Friend or Foe? The Promise and Pitfalls of Using SocialNetworking Sites for HR Decisions

H. Kristl Davison • Catherine Maraist •

Mark N. Bing

Published online: 4 May 2011

� Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Abstract The Internet has changed many Human

Resource (HR) practices, and techniques such as online job

postings and testing have become quite common in HR.

However, the use of social networking websites such as

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter for recruiting,

hiring, or terminating individuals is relatively new, but

their use for these purposes is clearly growing while

research on these practices is lacking. Many questions

about using these sites for HR practice have yet to be

addressed, including questions about the validity and use-

fulness of information obtained on these sites, applicant

perceptions of employers’ use of these sites, and the

legality of using these sites, among others. The current

study describes issues associated with using social net-

working websites for recruiting, staffing/selection, and

discipline/termination, and provides recommendations for

future research studies in this area.

Keywords Social networking � Internet � Web-based

HR � Recruiting � Selection � Termination � Reliability �Validity � Legal issues � Fairness

An organization posted a job on a few LinkedIn engi-

neering groups hoping to find some good candidates.

Within a day of posting the advertisement, the company

had received hundreds of resumes from qualified applicants

and could immediately start their screening process.

The hiring process seemed to be going well for a college

student who applied for a summer job as a camp counselor.

Her references were excellent, the interviews went well,

and she was reassured by the director that everything

looked good. However, eventually she wasn’t hired

because they had seen pictures on her MySpace page of her

binge drinking.

An employee left his workplace upset one day because

he had to work late on a project that he felt was not worth

his time. He sent a brief ‘‘tweet’’ via his Twitter account

that said, ‘‘I hate my job at ABC Company. They are a

horrible employer. As soon as I can find a new job, I’m out

of here.’’ The ‘‘tweet’’ was read by several of his managers

and he was fired the next day.

These scenarios illustrate an emerging issue in Human

Resources (HR)—the use of social networking websites

(e.g., MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) for making

HR decisions. Although other uses of the Internet (e.g., job

postings, on-line testing) have become quite common in

HR, the use of social networks in the process of recruiting,

hiring, or firing individuals is relatively new. A recent

survey by the Society for Human Resource Management

(SHRM 2008) reported that in 2006, only 21% of organi-

zations had used social networking sites as an HR tool, but

in 2008, 44% had used these sites for HR. The same SHRM

(2008) survey also reported that 34% of organizations

currently use social networking sites to recruit or contact

potential applicants, and 19% plan to in the future. Use of

these sites for screening applicants is also growing.

According to SHRM (2008), 13% use social networking

H. K. Davison (&) � M. N. Bing

Department of Management, School of Business Administration,

University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-1848, USA

e-mail: kdavison@bus.olemiss.edu

M. N. Bing

e-mail: mbing@bus.olemiss.edu

C. Maraist

Valtera Corporation, 1701 Golf Rd., Suite 2-1100,

Rolling Meadows, IL 60008, USA

e-mail: cmaraist@valtera.com

123

J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159

DOI 10.1007/s10869-011-9215-8

sites for screening applicants and 18% plan to in the future.

With regard to using these sites for terminating employees,

anecdotal evidence abounds. For example, in the case

Spanierman v. Hughes (2008), a Connecticut teacher’s

firing for inappropriate postings on his MySpace page was

upheld. Organizations are understandably concerned about

how their employees use such sites, given that 74% of

employees believe it is easy to harm a company’s reputa-

tion on such sites (Deloitte 2009).

These statistics clearly indicate a growing interest on the

part of management and HR in using social networking

sites for various HR purposes. Such sites are useful for

attracting qualified (as well as unqualified) applicants, may

be able to reveal untapped job-relevant (and job-irrelevant)

applicant characteristics, and may be useful for identifying

employees who are harming the company’s mission and

reputation. Thus, these sites can be valuable ‘‘friends’’ for

HR, but also have the potential to be dangerous ‘‘foes’’ if

used improperly.

Research Needed

The goal of this article is to suggest a number of research

questions about the use of social networking websites by

personnel in HR that need to be addressed to provide

practitioners with guidance in this area. Below we elabo-

rate on the need for research in these areas. In addition,

Table 1 provides a summary of the current and potential

uses of social networking sites for HR decisions, including

information about the current state of empirical research.

