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Page 1 of 88 Abstract This thesis was inspired by the fact that the use of social media has exploded in the past years, and that organizations have increasingly started to use social media in a business context as well. The main body of research in this new area is focusing on how organizations can use social media externally, i.e. for marketing purposes. Social media is however also useful for internal purposes – to attract new employees. This thesis examines how organizations can use social media, and more specifically, social networking sites, for attraction of new employees from generation Y. Therefore this study positions itself within the field of management and leadership, and the above has lead to the following problem statement: Why can Danish organizations use the social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn for attracting new employees from generation Y, and how do these applicants perceive being attracted in this way? The theoretical framework in which the thesis investigates the problem statement consists of two parts. In the first part, the social context is explained, and the current society and the individuals that live in this society are described. Social media and social networking sites are furthermore defined. In the second theoretical part, recruitment and attraction are defined and a theoretical framework, to some extends based on the work of Ehrhart and Ziegert, is developed. The main theories that are used to are Hackman and Oldham’s job design, Vroom’s expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of culture, in combination with an in-depth study of Generation Y’s environmental characteristics, a qualitative study consisting of four interviews with members of generation Y and a quantitative study about how Danish organizations use social media. By studying the context in which generation Y lives and communicates, an understanding of generation Y is given. The outline of the concept behind expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of culture provides the reader with knowledge about what values and expectations means to the individual. When considering the knowledge about environment, generation Y’s communication form, expectations and values, in perspective to the qualitative study, it contributes with a valuable fundament for organizations about how to approach attraction of Danish generation Y members through social networking sites. Page 2 of 88 The findings were that Danish organizations can use social networking sites for attraction of new employees from generation Y, because this is where the generation is present, and furthermore this is where the generation expects to be approached. The individuals generally perceive the use of social networking sites for attraction positively, but there are some restrictions. It was found that Facebook can be used for attraction as well, but this site is perceived as a predominantly private platform, and so the use of this site should be followed by some precautions. The use of LinkedIn was perceived very positively, and organizations can and should use LinkedIn for attraction of employees. It is furthermore argued that the use of social networking sites for attraction will increase in the future, and so this is an area that should receive more attention from researchers in the future. Page 3 of 88 Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7 1.1 Problem statement and research questions .......................................................................... 8 1.2 Elaboration of research questions ......................................................................................... 8 1.4 Delimitation ............................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2 - Method..................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Requirements for sources..................................................................................................... 11 2.3 Criticism of sources and choice of interviewees ................................................................. 12 2.4 The focused interview ........................................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Stimuli ........................................................................................................................................... 14 2.4.1.1 Why stimuli............................................................................................................................. 14 2.4.1.2 Stimuli 1 - KMD ..................................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1.3 Stimuli 2 - Ernst & Young ...................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Evaluation criteria for the study ......................................................................................... 16 2.5.1 Generalization .............................................................................................................................. 16 2.5.2 Validity.......................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3 – Social media and social networking sites............................................................. 18 3.1 Moving from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0........................................................................................ 18 3.2 Social media........................................................................................................................... 19 3.3 Social networking sites ......................................................................................................... 21 3.3.2 The history of social networking sites ........................................................................................ 23 3.4 Facebook ................................................................................................................................ 24 3.4.2 Facebook in Denmark.................................................................................................................. 25 3.4.3 How Facebook can be used in a business context ..................................................................... 26 3.5 LinkedIn ................................................................................................................................ 26 3.5.2 What LinkedIn can be used for .................................................................................................. 26 3.5.3 LinkedIn in Denmark .................................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 4 – Theoretical part I................................................................................................... 28 4.1 The Hypermodern society and the hypermodern individual............................................ 28 4.2 Generation Y ......................................................................................................................... 29 4.2.1 Generation Y and the labour market......................................................................................... 31 4.2.2 Active and passive job seekers .................................................................................................... 32 4.2.3 Technology and generation Y ..................................................................................................... 33 Page 4 of 88 4.2.4 Personal Branding ....................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.5 How Generation Y communicates online .................................................................................. 35 4.2.6 Motivation and job design........................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 5 – Theoretical part II ................................................................................................. 37 5.1 Recruitment ........................................................................................................................... 37 5.2 Attraction............................................................................................................................... 38 5.3 Why are individuals attracted to organizations?............................................................... 39 5.3.1 The Environment processing metatheory.................................................................................. 40 5.3.1.1 The exposure-attitude hypothesis ........................................................................................... 41 5.3.1.2 Expectancy theory................................................................................................................... 41 5.4 The effect of culture .............................................................................................................. 42 5.4.1 Schein ............................................................................................................................................ 42 5.4.1.1 Artifacts................................................................................................................................... 43 5.4.1.2 Espoused Values ..................................................................................................................... 44 5.4.1.3 Basic assumptions ................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 6 – Empirical data........................................................................................................ 46 6.1 The qualitative study ............................................................................................................ 46 6.1.1 The interviewees........................................................................................................................... 46 6.1.2 Why and what Facebook and LinkedIn are used for ............................................................... 47 6.1.3 Perceptions about using Facebook for attracting employees................................................... 48 6.1.4 Perceptions about using LinkedIn for attracting employees ................................................... 50 6.2 Social media factbook – a qualitative study about the use of social media in Danish businesses..................................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 7 – Discussion ............................................................................................................... 53 7.1 Four interviews, one generation .................................................................................................... 53 7.2 Generation Y is online .................................................................................................................... 53 7.3 Brand Y-ourself............................................................................................................................... 55 7.4 Generation Y communicates online .............................................................................................. 56 7.5 What motivates generation Y ........................................................................................................ 58 7.6 What is important for Generation Y when choosing a job ......................................................... 59 7.7 Generation ‘always job seeking’.................................................................................................... 60 7.8 Summing up I .................................................................................................................................. 62 7.9 Will exposure lead to improved attitudes? ................................................................................... 63 7.10 Expectations of Generation Y ...................................................................................................... 64 7.11 Danish organizations’ expectations to their presence on social networking sites................... 66 7.12 The influence of values ................................................................................................................. 67 7.13 Summing up II............................................................................................................................... 70 7.14 A humble look into the crystal ball ............................................................................................. 71 Chapter 8 - Conclusion............................................................................................................... 74 Page 5 of 88 Chapter 9 - References and Appendices ................................................................................... 77 9.1 References.............................................................................................................................. 77 9.2 Appendix I – Quick Facebook Manual ............................................................................... 85 9.3 Appendix II – Screenshots of KMD and Ernst & Young.................................................. 86 9.4 Appendix III – Interview guide ........................................................................................... 87 Characters excl. blanks = 143.995 Standard pages (2200 characters excl. blanks) = 65,5 Page 6 of 88 Chapter 1 – Introduction One of today’s most contemporary subjects is the massive use of social media amongst generation Y, the generation born between 1975 and 1990, all over the world. Social media used to be a private platform, where individuals met to socialize, but an increased number of organizations have realized the many possibilities this media contains. For many, it has turned out to be a huge challenge and there is not much help to get yet, because this new subject has not been investigated in depth by many researchers. Our objective was to study a contemporary and relevant subject where it could be possible to find new knowledge that could be used as a tool in organizations, and social media satisfies this objective. Due to the financial crisis, organizations have limited resources, which forces many to rethink their recruitment strategies. Only few vacancies are created, and with a lot of unemployed workers in the job market, it puts a lot of pressure on organizations to find effective ways to find the most suited for a job in the mass of job seekers. Because of the crisis, organizations are no longer in the situation that only few and mostly competent people are applying for a job, and so they need to find new ways to attract the most competent people. Today’s generation Y has been claimed to be a young, somewhat spoiled and demanding generation who expect to have it all. They want the perfect career, personal development, various challenges and acknowledgment from their boss and colleagues. But this generation is much more than that - they are an indispensable generation that can contribute with a lot of knowledge to the workplace. This generation is associated with a digital lifestyle, since an integrated part of their life is taking place on online social networking sites, which is part of the new Web 2.0. This digital environment makes it possible to connect with others through online communication, which includes sharing, collaborating and creating a user generated content. This indispensable generation in combination with Web 2.0, make up two perfect ingredients for recruiters communication channels, but there are also a number of pitfalls that the organizations must be aware of if they should avoid to harm the organizations reputation. Before any organization engages within attraction through social networking sites, it is important for them to understand how to act in this media, by understanding the concept behind it. It is furthermore Page 7 of 88 important to know how and why generation Y acts and communicates as they do, and understand what affects them, in order to know how to approach them in the most efficient way. These thoughts have resulted in the following problem statement: 1.1 Problem statement and research questions Why can Danish organizations use the social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn for attracting new employees from generation Y, and how do these applicants perceive being attracted in this way? To answer our problem statement we will work with the following research questions: • What kind of society are we living in today and how has this society influenced the popularity of social networking sites? • Who is generation Y and what is important to know about this generation when wanting to attract them? • In which way do values and expectations influence attraction through social networking sites? • How do potential employees from generation Y perceive organizations’ use of social networking sites for attraction? 1.2 Elaboration of research questions The aim of this section is to elaborate on the above research questions and thus give the reader an understanding of our approach to working with the problem statement: “What kind of society are we living in today and how has this society influenced the popularity of social networking sites?” The first question is a theoretical question, aiming at developing the reader’s understanding of the world that generation Y is currently living in. This is done in order to understand the rising popularity of social networking sites and why they are relevant for attraction of new employees. Page 8 of 88 “Who is generation Y and what is important to know about this generation when wanting to attract them?” is both a theoretical and an empirical question, since it will be answered by combining the theoretical framework about Generation Y with data from the qualitative study. “In which way do values and expectations influence attraction through social networking sites?” is both a theoretical and empirical question that will focus on how values and expectations can influence attraction through social networking sites. To answer this question, Vroom’s expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of culture will be used. “How do potential employees from generation Y perceive organizations’ use of social networking sites for attraction?” This is an empirical question, based on a qualitative study. In this question the presented theories will actively be used to discuss our primary data which is a research based on four interviews with generation Y. 1.4 Delimitation Social media in the workplace is a new area of study that has emerged in the last decade, and so there are a lot of uncovered areas that could be interesting to examine. Especially in the areas of marketing and communication, social media has received a lot of attention and entire books have been written on the subject of attracting and interacting with customers through social media (e.g. Safko & Brake, 2009). In our opinion, it is just as interesting to investigate how social media can be used within an organization for attraction of employees, and so this is where the focus of this thesis will be. We are living and studying in Denmark, and since this is most likely the place where we will get our first job, we have decided to delimitate the geographical region to Denmark. Compared to the development in the US and UK, Denmark is traditionally a couple of years ‘behind’ in some areas and so the situation in Denmark could be different from the US. Since most of the literature written on social media and recruitment as well as attraction is written in either the US or the UK, this is important to keep in mind when evaluating the Danish conditions. Social media is a broad term that covers many different things, which could be relevant to study. We have decided to focus on social networking sites, and more specifically on Facebook and LinkedIn, since these are the most widely used sites with respectively 2.6 million and 0.5 million Page 9 of 88 users in Denmark. Furthermore, both of these sites can be used for attraction of employees. In articles about social media and attraction from the United States, the social networking site Twitter is furthermore often focused on. Twitter is very popular in the US, where it is estimated that 50% of the population have an account. However, Twitter is less popular in Denmark, and recent numbers show that only 28.000 Danes have an account, which corresponds to a mere 0,5% of the population. Furthermore, only 416 of the profiles account for 50% of the tweets, which is a very skewed distribution (Juul, 2011). One of the reasons for the lack of popularity of Twitter according to a Danish IT-expert is that we simply do not need Twitter in Denmark, and furthermore that it can be very difficult to limit what you want to say to 140 characters. Based on this knowledge, we have decided to exclude Twitter from our thesis, since we do not believe that Twitter will have enough power in Denmark to make a difference anytime soon. Finally, it has been decided to focus mainly on Generation Y in relation to this study. The reason for this is that this generation is the main target group for organizations when using social networking sites for attraction, since they use social networking sites the most, and furthermore are generally more open to new trends than older generations. Page 10 of 88 Chapter 2 - Method The aim of this chapter is to give the reader insight into the considerations that are the foundation of the approach used concerning the collection and analysis of empirical data. First, different problems concerning the data collection will be discussed. Then the type of data the study is based on will be described, and relevant problems will be discussed in relation to the use of the sources. Finally, the research design of the study will be described and a discussion of the study’s generalization and validity will be provided. 