The Worker as Politician: How Online Information and Electoral Heuristics Shape Personnel Selection and Careers
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Keywords
branding, career, cybervetting, online information, personnel selection, public image, reputation management, social network sites
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814525739
Abstract
Employers’ use of increasingly visible online information extends when, where, and in what role contexts personnel selection—and correspondingly career management—occurs. Data from 59 employers suggest the use of a new lens to evaluate workers: the worker as politician. By appropriating strategies from electoral contexts to “vote” on job candidates, employers are (unintentionally) reimagining personnel selection. Participants report seeking appropriately endorsed workers with electable personalities, who demonstrate commercially “sanitized” public images and reflect the “right” kind of private life and mainstream values. Results contribute to research on how new technologies and information visibility affect personnel selection, career management, and reputation management.
Citation / Publisher Attribution
New Media and Society, v. 17, issue 8, p. 1377-1396.
Scholar Commons Citation
Berkelaar, B.L.; Scacco, Joshua M.; and Birdsell, J.L., "The Worker as Politician: How Online Information and Electoral Heuristics Shape Personnel Selection and Careers" (2015). Communication Faculty Publications. 924.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/spe_facpub/924
