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Chapter XI Facebook Follies: Who Suffers the Most?

Katherine Karl Marshall University, USA

Joy Peluchette University of Southern Indiana, USA

abStract

This study examined the relative impact of “inappropriate” postings on job candidates’ Facebook pro- files on hiring decisions. Such postings included negative work-related attitudes, the use of profanity, and comments regarding alcohol abuse, use of drugs and sexual activities. Respondents indicated that all five types of information were relevant to such decisions and that they would be unlikely to pursue candidates who posted such information. However, such information was viewed as being more relevant for female candidates than male candidates. In addition, respondents were more likely to pursue male candidates than female candidates who posted such information. Thus, females were found to suffer the most. Although negative work-related attitudes and drug use were considered more relevant to hiring decisions than the other types of information, respondents were least likely to pursue candidates whose Facebook profiles contained comments regarding negative work-related attitudes and alcohol use. Im- plications and suggestions for future research are presented.

iNtroDuctioN

Research has shown that communications on the Internet are less inhibited than public communica-

tions, that is, individuals will say or do things on the Internet that they would not ordinarily do in real life (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991; Kayany, 1998; Niemz, Griffiths, & Banyard, 2005). Countless

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examples of these uninhibited communications can be found on Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites (Levy, 2007). For example, a recent study of 200 Facebook profiles found that 42% had comments regarding alcohol, 53% had photos involving alcohol use, 20% had comments regarding sexual activities, 25% had semi-nude or sexually provocative photos, and 50% included the use of profanity (Peluchette & Karl, 2007). These authors also examined wall comments, or “public” messages that individuals post on each others’ profiles and found that about 50% involved issues of partying, 40% involved negative comments about other people, 25% in- volved derogatory comments about employers, 18% sexual activities, and 10% negative racial comments.

It has been suggested that these Facebook follies, or this reckless tendency to post anything and everything on one’s profile, is in part due to students’ perceptions that the likelihood of anyone other than other students or recent alumni seeing their posting is remote (Lupsa, 2006). Yet, recent evidence suggests that employers are looking. Ac- cording to Taylor (2006), using Internet search en- gines such as Google, blogs (Web logs), and social networking Web sites (Facebook, MySpace) has become commonplace for screening potential job candidates. In support, a 2006 ExecuNet survey of 100 executive recruiters found that 77% use search engines as part of their recruitment process and that 35% have eliminated job candidates based on information they have found on the Internet (Jones, 2006). That is up from 26% reported in the 2005 survey (Forster, 2006). A study conducted at the University of Dayton revealed that 40% of employers would consider applicants’ Facebook profiles as part of their hiring decision (Lupsa, 2006). Finally, a study by CareerBuilder.com re- vealed that 26% of the 1,150 hiring managers they surveyed said they used Internet search engines in their candidate screening process and 12% said they used social networking sites. Of those hiring managers that used social networking sites, 63%

said they did not hire the person based on what they found (Sullivan, 2006).

So, what kind of information are these hiring managers using to screen applicants? According to the aforementioned study by CareerBuilder. com (Sullivan, 2004), 19% said they eliminated candidates from further consideration because they had bad-mouthed their previous company or a fellow employee, 19% were eliminated because they had posted information about drinking or using drugs, and 11% were eliminated because they posted provocative or inappropriate photo- graphs. The purpose of this study was to examine the relative impact of these Facebook follies on hiring decisions for male and female candidates. More specifically, we examine the following five types of information: (1) negative work-related attitudes, (2) comments regarding alcohol abuse, (3) comments regarding use of drugs, (4) com- ments regarding sexual activities, and (5) use of profanity.

