Please cite this article in press as: Madera, J.M., Using social networking websites as a selection tool: The role of selection process fairness and job pursuit intentions. Int. J. Hospitality Manage. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.03.008 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model HM-1213; No. of Pages 7 International Journal of Hospitality Management xxx (2012) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Hospitality Management jou rn al hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman Using social networking websites as a selection tool: The role of selection process fairness and job pursuit intentions Juan M. Madera * Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of Houston, 229 C.N. Hilton Hotel & College, Houston, TX 77204-3028, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Social media Fairness Selection validity Job pursuit Human resources a b s t r a c t A growing trend in the hospitality industry is openly encouraging applicants to join their social network- ing sites as part of their recruitment process (Dolasinki et al., 2010; Madera and Chang, 2011). However, there is a dearth of studies examining how applicants perceive and react to the use of social networking websites in the recruitment and selection process. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine how applicants react to the use of social networking websites as a selection tool. Using experi- mental methods, participants attending a career fair for hospitality jobs completed a questionnaire after reading about a hospitality company that does or does not use social networking sites in the selection process. The results showed that perceived fairness and job pursuit intentions of applicants were lower for an organization that used social networking websites as a selection tool than an organization that did not use social networking websites as a selection tool. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have been increasingly popular over the past years. A recent study found that 90% of respondents between the ages of 18–24 reported having a Facebook account (Withiam, 2011). Individuals can often share personal information, such as pictures, music, videos, blogs, dis- playing interests and personal demographic information (e.g., age, ethnicity, religion, sexual-orientation, marital status) using these sites. Given the popularity and availability of accessing such per- sonal information, many US employers have started to use social networking websites to screen job candidates. In particular, a study found that 45% of US employers were using social networking websites to screen applicants, and 11% of employers had plans to start using them for screening future applicants (Shea and Wesley, 2006). A similar study found that 50% of human resource profes- sionals used an internet search (e.g., Google) to screen applicants and reported that 20% of the searches led to disqualifying applicants based on the searched content (Zeidner, 2007). Human resource professionals have indicated that using social networking websites to screen applicants is both an acceptable and increasingly impor- tant practice to carefully screen applicants (Clark and Roberts, 2010). Research in the hospitality industry has shown a similar trend. For example, in a study of hospitality recruiters, Madera and Chang (2011) found that although the recruiters reported that the * Tel.: +1 713 743 2428; fax: +1 713 743 3696. E-mail address: jmmadera@uh.edu initial purpose for developing a social networking account was for customer service and marketing, the recruiters reported that they use social networking sites for recruitment purposes. Moreover, 54% reported using social network sites to screen applicants. Large hospitality employers are openly encouraging applicants to join their social networking sites as part of their recruitment process (Dolasinki et al., 2010). By joining hospitality organizations’ social networking sites, applicants are providing employers with access to their accounts. Although this phenomenon has become increasingly popular, there is a dearth of studies examining how applicants in the hos- pitality industry perceive and react to the use of social networking websites as part of the selection process. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine how applicants react to the use of social networking websites as part of the selection process. In particular, the current study examined how the perceived fairness of a selection system is influenced by the use of social network- ing websites as a selection tool and how the perceived fairness influences job pursuit intentions. Overall perceived fairness pro- vides a theoretical background for examining applicants’ reactions the use of social networking websites as a selection tool. Over- all perceived fairness involves how fair an applicant perceives the procedures and methods used in selecting employees (Cullen and Sackett, 2003; Schminke et al., 2000). Studying applicants’ perceived fairness to organizations using social networking websites in the selection process is important for several reasons. First, as more hospitality organizations are openly using social networking websites for recruitment purposes (Dolasinki et al., 2010; Madera and Chang, 2011), it is impor- tant for hospitality firms to understand how applicants might 0278-4319/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.03.008