Recruiting

The use of social networking sites for recruiting seems to

be widely accepted because of its close relation to the act

of posting a job advertisement on the Internet. This type of

activity just posts the advertisement on a social networking

site. Some social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Face-

book) have even added classified sections for job seekers

and job posters. However, little empirical research (e.g.,

DeKay 2009) has been conducted on using social net-

working sites to recruit employees. Given the dearth of

research, we propose that a variety of questions need to be

investigated so that a greater understanding of the impli-

cations of using the Internet for recruiting efforts is

achieved.

The first issue is how the use of these sites for recruiting

affects the applicant pool, especially in terms of quality and

also in terms of other characteristics. Some research on

Internet recruiting in general has indicated that employers

not only get more qualified applicants, but also more

Table 1 Current and potential uses of social networking websites in HR decision-making

Recruiting Screening and selection Disciplinary action and terminations

Current

uses

Applicants research

organizations by searching

their Facebook pages and

‘‘Tweets’’, etc.

HR professionals search social networking sites

to gather information about applicants, screen

out individuals, or develop targeted interview

questions.

Organizations mandate employees can only

provide certain information about the

company on their social networking sites and

if they do not follow the agreement, be subject

to discipline.Applicants locate job postings by

organizations on social

networking sites.

Organizations terminate employees who

provide negative, confidential, or

embarrassing information in posts on their

social networking sites.

Potential

uses

Organizations engage in targeted

marketing to reach the desired

applicant pool.

HR professionals systematically code job-

relevant information from social networking

sites to assess and measure personality or

other characteristics.

Organizations access all employees’ social

networking sites and regularly monitor them

for what the organization considers

inappropriate postings.

Correlate measures of these job relevant traits

with measures of job performance to

determine their ability to predict future job

success.

Current

state of

research

Almost no empirical research on

this area.

Limited empirical research in this area. Almost no empirical research in this area; some

court cases provide guidance.Some evidence that personality can be measured

reliably and validly from web pages (e.g.,

Marcus et al. 2006; Vazire and Gosling 2004).

DeKay (2009)found that only a

small percentage of LinkedIn

members were passive job

seekers.

Students were neutral about employers’

reviewing their social networking websites

(Baglione et al. 2009).Image presented and inappropriateness of

content on the social networking profile was

associated with students’ comfort with family,

friends, and employers viewing the profiles

(Peluchette and Karl 2009).

Courts have upheld firing of employees for

inappropriate postings on the Internet (e.g.,

Spanierman v. Hughes 2008).

154 J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159

123

unqualified applicants (see Mathis and Jackson 2008).

However, because using these sites can allow for more

targeted recruiting (i.e., applicants may be identified by

certain characteristics), it is possible that using some sites

may produce more qualified applicants. Also, many orga-

nizations use these sites to identify passive job-seekers

(SHRM Staffing Research 2008), who use the websites to

indicate that they are interested in and available for certain

job positions and occupations. Passive job-seekers are

often assumed to be well-qualified, stable employees (see

DeKay 2009). However, the quality of passive job seekers

relative to active job seekers is unknown, and whether

social networking websites attract more passive job seekers

is also in question. For example, in DeKay’s (2009) study,

he found that a majority of LinkedIn members indicated

they could be contacted for career opportunities, and thus

might not be considered truly passive job-seekers. Thus,

the quality and passivity of job-seekers on these sites need

further investigation.

Another question is whether there are differences

in applicants across different websites (e.g., LinkedIn,

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) given their potentially

different clientele. For example, LinkedIn is a professional

network, whereas Facebook and MySpace are largely used

for making social connections. There are some indications

that Facebook and MySpace differ in their clientele, with

Facebook attracting individuals of a higher socioeconomic

status (Atal 2007; Levy 2007). Twitter, in contrast, may be

used for professional or social purposes. Thus, whether

applicants have different reasons for accessing the various

websites has important implications for recruiting insofar

as recruiters may want to consider the types of applicants

most likely to be identified from the different sources.

Applicant reactions to job postings on social networking

sites are also an important area of needed research. Spe-

cifically, do applicants consider the postings on these sites

favorably and fair, particularly in comparison to more

traditional recruiting means? Because social networking

sites are not publicly accessible (even though most indi-

viduals can get an account on the major sites), prospective

applicants may view the fairness of using these sites for job

postings differently than they view postings on company

websites, public job boards, etc. It is also possible that

there will be generational and racial differences in the

acceptance and use of these sites for job seeking and

recruiting. For example, some research has suggested that

younger individuals (e.g., Generation Y) may be less

concerned about privacy than prior generations (see

Peluchette and Karl 2009). Thus, members of younger

generations might be more accepting of the use of these

sites to recruit. Further, if older generations are less tech-

nologically savvy or have more limited access to the

technology, they may consider recruiting through these

sites to be less acceptable.