Negative work-related attitudes

Based on the notion that it is much easier to train people to learn new skills than it is to change their inherent attitudes, many companies have adopted the “hire for attitude, train for skill” philosophy (O’Connor, 2000; Greengard & Byham, 2003). Perhaps the most well known example of this is Southwest Airlines who looks for people who can embrace change, keep promises, follow through, and bring a sense of humor and fun to their work (O’Connor, 2000). Empirical research also sug- gests that hiring managers consider attitude to be an important attribute in new recruits. For example, the results of a 1994 survey revealed that employers valued attitude more highly than ability when hiring an administrative employee (Flynn, 1994). Another survey of hiring manag- ers conducted by the New York Times Job Market found that 85% considered personality to have great importance in hiring decisions (Milne, 2002). Other factors considered important were:

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multi-tasking (84%), ability to learn new skills (84%), leadership (75%), and analytical ability (67%). In another study, practitioners rated the hirability of a series of hypothetical candidate profiles that varied on the Big Five personality traits and general mental ability (Dunn, Mount, Barrick, & Ones, 1995). Typically, managers viewed general mental ability and conscientious- ness as the most important attributes related to an applicant’s hirability. Conscientious individuals are generally hard working and reliable and pos- sess traits including self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, and organization (Goldberg, 1990). Together, this research suggests that Facebook profile comments related to procrastination, dislike of work, or low self-discipline should be perceived negatively by hiring managers. There- fore, it is predicted:

H1: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments indicating a negative work-related attitude to be relevant in making a hiring decision.

H2: Hiring managers will not continue to pursue candidates who have included comments on their Facebook profile indicating a negative work-related attitude.

alcohol abuse

It has been estimated that alcohol costs American businesses $134 billion in productivity losses, mostly due to missed work (Anderson & Goplerud, 2005). Alcohol abuse has also been associated with turnover, lower productivity and accidents (Kandel & Yamaguchi, 1987; Blum, Roman & Martin, 1993; Holcom, Lehman & Simpson, 1993). Moreover, workers with alcohol problems are almost three times more likely than workers without drinking problems to have injury-related absences (Webb, Hennrikus, Kelman, Gibberd, & Sanson-Fisher, 1994). Alcohol use on and off the job can also cause problems for nondrinking co-workers. One out of five employees report

alcohol problems of people they work with cause them to fear injury, work harder, redo work or cover for the drinker (Mangione, Howland, & Lee, 1998).

Research also shows that even though alcohol- ism is a disease covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, many Americans still have a bias against alcoholics in hiring decisions. For instance, a telephone survey of 1,500 adults across the U.S. found that if these respondents had to choose be- tween two equally qualified job candidates—one a recovering alcoholic and one who has never needed treatment for alcoholism—47% would hire the candidate who never needed treatment, 34% said they had no preference, and only 14% would hire the recovering person (Survey reveals bias against recovering alcoholics and addicts, 1999). Given these findings, we predict that:

H3: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments indicating alcohol abuse to be relevant in making a hiring decision.

H4: Hiring managers will not continue to pursue candidates if they find examples of alcohol abuse in the candidate’s Facebook profile.

use of Drugs

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that substance abuse costs businesses more than 100 billion dollars every year (Ireland, 1991; Many good reasons, 2005). This is due to lost productiv- ity, absenteeism, theft, accidents, and additional healthcare costs. Another report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse revealed that the typical drug-abusing worker uses three times the normal amount of sick benefits and is five times more likely than other employees to file a workers’ compensation claim. He or she is involved in ac- cidents 3.6 times more often, is late three times more often and has 2.5 times as many absences of eight days or more (Pouzer, 1991).

The aforementioned survey of 1,500 adults in the U.S. found that when responders were asked

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to choose between two job candidates—one a recovering drug addict and one who had never needed treatment—60% said they would hire the candidate who never needed treatment, 26% said they had no preference, and only 10% said they would hire the recovering addict (Survey reveals bias against recovering alcoholics and addicts, 1999). Another survey of several hundred human resource professionals revealed that many would not reject a candidate based on a conviction for marijuana possession if it had happened only once and occurred a long time ago. For example, some sample answers included “To me, a single mari- juana conviction at age 18 would be in the same league as a speeding ticket,” “Kids are kids,” and “What someone did at age 18 is not necessarily a reflection of what he will do as an adult” (Fisher, 2002). Thus, we propose:

H5: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments indicating illegal drug use to be relevant in making a hiring decision.