2.1 Data collection An inductive approach will be used for the study’s basis. This will be based on collection of empirical data, and then discussed based on different theories. The purpose of this approach is that reality will be met with as open a mind as possible, where all relevant data is collected and then systematized. It is on the basis of this approach that theories are found (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p.29). Thus, the aim of this approach is to avoid limitations to the information gathered. By not having any preconceived ideas or expectations, it increases the possibility of obtaining data that correctly reflects reality in a given context (ibid, p. 25). However, it is never possible to completely ignore ones preconceived ideas or expectations, and consequently the researcher will always to some degree influence collected data. According to Dag Ingvar Jacobsen (2005, p.30) it is impossible to completely remove the relation between researchers and researched object (ibid). Because data in this thesis is mainly gathered from interviews, the relationship between researcher and the interviewee is obvious. The researcher will always affect the interviewee to some degree, so the researcher will influence the interviewee’s answers; and depending on who the researcher is, this will influence the possibility to replicate the study. 2.2 Requirements for sources The data collected from the interviewees should meet certain requirements. Clearly, the interviewees should belong to the investigated field. By this is meant that all interviewees should be Danish citizens, part of Generation Y and active users of the social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn. These restrictions were made in order to increase validity of the data collected. With reference to the study’s few criteria, there is an open approach to the problem Page 11 of 88 field and it is interviews made in an objective way that decides the type of information achieved. Therefore is it expected that a qualitative approach will have a high degree of conceptual validity (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p.129). It is the concrete subject investigated, which to a great extend defines the true understanding of the phenomenon, namely attraction of new employees through social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn. The selection of the data is done through qualitative methods. The strength of this approach is the way it helps to understand the underlying structures in the construction of social phenomena and the different variations in this field (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p.31). 2.3 Criticism of sources and choice of interviewees Part of the thesis is based on four interviews with people from generation Y that have almost finished their education and therefore will soon start looking for their first job. These interviews can be categorized as primary data, since we as researchers have collected information for the thesis directly from the subject of the study - in this case, the interviewees. By choosing this method there are some limitations that should be noted. Due to the time and resource limitations of a bachelor study, it was only possible to carry out four interviews, which could be argued to be a small sample for Generation Y in Denmark. However, since the studied subject – social networking sites – is something that most people have knowledge and an opinion about, we think that four interviews are sufficient to provide us with the data needed for this thesis. Another limitation is that all interviewees are students who have not been on the job market yet, and their perspective as to how they will be attracted to organizations through social networking sites might differ from people who have are already employed. It could also be an issue that only people with an academic background have been interviewed, which might influence the way people answer and it might therefore be questionable if the findings also apply to people who do not have an academic background. Questions to the interviewees are directed to the problem that the researchers wants to investigate (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p. 137). The interviewees are therefore focused on the problem field and this provides a good foundation for the information collected (Ibid, p.164). In many cases it is difficult to collect useful data directly from the source (Ibid, p. 163), but this is not the case in Page 12 of 88 this study, since it is easy to get in contact with individuals from generation Y and most of these individuals have a profound knowledge about the studied subject. Finally, we would like to comment on the sources that have been used for this thesis. Books and scholarly articles have been used for the foundation of the thesis, but we have also decided to use a number of online sources, since this is a subject in rapid development, and so the newest and most up-to-date knowledge is found online. The validity of the information in the online sources could be an issue, since it is often difficult to validate the authors, but we have only used online sources that in our opinion are trustworthy. 2.4 The focused interview How a study is designed will influence the reliability, since it can influence the results of the thesis, and the reliability can affect the consistency of the analysis (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p.87). In order to highlight the consistency of the analysis, it was decided to use a semi-structured design for the study, which is also called a focused interview. By using the semi-structured data collection, we on beforehand had good ideas of what to talk to the interviewees about, since we had prepared a number of guiding questions on beforehand. However, we also chose to be flexible, so we could improvise during the interview if we felt it would contribute to our analysis (Flick, 2006). First, the interviewees were asked some general questions to get to know them, and then the question turned to the main subject – attraction to organizations through social networking sites. After some general questions we presented the interviewees with stimuli in the form of two Facebook pages of Danish companies, which was used to give the interviewees a more clear idea about attraction through Facebook, in order to ask some more specific questions. The next section will provide more detailed information about these stimuli. In the end, the interviewees were asked some general questions about values and trust. Before conducting the interview, we realized that there are some issues that need to be taken into account. First of all, it is not possible to conduct the interviews in the same way, since different settings can influence the situation in which the interview are held, which might affect the outcome. Furthermore, there are no rules about how the interviewer should behave during a semi-structured interview, so the outcome will depend on the interviewer’s situational competences (Flick, 2006, p.154). In order to make the interview situations as similar as Page 13 of 88 possible, we decided that the same person should carry out all four interviews. In order to prevent misunderstandings and because most people are more comfortable in their native language, we furthermore chose to perform the interviews in Danish, even though our thesis is written in English. This implies that the quotes we have used have been translated from Danish to English, which could provide the analysis with some uncertainty. For the purpose of analyzing the interviews, they have been transcribed. The transcription of the interviews is not included, but it can be provided on request. 2.4.1 Stimuli One of the characteristics of a focused interview is that the interviewees are often provided with stimuli (Flick, 2006, p. 150). In our interview this was done by showing the interviewees stimuli in the form of two Facebook-pages of Danish companies that actively use Facebook for attracting and recruiting new employees. The following sections will explain why we chose to use this form of stimuli, and some basic information about the two companies and why they were chosen. Screen-print of how the pages look can be found in the appendix. 2.4.1.1 Why stimuli We decided to use stimuli in our interviews because the idea of using Facebook for attraction of new employees is still relatively new and unknown, and we wanted to give the interviewees a clearer idea of how Facebook can and is used in this context. Before showing the interviewees the stimuli, they were asked if they could imagine finding their first fulltime job through Facebook. This was done to get an idea of the interviewees’ general opinions on the matter before influencing them with the stimuli, because one of the problems by using stimuli is that it provides the interviewees with some bias, since it influences their perception about the given field (Flick, 2006, p.154). If they answered positively to the question, they were furthermore asked how they thought they could find a job on Facebook, in order to see if they already had some knowledge on the subject. After viewing the stimuli, the interviewees were asked about their first impression of the Facebook pages and the companies, and if the stimuli had changed something with regards to finding a fulltime job on Facebook. Page 14 of 88 2.4.1.2 Stimuli 1 - KMD The first page that was shown to our interviewees was that of Danish company KMD. KMD (Kommunedata) is a Danish IT-company specialized in developing IT solutions for both municipalities, the state and businesses. KMD launched their Facebook page in December 2010 and call it their ‘preferred networking- and recruitment-channel for students and newly educated people’. We spoke to representatives of the company at a career fair, “Karrieredagene”, in Aarhus on March 9, and they told us that their main reason for being present on Facebook was to be visible and let people know that they exist and to give people an opportunity to ask questions. The main people behind the page are a young, female intern and her boss, who see Facebook as a great way to reach out to a lot of especially younger people and also to remove some of the prejudices that people might have towards the company. We chose this page as our main stimuli because we think it is very well executed and a prime example of how a company can use Facebook for attraction of new employees. The page consists of a lot more than just a wall. As can be seen on the screenshots in the appendix, KMD also shows some pictures of their offices, and on the right side of the page they have several subpages, with a list of events and available jobs, but also with advice on how to make a good CV and information about a student network. 2.4.1.3 Stimuli 2 - Ernst & Young The second page that was shown to the interviewees was that of the Danish department of Ernst & Young, one of the leading global auditor companies. Ernst & Young’s Facebook page was launched on March 16, 2011. The company writes on the page that they decided to be present on Facebook in order to meet their audience on their ‘home ground’. This page was chosen as a second form of stimuli, to give the interviewees an even clearer picture of the usage of Facebook for attracting and recruiting employees, and to show that very diverse companies use Facebook for this matter. Furthermore, since Ernst & Young’s Facebook page is relatively new, it is also rather basic, and thus it would be interesting to see if the interviewees had different opinions on the two pages, and if the fact that Ernst &Young’s page was basic would be perceived negatively. Page 15 of 88 2.5 Evaluation criteria for the study Unlike the evaluation criteria of a quantitative study, the qualitative study does not have a number of guidelines to ensure the quality of the study. Therefore we have chosen to adopt Kvales’ way of evaluating qualitative studies, since he believes that the terms replication and validity in a conceptualized form can be relevant for the evaluation of interviews. Therefore the understanding of the verification of this study takes its “starting point in the life-world and daily language, where questions about reliable observations, about valid arguments and the reliability from the individual case to the second step in the daily social interaction” (Kvale, 1997, p. 227). 2.5.1 Generalization When trying to understand the ability to replicate the study, Kvale argues that there can be taken an analytical generalization (Kvale, 1997, p. 228). This type of generalization uses a logic, which emphasizes that one statement saying that things are in one way, does not exclude the opportunity that things could also be in another way. By taking a look at the conditions for this thesis, generally it can be argued that the findings in the study can be seen as legitimate, except for two problems. The first is that the investigation has only taken place amongst people who are still studying. This means that this group could have another approach to the way they are going to find a job than people who are already on the job market, because they do not have a large network to rely on yet. It is possible that other people representing generation Y would approach job seeking in another way, than people going to find their first job, but common for both the students and the working individuals in generation Y is that they are active users of social networking sites and therefore it can be argued that the relation to social media should be the same amongst all these individuals, and since this is the primary study field, this issue should not be a problem. The other problem that should be highlighted is that we only performed four semi-structured focus interviews. Related to this we would like to emphasize that we tried to raise the level of the investigation by interviewing students from three different study areas – two business administration bachelor students, one language master student and one business administration master student. 2.5.2 Validity Related to social research, many researchers have abandoned the idea about describing society in an objective way (D. I. Jacobsen, 2005, p. 214). In this context it is referred to as interPage 16 of 88 subjectivity, which means that it is the closest that we will ever get to the truth, dependent on several individuals agreeing that something is a true description. Considering the validity, we have used the interviewees’ own interpretation resources, which means that we through the interview sometimes rephrased some of the interviewees’ statements during the interview, in order to ensure that our interpretation of what was said, is conform to that of the interviewees. Another aspect when trying to increase the validity of a study deals with the problem that interviewees might not always answer honestly and in depth to the asked questions. This is something we as interviewers have been especially concerned about. Therefore, our interviews took place in quiet environments to ensure the privacy of our interviewees and to make sure they would not feel uncomfortable about expressing their subjective meaning. The interviews were held in different settings that we let the interviewees choose in order to make them feel as relaxed as possible. All our interviewees seemed relaxed and at easy throughout the interview, so we believe that we succeeded in making our interviewees comfortable and thus ensure that they were honest and answered our questions in depth. Page 17 of 88 Chapter 3 – Social media and social networking sites The aim of this chapter is to give the reader an overview of the evolution that has happened online in the last decade, which is important to get a more holistic overview of social media, and more specifically the rise in popularity of social networking sites. Furthermore, the terms social media and social networking sites will be defined and explained thoroughly, and finally the history of social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn, including how these sites are used and their popularity in Denmark, will be brought to light. 3.1 Moving from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 As Newman and Thomas (2009, p. 6) argue, “the line between what Web 2.0 is and what it isn’t is very unclear and open to interpretation. It encompasses a set of attitudes, ideas, and thoughts rather than definitive technologies”. Therefore, deciding on an accurate definition of Web 2.0 is difficult, and consequently the following will explain the idea of what Web 2.0 is, rather than defining it. O’Reilly coined the term Web 2.0 for the first time during a conference in late 2003 in the realm of the burst of the dot-com bubble (O'Peilly, 2005). While the name might give the impression that Web 2.0 is an entirely new version of the Internet, this is not the case. Brennan argues that the term Web 2.0 describes the evolution of the Internet from a static environment that focused on one-way provision or receipt of information (what is popularly called Web 1.0) to an interactive community where it is possible for users to communicate, share, post, blog, and create content in real time (Brennan, 2010, p.8-12). Basically, Web 1.0 was about massive amounts of data, while the new Web 2.0 is about massive amounts of content (Newman & Thomas, 2009, p.13). Tapscott and Williams use metaphors to illustrate the difference: “Think of the first iteration of the Web as a digital newspaper. You could open its pages and observe its information, but you couldn’t modify or interact with it. … The new Web is fundamentally different in both its architecture and applications. Instead of a digital newspaper, think of a shared canvas where every splash of paint contributed by one user provides a richer tapestry for the next user to modify or build on. … the new Web is principally about participating rather than about passively Page 18 of 88 receiving information.” (Tapscott & Williams, 2006, p.37) There are three trends that are the main cause of this transition from a static to a collaborative web (A. McAfee, 2009). The first is the emergence of free and easy platforms for communication and interaction, such as software tools for starting a blog, which made it possible for people without technical expertise to start creating content online. The second trend is the move away from imposed structure to lack thereof, which made it possible for the masses and not just a few individuals to decide what is ‘best’. Finally, the third trend is the mechanisms created to let structure emerge again. These last two are best illustrated by an example, namely the shift from using Yahoo, which let taxonomists1 create and update the structure of the search engine, to Google, where, among others, the number of times a web site is linked to by other web sites decides its popularity. As can be seen from the above, explaining exactly what Web 2.0 is and how and when it emerged is not easy, since it is not something tangible that can be described precisely – and it has not been an obvious shift. To make it more concrete, prominent examples of sites that represent Web 2.0 include Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube and Google (O'Reilly, 2005). Especially Wikipedia, sometimes called “one of the leaders in the Web 2.0 space”, is often highlighted as a prime example of Web 2.0 (Newman & Thomas, 2009, p.7). However, Wikipedia only covers certain aspects of Web 2.0. Experts on the subject of social media have used what they call ‘the 4Cs’ to describe the idea of what Web 2.0 is all about: Communication, connection, cooperation and collaboration (Cook, 2008, p.13). Wikipedia covers the two latter, namely cooperation and collaboration, where communication and connection is more about individuals and their desire to interact with their surroundings. A main example of platforms where communication and connection are in the centre, are social media and social networking sites, and these subjects will be covered in the following. 3.2 Social media The concept of social media is of increased interest to many organizations, as they try to identify how to make profitable use of these media. This raises the question: What exactly is social media? 