Finally, research is needed on applicant reactions to an

organization that has its own Facebook or Twitter presence.

Does the organization’s presence on certain sites convey a

particular image, and are different applicants attracted to

the organization as a consequence?

In sum, there is very little research about the conse-

quences of recruiting using social networking websites,

including the types of applicants identified and the reac-

tions of applicants to the use of such recruiting. Survey

research could investigate the success organizations have

had when they used these sites for recruiting, including the

cost-effectiveness of using these sites relative to more

traditional approaches. Research could also include surveys

and laboratory studies with applicants as well as website

users and non-users to examine their perceptions of the

web-based recruiting process.

Screening and Selection Decisions

Using social networking sites poses a particular problem

for screening and selection. Almost no research has

investigated the use of social networking websites for

personnel screening. The challenge presented by the use of

these sites is related to how well they provide reliable and

valid, job-relevant information. Little is also known about

the accuracy of the information provided within social

networking profiles or about the prevalence of different

types of faking (e.g., ‘‘fake good’’ vs. ‘‘fake bad’’) on web

pages, and research should investigate the potential impact

of such distortions on hiring decisions. The following are a

variety of topics that need to be investigated.

The first issue is whether job-relevant characteristics can

be measured reliably and validly from web pages. For

example, it may be possible to measure an individual’s

personality traits based on his/her postings on web pages

(e.g., Buffardi and Campbell 2008; Marcus et al. 2006;

Vazire and Gosling 2004). For example, Vazire and

Gosling (2004) gathered website owners’ self-ratings of the

Big Five personality factors along with observer ratings of

those websites, and found correlations between the self-

ratings and observer-ratings ranging from 0.21 to 0.42.

However, such research has generally been conducted in

laboratory settings using college students, and research has

not been conducted yet in a personnel selection context. In

addition, almost nothing is known about whether other job-

relevant characteristics, such as cognitive ability, creativ-

ity, person-organization fit, etc., can be measured reliably

and validly from web pages.

The prevalence of inaccurate information on web pages

is also in question. Employers often assume that the

J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159 155

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information posted will be more accurate than what can-

didates provide in a cover letter, resume, interview, etc.,

because they do not expect the website to be viewed by

employers (i.e., they have no motive to ‘‘fake good’’). In

fact, it has been suggested that information might be more

accurate on a website such as LinkedIn because one’s

connections (i.e., current and former colleagues) can view

and presumably verify or contradict the information (see

Narisi 2009). Nonetheless, an individual who creates a

webpage may be trying to impress friends, family, potential

mates, and/or employers, and the type of distortion or

‘‘faking’’ may differ depending on the intended viewer. For

example, individuals may ‘‘fake good’’ if they think their

parents or employers will see the webpage, or even ‘‘fake

bad’’ if they think friends will view the webpage. Further, it

is unknown exactly what kind of information (e.g., work

experience, degrees held, etc.) is provided accurately, and

what kind is provided inaccurately. Thus, research similar

to that conducted on faking in resumes and application

forms is needed (see Gatewood et al. 2008). Finally, the

accuracy of information obtained from third parties (e.g.,

friends’ web pages) is another issue that needs to be

addressed.

The legality of using social networking websites for

screening also requires more study. Many employers

assume that it is acceptable as long as specific laws (e.g.,

civil rights laws) are not violated (see Genova 2009;

Peluchette and Karl 2009; Roberts and Roach 2009).

However, even if an employer does not violate civil rights

laws by engaging in disparate treatment, there are other

legal issues that need to be considered, including employee

privacy rights with respect to their social networking pro-

files, potential defamation of character by third parties’

web postings, and even adverse impact based on using

social networking websites for gathering job-relevant

information.

The above questions suggest important areas for

research. In particular, the reliability with which informa-

tion can be obtained from websites and the validity of such

information should be investigated in the field. For exam-

ple, multiple HR personnel could evaluate applicant web-

sites for job-relevant characteristics, and even assess those

same characteristics via other means (e.g., personality tests,

ability tests) to assess interrater reliability or convergent

validity. Research is needed in which HR professionals rate

the job-relevant traits of applicants from the applicants’

web pages and subsequently correlate those ratings with

measures of job performance once those applicants are

hired and have been on the job for adequate time periods.

