Attracting women in the war for talent: The impact of gender diversity in recruitment advertisements

Abstract: With a gender diverse talent pool and prophecies of gender diversity levering organisational efficiency and superior performance, why are today's corporations failing to present gender diverse organisations? As business leaders blame a lack of female applicants, examining the efficiency of popular attempts to attract female talent is of great interest. Despite a shared notion among organisations that portraying a diverse workforce in recruitment advertisements widens the pool of applicants, little is known about the impact gender diverse ads have on prospective applicants. The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the validity of this practice, by investigating the employer brand effects of gender diversity in recruitment ads among female and male job seekers. A questionnaire-based experimental study with 758 respondents was conducted. Manipulating ad diversity on two hierarchical levels, the study examined job-seeker reactions to recruitment advertising portrayals of personnel that are either diverse or homogenous. Employer brand effects were measured on the parameters organisational attractiveness, image and compatibility. The gender identity of the respondents was measured in order to investigate potential within-group variances. Drawing on Signalling Theory, relational demography, the ASA Model and Tokenism Theory, four hypotheses were presented and tested. Findings of the study suggest that portraying gender diversity in recruitment advertisements may serve as an attraction mechanism for female talents, while retaining current rates of male talent attraction. Further, positive effects of extending gender ad diversity to managerial level were found. The effects of gender ad diversity were not moderated by gender identity salience.