1 Taxonomy is the classification of things. Page 19 of 88 Safko & Brake define social media as “activities, practices, and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media, which are Web-based applications that make it possible to create and easily transmit content in the form of words, pictures, videos, and audios” (Safko & Brake, 2009, p.6). This definition should provide the reader with an initial idea of what exactly social media comprises of, and is worth keeping in mind in the following, where social media will be discussed. As mentioned in the above section, it was in the early stages of communicating through the web only possible to express oneself statically in one-way written form, without the opportunity to participate in online dialogue. This communication form recently shifted, and it is now possible for users to participate in dynamic online conversations, so there has been a shift from one-way communication to dialogue (Beer & Burrows, 2007). These new technologies are becoming increasingly popular in organizations, which is noteworthy, since it is already possible to communicate in many other ways, for instance by use of phone, e-mail, mail and instant messaging. Social media have the ability to knit people together through online platforms in a much boarder context and target numerous of people globally when sharing information and providing feedback (A. P. McAfee, 2006, p.21-28). In online social platforms it allows users to participate actively in discussions and debates, and at the same time, sharing the posted information with others watching in the network and thereby is gaining insight into the shared thoughts, views, information and personal details (Beer & Burrows, 2007). Communicating on the internet has changed dramatically during recent years; today it is easier than ever for ordinary people to participate in discussions online through social media and it is no longer only a possibility for experts and IT programmers. The use of social media is simple and accessible to everybody (Tapscott & Williams, 2006). The fact that social media is available to everybody and not only IT experts, makes it a media, which content is highly user-generated. The online content is added by various types of people, and contributes to a diverse online community that has never been seen before (Baumann, 2006). One of the most important points to notice when talking about social media is the collaboration amongst various people. Page 20 of 88 If the above findings are compared to the definition of social media provided in the beginning of the section, the definition turns out to fit very well. It is mentioned that social media takes place online, and that it is possible to share information, knowledge and opinions. What this definition lacks is the fact that social network is able to target in broad contexts and that its content is characterized by being user-generated. To sum it up, social media consists of activities, practices, and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media, which are Web-based applications that make it possible to create and easily transmit content in the form of words, pictures, videos, and audios. It furthermore has the ability to target people in broader contexts and the content of the social network is characterized by being usergenerated. According to Kaplan and Haenlein, social media can be classified into six categories. These categories - with examples of the categories in brackets - are blogs, collaborative projects (Wikipedia), social networking sites (Facebook), content communities (YouTube), virtual social worlds (Second Life), and virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft) (A. M. Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 59-68). Clearly, some of them are more relevant for organizations than others. Thetype of social media that has gained most attention by organizations recently is without a doubt social networking sites, and so the rest of this thesis will focus on this part of social media. 3.3 Social networking sites As argued previously, the focus on this thesis will be on Facebook and LinkedIn, two of the most well-known social networking sites. Therefore it is relevant to get a clearer understanding of what exactly a social networking site is, and this will be elaborated on in the following. Social networking sites are platforms that encourage its users to participate actively by creating personal profiles containing information about them, which is done through the social networking sites where it is possible for the individual to invite their network of friends and colleagues to join and gain access to each other’s profiles. An important key in those networks is the ability to send e-mails and start instant message conversations with the “friends” inside the network (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Page 21 of 88 Today there exist hundreds of social networking sites focusing on different interests, and these sites have attracted millions of users, most of which are visiting the sites at least once a day. The sites have individually purposes, some focus on maintaining pre-existing networks, while others connect people who do not know each other, but share common characteristics like political view, sexuality, religion, or nationality. The social networking sites also vary in the extend they makes it possible for the user to post pictures or communicate or share video and photos online. When joining a social network site, the user is asked to fill out questions about him- or herself, often about age, location, interests, and a more broad section where it is possible to describe yourself. A profile is then created based on the provided information. It furthermore varies how the possibilities are in relation to make the profiles public or not. A site like Facebook has features where you can hide some parts of your profile to strangers and thereby only share information with the approved network. Social networking sites have become a global phenomena (D. M. Boyd & Ellison, 2007), where one of the main privileges is the focus on the friendships developed, but also the importance of strengthening existing relationships is a premise for using social networking sites (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Boyd argues that the currency of social networking sites is based on the online relationship with friends, this include old classmates, offline friends, colleagues, corporations or brands, family and lovers. She believes that the main difference between offline and online friendships is the degree of emotional involvement, because with offline friends there is a tendency to create more emotional, supportive friendships containing trust (D. Boyd, 2006). The online relationships do not take as much effort from the individual to maintain, since it only needs little performance in the online forum (Tong, Heide, & Langwell, 2008). To sum up the characteristics of social networking sites, it is found that these sites give a persons network access to its online life where it is possible to interact actively. The different sites have some individual purposes and many of them share common characteristics. In some networks it is possible to maintain the information shared. Social networking sites do not have any geographical limitations. There are a big difference in the relationship to online and offline friends, since the offline friendships requires much more emotional involvement than the online relationships. Page 22 of 88 If these characteristics of social networking sites are compared to Kaplan and Haenlein’s definition of social networking sites, it can be discovered that both the findings and the definition emphasize that the way of sharing personal information is an important part. Next it is important that there exists a relation to friends and colleagues, and it is furthermore required that it is possible to interact. What the definition does not express is the degree of emotional involvement, which should also be considered. 3.3.2 The history of social networking sites Now that the reader has been provided with an idea of what a social networking site is, it is relevant to briefly turn to the history of social networking sites, since a basic knowledge of where and when social networking sites emerged, will give a further understanding of the phenomenon. The term social networking site may only have been widely known and used for a couple of years, but the concept is nothing new. The first social networking sites with profile pages and friends connections were introduces as early as 1995 in the US, the most noticeable and still existing today, being Classmates.com (Shih, 2010). The next major evolution in the area was in 2002 when Friendster.com was launched. Where Classmates.com was intended to keep in touch with former classmates, i.e. people one already knew, Friendster.com wanted to help people create an entirely new network online (Newman & Thomas, 2009, p.42). Since 2002, things have speeded up, as the overview of launch dates of major social networking sites on the next page clearly shows, and today hundreds of different social networking sites exist. Which site is the most popular differs across the globe, and many countries have their own social networking sites. Denmark is no exception, with the most popular site probably being Arto, an online meeting place, predominantly used by children and teenagers. Page 23 of 88 Figure 1: Boyd and Ellison (2007) Since many organizations in today’s business environment are multinational or global, it makes most sense to look at social networking sites that are popular around the world – and here two sites have clearly emerged - Facebook and LinkedIn. Therefore, the focus in the rest of the thesis will be on these two sites. 3.4 Facebook Facebook is the world’s largest global social networking site, both in terms of number of users and time spent on the site (Shih, 2010). The site defines itself as “a social utility that helps Page 24 of 88 people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers” (Facebook, 2011a). Facebook was launched by Harvard-student Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004 (Facebook, 2011a) and was originally intended to be a study network only for Harvard students. Later on it was expanded to include first other Ivy League universities, then all universities and colleges in the US, and finally the public. This procedure is often highlighted as one of the main reasons for Facebook’s popularity, since it created a feeling of exclusiveness and trustworthiness around the brand (Shih, 2010). Today, Facebook has more than 500 million active users, defined as users who have returned to the site within the last 30 days (Facebook, 2011a). This number is likely to continue to increase in the next years, as it is commonly known that success begets more success, especially in this case, since a site’s value for users increases exponentially with the number of users involved (Shih, 2010). 3.4.2 Facebook in Denmark Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site in Denmark. The newest figures as of March 2011 estimate that more than 2.6 million Danes are now on Facebook, which corresponds to almost 50% of the total population (SocialBakers, 2011). Figure 2, the pie-chart of the agedistribution of Danish Facebook users shows that all age groups of the Danish population are actively using Facebook, but the main age-groups are people aged 18-24, 25-34 and 35-44. The Page 25 of 88 focus of this thesis is on Generation Y, which mainly represent the age groups 18-24 and 25-34, with 21% and 23% of the total users, respectively. 3.4.3 How Facebook can be used in a business context Facebook provides a platform for users, so they can quickly connect with their family, friends, co-workers etc. in various network groups. In the business context, Facebook can be used for networking, intercompany communication, and to organize and track events (Safko & Brake, 2009, p.452). Facebook is often seen as belonging to people’s private lives, but what makes it valuable for organizations as well, is the number of people using it. Especially in countries like Denmark, where half of the population is online, it provides an opportunity to reach out to a lot of people. 3.5 LinkedIn LinkedIn is a social networking site, and the world’s largest professional network (LinkedIn, 2010). Reid Hoffman and four co-workers officially launched the site in California in 2003, which means that the company is in fact older than its competitor, Facebook. In the last couple of years, LinkedIn has seen an explosive growth in its member numbers. At the end of 2003, LinkedIn had 81.000 members in the network that quickly evolved to 4 million members in December 2005, which grew tenfold to 40 million members in May 2009 (LinkedIn, 2010; LinkedIn, 2011b). Today (Spring 2011), LinkedIn has more than 90 million members in over 200 countries and on average, a new member joins every second of every day, or approximately one million every 12 days (LinkedIn, 2011a). 3.5.2 What LinkedIn can be used for During the 8 years that have passed since LinkedIn was launched, a lot has happened on the site. In March 2005, LinkedIn Jobs was launched and made it possible for employers to post job positions online (LinkedIn, 2011b). Today, LinkedIn has a whole site dedicated to the attraction of new talent – talent.linkedin.com. But LinkedIn is about much more than just attracting new talent. The primary purpose of the site is to provide an online professional contact database of its members, and allow these members to link their profilers to other professionals that they know and trust (Safko & Brake, 2009, p.54). This implies that the target network is business professionals, and users tend to skew older than on other social networking sites, with an average Page 26 of 88 age of 40. In contrast to Facebook, people do not spend a lot of time engaging on LinkedIn, instead they “log in occasionally to accept or initiate a connect request, search for people or send a message” (Shih, 2010). As with most other social networking sites, LinkedIn has endless opportunities. The site’s main feature is the possibility for members to find jobs and business opportunities in response to recommendations from a contact. Employers can furthermore list job opportunities and search for potential candidates, while job seekers can review the profiles of the person who is hiring to see if they are connected. (Safko & Brake, 2009, p. 56) 3.5.3 LinkedIn in Denmark According to Quantcast, Denmark has over 550.000 members on LinkedIn as of January 2011, which is the 14th highest measured on number of members (Quantcast, 2011). However, when taking into account that Denmark has a population of approximately 5,5 million members (Center for borger.dk, 2011), this means that more than 10% of the Danish population has a profile on LinkedIn today. In comparison, the number for the United States is 9% (27,7 million people of a population of 307 million have a profile) (U.S Census Bureau, 2010) – so a higher percentage of Danes than Americans, are now connected to LinkedIn. Page 27 of 88 Chapter 4 – Theoretical part I In order to understand why social networking sites have potential for attracting new employees, it is important to be aware of the social context in which social media has been developed and used, which will be the topic of this chapter. The chapter will define the hypermodern society and the hypermodern individual, before explaining who Generation Y is, how they communicate, what motivates them and what is important to them in relation to the workplace, which will be used in the discussion in chapter 7. 4.1 The Hypermodern society and the hypermodern individual According to the French author Gilles Lipovetsky, the post modern period is over, and instead the current society is in the hypermodern period. Lipovetsky describes the hyper modern society in the following way: “Hypermodernity is a liberal society characterized by movement, fluidity and flexibility, detached as never before from the great structuring principles of modernity, which have been forced to adapt to the rhythm of hypermodernity so as not to disappear” (Lipovetsky, 2005, p.11) The sentence stating “detached as never before from the great structuring principles of modernity” means that the new generation mainly consists of independent individuals that do not rely on old norms and traditions. Their main focus is on themselves and they do not care very much about other people compared to previous generations. As is stated directly, the society has become liberalistic, and values flexibility and changes. The main focus of the hypermodern society is on what is happening now as opposed to what will happen tomorrow. The individual in the hypermodern society does not like to focus on the future, because he sees it as unpredictable and, as Lipovetsky states, because: “the present is increasingly lived out in a sense of insecurity” (Lipovetsky, 2005, p.39). However, recent events have made the individuals in the hypermodern society concerned about the future – examples include the financial crisis and globalization, which forces the individuals to be ready for changes. The implications of this are that the hypermodern individual has to be ready for changes, and thereby they focus on the presence. Lipovetsky describes the modern individual with reference to Page 28 of 88 the Greek Narcissus, because of the individuals’ anxiety and fear. In Greek mythology, Narcissus was incredibly handsome, but also very selfish, and he rejected those who approached him. In the end, his self-centeredness punished him, and he was doomed to stare at himself in a mirror for all eternity. Lipovetsky uses this story to demonstrate how the hyper modern individuals are egocentric and focused on themselves. On a more positive note, this however also results in them being a flexible and efficient generation (Lipovetsky, 2005, p.11). Despite these big shifts in society, some things have not changed, because the individual’s need as a heard animal still exists. People still feel the need to collaborate with others and to be part of a community. Because of the huge changes in society and the development of computers and the Internet, the hypermodern individuals have found new ways to fulfil this need – online. The way the hypermodern individual communicates online is illustrated in the following citation: “We are living in a time where people are chasing the 15 MB of fame. “I will be seen, therefore I am” in many ways seems to be the modern rule for living. Whether it is in tv-shows such as X Factor, De unge mødre (The young mothers), By på skrump (‘Shrinking’ town), Sandhedens time (Moment of truth) etc. or on the internet through diary-blogs, Broadcast Yourself on YouTube or through the numerous confession-sites out there. (…) The diary has moved away from the paper and onto Facebook and the many diary-blogs; the confession chair has moved away from the church, the partner and the best friend and onto the digital media. (…) We are chasing the feeling of solidarity out there. We are chasing attention. (…) We are more than ever in love with ourselves and have got all the opportunities to worship it and go crazy on all kinds of platforms.” (Kromann & Jonsson, 2010, p.73). What is especially important to notice from this is that it underlines that the individuals in the hypermodern society are tempted to use social media to create an identity and to cover their social needs. It is also used to network and to promote themselves. 4.2 Generation Y The people in the contemporary society have just been argued to be hypermodern individuals – but how does the description of generation Y fit with the hypermodern individual? This is the question that the next section aims to clarify. Page 29 of 88 Three generations are working side by side in the Danish labour market at the moment. The first is the post-war generation, comprising of people born between 1945 and 1960. The generation after that is generation X, who was born between 1961 and 1976, and finally there is generation Y, born between 1977 and 1992 (Larsen, 2001). The youngest generation, Y, often also called the millennium generation or the generation of the baby boomers (Tapscott, 2009, p.15-17), is an important source in the future economic perspective, and therefore they are particularly worth focusing on (Toops, 2010). The Y-generation is a relatively small generation. Most members of the generation are still studying, but will soon be finished with their education and will have their debut on the labour market. What is especially worth noting about this generation is that they have grown up in a wealthy society without any economically concerns, and this has had an impact on the way they view the world. (Themsen, 2008) Larsen characterizes the Y-generation in the following way: “The young people have demands for life. They do not make any compromises, and they expect to have it all. The young people are stretched out between high ideals. They are both disillusioned and full of expectations.” (Larsen, 2001) This quote supports some of the points mentioned in the previous section about the hypermodern individual, since it reflects a generation that sees themselves as placed in a world with unlimited opportunities (Themsen, 2008). It also supports the description of generation Y as the best educated generation ever. They expect that their environment changes rapidly and they are optimistic and see the whole world as one big play-ground. They are a spoiled generation, raised as “project-kids” filtered in their parents’ infinite love. Key words such as self-awareness, idealistic, international, development orientated, and innovation are some of the terms which best describe what this young generation embodies (Themsen, 2008). Therefore, the characteristics of generation Y can be summarized to be a small generation that will be an important source in the future economic perspective. Generation Y shares a number of similarities with the hypermodern individual, particularly the way they see themselves as placed in a world with unlimited opportunities, which lie at their feet. Generation Y has the best Page 30 of 88 education, they do not see limitations and they live in a changing world where they try to realize themselves. Next will be discussed what this means for members of the generation when entering the workforce. 