구전커뮤니케이션은 제품구매와 소비상황 뿐만 아니라 구인구직과정에서도 중요한 역할을 수행하는 것으로 널리 알려져 있으며, 마케팅과 인사조직분야에서 공통적으로 구전전달자의 효과에 관한 많은 연구가 이루어졌다. 하지만, 인사조직문헌에 보고된 전달자 혹은 채용담당자의 영향력을 다룬 연구를 살펴보면, 대부분 전달자가 지닌 특성의 주 효과를 고찰하고 있고, 그 결과 또한 혼재되어 나타난 것을 발견할 수 있다. 그래서 본 연구에서는 구전전달자의 세 가지 특성(기업 내 지위와 업무, 그리고 수신자와의 유대관계)이 어떤 상호작용을 거쳐 지원자의 기업에 대한 태도와 지원의도에 영향을 미치는지 실험적인 방법을 사용하여 고찰하였다. 이러한 상호작용효과를 탐구하기 위한 이론적인 기반으로서는, 마케팅 혹은 설득커뮤니케이션 문헌에서 널리 받아들여지고 있는 전달자에 대한 전문성과 진실성 지각 및 지식편향과 보고편향 추론 프레임워크를 적용하였다. 실험결과에 의하면, 첫째, 구전전달자가 기업 내에서 차지하고 있는 지위의 설득효과는 수신자와의 유대관계에 따라 다르게 나타났다. 즉, 전달자가 높은 지위에 있는 경우, 그와 강한(vs. 약한) 유대관계를 가진 구직자는 구전에 대하여 더욱 호의적인 기업태도와 높은 지원의도를 나타내었다. 반면, 구전전달자가 낮은 지위인 경우, 유대강도는 지원자의 반응에 유의한 영향을 미치지 않았다. 둘째, 전달자와 수신자의 유대강도가 전달자의 업무로 인한 구전효과 또한 조절하는 것을 발견하였다. 전달자의 소속이 구직자가 희망하는 라인부서(예, 마케팅)인 경우, 유대강도가 강할수록 구직자는 기업에 대하여 더욱 호의적인 태도를 형성하였고 지원의도도 증가하였다. 하지만 구전전달자가 인사담당자인 경우, 지원자와의 유대강도에 따른 차이는 발생하지 않았다. 이러한 효과를 야기한 심리적 기제에 대하여 탐색적으로 분석한 결과, 먼저 실험참가자들은 낮은 지위보다 높은 지위, 혹은 인사부서보다 라인부서에 소속된 전달자에 대하여 더욱 높은 전문성을 지각하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 낮은 지위보다 높은 지위, 강한 유대관계보다 약한 유대관계를 가진 전달자의 경우, 설득의도가 더욱 높은(즉, 진실성이 낮은) 것으로 지각하였다. 본 연구의 이론적인 의의로는, 인사조직과 마케팅문헌에서 각각 독자적으로 이루어진 연구를 서로 통합하여 접근함으로써 구인구직시장에서 구전전달자의 특성이 어떤 영향을 미치는지에 관하여 새로운 시각과 결과를 제시한 점을 들 수 있다. 또한, 기업의 관점에서 채용마케팅의 효과를 극대화하기 위해서는 어떤 특성을 지닌 구전전달자를 활용하여야 하는지에 대한 실무적인 시사점도 제공한다.
It is well documented that word-of-mouth communication(WOM) plays a critical role in the recruiting as well as marketing process. Among many others, the effect of communicator has received a considerable amount of scholastic attention in both marketing and management field. Interestingly, the management literature has focused on the main effects of characteristics of recruiter(i.e., communicator), yet reports mixed findings about them. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the interaction effects of communicator`s rank, function, and tie strength on the job applicant`s attitude toward the company and intention to apply for a job, using experimental approach. Considering the high-involvement and cognitive nature of job application behavior, we adopt perceptions of communicator`s expertise and trustworthiness as well as inferences about communicator`s knowledge and reporting bias as the theoretical framework. More specifically, if a communicator is perceived to be more knowledgeable or more trustworthy, he will have a stronger effect on the listener`s attitudes and behavioral intention. In a similar vein, if a communicator is perceived not to possess an ability(i.e., knowledge bias) or intention (i.e., reporting bias) to convey a truthful and valid message, he will have a weaker persuasion effect. In WOM context regarding job application, the applicant is likely to perceive the communicator to possess a high level of expertise or weaker knowledge bias if he occupies a higher rank in the firm. This is because he has been around for a long time in the company and is very experienced for his job. On the other hand, the communicator with a high rank can be perceived to be not so trustworthy or to be susceptible to have reporting bias since he would feel stronger pressure to portray a positive image of his firm to others and/or to fill the vacant position as quickly as possible. However, if the communicator has a strong tie with the applicant, in which individuals care each other and behave in an altruistic manner, he will be perceived as conveying the truthful and valid message. Thus, Hypothesis 1 predicts the interaction between the communicator rank and tie strength with the applicant: For a communicator with high rank, a job applicant will form a more favorable attitude toward a company and a greater intention to apply for the position if he has a strong(vs. weak) tie with the communicator, whereas for a communicator with low rank, tie strength will have little influence on the applicant`s attitude and intention. As to the function a communicator performs in a company, line managers(e.g., marketing) would enjoy a higher level of expertise or weaker knowledge bias to provide accurate and relevant information about the job an applicant is interested in, whereas human resources managers would be perceived to be less trustworthy or to be subject to reporting bias due to their responsibility of attracting more applicants and recruiting those of high-quality. If the communicator has a strong tie with the applicant, it is likely to make up for uncertainty about the trustworthiness or reporting bias of line managers. Thus Hypothesis 2 posits that communicator`s function will interact with