The use of social media in recruitment and its impact on diversity in services companies in Ireland
Authors
McKenna, Caoimhe
Issue Date
2014
Degree
MBA in Human Resource Management
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
Within the last five years there has been an increase in the use of social media for recruitment purposes, with many companies and job hunters embracing it for this purpose. This dissertation aims to investigate the role social media plays in the recruitment process and its impact on workplace diversity in services companies in Ireland. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that social media as a recruitment tool, in comparison to more traditional methods of recruitment e.g. newspaper advertisements, has led to an increase in workplace diversity in services companies in Ireland. This dissertation presents an unbiased literature review depicting the different perspectives put forward by various authors regarding both social media and workplace diversity. The literature review also focuses on the Diversity Iceberg model and how the introduction of social media as a recruitment tool can impact the Diversity Iceberg’s waterline of visibility. In order to collect the primary research a quantitative approach is undertaken with the use of two survey/questionnaires. The respondents of the first survey/questionnaires were 120 services companies in Ireland and the respondents of the second survey/questionnaire were 45 students/recent graduates in Ireland. The dissertation analysed the data collected from the survey/questionnaires and provides an in-depth discussion on the results gathered. The main finding of this research is that the hypothesis was proven to be true. The majority of companies surveyed stated that the use of social media as a recruitment tool in comparison to more traditional methods of recruitment, has increased workplace diversity. However, companies also stated that recruitment through social media was not the sole reason for the increase in workplace diversity. This finding is important as it shows that workplace diversity has been influenced by other factors, and will be discussed in-depth in this research. Author keywords: Social media, recruitment, workplace diversity services companies