Abstract

For-profit social ventures are proliferating. They often communicate social visions, presenting a future where the ventures resolve environmental or societal issues. We study whether social vision communication helps a startup to recruit talent—a fundamental problem for growth. We argue that jobseekers are less likely to apply to ventures communicating a social vision because they perceive lower career advancement opportunities. We conducted three complementary studies to test and substantiate our theory. Study 1 enlisted data from a job board for startups to show that ventures communicating a social vision receive 47.1 percent fewer job applications. Study 2 replicated this finding in a field experiment. It also revealed the mechanism that social vision communication limits jobseekers’ perceived career advancement opportunities, thus prompting higher salary demands to compensate. Study 3 complemented our quantitative findings with qualitative interviews with recruits and entrepreneurs to give voice to our deductive reasoning. Our findings advance research on human resources, entrepreneurship, and vision communication, cautioning entrepreneurs against social vision communication as a recruitment strategy.

General information

Attendance to this seminar is possible by invitation only. Please send an e-mail to secbs-abs@uva.nl if your are interested in attending this seminar.