The Role of Aesthetics Influencing User Satisfaction with Recruitment Websites

Robert W. Stone, Lori J. Baker-Eveleth, Daniel M. Eveleth

Abstract


A theoretical model of potential job applicants’ and searchers’ satisfaction with a recruitment website is developed. Specifically, the influences of two aspects of a recruitment website’s aesthetics are examined, aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal. In addition, the model proposes antecedents to each dimension of website aesthetics. The three antecedents to website aesthetic formality are communication with visitors, information retrieval speed, and the quality of the job recruitment information. The two antecedents of website aesthetic appeal are website engagement and ease of website use.

The theoretical model is empirically tested using 199 questionnaire responses collected from both students enrolled in business courses at a medium-size university in the western United States and contract employees of Mechanical Turk. The questionnaire asked all respondents to complete part of the questionnaire first and then to access a specific company’s recruitment website to complete scripted activities using the site. Upon finishing these activities, the respondents completed the remaining portions of the questionnaire.

The theoretical model is estimated using these 199 questionnaire responses and structural equation modeling. The quality of the fit between the model and the data is acceptable given the complexity of the model and the number of observations. All the measures of the theoretical constructs demonstrate desirable psychometric properties. The estimated structural model shows that all the antecedents have significant and positive influences on their respective measure of aesthetics and that these measures of aesthetics (website aesthetic formality and website aesthetic appeal) significantly and positively influence website satisfaction.  Based on these results a discussion and conclusions are provided.


Keywords


recruitment website; website aesthetic appeal; website satisfaction; website aesthetic formality

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References


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