Talya N. Bauer - US grants

Millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide apply for jobs online, and the use of online job application systems is growing. Thus, online job applicants are an important population to study. However, few studies have examined job applicants' concerns about their privacy and how to protect it. Further, job applicants' privacy concerns may affect how willing they are to apply for jobs and even whether job applicants pursue legal action against employers for privacy violations. This research focuses on job applicants' concerns about the privacy of information they provide during the job application process. Specifically, this research examines which privacy issues applicants are most concerned with and how to ease those concerns. The researchers also examine how well job applicants understand explanations surrounding the technologies that employers use to maintain the privacy of applicants' personal information. By understanding how security issues can be explained effectively to users, the research will provide recommendations for the development of security practices in the online job application process and how to explain them to applicants. Insights resulting from this research will also be applicable in the broader (and constantly expanding) arenas where online privacy is a factor.

In Phase 1, the researchers focus on the intersection between computer science and the social sciences, utilizing an archival dataset of 77,443 online job applicants for entry-level retail jobs. The data include the attitudes of these job applicants, such as concerns about the privacy of their data and attitudes toward the employer, as the applicants move through the stages of an online job application from the initial application to its resolution, i.e., when job applicants have received the hiring decision. In Phase 2, the researchers conduct an online job application simulation using an experimental design to examine conclusions from Phase 1. This entails an online study of approximately 4,000 Internet users who will be asked questions typically asked on a job application. Participants are randomly assigned to conditions that provide different explanations for the technical mechanisms-such as encryption-that are used to secure their information and how the organization will use applicants' data. Participants then complete measures such as fairness of the process, employer attractiveness, self-perceptions, how much they want the job, and privacy concerns. The two studies will guide future research on how to explain privacy issues to job applicants so that applicants and employers may better protect privacy.