Advertising and recruitment: Marketing to minorities

Abstract

Growing diversity, increasing multinationalism, and a need to better understand minority consumers make recruiting minority professionals to the workplace exceedingly important. This study examines the influences of a frequently used tool in organizational recruitment, the recruitment advertisement. Specifically, this research examines the influence of the racial composition of employees portrayed in these advertisements on a diverse sample of job-seeker reactions. These reactions include perceptions of organizational attractiveness, perceived compatibility to the organization, and evaluations of organizational image. In addition, it was expected that the race of the perceiver, the job seeker, would moderate these relationships. Mixed support for the hypotheses was found. Implications for advertising, marketing, and recruitment research given emerging domestic diversity are offered. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.