| As the reach of technology and social media expands, so does the threat of exposing behaviors that otherwise would have remained private. Today, it is possible for people other than family and friends to view those behaviors via social media. In fact, human resources personnel like hiring managers can easily use social media as part of a potential candidate's background check. The purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which hiring managers attributed alcohol-related behaviors portrayed on social media to later employment issues and their feelings about offering candidates interviews. The main hypothesis proposed that hiring managers' selection decisions would be negatively affected by Facebook profiles featuring alcohol-related behaviors. Additional relationships between age, gender, industry and years of experience and hiring decisions were also examined. A total of 188 participants responded to a computerized survey that included four resumes and four corresponding Facebook profiles. The resumes were very similar in qualifications and educations. However, the Facebook profiles displayed pictures of potential candidates in four situations that showed increasing use of alcohol. The first Facebook profile had no alcohol, the second a beer, the third somewhat drunk and the final profile was blackout drunk. The survey was used to determine if a statistically significant difference existed regarding whether a hiring manager would extend an offer to the candidate. The results indicated that the more alcohol consumption use was depicted on the Facebook profiles, the less likely it was for the hiring managers to offer the candidates interviews. |