H6: Hiring managers will not continue to pursue candidates if they find examples of illegal drug use in the candidate’s Facebook pro- file.

Profanity

In Cursing in America, Jay (1992) claims that curs- ing at inappropriate times can reduce a speaker’s credibility, persuasiveness, and perceived profes- sionalism. In support, Bostrom, Baseheart, and Rossiter (1973) examined reactions to people who swear and found that using profanity in a com- munication generally had a detrimental effect on the perceived credibility of the communicator. Another study conducted by Hamilton (1989) found that obscenity increased audience disgust with the message and negative perceptions of the source. Another study found that observers who heard a speaker who used profanity formed more negative impressions of the speaker than observers who heard a speaker who did not use

profanity (Cohen & Saine, 1977). Based on these findings, we predict:

H7: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments including profanity to be relevant in making a hiring decision.

H8: Hiring managers will reject candidates from further consideration if they find examples of profanity in the candidate’s Facebook profile.

Gender differences have also been found. In general, men use offensive language more than women (Foote & Woodward, 1973; Lakoff, 1973; Bailey & Timm, 1976; Staley, 1978; Rieber, Wi- edemann, & D’Amato, 1979; Selnow, 1985; De Klerk, 1991; Jay, 1992; Bate & Bowker, 1997), women hold more negative attitudes toward the use of such language (Rieber et al., 1979; Sel- now, 1985; Jay, 1992), and swearing is usually perceived as acceptable for men but inappropriate for women (Burgoon & Stewart, 1975; Mulac & Lundell, 1980; Burgoon, Dillard, & Doran, 1983; Mulac, Incontro, & James, 1985; De Klerk, 1991). Based on the reasoning that traditional female sex roles have discouraged the use of profanity, while norms associated with the male sex role often promote profanity in everyday speech, we predict that:

H9: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments including profanity to be more relevant for female candidates than male candidates.

H10: Hiring managers will be less likely to pursue female candidates who use profanity than male candidates who use profanity.

Sexual activity

Sexual behavior or conversations with sexual content are considered taboo in the workplace largely due to concerns about potential sexual harassment charges, office gossip, distraction, and

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lost productivity (Sills, 2007). Yet, office romance is on the rise, where more and more employees are seeking both dates and mates at work (Lever, Zellman, & Hirshfeld, 2006). Some surveys report that one in ten employees have actually admitted that they have “made love while at work” (Lever, Zellman, & Hirshfeld, 2006). Another concern for employers is online sexual activity (Cooper, Safir, & Rosenmann, 2006). For example, in a survey of 40,000 adults, 20% reported engaging in online sexual activity while at work (Cooper, Scherer, & Mathy, 2000). Workplace online sexual activity also results in lost productivity and could potentially result in sexual harassment claims if an employee were to see a coworker’s computer screen with pornography or if he or she were to receive e-mails with sexual content (Stanton & Weiss, 2000). Thus, it is likely that if hiring managers were to find that an applicant has de- scribed his or her sexual activities on his or her Facebook profile, they would be concerned that this applicant may do the same in the workplace. Therefore, we predict:

H11: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments describing one’s sexual activities to be relevant in making a hiring decision.

H12: Hiring managers will not continue to pursue candidates if they find examples of sexual activities in the candidate’s Facebook pro- file.