his tie strength with the applicant: For a communicator from line managers, a job applicant will form a more favorable attitude toward a company and a greater intention to apply for the position if he has a strong(vs. weak) tie with the communicator, whereas for a communicator from HR managers, tie strength will have little influence on the applicant`s attitude and intention. In order to test these hypotheses, we conducted an experiment with 2(communicator`s rank: high vs. low) x 2(communicator`s function: line manager [i.e., marketing] vs. HR manager) x 2(tie strength between the communicator and the applicant: strong vs. weak) between-subjects full factorial design. The participants were 140 employees from a pharmaceutical company located in Seoul, Korea. The three independent variables were manipulated using the scenarios, in which an applicant(i.e., experimental participant) was having a conversation about the company and job he was interested in with a communicator. The main dependent variables were the participant`s attitude toward and intention to apply to the firm. Perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and persuasion intent were also measured to explore the mechanisms underlying the effects of the communicator characteristics. Two separate ANOVA`s were conducted on participants` attitude and intention with communicator`s rank, function, and tie strength as between-subjects factors. Consistent with H1, the two-way interactions between rank and tie strength were significant. For the communicator with high rank, participants showed more favorable attitude and stronger intention to apply when interacting with a strong than weak tie(attitude, Mhigh rank/strong tie = 5.43, Mhigh rank/weak tie = 4.74; F(1, 139) = 7.91, p < .01; intention, Mhigh rank/strong tie = 5.07, Mhigh rank/weak tie = 4.45; F(1, 139) = 4.95, p < .05), whereas, for the communicator with low rank, participants did not show significant differences between the ties(attitude, Mlow rank/strong tie = 5.13, Mlow rank/weak tie = 5.20; F(1, 139) = 0.10, p > .70; intention, Mlow rank/strong tie = 4.89, Mlow rank/weak tie = 5.10; F(1, 139) = 0.72, p > .40). In line with H2, the two-way interactions between function and tie strength were also significant at the level of 10% and 5%. When the communicator was a line manager(i.e., marketing), participants attitude and intention were more positive for a strong than weak tie(attitude, Mmarketing/strong tie = 5.82, Mmarketing/weak tie = 4.76, F(1, 139) = 9.33, p < .01: intention, Mmarketing/strong tie = 5.70, Mmarketing/weak tie = 4.47; F(1, 139) = 9.73, p < .01 ). On the other hand, when the communicator was working for the HR department, tie strength did not have any significant effects(attitude, MHR/strong tie = 5.04, MHR/weak tie = 4.73, F(1, 139) = 0.80, p > .35; intention, MHR/strong tie = 4.43, MHR/weak tie = 4.43; F(1, 139) = .01, p > .90). The current research makes important contributions to the HRM and marketing literature. First of all, we found the two significant interactions between communicator`s rank, function, and tie strength, whose main effects have mostly been addressed in the existing literature. These interaction results help to propose potential causes or explanations for the mixed findings and to identify boundary conditions under which the main effects may become strengthened or disappear. In addition, in studying communicator effects, the HRM literature has primarily focused on its formal characteristics relevant to the organizational context(e.g., rank), whereas the marketing literature has more been interested in informal or social characteristics(e.g., tie strength). In this research, we attempted to combine or integrate both aspects, and discovered some new findings. Moreover, we introduced experimental approach to the study of WOM taking place in the job search and application process, which had been under-utilized in the HRM literature. It was also proven quite useful to employ ``expertise-trustworthiness`` and ``knowledge-reporting bias`` framework in examining the effects of WOM communicator characteristics on individuals` intention to apply for a job. Finally, the findings from the study provides practical implications when designing a recruiting strategy, especially about the selection of recruiting communicators. The paper concludes with limitations and future research directions such as disadvantages of scenario methods, more systematic investigation of underlying mechanisms, and use of other brand-equity related dependent variables.