Such a study could provide preliminary evidence that

criterion-related validity can be obtained via the use of

web-posted information. Studies using both self- and peer-

ratings of information on websites could be used to study

the accuracy of web-postings. Finally, research on the

legality of using social networking websites for selection is

particularly needed.

Disciplinary Actions and Terminations

Another area in which HR decisions are made is with

respect to disciplinary actions, up to and including firing,

based on information on social networking sites that is

posted by employees of the organization. Although there

have been some cases described in the popular press that

have occurred based on this information, empirical

research has not investigated the implications of using this

type of information to make HR decisions.

First, one area that needs more research deals with what

type of information can be gathered from social networking

sites that is related to potential disciplinary actions and

firing decisions. It is possible that employers are searching

for information about an employee’s participation in illegal

activities, but also legal activities that are potentially

embarrassing to the employer. However, in many states,

employees’ participation in legal activities (e.g., tobacco

use) is protected under lifestyle protection statutes (Genova

2009), and determining to what extent employers are

gathering this information has legal implications. In addi-

tion, employers may be searching for employees’ criticisms

of the organization, which may have First Amendment

(i.e., freedom of speech) implications, as well as watching

for employees’ disclosure of confidential company infor-

mation, some of which may constitute a form of

whistleblowing.

A second issue is how employees perceive the moni-

toring of their social networking websites. The Deloitte

(2009) study found that 53% of employees considered it

none of the company’s business what was on the sites. A

recent study by Baglione et al. (2009) found that students

were somewhat neutral about employers’ reviewing of

their social networking websites. However, even more

importantly, neither study directly asked about the use of

information obtained from the websites for decisions about

disciplinary actions or firings. Further, many organizations

are creating formal policies as to employees’ use of social

networking websites and what can be said online with

respect to the organization (see Deloitte 2009), which could

affect employee reactions to monitoring. Thus, more

research on the perceptions of the fairness of using such

information is needed.

Finally, the quality of the decisions made on the basis of

such information is another area for research. As with

selection decisions, little is known about the reliability and

validity of the discipline and termination decisions made

based on information from social networking websites.

Thus far, the primary information available comes from the

156 J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159

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results of court cases such as the Spanierman v. Hughes

(2008) case described earlier, in which the courts deter-

mined whether the discipline or firing was legal and

justified.

As noted above, research is needed to determine what

information is being collected, how employees feel about

this information being collected, and whether quality

decisions are being made with this information. To inves-

tigate these questions, surveys of employers and employees

would certainly be advantageous. The survey would have

to ask about the nature of the information being collected,

if employees think such information gathering is fair, and

whether HR professionals believe quality decisions can be

based on such information. Lab studies could also present

scenarios of employees being disciplined or fired based on

information on social networking sites, and students or

employees could judge the fairness of these scenarios.

Finally, research on the quality of decisions could not only

be performed via the same methods as evaluating selection

decisions, but may also be informed by a review of court

cases on these issues.

Overarching Research Questions

Finally, given that use of social networking sites for

making HR decisions is so new, there are several broad

questions that need to be addressed across each of these HR

practice areas. Research on these questions will help guide

practitioners in deciding how to best use social networking

sites for HR decision-making. As noted in some of the

previous sections, research is needed on whether applicants

and employees consider the use of information obtained

from social networking sites as fair for making HR deci-

sions. Of particular importance would be the determination

of what parameters and HR policies (e.g., signing a docu-

ment acknowledging that web-posted information will be

used) make applicants and employees feel that using these

types of media for HR decisions is fair. Also, research

should investigate whether there are generational cohort

differences that impact the appropriate use of social net-

working sites for HR decisions, such as differences in use

across generations. Last, and perhaps most important,

research should address the utility or return-on-investment

of using social networking sites for HR decision-making.

At present it is unknown whether or not better quality

information is being obtained at a lower cost as compared

to more traditional HR sources. Certainly searching social

networking websites appears less costly than traditional

background checks, but when potential legal risks are

factored in the traditional method may end up being the

one that is preferred. Clearly, research is needed to deter-

mine if any cost savings are negated when taking these

legal risks into account.