The term “double standard” is used to describe findings that show most people have less permis- sive attitudes toward female sexual behavior than male sexual behavior (Sprecher, McKinney, & Orbuch, 1987; Spears, Abrams, Sheeran, Abra- ham, & Marks, 1991). For example, the results of a meta-analysis suggest that men compared to women, have more permissive attitudes about sex; they are more accepting of premarital sex and less likely to feel guilty about it than women (Oliver & Hyde, 1993). They also found that women are more likely to endorse the double standard than

men. In their review of 30 studies published since 1980, Crawford and Popp (2003) also found evidence for the continued existence of sexual double standards. Evidence for double standards in the workplace has also been found. Anderson and Hunsaker (1985) found that women who are romantically involved with someone at work are more negatively evaluated regarding their compe- tence and motivations than romantically involved men. Similarly, Devine and Markiewicz (1990) found that female managers who were involved in a workplace romance were expected to be more at risk of losing their jobs than their male partners. Other studies have shown gender-based double standards in the evaluation of the competence of men versus women, whereby women were held to higher standards than men or women were less likely to be rated as more competent than men even when having better credentials (Foschi, Lai, & Sigerson, 1994; Foschi, 1996). Given these findings, we predict that:

H13: Hiring managers will consider Facebook comments regarding sexual activities to be more relevant for female candidates than male candidates.

H14: Hiring managers will be less likely to pursue female candidates who discuss their sexual activities than male candidates who discuss their sexual activities.

Relative Impact of Type of Profile information

As stated earlier, one purpose of this study was to examine the relative impact of five types of information (negative work-related attitudes, alcohol abuse, use of drugs, sexual activities, and use of profanity) on hiring decisions for male and female candidates. While the existing literature provides support for why hiring managers may find this type of information relevant in making hiring decisions, we could find no research to sup- port why candidates with one type of information

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might be viewed more negatively than those with another type of information. Thus, we make no predictions regarding the relative impact of the five types of information.

metHoD

Sample

This study utilized a sample of 148 graduate students enrolled in human resource manage- ment and organizational behavior courses at two medium-sized universities, one located in the Midwest and the other located in the southeast- ern part of the United States. Participation was voluntary although participants were given some minimal course credit for doing so. All students in each class agreed to participate. About 42% of the respondents were male (N=62) and the mean age was 29.7 years. The average hours worked per week was 34.8, and the average number of years of work experience was 8.84.

experimental Design

This study examined one within-subjects factor (type of Facebook information) and one between- subjects factor (gender of job candidate). Type of Facebook information consisted of five levels: (1) negative work-related attitudes, (2) alcohol abuse, (3) illegal drug use, (4) sexual activities, and (5) use of profanity. Gender of job candidate consisted of two levels: male versus female.

Survey instrument

The survey instrument consisted of two sections: (1) demographic items including gender, age, hours worked per week, work experience; and (2) the five employee selection scenarios. Each of the five scenarios was followed by items measuring respondents’ opinions regarding the relevance of Facebook information for hiring decisions, and their intent to pursue each candidate.

Employee Selection Scenarios. After com- pleting the demographic information, respondents were given the following instructions. “Assume that you are a manager in charge of hiring an outside salesperson for your department. You have received several resumes and are currently in the process of screening out those who you feel do not meet the job requirements. The following five candidates are among those who applied for the position. They are all senior marketing majors at Midwestern University, with similar work experi- ence and GPAs (ranging from 3.5 to 3.7). They are all females (or males, depending on the survey the respondent received) and are either 22 or 23 years old. To aid you in your decision making, the HR manager has provided you with information found on the students’ Facebook profiles. Please read the information that follows and answer the questions at the end of each profile.”

Following these instructions, each respondent read information about the five candidates from the following common Facebook profile catego- ries: activities, interests, favorite quotes, about me, and groups. All of the information used in the profiles was taken from actual Facebook pages and was selected based on whether it fit one of the variables we examine in this study: alcohol use, drug use, profanity, sexual activity, and negative work-related attitudes. For example, the sexual activity profile for the female candi- date included the following: “I’m a stripper on the weekends . . . college doesn’t pay for itself ya know!!!” (activities), “Men are like tires you always need a spare!!” (favorite quotes), and “If homework were a hot guy I would do him every night” (groups). The profanity profile had the “F” word listed 450 times under favorite quotes and “People who love the F word” under groups. The negative work-related attitude profile included: “working at a job I hate, avoiding doing home- work, being lazy” (activities), “I work at a Credit Union and I get paid to sit on my ass and stare at a computer screen all day!” (about me), and “I hate my job but need the money so I can’t quit!!”

