Organizational leisure benefits: a neglected signaling device in hospitality job advertisements?

Abstract

With employees’ leisure pursuit increasing, this study assesses the potential of organizational leisure benefits in hospitality job advertisements as a signal for otherwise non-observable attributes, like organizational leisure support and staff appreciation. Drawing upon signaling theory, a fictional job advertisement was created. A total of 210 job seekers were randomly assigned to different treatment versions. Higher perceptions of organizational attractiveness and increased intentions to apply were observed for versions including leisure benefits, confirming their role as a signaling device in the applicant attraction stage. The findings encourage human resource managers to exploit leisure benefits better to attract the brightest talent.

Keywords:

• Employer choice
• intention to apply
• organizational leisure support
• perceived organizational attractiveness
• principal agent theory
• signaling theory

Ethical approval

Received on 26th May 2020, No. 2753 from RCSEQ (Research Committee for Scientific Ethical Questions), Privatuniversität UMIT GmbH und der fh gesundheit, Hall in Tirol, Austria.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors disclose the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: this study was supported by Tourismusforschungszentrum Tirol (TFZ), Austria [PSP P6210-026-037].