4.2.1 Generation Y and the labour market The discussed generation Y has some advantages and disadvantages in relation to the labour market, and this section will focus on the most important. The generation fulfils many of the abilities that organizations demand today, such as approaching problems in an alternative way and finding creative and efficient solutions. However, there are also some negative sides that organizations should be aware of. Generation Y tends to be very demanding, ambitious and individualistic. They know what they want, and they are likely to ask for it. They furthermore expect a flexible working environment, high salary and selfactualization (Themsen, 2008). These observations correlate very well with a study made by Berlingske Tidende in Denmark, showing what factors are important to the individuals in generation Y, if he or she should choose to start in a new job. The content of the work task turned out to be the most important matter for nothing less than 69% of the respondents. Next, with respectively 15% and 7 %, were the prosperity of the work environment and the possibility of developing career opportunities (Larsen, 2001). The above can teach the organizations that wish to attract employees from generation Y that the content of the work has a big influence on whether or not the organization will be chosen or rejected as a possible workplace, because the young generation chooses their workplace with their heart and are ready to meet new challenges if necessary. The old ideology behind a job, which provides stability, affiliation and one lifelong challenge, is no longer enough for these people. They do not see a lifetime relationship with one workplace as a possibility, they do not have a marked need for security, they seek challenges and therefore the job has to contribute to the individuals’ personal development (Andersen, Larsen, & Schmidt, 2002). Page 31 of 88 These observations generally fit very well with the theory about the hypermodern individual, because it reflects a generation without any loyalty to the workplace, they are self-centered when trying to use every opportunity that presents itself, and are constantly looking for new opportunities to develop the most important project - themselves. To sum it up, generation Y is able to fulfil many of the things that organizations demand today, but organizations still must be aware that generation Y is a difficult generation to manage because of their tendency to be self-centered. When they choose a job, the values they are weighting are the organization’s environment, the prosperity of the work place and the possibilities of developing their own career. This generation chooses the workplace with their heart, they want challenges and the work has to contribute to their most important project, themselves. Now that it has been outlined what the next generation of workers focus on when choosing a job, it is relevant to look at the two types of job seekers on the market, which will be done in the next section. 4.2.2 Active and passive job seekers In the labour market there are two types of job seekers, namely active and passive. Active job seekers are the group of individuals who actively look for a new job, either because they are currently unemployed, just finished their education or because they wish to find a new job. People, who do not have intentions to leave their current position, but still keep an eye on the job market, are in the category called passive job seekers. The Y-generation is a bit different from what employers have been used to, because the way they live makes them more or less constantly look for new and better job opportunities (Andersen et al., 2002). An investigation performed by Lederne in Denmark shows that 62 % of the members of generation Y think that five to eight years in one workplace is a realistic time perspective. This is a much shorter time than their older colleagues, who point at nine years or more as a reasonable time limitation for one job (Lederne, 2010). This study supports the theory of generation Y as a progressive and constantly developing generation. Tulgan states that generation Y will be ”the most highperforming workforce in history for those who know how to manage them properly.” (Tulgan, 2009). Page 32 of 88 This statement shows that generation Y is an important source for the organizations, but they need to know how to manage them. In short, this section has showed that there generally exists two types of job seekers, passive and active. Generation Y, however, is in a new and different category, because the way of seeking jobs has to fit with their personality. Therefore, these individuals are constantly looking for new and better opportunities. Since it has turned out that generation Y is constantly looking for new job opportunities, it is interesting to find out where to find these people. This is what the next section will present. 4.2.3 Technology and generation Y To get in touch with generation Y it is necessary to search for them where they are. An important tool in the generation’s everyday life is the use of modern technology. They use it almost intuitively and have a different relationship with the use of these remedies than the older generation does. Therefore a special advantage of this generation is their ability to contribute with knowledge of more types of technology. One of the more popular technologies amongst generation Y is the use of social networking sites (A. McAfee, 2009). Many of the online users of these sites experience its way of creating a social environment where everybody is welcome and which can be used to find and share information between its users (A. P. McAfee, 2006, p.21-28). These constant interactions with the technology that the generation has, does not only make it an obvious choice for the organization to use as an attraction tool - the young generation actually expects that there is a possibility of finding their next job online (Bartram, 2002, p.261273). Therefore, social networking sites are a perfect place to approach new candidates when organizations are looking for the best and brightest new employees. In the next section the focus will be on how generation Y uses social networking sites for personal branding, which is important when trying to understand why and how generation Y uses these sites. 4.2.4 Personal Branding In the above section it was shown that generation Y are active users of online technology. To gain a deeper understanding of why these sites are so important to the individual of this generation, the concept of personal branding will be outlined. Page 33 of 88 According to the neoclassical paradigm it is claimed that individuals pursue their own interests, and this is independent from time and place. The individual will, if possible, make a rational choice in order to obtain his or her goal in the most efficient way. (B. Jacobsen, Juul, Laursen, & Rasborg, 2010, p.18) The reason for the need to brand oneself can be found in the creation of identity. A person’s self-identity is reflected based on their social identity, meaning the way the individuals actually are, which is combined with who a person wishes to be, the self-identity. With the purpose of framing the environment, individuals have the need to show the environment who they are in the social world (Jacobsen et al. 2010, p. 161-162), because by telling the world who they are, they will know from response who they are and this is an important part of the individuals existence. In short this means that the individuals know who they are, based on what they are told (Jacobsen et al. 2010, p. 161-162). A personal brand can be defined as“the synthesis of all the expectations, images, and perceptions it creates in the minds of others when they see or hear your name.”(Rampersad, 2008, p.34-37) Thus, it can be seen that it is a tactical way for the individual to know his or hers own strengths and thereby communicate it to others in the most efficient way, so that others will relate certain properties to them. The rise of social networking sites has made it possible to promote oneself online, and to make others inside the network aware of ones strengths. This is a new opportunity that the young generation uses with great interest. There is an increased focus on the need for branding oneself in the generation, and social networking sites are making it easy to the individual to promote themselves through their channels. One example of a social networking site that incorporates the need for personal branding is LinkedIn. The site created the group “BrandYou” in October 2010, a European project with the purpose of making it easy for the user to gain knowledge about how to make the profile stand out from the crowd and brand themself in a positive way. This happens with professional advice from LinkedIn and a group of marketing specialists (RealWire, 2010). This is interesting because it shows that online recruitment is not something that might happen in the next years - it is already there, and generation Y expect to be approached through this media. As can be seen, generation Y also uses social networking sites to create awareness about themselves. How they communicate with their network will be outlined in the next section. Page 34 of 88 4.2.5 How Generation Y communicates online As was seen in the above section, social networking sites offer an online communication forum that generation Y can relate to, and at the same time it has been shown that it is a place where it is possible for organizations to meet the generation when they want to attract them. In order to gain deeper knowledge of the importance of social networking sites when attracting new employees, it is relevant to know how the young generation communicates with their network. There is no doubt that members of generation Y are good at creating bonds online. In Denmark, 2.6 million people on average spend 8-9 hours every month on Facebook. Worldwide, Facebook has 600 million active users (SocialSematic, 2011), so the site is very popular. This generation has a whole culture of collaboration and it is therefore a very essential part of their life. They need access to their network everywhere, both the private and the professional, and therefore it is incorporated as part of most electronic devices that this generation uses (PIKA, 2010). One of the features of many of social networking sites is the possibility of posting a status, the so called “status update”. A status update is a way of sharing whatever you think or do in that exact moment. It is a way of maintaining relations with people you would not be in contact with otherwise, and these posted comments contribute to that. They furthermore help the individual in attracting attention, so they will not be overlooked. There are almost no limitations as to what the individual can tell the other users in the network - it can vary from telling others how happy you are, different types of confessions and aggressive expressions. Common for the status updates are that people can give supporting comments, and this can have a therapeutic effect for the individual to read these comments. (Jonsson & Kromann, 2010, p.77) In summation it has been found that the individual’s communication habits rely on several factors. Their ideological world-picture make the generation feel that they need to stay connected as much as possible and they especially prefer to use the status updates. This is because it helps to give the other users a memorable picture about how perfect they are, but it also functions as self-therapy. Page 35 of 88 4.2.6 Motivation and job design As argued previously, there is an increased need amongst generation Y to brand themselves. This also influences the way organizations need to approach generation Y, so that they can see how their dreams and idealization of the perfect life are realized through a specific job. Some of the factors that motivate the individual will be discussed in the following. Inspired by the motivational theories by Herzberg and McClelland, Hackman and Oldham have developed one of the most significant motivation theories - work design theory. They argue that a well-designed job is able to support employee motivation. The model suggests five points that organizations must be aware of, if they want to have motivated employees. First, the idea is that employees need to have various tasks; this means that the organisations need to avoid monotonous job designs. Secondly, they also propose that task identity matters. Task identity can be explained as the process where the individual has the opportunity to participate from beginning to the end of a job, instead of only participating in a piece of the process. Thirdly, they recommend task significance, which refers to the degree the task has meaningful impact on others, also understood as the importance of the job. Fourthly, autonomy is the degree to which the individual can chose to solve a specific task, both within scheduling, decision making and determine how the task is carried out. The last point is feedback, which refers to the importance of giving the individual insight to the performance and outcome of the job. (I. Brooks, 2009) Page 36 of 88 Chapter 5 – Theoretical part II Now that the theoretical framework of generation Y have been described, this next section aims at explaining what the concepts of recruitment and attraction consist of, which will be followed by a description of the main theories, including the exposure-attitude hypothesis theory, expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of culture. These will later be used to analyse and discuss the material from the qualitative study. 5.1 Recruitment There is broad agreement between scholars that effective human resource management (HRM) has become increasingly significant, and an important part of HRM is recruitment (Barber, 1998, p.1-2). This will become even more important in the future, when labour markets will face labour shortages due to the aging of the population, the decreasing birth rate etc. However, while the situation may be different today due to the economic crisis, the ability to recruit competent applicants is still of uttermost importance, as there is general agreement that people are an organization’s most important asset, and that sometimes people can make the difference between the succeeding and the failing of an organization (Ehrhart and Ziegert, 2005). Cisco, an American information technology company for example has said that “the only thing worth more than a bright new idea is a bright new hire” (Barber, 1998, pp. 1-2). Consequently, recruitment in organizations has received increased attention from scholars in the last decades, as they have examined how organizations can recruit in the most effective way. This has, however, also created uncertainty about what the term “recruitment” means, because researchers have struggled to determine what the term should exactly cover. According to Barber (1998, p.5), it is important to distinguish between recruitment processes and recruitment outcomes, which researchers tended to confuse in the past. This has lead to a new type of definition with focus on this distinction. Other researchers (e.g (Ployhart, 2006)) have adopted this view on recruitment and attraction since Barber’s definition, thereby validating its assumptions, and thus this thesis will adopt Barber’s view on recruitment: Recruitment includes those practices and activities carried on by the organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees. (Barber, 1998, p.5) Page 37 of 88 This definition implies that the outcome of recruitment is the identification and attraction of potential employees, which means that the purpose of recruitment is to identify and attract potential employees (Barber, 1998, p.5). Furthermore argues that the primary objective of recruitment is the attraction of future employees, and that recruitment activities are intended to help organizations locate potential applicants, and persuade them to pursue, and ultimately accept, employment with the organization. To make the above definition of recruitment more tangible, she uses examples of organizational activities that are encompassed in recruitment, such as advertising and producing recruitment brochures, but also more radical things such as modifying the work environment are included. This distinction between recruitment and attraction as its outcome is seen as relevant in the context of this thesis, since there is a general agreement that the main purpose of social media, and more specifically social networking sites, in HRM is to attract people to the organization. As a consequence, the rest of this thesis will focus specifically on the attraction of potential employees. 5.2 Attraction Having established what recruitment is, and more importantly the relationship between recruitment and attraction, it is relevant to look more closely at what exactly attraction entails. The term has been broadly defined in the literature and a widely-used definition is the following, coined for the first time by S. L. Rynes in 1991: Attraction is getting potential candidates to view the organization as a positive place to work. (Ehrhart & Ziegert, 2005, p.901-919) This definition is believed to be useful for the purpose of this thesis, since it takes a broad approach and implies what the main purpose of attraction is – namely to get potential candidates to view the organization as a positive place to work. However, a minor problem with the definition is that it can be argued to be lacking specificity, as was also the case with the above definition of recruitment. It does not explain directly what attraction is by giving any tangible description of what the concept entails. However, it gives an idea of what being attracted to an Page 38 of 88 organization means for the individual, and thus it is believed that the above definition gives a satisfactory picture of what attraction in the context of organizations entails. According to Barber, it is important to be aware of the fact that attraction must occur throughout the entire recruitment process, and thus attraction must be assessed at multiple stages (Barber, 1998, p.11). However, for the purpose of this thesis it is mostly relevant to look at one part of this attraction, namely to get individuals interested in and attracted to the organization in the first place. It can be recognized that attraction is also important later in the recruitment process, but it is believed that the primary strength of social media is to get individuals interested in organizations in the first place, and thus this is where the focus of this thesis will be. 5.3 Why are individuals attracted to organizations? The theories that will be used to analyze and discuss the collected qualitative data have been chosen based on investigations made by Ehrhart and Ziegert, who have developed an extensive theoretical framework that consists of three underlying meta-theories (Ehrhart & Ziegert, 2005, pp.901-919). These meta-theories describe both how and why individuals are attracted to organizations, and the connection between these theories is illustrated in Figure 3. Page 39 of 88 The figure incorporates all three meta-theories to show how they are related. As the focus of this thesis is mainly to understand individuals’ attraction from the view of the organization, so that organizations can use this knowledge when considering how to best attract individuals, it has been decided mainly to focus on one of the metatheories, the environment processing metatheory. If the reader wishes to further study the framework, it can be found in Ehrhart and Ziegert (2005). Furthermore, the thesis will centre on the link between the perceived environment and attraction (see figure), because this link describes how the relationship between personal characteristics and environmental characteristics influences the individuals’ perception and thereby the way he or she is attracted. This part of the meta-theory consists of three theories, the Exposure-attitude hypothesis, Expectancy theory and the Generalizable decision processing model. The thesis will use two of the theories, namely Expectancy theory and the Exposureattitude hypothesis, as these are believed to be the most relevant in the context of this thesis. Furthermore, Ehrhart and Ziegert’s framework has been expanded and includes Schein’s Three levels of Culture. This is because Schein’s theory deals with three levels in the development of the individuals’ values, and these values are what the individual uses to develop criteria related to their ideal work environment. The three theories will now be presented, first by introducing the Environment processing metatheory, and then by discussing the three above mentioned theories. 5.3.1 The Environment processing metatheory The first metatheory is named ‘the environment processing metatheory’, and essentially states that the actual environment characteristics influence the perceived environment characteristics, which in turn determine applicant attraction: Actual environment characteristics Perceived environment characteristics Applicant attraction Generally it can be said that what decides how individuals perceive an environment is naturally based on the actual environment, but the perceived environment differs between individuals based on which environment characteristics they focus on and how they generally process information about the environment. This is important to keep in mind, but from the organization’s it is more interesting to look at the second relationship, namely the one that leads to applicant attraction. Page 40 of 88 5.3.1.1 The exposure-attitude hypothesis The exposure-attitude hypothesis states that mere repeated exposure of an individual to an object enhances his or her attitude toward it (Zajonc, 1968). This implies that repeated exposure to an object yields increasingly positive evaluations of it. The hypothesis has been studied in the context of organizations as well, and these studies have shown that familiarity with an organization is positively related to ratings of its attractiveness, and more specifically in the context of recruitment, that applicants’ perceptions of an organizational environment in terms of its familiarity were ultimately related to responding positively to a recruitment advertisement (Ehrhart & Ziegert, 2005, p.901-919). 