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(groups). The drug use profile included: “Smoking, chillin, wasting time, wasting away” (activities), “PARTYING!!!! Smokin’ the reefer, killing brain cells” (interests), “Legalize all drugs; Local pipe smokers union 420; Drinkers, smokers, & tokers” (groups). The alcohol profile included: “I really don’t do much but drink beer and sit around” (activities); “Beer pong, drinking, partying, hang- ing out with friends” (interests); “Live it up and drink it down” and “A drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts!!!” (favorite quotes); and “I need a drink,” “Alcoholic anonymous droupouts,” and “There is nothing absolute in life . . . except Vodka” (groups).

Relevance of Facebook information. Fol- lowing each scenario, respondents were asked six items which measured their opinion regarding the relevance of Facebook information. Sample items include: “I believe the information above is useful,” “The information above is irrelevant” (reverse scored), and “I don’t believe the in- formation above is indicative of this person’s work behavior” (reverse scored). All items were

rated on a five-point scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree). Co-efficient alpha for this scale ranged between .75 and .85.

Intent to pursue candidate. Each scenario was also followed by three items which measured the respondent’s intent to continue to pursue each job candidate. These items were as follows: “I would invite this candidate for an interview,” “I would not pursue this candidate any further” (reverse scored), and “I would call the references listed on his/her resume.” All items were rated on a five-point scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree). Co-efficient alpha for this scale ranged between .86 and .88.

To prevent an order effect, the five scenarios contained in each survey were arranged in 12 different orders. The results of a mixed-model ANOVA with repeated measures revealed order did not have a significant effect on respondents’ opinions regarding the relevance of the infor- mation [F (11, 133) = .93, p = .52] or their intent to pursue each candidate [F (11, 135) = .55, p = .86].

Table 1. Means and Standard deviations for the relevance of various types of Facebook information and intent to pursue the job candidate.

Facebook Profile Information

Relevance of Information Intent to Pursue Job Candidate

Gender of Job Candidate Gender of Job Candidate

Male Female Total Male Female Total

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Negative Work-related At- titude 3.45 1.02 3.78 0.89 3.59 b 0.98 2.86 1.25 2.40 1.17 2.67 b 1.23

Alcohol Abuse 3.27 0.95 3.67 0.97 3.44 a 0.97 2.82 1.22 2.53 1.21 2.70 b 1.22

Drug Use 3.46 1.01 3.73 0.95 3.57 b 0.99 2.63 1.25 2.10 1.06 2.41 a 1.20

Profanity 3.31 1.02 3.64 1.07 3.45 a 1.05 2.57 1.25 2.16 1.08 2.40 a 1.20

Sexual Activity 3.14 1.03 3.81 0.85 3.42a 1.01 2.62 1.28 2.24 1.07 2.46 a 1.21

Estimated Marginal Mean 3.33 3.73 2.70 2.29

Standard Error .10 .11 .11 .13

Note: Means with different superscripts are significantly different from one another at p < .05. Male and female means in boldface are significantly different from one another at p < .05.

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reSultS

Means and standard deviations for all five types of information by gender of job candidate are shown in Table 1. In general, respondents were in moderate agreement that all five types of informa- tion would be relevant in making hiring decisions (overall means ranged between 3.44 and 3.59) and they generally disagreed that they would continue to pursue the five job candidates (overall means ranged between 2.10 and 2.53). Thus, hypotheses one through eight and hypotheses 11 and 12 were supported.

