the current competitive
world of business (Storey, 2001).
 Table 5 demonstrates the difference amongst the findings in the study based on countries Role of social
and the managerial positions of the participants. Thus, the table provides evidence for how media in
many participants and which positions in the organisations raise the issues.
e-recruitment
process
8. Conclusion
In the present section, we point out theoretical contribution, practical implementations,
limitations of the research, suggestions for future research. Then, we provide a conclusion to
finalise this section.

8.1 Theoretical contribution

Based on the findings of this research, whilst organisations focus on their economic benefits
that consist of less administration cost and efficient ROI, social media provides a broad
community that can be potential applicants who are indifferent backgrounds. Thus, this
richness creates a strong tie between applicants and the benefits of businesses. However,
since the individuals in Bangladesh and Nigeria do not well follow technological progress, the
companies may not reach many applicants that can have a high potential for their
organisations. Since there is a usage of social media in the e-recruitment process in developing
countries, this creates a financial advantage for businesses. Consequently, the findings
indicate that they are aware of adopting e-recruitment process and its financial advantage.
Even though there are many advantages to adopt e-recruitment system and the use of
social media, there may be some challenges in the recruitment process. For instance, social
media extends the relationship amongst actors since the actors can have prior knowledge of
each other in social network theory. This situation can cause some invisible barriers for
potential applicants since HR managers can have prior knowledge on a participant regarding
his/her political thoughts, ethnicity or sexual orientation (Soleymanpour Omran et al., 2015;
Islam and Jantan, 2017). Consequently, this situation can be considered as a dark side of
e-recruitment system. It is especially valid in Bangladesh and Nigeria since they do not have
any diversity policies and regulations against discrimination. Even though findings
demonstrate the dimensions of widening research and clarity of process, these mechanisms
are open to being manipulated by a business. Rowley (1997, p. 895) states that “an
organisation can manipulate the allocation of critical resources actively through strategies
designed to gain control”. Thus, it can be claimed that since developing countries do not have
sufficient diversity policies, social media can help in manipulating of the recruitment process.
Also, Rowley (ibid) highlights the role of leaders in an organisation as a manipulator of
information flows across the social network. Thus, the adoption of social media securely
makes manipulation since it provides the advantage of reading the digital footprint of
potential candidates. Based on the aforementioned discussion on the tools of e-recruitment,
social media and dark side of digitalisation in addition to the advantages of the tools, this
research extends the social network theory because the theory does not include the role of
online platforms in shaping individuals’ behaviours in social networks.

Nigeria (Sample) Bangladesh (Sample)

Manager Non_manager Manager Non_manager
Themes Sub-themes (4 people) (17 people) (3 People) (13 people)
Table 5.
Less employee Less employee 3 13 2 12 Findings based on the
turnover and turnover interviewees – less
competitive Competitive 3 15 3 11 employee turnover and
advantage advantage competitive advantage
JEIM 8.2 Practical implications
By exploring the impacts of social media on e-recruitment, which is understudied in
developing countries, this study has added to existing literature. From a theoretical
perspective, the findings of this study extend previous studies (Holm, 2012; Tong, 2009) on
recruitment and selection in developing countries (see Islam and Rahman, 2006). By providing
more nuanced perspective to e-recruitment, which takes cognisance of contextual disparities,
this study helps in understanding some practices that can be changed about recruitment and
selection for organisational effectiveness and competitive advantage in developing countries.
Regarding policy, first, organisations in both countries need to understand that effective
management of human capital relies heavily on adoption and effectiveness of e-recruitment
processes. This approach can potentially limit employee turnover as well as facilitate the
widening of search and cost-efficiency. This idea is consistent with the findings of Melanthiou
et al. (2015) and Lievens and Harris (2003). We, therefore, suggest adoption and application of
online platforms for more result-oriented HRM and business productivity, effectiveness and
competitive edge. Second, it is crucial that firms leverage on the opportunities provided by
e-recruitment processes, which social networks, ties and relationships enhance (Wasserman
and Faust, 1994). Also, by examining contextual factors underpinning recruitment and
selection, our study unpacks the need to engage in cross-cultural HRM, which offers “country-
specific” (Barley, 1989) approach to managing the human resource. In regard to practice,
given contextual issues and data analysed, we argue that managers in both countries and
developing countries by extension can borrow a leaf from insights provided in this study for
better recruitment and selection policies, strategies and programmes. In applying insights
presented in this study, organisations will be better positioned to bring to bear more effective,
competitive and productive HRM practice. This approach will also guide organisational
practice towards better performance and competitive edge.
8.3 The limitation of the research
This research has two main limitations. Firstly, as Francis et al. (2010) discuss, the criterion
related to data saturation level is a limitation for our research. Secondly, we conducted semi-
structured interviews in some specific companies, and they do not represent the overall
country. This limitation comes from the nature of qualitative research.
The study sets out to explore the impacts of e-recruitment on businesses in developing
countries using the context of Bangladesh and Nigeria. Three themes, which included cost-
efficiency and productivity, widening of search and clarity and less employee turnover and
competitive advantage were identified and analysed. Based on the context of Bangladesh and
Nigeria, it is concluded that e-recruitment adoption can impact organisations in Table 6:
In addition to Table 6, the following list shows the similarities of both contexts in terms of
the impact of e-recruitment adoption:
(1) Enhancement of competitive edge, productivity and business effectiveness;
(2) It ensures that the right applicants, skills and expertise are attracted, recruited and
harnessed;
(3) Enhancement of network of ties and relationship amongst people or partners in the
social network for more interactive, collaborative engagement recruitment and
selection;
(4) It clarifies the recruitment process.

8.4 Suggestions for the future research

Based on the present research, we also suggest following issues that the scholars can explore
in their future research. Firstly, this research shows that social media is an important tool in
E
recruitment adoption impact
Cost efficiency and productivity
Helping in widening of search and
clarity
Facilitating less employee turnover and
competitive advantage
Nigeria versus Bangladesh
Role of social
media in
Both contexts accept the positive impact of e-recruitment adoption e-recruitment
under this theme. However, whilst participants in Nigeria focus on
the change itself and positive impacts, participants in Bangladesh process
emphasise the negative impact of the conventional recruitment
process. For this reason, there is a contextual lens to interpret what
they experience in the adoption process
Although both contexts adopt a similar process for the applicants,
the difference between them comes from understanding the
knowledge. For instance, whilst collecting and consolidating the
information of applicants exist in Nigeria, systematic filing and
coherent data collection for applicants exist in the context of
Bangladesh
There is a positive impact of e-recruitment adoption for both
countries. However, since participants in Bangladesh complain Table 6.
regarding the conventional methods, it indicates that technology The comparisons and
adoption level of the country is less than Nigeria. This is a critical contrasts of
finding that demonstrates individual skills for the capability of conclusions amongst
new technology usage the contexts

the e-recruitment process since it has a dark side. For this reason, further research can explore
the dark side in details and the context of different countries because various regulations,
legislation and cultures can provide positive or adverse cases in the field. Secondly, the
literature is scarce in terms of adopting a theoretical lens. For this reason, further research can
consider institutional theory and social network theory to explore the role of technology and
technological advancement in the e-recruitment process. Lastly, future research can consider
different organisational contexts, such as a NGO. Thus, this contextual difference creates an
opportunity to understand the e-recruitment process and its impact on organisations through
the sociological and psychological approach.

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Employment Studies.

Corresponding author
Erhan Aydin can be contacted at: erhanaydin.phd@gmail.com

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