5.3.1.2 Expectancy theory Expectancy theory was developed by Vroom, an American psychologist, in 1964 and argued that “the motivation to behave in a particular way is determined by an individual’s expectation that behaviour will lead to a particular outcome, multiplied by the preference or valence that person has for that outcome” (I. Brooks, 2006; I. Brooks, 2009, p.71-73). Vroom furthermore argued that human behaviour is directed by subjective probability, the individual’s expectation that his or her behaviour will lead to a particular outcome. In other words this means that people choose an organization in which to work that they believe will be the most instrumental in obtaining their valued outcomes (Schneider, 1987, p.437), which leads to the following equation: Motivation (M) = Expectation (E) x Valence (V) The importance of expectancy theory in the context of applicant attraction is that it includes the notion that individuals look for different organizations depending on what their desires are and their perception of the organization’s ability to satisfy their desires (Ehrhart & Ziegert, 2005, p.901-919). Since expectancy theory is one of the most widely studied and accepted models of decision making, it has been used extensively in studies about job application decisions, which in most cases is the result of applicant attraction – and has also received some criticism, since many of these studies have failed to provide support for the model and thus it is questionable if expectancy theory is useful in this context (Barber, 1998, p.47-48). Furthermore, a potential issue with expectancy theory is that it is compensatory, i.e. a “high” score on one of the two Page 41 of 88 dimensions can offset possible “low” scores on another. This issue has been addressed in several studies, which have lead to somewhat diverging conclusions. Most studies have shown, however, that job application decisions are non-compensatory, which makes good sense since clearly people will not be motivated if for example the offered pay falls below a certain level, regardless of the other factor (Barber, 1998, p.47-48). 5.4 The effect of culture In this section the theory behind culture will be highlighted. This will contribute to the basic theory in which the quantitative investigation will be analyzed through later in this report. But first a definition of culture: “Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of their society” (Holt, 1998, p.360-391). Thereby are norms, values, attitudes, beliefs what bind a culture together in a social structure. This knowledge can be used to understand the underlying values that the individual develops in relation to the ideal work place, and how those values influence how the individual chooses his or her dream job based on the perception of the working environment, the characteristics which are weighted are based on the values which are important to the individual. To study this, Schein’s model “Levels of culture” will be discussed. 5.4.1 Schein Schein states that culture can be analyzed at different levels. A level is the degree that the culture is visible to the observer. By this is meant how easy it is to observe values, norms, and rules of behaviour are. The next three sections will outline each level. Page 42 of 88 5.4.1.1 Artifacts Artifacts refer to the surface level, also called the top of the iceberg and are the visible part of culture (what you see, hear and feel) that you meet when interacting with a culture different than ones own. The artifacts are everything visible to the observer, such as architecture of physical environment, language, technology, products, artistic creations, clothing, manners of address, emotional displays, myths and stories (Schein, 1992, p.16-27). An important point about this level is that the artifacts, besides being easy to observe, are difficult to decipher. Schein states that “it is especially dangerous to try to infer the deeper assumptions from artifacts alone because one’s interpretation will inevitably be projections of one’s own feelings and reactions” (Ibid.). This means that individuals, who observe something in an unfamiliar culture, will not be able to know what the underlying meaning of certain things are; they can only guess and make their own assumptions based on their own feelings and reactions. There are two ways to understand the artifacts - one is to participate and live in the culture for years, the other is to try to analyze the culture’s values, norms and rules. Such an investigation is possible in the next level (Ibid). Page 43 of 88 5.4.1.2 Espoused Values According to Schein, this is the level where it is possible to predict some of the behaviour that can be observed at the artifact level. Values are individual beliefs that have not yet been accepted as a valuable solution of problems. This is because they have a higher consciousness level than the basic assumptions, because they are discussable and not accepted as the true reality. This means that new assumptions and thoughts are created based on the value level, which means that it is possible through group experience to discover how things work this could for the individual lead to assumptions about how things are, instead of questioning them. Thereby there is a risk of interpreting possible behaviour wrong (Ibid). Furthermore, Schein argues that espoused values are important, because they aim to predict what a person is going to do or say in a given situation. Espoused values are - unlike the actual values - not based on earlier experiences in the organization. Therefore it is important to be careful when investigating the value level and if one tries to it is important to discriminate between those that are consistent with underlying assumptions and those that exist (Ibid). In order to understand this deeper level and be able to predict future behaviour correctly, the level of basic assumptions will have to be understood. 5.4.1.3 Basic assumptions To really understand a culture, it is important to go to the deepest level of assumptions and beliefs. Schein observes that a group’s underlying assumptions can be such an integrated part of a group that they will no longer be common values. Instead they become an integrated part of behavioural interpretation, because they are taken for granted and drop out of awareness. In the end it is believed that things work in a certain way and will influence the individual to act emotionally, and to think and perceive specific events. (Schein, 1992, p.16-27). Schein states: ”Basic assumptions, in the sense in which I want to define the concept, have become so taken for granted that one finds little variation within a cultural unit” (Ibid). Thereby do the basic assumptions make up an invisible base in the culture that creates a cultural paradigm, and this supports the way the groups’ members interpret and create a true reality. The paradigm is the way the group interpret and end up creating a common reality. The paradigm becomes the culture’s reality. If it is seen in relation to the artifacts and the espoused values, the Page 44 of 88 basic assumptions creates consensus between the artifacts and the values. This means that it supports the creation of the way people in the culture think about what is reality and how it functions, and it also supports the way people in the group will approach problems and influences how the group members behave (Ibid). Page 45 of 88 Chapter 6 – Empirical data The following section will provide the reader with an overview of the findings from the qualitative study performed and present a quantitative study about the use of social media in Danish businesses. The two studies will lay the foundation for the discussion that will follow in chapter 7. 6.1 The qualitative study In this section the main findings from the four focused interviews will be presented. First, the four interviewees will be briefly characterized to give an idea of who they are, and then the main topics discussed in the interviews will be described. The following will only go through the main points related to the use of social networking sites privately and for attraction. 6.1.1 The interviewees A total of four interviews were conducted with individuals that represent generation Y. They have some characteristics in common – they are all students at Aarhus School of Business, and all of them are active on both Facebook and LinkedIn. The first interviewee was Signe Marie, a 24-year-old girl studying corporate communication on a master level, who furthermore works as a student worker at Vestas and is in the executive committee of ‘Unge Kommunikatører’ (Young Communicators). She has been active on Facebook for almost four years, but did not have a profile on LinkedIn until recently. Interviewee number two was 23-year-old Trine, who studies Business administration and economics and is currently on the 6th semester of her bachelor. Besides studying, Trine is working as a sales and service employee at OK a.m.b.a. and has been active on both Facebook and LinkedIn for a while. The third interviewee was 24-year-old Kasper, who studies cand.merc. International Business and works fulltime at a digital marketing company called Carat. Kasper has had a Facebook profile for many years, but did not create a LinkedIn profile until recently, when he started working fulltime. Page 46 of 88 The fourth and final person that was interviewed was Sebastian, a 21-year-old guy studying Business administration and economics on the 6th semester. Sebastian has just started his own company with a couple of friends. He has been active on Facebook and LinkedIn for a long time and uses both sites regularly. 6.1.2 Why and what Facebook and LinkedIn are used for In the context of using social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn for attraction, it is relevant to understand why young people are present on these sites, and what exactly they use them for, since this knowledge will be helpful for organizations when deciding how to use Facebook and LinkedIn for attraction. All our interviewees have profiles on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but the amount of time they spend on the sites differs a lot. When asked about Facebook, the two girls said that they log onto the site automatically several times a day without thinking about it. Signe Marie said that it has become a natural part of her day, and compared it to going to the toilet – it is just something you do. The two guys were more reserved. Kasper said that he does not use Facebook very often, because it does not really have his interest. He thinks that people expose themselves too much, and he only uses the site because he thinks that there is a consensus that this is the place that events will be announced, and he does not want to exclude himself from social life. Sebastian was more positive towards Facebook, but he thinks there is too much noise on the site these days, and that it is a massive distraction. He shared with us that he has actually blocked access to the site from his laptop, because he wasted too much time on the site, so now he can only access it from his computer at home. He said that it has helped him use Facebook more focused, so that when he logs onto the site, it is because he actually wants to do something, like sending a message etc. When asked about LinkedIn, the interviewees all agreed that they spend less time on LinkedIn. Trine said: “I don’t need to log onto LinkedIn every week, usually I do it when I have a friend request, and when I am in there anyway, I spend some time to find out if there are any other connections that I know.” Page 47 of 88 Signe Marie and Kasper both just set up their profiles, so they do not use it a lot at the moment, but they both believe it will be important for their future careers. Sebastian was the only one that uses LinkedIn a lot, and already has established a large network. The interviewees were furthermore asked why they had set up a profile in the first place. Both girls explained that they had been travelling 4-5 years ago, and that they had set up the profiles on Facebook to keep in touch with both people at home, and the people they met on their journey. As Trine said, “it is a great way to keep in touch with people from foreign countries”. The guys explained that they had set up profiles because everybody else had done it; it was not something they had thought a lot about. All four interviewees have set up profiles on LinkedIn to maintain their networks and to promote themselves. Furthermore, they use LinkedIn to connect to people that they do not necessarily want to connect with on Facebook, like their parents or their bosses – people that are useful to stay in touch with, but that they do not want to have access to their pictures, status updates etc. on Facebook. 6.1.3 Perceptions about using Facebook for attracting employees Before showing the interviewees stimuli in the form of examples of the use of Facebook for attraction, they were asked if they could imagine finding their first job through Facebook, and if yes, in what way. The interviewees’ reactions were mixed, with the guys being more positive than the girls. Trine was the only one that was directly dismissive towards the idea. She said that she could imagine finding a leisure-time job through Facebook or that companies like Vero Moda could find a service assistant, but she could not imagine finding a ‘real’ job on the social networking site. The other interviewees were more positive. Signe Marie was a bit confused in the beginning, but then said: “I wouldn’t exclude it, if the chance was there and it was a cool job, then definitely yes”, but also argued that she sees Facebook as a more private place. When asked how she might find a job through Facebook, she said that it would probably be through her network, or through the commercials being displayed on the right side, but also said that she would not see that as being “directly Facebook”, but that in those cases Facebook would just be the channel to communicate something to a friend. The guys were a lot more positive towards the idea. Kasper could definitely imagine finding a job through Facebook, and so could Sebastian, even though he believes that there is a lot of noise on Facebook these days that blocks out the important things. Page 48 of 88 Generally the idea of using Facebook for attraction is received positively by the interviewees, even though they are a bit unsure as to how exactly Facebook can be used in this context. After asking for the general perception, the interviewees were shown stimuli in the form of the two Facebook pages made by KMD and Ernst & Young, and then asked again. Since the interviewees were mostly already positive towards the idea, the stimuli did not change much in terms of being more positive, but it did provide the interviewees with a clearer picture of how companies could recruit through Facebook. As Signe Marie explained, it was good to get a clearer picture on the matter. When comparing the two pages, the interviewees were a lot more positive towards the KMD page than the Ernst & Young page for several reasons. Sebastian said that he found Ernst & Young’s page to be impersonal and bland, and furthermore he argued that Ernst & Young’s focus was on themselves as opposed to the receivers, which he did not like. About the KMD page he said: “They try to focus more on the receiver, the members of the fanpage, instead of focusing on selling themselves. They tell something about how YOU can become a member of a student network, which has something to do with YOU, YOU can learn to write a good CV, which also has something to do with YOU”. He furthermore said that he liked the fact that the company has chosen to have pictures of their offices on the page, because it gives him a sense of security - it shows that KMD is more than just a logo. Overall he found the KMD page to be a lot more real and personal than Ernst & Young’s page, which resulted in him saying that he could definitely imagine becoming a fan of KMD’s page, but not of Ernst and Young’s. Kasper was also very positive towards the sites and said that he liked the idea and the fact that these companies have tried to seize social media. However, he works at a company that is specialized in digital marketing, and he said that the general problem with these sites is that they are often missing an incentive for the user to ‘like’ the pages - it is not enough to just make a site and then expect users to just ‘like’ it, and that most organizations do not know how to do it: Page 49 of 88 “It is all about giving the user some value that they cannot get elsewhere, but it is difficult to say how exactly to give this value – and if I knew how, I would probably make more money than I do right now.” He also highlighted the issue that these sites are only relevant for a limited amount of time, and that it can be difficult for organizations to reach the user in this specific time period, where they are searching for a job. However, overall he was still positive towards the sites and said that if he found a page to be relevant for him, he could definitely imagine ‘liking’ it, as could Signe Marie. The only person that did not like the idea after having seen the stimuli was Trine. She said that she thought that the companies lost some credibility in her eyes, especially with a wellestablished company like Ernst & Young. However, she also said that she could not see herself working for these two companies, but that if a company she liked would be present on Facebook, she would probably ‘like’ it anyway, for her own good and to promote herself, even though she dislikes the idea. All interviewees were also asked what they thought of the fact that ‘liking’ a company would result in the company being present in the newsfeed between friends’ status updates etc. None of the interviewees had a problem with this, they actually approved of it, since they all argued that they would probably forget about the sites otherwise. The conclusion is clear – there is a lot of potential present, and Generation Y generally likes the idea of organizations’ use of social networking sites for attracting new talent, but there are a lot of issues that need to be considered. The organizations need to think about the possibility of alienating some people, and they also need to focus on how to make it attractive for people to actively ‘like’ their sites. 6.1.4 Perceptions about using LinkedIn for attracting employees Generally the interviewees were very positive towards the idea of finding their first job on LinkedIn, and they believe that they might possibly find their first job through the site. All of them would find it perfectly normal if a potential employer contacted them through LinkedIn, since that is the essence of having a profile. Sebastian told that he had already been contacted by Google after having appeared in an article in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. He said that Page 50 of 88 it is very interesting to have some options just by being visible on a social networking site, and for that reason he is extremely devoted to updating his profile regularly. However, even though they would not mind being contacted by a potential employer through LinkedIn, none of them mentioned this when talking about how to get their first job. Instead they all talked about networking. Trine said: “First of all I would write on my profile that I was looking for a job, and then I would see if any of the connections of the people in my network would have any available job-descriptions, and then I would probably just contact them and ask if they have something”. The interviewees thus do not mind being approached by potential employers on LinkedIn, but they do not think that they will find their first job in that manner – in their opinion it is more likely that they will get a job through their network or the connections of the network. 6.2 Social media factbook – a qualitative study about the use of social media in Danish businesses In February 2011, the organization Social Semantics published a study about the use of social media in Danish organizations. The results of this study are included in this thesis, because it gives a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of how and why Danish organizations are using social media. The following will go through the main results, and these will be used and discussed in the next chapter. If the reader wishes to know more about the study and the results, it can be found online at socialsemantic.eu. The survey shows that 2 in 3 organizations are using social media in one or more departments to create value for the business today. The most-used forms of social media are private social networks like Facebook (80%), professional social networks like LinkedIn (61%) and videos and blogging (54% and 43%, respectively). However, most of the organizations have recently started using social media – 45% of the respondents have used it for 1 year or less, 33% have used it less than 2 years, while only 22% of the organizations have used social media for more than 2 years. Furthermore, most of the organizations are still using social media without a proper strategy – only 1 in 3 organizations say that their activity is based on a clear and targeted organizing and clear allocation of responsibilities, while the rest say that they are either using social media Page 51 of 88 without a clear strategy, or that a few employees are testing it without a deadline or control of the results. This is supported by the fact that in 2 out of 3 organizations the use of social media has started through employee initiative – it is not something that has been strategically decided by the organization’s management. On the more positive side, almost all of the organizations believe that social media can increase the value of their businesses and 87% think that social media can help them to create a positive image for their organization. Furthermore, the organizations are aware that social media is something that they need to deal with – only 6% of all respondents think that they do not need to deal with social media in one way or another. When looking at social media from an HR-perspective, the picture is less positive. The HR departments are the most sceptical towards the use of social media, and more than 50% in these departments do not believe that social media gives them better tools for recruiting or that they can save money through recruitment on social media. Finally, the study examined exactly how many resources the organizations are investing in social media. This shows that only a few employees in each organization have responsibility for the use of social media – in 55% of all organizations, between 1 and 4 employees have the responsibility for the organization’s presence in social media. Furthermore, these employees do not spend much time on working with social media, as half the organizations say that the employees spend less than 5 hours a week. Finally, almost 50% say that they spend less than 5000 DKK a year on social media. These results and their implications for Danish organizations will be discussed as part of the following chapter. Page 52 of 88 Chapter 7 – Discussion In the following, the findings of both the qualitative research and the quantitative study will be discussed and analyzed in relation to the theories presented in chapter 4 and 5. 