{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,12]],"date-time":"2026-04-12T14:18:34Z","timestamp":1776003514707,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,8]],"date-time":"2022-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654646400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003130","name":"Research Foundation\u2014Flanders","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["12J8719N"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12J8719N"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCP"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Human resource (HR) professionals who assess job candidates may engage in cybervetting, the collection and analysis of applicants\u2019 personal information available on social network sites (SNS). This raises important questions about the privacy of job applicants. In this study, interviews were conducted with 24 HR professionals from profit and governmental organizations to examine how information found on SNS is used to screen job applicants. HR managers were found to check for possible mismatches between the online information and the experiences and competences claimed by candidates. Pictures of the job candidates\u2019 spare time activities, drinking behavior, and physical appearance are seen as very informative. Pictures posted by job candidates\u2019 connections are valued as more informative than those posted by the applicants themselves. Governmental organizations\u2019 HR managers differ from profit-sector professionals by the fact that political views may play a role for the former. Finally, some HR professionals do not collect personal information about job candidates through social media, since they aim to respect a clear distinction between private life and work. They do not want to be influenced by information that has no relation with candidates\u2019 qualifications. The study\u2019s implications for theory and practice are also discussed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcp2020021","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,10]],"date-time":"2022-06-10T02:25:33Z","timestamp":1654827933000},"page":"402-417","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Checked and Approved? Human Resources Managers\u2019 Uses of Social Media for Cybervetting"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5214-0393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michel","family":"Walrave","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Group MIOS, Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7000-4523","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joris","family":"Van Ouytsel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Group MIOS, Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium"},{"name":"Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kay","family":"Diederen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Group MIOS, Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6911-7632","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Koen","family":"Ponnet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication Studies, IMEC-MICT, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Pew Research Center (2022, January 22). 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