Social Networking Websites: Friend or Foe?

The use of social networking websites to make HR deci-

sions is definitely on the rise. Given the lack of research

and recommendations provided to HR decision-makers, we

believe that the use of these methods to make decisions is

within uncharted territory, and thus HR professionals may

be using them appropriately in one context and yet mis-

using them in others. For example, an organization trying

to gain a broader audience for job postings and providing

information about its culture, goals, mission, etc., through

social networking sites is likely an appropriate and poten-

tially beneficial method to attract applicants. However, if

organizations move toward exclusively using this one form

of posting their job advertisements, then they may limit

their applicant pool by not sharing their job opportunities

as broadly as possible, and could even be violating civil

rights laws by accidentally excluding too many applicants

over the age of 40 given younger persons tend to be more

likely to use these websites. With regard to selection, there

are many legal issues that make using social networking

sites as a source of information more difficult. At this time,

we are cautious about the use of this medium for gathering

information in a selection context unless it can be done in a

manner that follows best selection practices and conforms

to our current standards of testing and assessment (e.g.,

SIOP’s Principles 2003). Finally, acting solely on the

information obtained from a social networking site to make

disciplinary or termination decisions without validation or

verification from another source is a potential serious pit-

fall for HR Departments that choose to rely on social

networking sites. Although job-relevant information may

be provided on such sites, this information should be ver-

ified before taking extreme disciplinary actions, including

termination. Therefore, all in all, use of social networking

websites can be a valuable ‘‘friend’’ when used properly by

HR professionals, but can be a dangerous ‘‘foe’’ when used

inappropriately. This call for research is necessary to

(a) more fully understand the value and implications of

using information from social networking websites to make

HR decisions and to (b) provide guidance to practitioners

who are already dealing with these issues and using this

technology. Table 2 provides a summary of the research

questions presented in this article that we believe need

to be addressed to shed more light on this emerging

HR-relevant technology.

Conclusion

In sum, many managers and HR practitioners are using

social networking websites to make important HR deci-

sions such as recruiting, selecting, and terminating

J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159 157

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individuals. However, most organizations do not have a

policy in place for using these sites (see Deloitte 2009;

SHRM 2008), nor is much scientific research available to

serve as guidance. In fact, many researchers are even

unaware that these sites are being used widely in HR, and

thus at this point practice is preceding research. Our pri-

mary goal here is to make researchers aware of these

emerging issues and their implications for organizations,

and to provide guidance on where research in this area

should be directed to assist HR practitioners in addressing

these issues when using social networking websites for HR

decisions.

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Table 2 Summary of research questions

Questions

Recruiting 1. How does recruiting in this manner affect the applicant pool, particularly in terms of quality?

2. Does use of these sites enable organizations to target passive job-seekers?

3. Are there differences in applicants across different websites (e.g., MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.),

given their potentially different clientele?

4. Do applicants consider posting jobs on social networking sites more or less favorably, more or less fair, etc.?

5. Are there generational differences in the acceptance of using social networking sites for recruiting?

6. What are the applicant’s reactions to an organization that has its own Facebook or Twitter presence? Does it

attract a different type of applicant?

Screening and selection 1. Can personality be measured reliably and validly from web pages?

2. Can other job-relevant characteristics, such as cognitive ability, person-organization fit, etc., be measured

reliably and validly from web pages?

3. How often do people provide inaccurate information on their profiles?

4. What types of information are people providing inaccurately (e.g., jobs held, education)?

5. How accurate is third-party provided information?

6. What are the legal issues relevant to using social networking sites for screening and selection?

Disciplinary actions and

terminations

1. What type of information can be gathered from social networking sites that is related to potential disciplinary

actions and firing decisions?

2. How would employees feel regarding their privacy if they knew that the organization would be monitoring

their ‘‘Tweets’’ and postings on social networking sites?

3. How do employees feel about the fairness of having a disciplinary action taken based on a ‘‘Tweet’’ or posting

on a social networking site?

4. What is the quality of the decisions made by using this type of information for disciplinary actions?

Overarching research

questions

1. Do applicants and employees feel the use of these types of technology is fair for making HR decisions, and

what parameters or limitations of use would make them feel that the use of these technologies is fair?

2. What is the utility of using these types of sites for HR decision-making?

3. Are there generational cohort differences that may impact the appropriate use of social networking sites?

158 J Bus Psychol (2011) 26:153–159

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