7.1 Four interviews, one generation In the section about the hypermodern society and individual, some characteristics of the individual and its society are defined. In this thesis the focus is on generation Y, and four people from this generation have been interviewed. As was argued in the theory, it is clear from several points that these people fit the definition of the hypermodern individual. First of all, all of the respondents are using social networking sites to stay in contact with friends and professional relations. Some of the interviewees also said that they like to watch what their friends are writing and to stay in touch with people that they normally do not have contact with. However, the theory states that this generation likes to show the world how successful they are through these networks. While it is true that the interviewees like to see what others are writing about themselves, maybe to compare with them, all of the interviewees state that they are not writing status updates regularly, because they believe that it does not concern others what they do or think. This new way of acting online does have an explanation and it will be discussed in one of the following sections about how generation Y communicates online. Furthermore, it is clear that the respondents know what they want, and they are all very focused on their career. Trine mentions a future dream position as a logistics manager, Sebastian owns his own company, Signe Marie works in the big organization Vestas and Kasper has already found his dream job in an advertisement company. It is clear that they are focused on reaching their goals, which is in line with the theory about Generation Y being a determined and focused generation. 7.2 Generation Y is online According to theory, the best place to search for generation Y is online, since this is where the generation constantly interacts with the environment (Bartram, 2002, pp.261-273). Another reason is that this generation to some extend prefers to have their social needs satisfied in online social networks, because this is a place where everyone can feel welcome (A. P. McAfee, 2006; A. McAfee, 2009, pp.21-28). There is no doubt that both Bartram and McAfee make an important point when highlighting the internet as the best place to get in contact with generation Page 53 of 88 Y. Through the four interviews, the interviewees show that the Internet and online social networking sites are an important part of their everyday life. A clear example of how integrated Facebook and LinkedIn are in the interviewees’ everyday life is expressed by Signe Marie when she is asked to tell how much time she spends on Facebook and LinkedIn per week: “It is incorporated into your everyday life, that you - for example with a Smartphone - can just log on and take a look for five seconds and then you log off again It’s more like… I don’t know…. Like going to the toilet…I don’t know what else to compare it to. It is a natural thing you do during the day. It is really schematically incorporated into your everyday.” This example shows clearly that using social networking sites is an integrated part of the life of generation Y; through their smartphones they can be online whenever they prefer, and sometimes only a few minutes are enough to cover their needs. There is no doubt that online networks cover a social need for people. All of the interviewees explain how they use the networks to keep in touch with their friends and maintain their professional relations. Trine says that Facebook is a place where she can keep in touch with family and friends, especially when she is travelling. She sees it as a convenient way to stay in contact with everyone at home. In contrast, she says that LinkedIn fulfils another need, because this is the place where she can keep track of her professional network, as it is a much more formal place, where she has the opportunity to interact with her boss and colleagues. The distinction that Trine makes between LinkedIn and Facebook is also reflected in the answers of the other interviewees, as they all agree that generally Facebook is a more private place than LinkedIn, so there is also a distinction between the formal and informal communication tone on the respective sites. The implications for organizations is that they need to be aware that the motivational factor for being online is more than just being there. It has a deeper purpose for the individual, as it supports their needs for being social and it also helps them to further their career, which is what is very important to individuals in generation Y. However, these are not the only factors that influence the reasons for generation Y’s need to be online, and another important aspect will be covered in the following. Page 54 of 88 7.3 Brand Y-ourself As was seen above, generation Y can be found online, but one can wonder why this generation is spending so much time on social networking sites. It is seen that there is a tendency amongst generation Y to have a need to brand themselves, and social networking sites makes it easy to do this. It is interesting to look at why the individuals in generation Y have this need, and what the consequences could be for the individual and the organizations when it comes to attraction, because it gives an idea of how much awareness the individuals in generation Y have, both in relation to how they know that others perceive different expressions, but also how they are excellent in giving others a specific picture of their own personality and life. It is not something unique for generation Y to pursue their own interests and create their identity based on what they are told that they are. But the fact that they have easy access to both promoting themselves online and getting feedback from others, makes it an obvious choice for getting the feedback they want. Naturally, the picture that the individual makes of him- or herself, has to be in line with the way the environment perceives the person; otherwise it will be difficult to get the feedback wanted. An interesting aspect of this is that one can imagine that it can be difficult for the individual to maintain specific roles online from the “real world”, where they are used to behave differently depending on who they are interacting with – depending on if it is family, friends or colleagues, the individual will normally have different roles in different situations. These roles can create a dilemma for the individual online, since it can be difficult to play each role across different social communities consisting of colleagues, friends and family. It can have consequences for the individual’s self-perception, if they no longer manage to fit in to the most important social contexts. If this is related to attraction, the picture that the individual tries to give can be a mixture of various personality traits, and this fact can make it difficult for the organizations to know whom exactly they are approaching. An advantage could be that they are giving a broad picture of who they are and therefore the attractors are able to “see the whole package”. The qualitative research shows that the interviewees generally are aware of what they post on Facebook and LinkedIn. Trine tries to avoid being friends on Facebook with colleagues who are higher in the hierarchy than she is, because she does not think that it strengthens her image if Page 55 of 88 they see a lot of pictures where she is drinking alcohol. This example shows that by providing online friends with either no, limited or full access to a profile, it is possible to control peoples’ perception of you. Thereby, a somewhat limited picture is created, and the individual can through people’s reactions to this picture - maintain the illusion of who they are and who they want to be. Thus they can fulfil their needs as a hypermodern individuals. Another important thing that is highlighted by Signe Marie is that individuals often have a clear distinction between professional relations and private relations, which can be seen, since she refers to her relationships as primary and secondary relations. The consequence of this is that people sometimes create a Facebook account to maintain private relations, and a LinkedIn account to maintain the professional relations. This clear distinction between the two groups shows that there is a high awareness about only showing specific traits of oneself to some people, and other traits to others. Trine, for example, indicates that she expects the companies to do the same, and she finds it unprofessional that the companies have sites on Facebook, since this is a private forum where people have the opportunity to express their private sides. In her eyes, LinkedIn is different, since the main purpose of the site is to show your professional competencies and to create a more serious work-related network. However, Trine was the most sceptical towards the organizations way of approaching potential employees on Facebook, whereas other of the interviewees had a more relaxed view on being approached in this way. Therefore, it is important that organizations are aware that they might interfere with some people’s private space when using Facebook instead of LinkedIn for attraction purposes, and this can be perceived negatively by some. Now that it is clear that generation Y has a need to be online, and how they use their online presence for branding themselves, it is interesting to investigate how they manage to communicate in the online environment. 7.4 Generation Y communicates online It has been shown that the Y generation generally is aware of what they communicate to specific persons, and that they are manually maintaining, which people have access to specific information about them. This section will take a closer look at how online communication trends changes over time and what it means for organizations when attracting through social media, As was argued in the theory, Generation Y’s ideological world-picture makes them feel that they Page 56 of 88 need to stay connected as much as possible, which is especially done through status updates on social networking sites. However, this picture may soon change. As Christoffer Boserup Skov (Skov, 2011) argues in a recently published article, the way people communicate on especially Facebook is changing. A good example of the reason for this change is the following cartoon: This clearly show how people are behaving differently on Facebook than they would in the ‘real’ world - and that people are starting to realize this and find it strange and somewhat inappropriate. This fact was also supported by one of our interviewees, Kasper, who said: “I think that people exhibit themselves too much on Facebook”. According to Skov, there is a tendency that the smart and hip people update their status less and less, because they no longer have the same need to market themselves through the updates. Instead, people have started to post videos, links and pictures, because, as an old saying goes, ‘a picture can say more than a thousand words’ and as CBS argues, using a picture to show who you are is more indirect and often has a bigger effect on your audience than words have. The tendency is clear – “see, how interesting and deep I am” instead of “read, how interesting and deep I am” (Skov, 2011). Facebook has realized the tendency as well – in the past the company focused on how many people updated their status, but today they focus on how many billion pieces of content are shared each month, how many pages, groups and events that the average user is connected to etc (Facebook, 2011b). Page 57 of 88 Skov’s article has sparked a huge discussion on the board where it was published, since this is a very sensitive matter, and something that people feel strongly about. Some people agree with Skov, while others think he is completely wrong. Only time will tell what will happen to the way people communicate online, but it is definitely something that organizations need to follow and keep track of, since this will also influence the way they should communicate with their audience, since Generation Y expects to be approached in the same way they themselves communicate. It has been shown that communication changes and that it is important to follow these tendencies. In the next section it will be discussed what it is that motivates the individual in generation Y. This helps to give a deeper knowledge of what is important to consider in an organization’s communication strategy. 7.5 What motivates generation Y Hackman and Oldham’s theory presents five points, which should be fulfilled to achieve the perfect job design, namely variation of job tasks, participation in the whole process, significance of tasks, importance of the job, individual needs to freedom and feedback. The motivational influence of these points has been found in the way some of our interviewees talk about current and future jobs. Sebastian has his own web- and software-development company with two of his friends. They started the company because they thought other webshops were not good enough, and therefore they wanted to offer something better. This motivation to want to change something and to make a difference is exactly what the third point is about. Sebastian and his friends were motivated by the fact that they had found an area they thought was important to improve on, but being an entrepreneur fulfils more than one need. It gives the opportunity to participate in the whole process and thereby it gives different work tasks - since it is his own company, he has the opportunity to do the tasks in his own way. Clearly this is a personal success for Sebastian, and he speaks enthusiastically about his job. Sebastian’s example shows that personal motivation is an important factor, and it is clear that is contributes to giving him a feeling of success and a feeling of doing something that matters to him. Page 58 of 88 Some of the other interviewees also indicate that some of these points matter to them when choosing a job. Signe Marie wants to work in an organization which is not too big, because see wants to work in an organization without too much hierarchical structure, and she wants to work where people know each other. This indicates that the motivational factor in a job is a job where you are recognized for your work and you have the opportunity to participate in various tasks. The qualitative research thus supports Hackmann and Oldham’s theory. It is therefore important for companies, who choose to take advantage of social networking sites when attracting new employees, to keep in mind that these points are elements, which they should incorporate when they express, why potential new employees should choose to work with them. In relation to this section, the next will continue by analyzing more closely what is important to individuals of Generation Y when choosing a job. 7.6 What is important for Generation Y when choosing a job In the theory about job design it has been described how generation Y could be a valuable source for organizations, if they manage to attract them and lead them in the right way. Through the conducted interviews it was clear that the interviewees are part of this ambitious, individualistic and demanding generation, because they express that they value organizations with only little or no hierarchical structure, a good working environment where the employees know and help each other, and with the possibility for personal development. It is furthermore important that they feel recognized by having responsibility. Their future job should be interesting by giving them various tasks, and for example, Trine says that she prefers a rapidly changing environment, with friendly colleagues, who help each other out, and a lot of challenges. Some of the same things are mentioned by the others when discussing their wishes for their future employment This shows that the interviewees fit the theory that argued that organizations need to focus on fulfilling the needs of future employees, and therefore this is something the organizations shall be especially aware of when approaching the generation. However, the interviewees showed an interesting tendency, which has not been mentioned in the theory, since all four interviewees state that recognition through job profiles and the signals they might send to people not working in the company does not matter. Kasper said: Page 59 of 88 “I chose my job based on what I think is fun and interesting and relevant and then I do not really care about what others think. Of course, recognition is always good, but as long as I think that a job is exciting, I do not really care about what everyone else is thinking.” Signe Marie, Trine and Sebastian said similar things – the most important to them is that they themselves like their job; and what other people think about it does not play an important role when determining where to work. Consequently it can be concluded that it is the match between self-actualization and a good work environment that matters to generation Y, whereas titles and recognition from their social environment outside the organization does not play a large role when individuals in generation Y choose their first job. The reader should now be aware of the main factors concerning Generation Y that are important if organizations want to attract through social networking sites. In the theory about active and passive job seekers, it was stated that it should be possible always to attract this young generation. The next section will investigate further to which extend this is true. 7.7 Generation ‘always job seeking’ There is evidence that supports the fact that generation Y can be seen as a generation that is always on the look for a new job. This has, however, been difficult to prove through the qualitative research conducted. The interviewees did not directly answer questions about their job seeking habits, since they are all still students. However, indirectly, their answers to other questions still touched on the subject. When asked how she felt about clicking ‘like’ to the two Facebook sites that were shown, Signe Marie said: “I think I might do it… But only for a while, until I have found a job, and then I do not think that I would ‘like’ it anymore.” This shows that Signe Marie does not consider herself as always job seeking - she could imagine being an active user of the groups while looking for a job, but then she would not like it anymore. She did not share the exact reasons for this in the interview, but possible reasons could be the fact that Facebook is generally seen as a more private medium, and people do not want to be showered with information about jobs, when they are not actively seeking one. Another reason could be the fact that all other friends can see the groups that a person ‘likes’, and as the interviewees shared, Page 60 of 88 they generally do not see a problem with being friends with their colleagues on Facebook – but they still might not like if their colleagues can see that they ‘like’ a page like ‘KMD Career’. It could give the impression that they are actively looking for a new job, even if they are not. In connection to this it should also be noted that such an issue is not limited to Facebook; it can be found on LinkedIn as well. Most LinkedIn profiles have a section where people write what they are interested in, and some write that they are interested in “career opportunities” and “job inquiries” (see figure 6 for an example), even though that may not always be the case. The argument here is two-fold. First of all, organizations should note that people - both members of generation Y, but also others - do not always think deeply about what they write on their profiles and that being member of a certain group on Facebook, or writing on a LinkedIn profile that they are interested in “career opportunities”, does not mean that they are necessarily considering switching to a different job or actively looking for one. Secondly, individuals should consider what they signal to the outside world through their profile. Therefore it cannot just be assumed that generation Y is always actively job seeking. However, these new media do make it easier for organizations to reach out to candidates, even though they may not be actively job seeking. As argued, especially Facebook is mainly a medium that can be used to capture active job seekers. LinkedIn, however, is useful for reaching both active and passive job seekers. As the interviewees argue, the main purpose of LinkedIn is to maintain a network and keep in touch with previous colleagues, classmates etc., but at the same time LinkedIn is full of new job opportunities that could tempt a person to consider switching to another job. So even though a person might not be actively looking for a new job, they - through their LinkedIn profile - still have an eye on the job market, and thus could be considered somewhat active job seekers. This is supported by Sebastian, who said that it means a lot to him that his profile is ‘extremely updated’ and that this has already resulted in him being contacted Page 61 of 88 by a representative of Google, even though he still a student. The same is true for Kasper, even though he has a fulltime job that he is happy with at the moment. As a result, it can be argued that members of generation Y, compared to previous generations, are more active job seekers. The above knowledge is useful for organizations when considering whether to be present on social networking sites or not. It gives them an opportunity to reach passive applicants, which might not otherwise apply or be contacted. This was also recognized as the number one reason for why organizations actually use social networking sites to recruit or contact applicants in a 2008 survey for SHRM (SHRM, 2008). Especially in a country like Denmark, where the unemployment rate and thus the ratio of active job seekers is quite low (as of February 2011 the unemployment rate in Denmark was around 6% (Danmarks Statistik, 2011)), even though we have just been through a financial crisis), it is important to find ways to get in touch with the large pool of passive job seekers that exist. 