To examine whether respondents held higher standards for women than they did men (i.e., a double standard), we conducted two ANOVAs with perceived relevance of the information as the dependent variable and two ANOVAs with intent to pursue the candidate as the dependent variable. As predicted in hypothesis 9 and 10, respondents perceived the information on profanity [F (1, 147) = 4.05, p = .046] and sexual activity [F (1, 146) = 17.87, p =.000] to be more relevant for female candidates than male candidates. Respondents were also less likely to pursue female candidates than male candidates who included profanity in their Facebook profile [F (1, 147) = 4.54, p = .03] or described their sexual activities, however, this difference was only marginally significant [F (1,146) = 3.58, p = .06]. Thus, hypothesis 13 was supported, but hypothesis 14 was only partially supported.

To examine the relative impact of the five types of information on respondents ratings of the relevance of the Facebook information, we conducted an ANOVA with repeated measures in which gender of the job candidate was entered as the between subjects variable and type of information was the within subjects variable. A significant main effect for both gender of the job candidate [F (1, 143) = 7.22, p =.008] and type of information [F (4, 143) = 3.31, p = .011] was found. The interaction between type of information and gender of the job candidate was only marginally

significant [F (1, 143) = 3.77, p = .07]. These results show that, in general, respondents were more likely to rate the information as being more relevant for female candidates than male candidates. To test for significant differences between means, we selected the pairwise comparison option in SPSS using the least significance difference test. These results show that Facebook profiles containing information related to sexual activities, alcohol use and profanity were considered less relevant than negative work-related attitudes or drug use.

To examine the relative impact of the five types of information on respondents’ intent to pursue the five job candidates, we conducted another ANOVA with repeated measures in which gender of the job candidate was entered as the between subjects variable and type of information was the within subjects variable. A significant main effect for both gender of the job candidate [F (1, 145) = 5.89, p =.016] and type of information [F (4, 145) = 6.11, p = .000] was found. The interaction between gender and type of information was not significant [F (4, 145) = .53, p = .71]. In general, respondents were more likely to pursue male candidates than female candidates. Once again, to test for significant differences between means, we selected the pairwise comparison option in SPSS using the least significance difference test. These results show that respondents were least likely to pursue job candidates with Facebook profiles containing information related to sexual activities, drug use and profanity, and most likely to purse those who included comments regarding negative work-related attitudes and alcohol use.

Finally, we conducted some post hoc analyses to determine whether our male respondents rated the candidates any differently than our female re- spondents. Two additional ANOVAs with repeated measures were conducted in which gender of the job candidate and gender of the respondent were entered as the between subjects variables and type of information was the within subjects variable. When relevance of the information was entered as the dependent variable, we found a significant

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main effect for gender of the respondent [F (1, 141) = 5.89, p =.016], gender of the job candidate [F (1, 141) = 7.91, p =.016], and type of informa- tion [F (4, 141) = 3.20, p = .013]. The interaction between type of information and gender of the job candidate was also significant [F (4, 141) = 4.21, p = .002]. These results show that female respondents, compared to male respondents, gave higher ratings regarding the relevance of all Face- book profile information (the estimated marginal means were 3.68 and 3.32 respectively, the stan- dard error for each was .11 and .10, respectively). The interaction between type of information and gender of the job candidate is shown in Figure 1. These results show that Facebook profile informa- tion regarding sexual activity is considered least relevant for male candidates but most relevant for female candidates. When intent to pursue the job candidate was entered as the dependent variable, we found a significant main effect for gender of the job candidate [F (1, 143) = 6.89, p =.01], and type of information [F (4, 143) = 5.91, p = .000]. The main effect for gender of respondent was only

marginally significant [F (1,143) = 2.77, p = .098] and there were no significant interactions.

DiScuSSioN

In this study, we examined the impact of Facebook follies, or the posting of information regard- ing unacceptable work behaviors (i.e., negative work-related attitudes, alcohol abuse, drug use, profanity, and sexual activities) on respondents’ hiring decisions for hypothetical job candidates. Our intent was to determine: who suffers the most from Facebook follies, men or women? We also wanted to determine whether one type of infor- mation was more detrimental to job candidates than another.

