Satisfying maximisers’ and satisficers’ information needs through the design of advertisements in the retail trade

Recruiting the right talent is a crucial issue for organizations (Ulrich,2008), especially in the retail industry, where staff turnover is relatively high as employees have a low income and long work hours (Rhoads et al., 2002). Researchers (e.g. Simons,1955) identify two types of decision - making styles ‘Maximizers’ and ‘Satisficers’. Maximizers prefer to research a subject as much as possible, and expect to make the best possible choice. By contrast, Satisficers do not spend much time in searching; they prefer to settle for a ‘good enough’ decision. Although research has demonstrated that Maximizers and Satisficers have difference in their preferences during the decision - making process, no research so far has examined how organizations can satisfy both Maximizers’ and Satisficers’ information needs, and attract them to join an application pool by using controllable recruitment information sources (e.g. advertisements). The present study aims to explore what information should be provided by organizations to jobseekers, in order to best satisfy their information needs. Two scenario - based experiments were employed. Study 1 revealed that a positive advertisement message containing more details of work conditions can significantly increase both Maximizers’ and Satisficers’ intentions regarding joining the company. However , the longer version of the advertisement message was not able to prevent approximately 50% of the Maximizers looking for further position - related information. In Study 2, Staff Word – of - Mouth (SWOM) messages were provided. In these, the advertisement contained more ‘soft’ information, such as employees’ personal work experience. The results show that positive messages with details of hard information plus positive AND negative SWOM messages can more effectively satisfy a greater number of information needs for Maximizers. The findings provide useful insight for companies that seek to attract jobseekers with different decision – making styles.