7.8 Summing up I All together, the discussion of the results from the qualitative research in relation to the theoretical framework shows that the interviewees are part of an ambitious, individualistic and demanding generation, which matches the description of the individual in the hypermodern society. As theory proposes, generation Y likes to have a flat organizational structure and they prefer to be in a rapid changing environment, but from the interviews it also became clear that generation Y demands a match between self-actualization and a good work environment, whereas titles and recognition from their environment outside the company does not play a role. There are indications that individuals of generation Y are individuals who are always searching for new challenges, but the interviewees somewhat contradicted this. Generation Y is easy to find online, because being online is an integrated part of their everyday life, and it is a way of maintaining their relations, both private and professional. It turns out that generation Y is very aware of their appearance in the social networks. They are good at managing the way they influence their online friends, and they have opinions about what they expect of social networking sites, especially in relation to the stimuli. Generation Y also communicates in a certain way on these sites, and it was argued that this should be monitored by organizations in order for them to communicate the right way with the generation, since this is something that is expected. At last it is important to emphasize that personal motivation is an Page 62 of 88 important factor for the Y generation. It is clear that their job has to contribute to give them a feeling of success and a feeling of doing something that matters. The next part of the analysis will continue by discussing the qualitative research in relation to the exposure hypothesis theory, expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of culture, in order to understand in which way values and expectations influence attraction through social networking sites. 7.9 Will exposure lead to improved attitudes? As argued in the exposure attitude hypothesis, repeated exposure to an object should yield increasingly positive evaluations of it. This knowledge is useful for organizations in the context of attraction of new employees through social networking sites, since this implies that organizations can enhance their popularity simply by being present on these sites. It is furthermore important that organizations actively use their sites and communicate with their audience to draw attention to themselves. If using Facebook for example, a company will show up in a person’s newsfeed every time they post something – be it a new video, a link to a homepage, information about a new job or something else. All of this will draw attention to the organization and according to the exposure-attitude hypothesis, should increase the popularity of an organization. Even though the theory was not tested through the qualitative study, several of the interviewees indicated something that is interesting in this context – they explained that they would prefer to ‘like’ a fan page instead of being members of a group. The main reason for this is that when a person ’likes’ a page, they will be exposed to updates from this page in their newsfeed automatically – they do not actively have to search for the page and read through the information, which is the case when you are member of a group. All of the interviewees agreed that they would prefer to be fans of a page instead of members of a group, since they would forget about it. Several of them said that even though they were members of some groups today, they never visited these groups because it takes too much effort. Signe Marie for example said: “I do not actively visit and use most of the pages… I use a few of them because they appear in the news feed, and I think that is nice. For example, I ‘like’ EuroWoman, because I think it is fun, because they provide some gossip, and then I am using Young Communicators of course, because I think it is cool…” Page 63 of 88 This shows that Signe Marie ‘likes’ several pages, and she prefers that they appear in her news feed, because it provides her with knowledge and updates from things that she likes. Therefore it can be argued that the interviewees agree that frequent exposure will keep them aware of the existence of the page, and they do not mind being ‘reminded’. But as mentioned, it does not say anything about if this improves the attitude to the page, and as Signe Marie stated, if she does not need to have the information from a page she can just “unlike” it again. Therefore is it clear that when liking a page, it needs to have some kind of content that the user is interested in and wants to read, otherwise it is easy to get rid of it again by ‘unliking’ it – which might have a negative influence of the perception of the brand or organization. 7.10 Expectations of Generation Y Before choosing to start engaging with potential employees through social networking sites, organizations need to be aware of the expectations that Generation Y has to them in this context. This will be gone through in the following. According to expectancy theory, people choose organizations based on where they believe they will have the highest chance of obtaining their valued outcomes, so individuals will base their choice of organizations on their desires and their perception of the organization’s ability to satisfy these desires. When people find out that an organization is present on social media, they will form some sort of expectation to this presence, based among others on what they know about the organization and the image of the organization. Depending on the brand that an organization has, this has different implications. If an organization is well known and has a popular brand, people will likely form high expectations to the organization’s presence on social networking sites. Sometimes organizations need to consider if their presence on a social networking sites matches with the brand that they present to the outside world in other contexts. An example of this is Ernst & Young. As one of the interviewees, Trine, noted, “their credibility fades a little with them being present, especially Ernst & Young which is a well-established company… for me it does not seem right that they do it in this way, because it is set up like that, next to all the sponsored links”. Clearly this interviewee had a picture of Ernst & Young as a serious and Page 64 of 88 conservative company, so to her, their presence on Facebook did not make any sense and it actually influenced her perception of the company negatively. Organisations also need to ask themselves if they are ready to fulfil the expectations of Generation Y to their presence on a social networking site. As argued, it is important that the message an organization tries to communicate is consistent across all channels. Furthermore, organizations should be willing to spend time on regularly updating their sites in order not to send out wrong signals. It is a fact that Generation Y is very active on social networking sites, and they expect the same from others. One of the interviewees, Signe Marie, explained this in the following way: “We - or at least I am - are very active in there, and write a lot of status updates and upload lots of photos all the time, so I would expect the same news flow from a company”. This arises the question: What is regularly updating, how much must an organization write in order not to be considered out of date? Clearly the answer depends on who is asked, but Signe Marie said that to her, even information that is a month, or just 14 days old, is out of date. To sum it up, Generation Y generally have very high expectations to organizations’ presence on social networking sites and since they themselves spend a lot of time on updating their profile and posting pictures etc., they expect the same of others. What is interesting about expectancy theory and Generation Y is also the fact that the theory was proposed almost 50 years ago. The world has changed dramatically in this half century, and the question arises if the theory can still be used in the same way. When the theory was first proposed, the world was nowhere near as transparent as it is today. It was a lot more cumbersome to get information – today, everybody with a computer and an Internet connection can search for all the information they want in less than five minutes. This new transparency and increasing amount of available information means that people are influenced everywhere, which in turn influences our view of the world and thus our expectations. The above has gone through expectations from the individuals’ viewpoint, which is also where the main focus of this thesis is. However, since the overall aim is to provide organizations with a clearer picture of the most important considerations in connection to being present on social Page 65 of 88 networking sites, it is also relevant to look at organizations and their expectations, more precisely their expectations to their presence on social networking sites, which will be done in the following. 7.11 Danish organizations’ expectations to their presence on social networking sites In the previous chapter, some of the main results of a survey about Danish organizations’ use of social media were briefly presented. As was seen, Danish organizations have become increasingly aware of the potential advantages they can gain from using social media, and that many organizations believe that being present on social media will give their businesses advantages in the form of increased exposure, branding, increased traffic to websites etc. However, the survey also showed that Danish organizations expect to get these advantages without investing further in social media – in short, they expect to get competitive advantages through the use of social media, but they are unwilling to spend time, money or people on it. As mentioned, most of these organizations have recently started using social media. We got the opportunity to go to a talk, where the founder of Social semantic, Jan Futtrup Kjaer (JK), presented the main results of the study and discussed them. He said that when looking only at the answers from organizations that have used social media for more than two years, the situation is very different, since the organizations that have been present on social media for a while are spending a lot more resources, both time and money, on social media. This implies that these organizations have not only realized the value they can get from being present on social media, but they have also realized that it will not be free – they need to spend both time and money on it. According to JK, this is the biggest obstacle that organizations are facing at the moment – they need to adjust their high expectations and be more realistic. Social media is not a tool for gaining a competitive advantage without paying for it. So while the results of the study are positive at the first glance – Danish organizations have embraced social media and know that they need to deal with it, but when analyzing the results further it becomes clear that there is still a long way to go. Peter Svarre (PS), in an article published on Kommunikationsforum (P. Svarre, 2011), calls it ‘the perfect bubble’. He argues that social media has become the new thing that everybody just wants to be part of, even if they do not understand the concept and how to use it. This is supported by the findings in the social semantic study that showed that most of the organizations are using social media without a Page 66 of 88 proper strategy. PS recommends that organizations should “stop up for a moment and think about what it is they really want to do with social media… there is no doubt that the organizations of the future need to master the use of social media, but they also need to know when it is not the right time.” 7.12 The influence of values In the theoretical section about Schein’s ‘Three levels of culture’, it was stated that culture is everything that the individual beliefs, as well as their attitude and norms. Culture is often also compared to an iceberg, and it is the part of the iceberg that cannot be seen. It is important to understand the factors that are not visible in order to understand why the individuals in generation Y react in certain ways to different attraction initiatives online. To gain deeper knowledge of these factors, Schein’s three levels of culture will be used as a fundament to understand what it is that triggers the individuals in generation Y and it will be explained at which levels attraction through social networking sites operates. First of all, it is noticeable that this theory goes hand in hand with expectancy theory, because it is the individuals’ values, which determine the way they perceive the signals that the organizations send. The first level presented is the artifact level. This level refers to everything visible to the observer. It is the top of the iceberg. The second level, the espoused values, is the level where the individual makes assumptions based on their own values and group experiences, and from this they create the expectations discussed earlier. However, these interpretations are not always a reflection of the truth. Schein argues that this level is important, because it helps to predict what a person is going to do or say in a specific situation. In the last level the basic assumptions are to be found. These basic assumptions are underlying assumptions, which have become an integrated part of the behaviour in a culture. This makes the individuals act in certain ways, because they are convinced that everybody perceive it in the same way. It is their reality. It is interesting to discuss on which level attraction through social media occurs. In the artifact level, everything that is visual to the individual influences the individual’s perception about the object. It is important to notice that the individual does not interpret the meaning of colours, messages and the look of the object that they are observing. Thereby, the individuals are not Page 67 of 88 being influenced by anything other than what they are seeing (layout, colour, pictures, etc). In the artifact level, the organizations need to create trustworthiness through the way they present themselves online. Because this presentation will contribute to the way the individuals perceive the organization and they will build their expectations based on this. If the individual observed a site in the espoused values level, different messages in the attraction attempt can be difficult to avoid interpreting in some way. Examples include a description of the company or some other text on the online page. This is clearly illustrated through the reactions of the interviewees. When showing the two different Facebook pages, it triggered different reactions from the interviewees. It was interesting to discover how big an influence the immediate impression of the pages had on the interviewees. The KMD page was in general perceived as the most professional, based on factors such as the colours, the pictures and the design of the page. Sebastian commented that the pictures on Ernst & Young looks like something that “could have been bought for a Dollar or something somewhere online”. This does not appeal to him and he feels that Ernst & Young are placing themselves on a pedestal, instead of contributing with something useful for the users of the site. Thereby, he evaluates Ernst & Young mainly on the artifact level when he comments on the look and the pictures. In contrast, he thinks that using social media for attraction is something that KMD is really good at, which can be seen in the following statement: “Something that I think that you easily notice is that KMD do not try to sell themselves too much… There are articles about how to write a good CV, and that is, I guess, based not only on KMD, it can be seen as a general tip for everybody.” By giving the user some general tip for job seeking, KMD gives something beneficial to the user, which provides the users with a clear motivation to use the page. It is clear that Sebastian is not only evaluating KMD based on the artifact level, because when he comments on the content on the page, like for instance the possibility of learning about how to make a good CV, it is the espoused level he is analysing. The fact that Sebastian interprets some of the content of KMD’s attraction page is valuable knowledge, because it shows that there are some shared values between the user and the organization as attractor which have to be more or less the same, if the organization shall succeed in their attraction through social networking sites. Page 68 of 88 It is clear when analyzing the espoused values that most attraction attempts will contain some kind of message to the receiver, and this message will be interpreted and related to the receiver’s own values. Through these messages, people create perceptions about how it is to work in a specific company. It are also possible that individuals have an idea about the workplace before they see any sort of attraction, and this picture of the organization could for example be based on information from others. These expectations can then be confirmed or disproved through the online presence of the organization. If the last level, the basic assumptions, is taken into account, it is difficult to see that there should be any relationship between the basic assumptions and the influence these should have on attraction. This is because these values are such an integrated part of the individual that it is not something that will affect the individuals’ attitude to the organizations’ attraction attempts. This is because attraction through social networking sites mainly has two tools to use. Firstly, the look of the attraction media matters and this is mainly the artifacts level that is affected. The second is the content of the page, and this content will often be something that the individual will automatically reflect on, because they - unlike other attraction tools - physically do something active to see the site that tries to attract them, for example by clicking on a link. Thereby does the individual have a sharpened focus on what it is that they are presented to, and they are therefore forced to reflect on what they sees. This way of considering the media is clearly connected with the espoused values and not the basic values, which is something that is not relied very much on. As mentioned in the beginning, expectancy theory and Schein’s three levels of values are closely related. It turns out that expectations to an organization created from online interaction will influence the expectations the individual has when meeting the organization face to face. If the individual’s expectations, which have been created based on his or her own experiences and values, are not confirmed, there will be some distrust between the parties, which is not a good foundation for a future relationship. The effect of such unfulfilled expectations were very clear when Trine was presented the Ernst & Young stimuli. Trine explained that her perception of Ernst & Young was that it was a serious organization that delivers high-class performance, and when seeing the page the company has created on Facebook, this perception is challenged. She found the page unprofessional and not very serious, which resulted in her expectations being Page 69 of 88 disappointed, and thus the company’s attraction attempt failed in this case, because the company did not manage to present itself in the right way compared to Trine’s expctations. In the above reflections about what the interviewee’s immediate perception of the company is, it turns out that it does matter how the page appears visually, and in order to obtain the best outcome, the organizations need to figure out what works for them. The responses from the interviewees showed that the most important factors on the artifact level is that a site should look professional and trustworthy. Furthermore it is clear that the attraction sites need to have some content that is beneficial for the individuals, since the individuals need a reason for actively ‘liking’ a site. An example of content that is directly beneficial for an individidual is for example KMD’s way of showing how to make a CV. In general it can be concluded that there are few specific guidelines about how to use social networking sites based on what individuals value, but this can also be seen as the beauty of this media, since it gives room for individual and creative solutions. At last it was found that it is only the artifact level and the espoused values level that influences the individual when it comes to online attraction, and that basic values are not having any influence. 