Our results showed that all five types of infor- mation are considered relevant by our respondents and they indicated they would be unlikely to pursue candidates who posted such information. We also found that women are more likely than men to suffer negative consequences from such profile

Figure 1. Interaction between gender of job candidate and type of Facebook information on respondents ratings of information relevance

Figure 1. Interaction Between Gender of Job Candidate and Type of Facebook Information on Respondents Ratings of Information Relevance

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

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Gender of Job Candidate

Sexual Activity Negative Attitude Drug Use

Alcohol Abuse Profanity

Male Female

Relevance of

Information

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content. Our respondents rated the Facebook in- formation as being more relevant for female job candidates than male candidates and they were also more likely to pursue male candidates than female candidates who had posted such informa- tion. Regarding type of information, our results showed that negative work-related attitudes and drug use were considered more relevant to their decision than information related to sexual ac- tivities, alcohol use and profanity. However, our respondents indicated they would be less likely to pursue job candidates with Facebook profiles containing information related to sexual activi- ties, drug use and profanity than candidates who posted comments regarding negative work-related attitudes and alcohol use. While our earlier re- search (Peluchette & Karl, 2007) found that men are more likely than women to post extreme or risqué information on their social network profiles, the results of this study suggest that women are more likely to suffer in the job market if they post such information.

Given the potentially negative consequences of social networking profile content, college and universities have a responsibility to be proac- tive in advising students as to the risks involved in how they create and use their profiles. In particular, students should be advised not to include information regarding inappropriate work-related behaviors such as drug use, alco- hol use, profanity, sexual activities, or negative work-related attitudes. Such advice should also include the recommendation that students select privacy controls which will limit who can see their profile. Because many students participate in co-ops/internships during their college years, it is important that the risks associated with social networking activity and content be addressed in freshman orientation sessions and reinforced at various points during students’ college careers. Fraternities and sororities should also be active in ensuring that their members are aware of the potentially harmful impact of such information. As social organizations, Greek life often has a

reputation for excessive alcohol use which could have particularly negative consequences for fe- males. Most importantly, career services centers on college campuses should be heavily involved in ensuring that students are aware of this issue as they prepare to transition into the workforce. In addition, faculty who teach courses focused on career preparedness should also address this as part of their curriculum.

While our study provided some valuable insight into the relationship between Facebook postings and hiring decisions, we recognize that there are limitations that provide opportunities for further research. One limitation is that this study utilized a convenience sample of graduate students some of which had little or no hiring experience. Thus, our results may not be repre- sentative of most managers who make hiring deci- sions. Future research should utilize a sample of hiring managers. Another limitation of this study is that we did not include a “normal” Facebook profile for comparison purposes. That, is we do not know whether respondents would be less likely to pursue job candidates who post information regarding drug use, alcohol use, sexual activity, profanity or negative work-related attitudes than someone who posted common socially acceptable and politically correct information (e.g., he or she likes sports, going to movies, hanging out with friends, shopping, etc.). A third limitation is that our hypothetical candidates’ Facebook profiles were developed for maximum impact. That is, a very high quantity of information related to the variable of interest (e.g., profanity, drug use, etc.) was included in the job candidates’ profiles. It is possible that a small amount of profanity, or one comment about one’s sexual activities might not affect a hiring manager’s intent to pursue a can- didate. On the other hand, any mention of drug use may result in a candidate being rejected from further consideration. To address this limitation, future research should include profiles with both low and high levels of what we have referred to as Facebook follies.

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While this study has provided useful find- ings regarding the impact of social networking profile content on the employment process, it is important that both the use and implications of social networking continue to receive research attention. Given the widespread popularity of this communication medium for young people, further research will allow insight into both the negative and positive implications of profile con- tent and activity.

reFereNceS

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