A Comparison of the Effects of Positive and Negative Information on Job Seekers’ Organizational Attraction and Attribute Recall

Adam M. Kanar, Cornell University
Christopher J. Collins, Cornell University
Bradford S. Bell, Cornell University

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Suggested Citation

Kanar, A. M., Collins, C. J. & Bell, B. S. (2010). A comparison of the effects of positive and negative information on job seekers’ organizational attraction and attribute recall [Electronic version]. Retrieved [insert date], from Cornell University, ILR School site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/404/

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Copyright held by Taylor & Francis. This is an electronic version of an article published as: Kanar, A. M., Collins, C. J. & Bell, B. S. (2010). A comparison of the effects of positive and negative information on job seekers’ organizational attraction and attribute recall. Human Performance, 23(3), 193-212.

Human Performance is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/.

Abstract

To date there have been no direct studies of how strong negative information from sources outside of organizations’ direct control impacts job seekers’ organizational attraction. This study compared models for positive and negative information against a neutral condition using a longitudinal experimental study with college-level job seekers (n = 175). Consistent with the accessibility-diagnosticity perspective, the results indicated that negative information had a greater impact than positive information on job seekers’ organizational attraction and recall, and this effect persisted one week after exposure. The results did not indicate that the influence of information sources and topics that fit together was lessened when the information was negative. The results suggest that job seekers interpret positive and negative information differently and that negative information, when present, has an important influence on job seekers’ organizational attraction.