7.13 Summing up II In the above sections, the framework that was developed in the theory was used to evaluate some of the factors that influence why individuals are attracted to organizations, with the main emphasis being on individuals’ values and expectations. Expectancy theory was used in two ways – first to explain what generation Y expects of organizations when using social networking sites to attract, and then to discuss the expectations of Danish organizations’ presence on these sites. The main findings were that generation Y has high expectations to organizations’ presence on social networking sites, because they expect organizations to be as active as they themselves are online, and that organizations expect a lot from their presence on social networking sites, but at the moment they are not investing enough time, people and money in the project. It was through Schein’s theory about three levels of culture argued that two of the levels are the most important in the context of attraction – namely the artifact level and the espoused values level. In the artifact level it was found that the appearance of an organization’s page on a social Page 70 of 88 networking site affects whether or not the organization is perceived positively. This includes factors such as pictures, layout and colours. Furthermore, it was shown that the overall content of the page to a great extend influences the expectations towards the company and if the individuals recognize values that they can relate to. 7.14 A humble look into the crystal ball To conclude this chapter, it will now be discussed what the future could bring in terms of using social networking sites for attraction of individuals in Danish organizations. The use of social media, and therefore social networking sites, by organizations is an area in rapid development, which means that what is news today, could potentially be outdated and irrelevant tomorrow, and thus it is important to be up to date on the newest information and research in the area. However, this rapid development also means that looking into the future can be rather complex, as the biggest trend of tomorrow may not have been created yet. Generally it can be argued that most trends gain ground in the US a lot earlier than they do in Denmark. Especially in the area of technology, as the majority of technology companies come form the US - Google, Apple, Microsoft, and of course Facebook and LinkedIn, just to mention a few. If this is assumed to be true about using social networking sites for attraction of new employees as well, and we deem it is fair to argue that this is in fact true – it is relevant to look at the current situation in the US, which was brought to light by a recent published survey about social recruiting by Jobvite, an American recruitment specialist. The survey showed that around 3 in 4 US organizations use social media or social networking sites for recruiting, and around 10% plan to begin soon. The most popular sites are LinkedIn and Facebook, which are used by 78% and 55%, respectively. Of those using social networks for recruiting, more than half said that they have successfully hired through a social network. The most successful site by far is LinkedIn, with 90% saying that they have hired through this network. Interestingly, even though 55% said that they use Facebook for hiring, only 28% said that they have actually hired someone through Facebook. The survey also showed that US companies use social media for very different purposes. Twitter and YouTube are used for promoting brands, LinkedIn and Twitter are used for publishing jobs for free, while job boards are the most popular way to advertise jobs. When looking at referrals, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular, while LinkedIn and search engines are the most-used for direct sourcing. Page 71 of 88 It is clear that using social media is gaining ground in the US. 46% of the companies indicated that they have increased their spending on social media in 2010 compared to 2009, while more than 1 out of 3 said that they have decreased spendings on job boards and 3rd party recruiters. Furthermore, the companies believe that the most promising candidates are found through referrals, and interestingly, they believe that candidates found through social networks are better than candidates found through job boards, 3rd party recruiters or the corporate career site. The above scenario is a lot different than just six or seven years ago. The first articles about using social networking sites for attracting and recruiting employees emerged in 2004. In one of the first articles that emerged about the issue, Wolk (2004) amongst other things wrote that “Sites such as LinkedIn and Ryze can yield good passive candidates, but it’s unclear whether they are recruiting’s “secret weapon” and “As widespread as networking sites now are, though, the experts are skeptical about how useful l they can be to recruiters in their current form.” These quotes illustrate the caution that both organizations and researchers exercised towards the use of social networking sites for attracting and recruiting employees seven years ago. After having studied the situation in Denmark, the above sounds familiar – it is more or less where Denmark is today. Organizations have recognized that social media and social networking sites have enormous potential, but they are not yet sure what exactly to think of it. If the situation in Denmark will evolve as it did in the US, however, the use of social media will increase dramatically in the coming years, as Danish organizations will learn more about how to use these tools and how to get the best out of them. The conclusion must be that social media as a tool for recruitment and attraction has a lot of potential in Denmark, and if the situation will evolve as it has done in the US, it will gain further ground in Danish organizations. When looking at what the future might bring for organizations’ use of social media, it is also relevant to discuss how society will be in the future. A new generation – the generation after generation Y – is soon grown up and will start to enter the labour market. It is yet to be seen what their label will be, but the world they have been born into is evolving faster and faster, which means that they will have different values than other generations. They have never experienced a world without mobile phones, easy access to the Internet and social networking sites – these technologies have been a part of their life since they were born, which results in them generally being a lot more comfortable living a big part of their life online compared to the Page 72 of 88 older generations. Everyone with a Facebook account and some ‘friends’ who are younger and they are, have probably noticed this phenomenon. The way they communicate is a lot different – they comment a lot more on each other’s status updates, they write a lot of messages to each other and they are members of a lot of different groups. An example of this was also given by Signe Marie in one of the interviews, where she talked about a girl she used to babysit, who she is now friends with on Facebook. Signe Marie said the following: “She is a member of some really ridiculous, insane groups… Just one-liners that go something like ‘You smile when you are sleeping’ or something like that. I think it is… It almost gives me the creeps.” This remark clearly illustrates the difference between how the different generations communicate online, even though there is less than ten years of age difference between the two. This current development will mean that future generations will distinguish even less between private life and working life, and be more open to sharing their thoughts and actions with their surroundings. Therefore, they should also be more open to being attracted through social networking sites, and thus this also points to the trend that attraction and recruiting through social networking sites will increase in the future. Surely many things can happen that will change this, and a look into the crystal ball will always be somewhat uncertain, but if the situation continues to develop the way it has in the first decade of the 21st century, it is fair to argue that social networking sites will be even more prevalent in the future and thus also in organizations. Page 73 of 88 Chapter 8 - Conclusion The aim of this thesis has been to study the social networking sites in a human resources context, and more specifically the problem statement asked: • Why can Danish organizations use the social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn for attracting new employees from generation Y, and how do these applicants perceive being attracted in this way? In order to answer the problem statement, four research questions related to the subject were developed. To give the reader a deeper understanding of the spread of social networking sites and why they have become so popular, the current society was described and characterized, social media and social networking sites were defined and two social networking sites, Facebook and LinkedIn, were introduced. This was done to answer the first research question, namely what kind of society we are living in today and how this society has influenced the popularity of social networking sites. It was found that we are hypermodern individuals living in a hypermodern society, which implies that we are focused on the presence and ourselves, but at the same time we are flexible and efficient individuals. However, these people still feel the need to be part of a community, which is now increasingly done online, amongst others by creating profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Next it was argued that in order to reach them, and therefore to attract new employees in the best possible way, it is important to understand whom they are, what their values are and how they communicate and behave online. This leads to the second and third research question: Who is generation Y and what is important to know about this generation when wanting to attract them? And In which way do values and expectations influence attraction through social networking sites? Here it was found that the typical characteristics of generation Y in many points are similar to that of the hypermodern individual, and consequently it was argued that members of generation Y are hypermodern individuals as well. Generation Y is the first generation that has integrated the Internet and social media into their everyday life. They are online for many reasons – they Page 74 of 88 satisfy their social needs online, but they also use the Internet to further their careers and to brand themselves. It was furthermore argued that in order to communicate with generation Y online, it is important to know that they have high expectations to organizations’ presence on social networking sites, because they expect organizations to be as active as they are online, and they furthermore expect that organizations communicate the same way they do. The characteristics of this generation influences what motivates them in the workplace. It was found that it is important for them to feel that they make a difference, that they are part of the process and get a lot of responsibilities and variation in their tasks. Overall, what matters the most for this generation in the workplace is to be challenged and to have their needs fulfilled. This also explains why generation Y is generally not very loyal towards their workplace, and why they do not mind changing jobs when their needs are not satisfied. A framework was then developed to explain why individuals are attracted to organizations, and here it was found that many factors influence individuals’ attraction, and that some of the main factors are values and expectations. Expectancy theory was used in two ways – first to explain what generation Y expects of organizations when using social networking sites to attract, and then to discuss the expectations of Danish organizations’ presence on these sites. The main findings were that generation Y has high expectations to organizations’ presence on social networking sites, because they expect organizations to be as active as they themselves are online, and that organizations expect a lot from their presence on social networking sites, but at the moment they are not investing enough time, people and money in the project. It was through Schein’s theory about three levels of culture argued that two of the levels are the most important in the context of attraction – namely the artifact level and the espoused values level. In the artifact level it was found that the appearance of an organization’s page on a social networking site affects whether or not the organization is perceived positively. This includes factors such as pictures, layout and colours. Furthermore, it was shown that the overall content of the page to a great extend influences the expectations towards the company and if the individuals recognize values that they can relate to. Page 75 of 88 To answer the fourth and final research question, and thus the second part of the problem statement, asking how potential employees from generation Y perceive organizations’ use of social networking sites for attraction, a qualitative study was developed, aiming at finding out how and why members of generation Y use Facebook and LinkedIn, and how they would feel about being attracted through these sites. This was done by conducting four focused interviews, where part of the interview was to show the interviewees stimuli in the form of two Facebook pages of companies trying to attract new employees by creating sites on Facebook, which people can become fans of. Through the study it was found that members of generation Y are generally positive towards the idea of being attracted through the two social networking sites. However, the interviews also made clear that Facebook is generally perceived as being a private platform, where people behave differently than they would in the workplace, and thus organizations should approach the use of this medium with respect and care. Furthermore, through the interviews it became clear that it is very important for generation Y that there is an incitement for them to join a site – otherwise they will not do it. The conclusion is that social networking sites can be - and to some extend already are - used for attraction of new employees, mainly from younger generations, in Danish organizations. Their potential stem from the fact that the majority of the Danish population today are active on these sites, and especially the younger generation, Y, are positive towards the idea of being attracted on there. However, Danish HR professionals are still to some degree critical towards the use of these sites to attract new employees, but all signs point to the fact that the use of social networking sites for attraction will be more widespread in the future. Page 76 of 88 Chapter 9 - References and Appendices 9.1 References Andersen, L. S., Larsen, S., & Schmidt, M. B. (2002). Talent er trumf - talent management i praksis (1. udgave ed.). Denmark: Børsens Forlag. Barber, A. E. (1998). Recruiting employees: Individual and organizational perspectives. In Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE. Bartram, D. (2002). Internet recruitment and selection: Kissing frogs to find princes. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8(4). Baumann, M. (2006). Caught in the web 2.0. InformationToday, 23(8), 3/3 - 2011. Beer, D., & Burrows, R. (2007). Sociology and, of and in web 2.0: Some initial considerations. Sociological Research Online, 12(5) doi:10.5153/sro.1560 Boyd, D. (2006). 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Retrieved 4/3, 2011, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html Wolk, D. (2004). Social-networking sites pique the interest of company recruiters. In Workforce Management, 83(8). Wulffmorgentahler. (2011). Facebook acts. Retrieved 7/4, 2011, from http://wulffmorgenthaler.com/strip/2011/04/07/ Page 83 of 88 Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Monograph Supplement, 9(2). Page 84 of 88 9.2 Appendix I – Quick Facebook Manual Around half the population of Denmark has a profile on Facebook today, and so most people know how the site works. For those that do not, the following will provide a quick overview of Facebook and an explanation of some of the terms that we use in the thesis. The first step on Facebook is of course to create a profile. Afterwards it is possible to log in, and start searching for friends, family, colleagues etc. It is also possible to search for other things than people – many companies have created what is called ‘a page’ on Facebook, where they can post relevant information about the company, communicate with their customers and so on. It is possible to search for these companies in the same way you search for a friend – and if you find a page that you like and want to get updates from, you click a ‘like’ button (In Danish it is called ‘synes godt om’). A picture can often say more than a 1000 words, so the below screenshot, which was taken from one of the authors’ Facebook pages, is an example of something that can be ‘liked’: When you click that you ‘like’ a page, all your Facebook friends can see that you like this page, and you will get updates from this page in your newsfeed every time the administrator of the site posts something. The newsfeed is what you see when you log onto Facebook. It is a collection of your friends’ status updates, updates from the pages you like, pictures, links and so on. It is furthermore possible to create groups on Facebook. Where a page is always open to everybody, it is possible to create groups with limited access, and where the information is restricted to the members of the group. Page 85 of 88 9.3 Appendix II – Screenshots of KMD and Ernst & Young Page 86 of 88 9.4 Appendix III – Interview guide Før Stimuli 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Hvor gammel er du? Hvad læser du? Har du et job, hvilket? Hvad laver du i din fritid? Hvorfor betyder det meget for dig? Har du en profil på Facebook og/eller LinkedIn? Hvorfor har du en profil på de respektive sider Hvad bruger du dine profiler til? (Hvordan vedligeholder du kontakter) (Bruger du din profil i professionelle sammenhænge) Ex job og studie 8) Hvor meget tid bruger du på facebook og LinkedIn om ugen? 9) Går du op i at holde din profil på facebook/Linkedin meget privat? 10) (Tænker du over hvordan din profil fremstår overfor potentielle arbejdsgivere?) 11) Hvem må kontakte dig gennem FB og LinkedIn -‐ Vil du være venner med dine kollegaer på FB/ LinkedIn 12) Benytter du dig af grupper og fanpages. -> hvilken slags. 13) Tænker du over hvilke grupper osv du bliver medlem af? Og hvad det siger om dig som person? 14) Kunne du forestille dig at finde et job gennem Facebook? Hvorfor, hvorfor ikke? 15) Kunne du forestille dig at finde et job gennem LinkedIn? Hvorfor, hvorfor ikke? 16) Hvad synes du om ideen med at skabe kontakt til potentielle nye medarbejdere på denne måde? 17) Kender du virksomheden KMD? (Det er en IT-virksomhed, der blandt andet står bar digital signatur) 18) Kender du virksomheden Ernst and Young? (en revisions-virksomhed) STIMULI Efter Stimuli 1) Hvad er din umiddelbare reaktion på de respektive grupper? (Hvad synes du de udstråler som virksomhed) (Er det et sted du kunne have lyst til at arbejde) 2) Kunne du finde på at blive medlem af grupperne? Hvorfor/hvorfor ikke? 3) Er der noget virksomhederne kunne forbedre? 4) Ville du foretrække at blive medlem som fan eller gruppe? 5) Hvad synes du om ideen med at skabe kontakt til potentielle nye medarbejdere på denne måde? 6) Nu hvor du har set eksempler på attraction via FB, kunne du så forestille dig at finde et job gennem Facebook? Hvorfor, hvorfor ikke? Page 87 of 88 Generelle spørgsmål efter stimuli: 7) Hvad skal en arbejdsplads kunne tilbyde dig for at har lyst til at arbejde der? 8) Hvilke værdier skal en arbejdsplads have? 9) Tænker du over hvilke signaler du sender i forhold til dit valg af job Hvorfor/hvorfor ikke? (Tøj, jagong, stillingsbetegnelse, miljø) 10) Hvor stor en rolle spiller tillid til din kommende arbejds plads? 11) Hvor stor en rolle spiller tillid i din hverdag? Page 88 of 88