An Analysis of Social Media Use in the Recruitment and Selection of Young Professionals: A Case of Commercial Banks in Kenya

A Research Project Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The general research objective of this study was to analyze use of social media in the recruitment and selection of young professionals in commercial banks in Kenya. The research was guided by the following research questions: what are perceived costs associated with social media use in recruitment and selection of young professionals in commercial banks? What are the perceived benefits associated with social media use in recruitment and selection of young professionals in commercial banks? What are the perceived risks associated with social media use in recruitment and selection of young professionals in commercial banks? What are the perceived opportunities associated with social media use in recruitment and selection of young professionals in commercial banks? A descriptive survey design was employed in conducting this study and addressed the questions posed above. The study population consisted of 65 human resource managers in tier one banks (those with assets of over Kes 25 billion) and tier two banks (those with assets of between Kes 6 billion to Kes 24.9 billion). However, only 50 responded resulting into a 77% response rate. The data collected was analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) tool for descriptive statistics and presented through means, standard deviations, percentages, and frequencies. Correlation and regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The findings revealed that the use of social media in recruitment and selection is affordable for the banks, it was also revealed that it is cheaper to access to a wider pool of people using social media, and many banks have set up equal opportunity and diversity policies. The findings also revealed that the firms reduced recruitment and selection time through use of social media although they have not been able to reduce costs of recruitment. To analyse the second objective the findings revealed that when using social media, the HR managers collect standardized information for all applicants making recruitment fair to all. There was however uncertainty on other attributes such as political affiliations or physical appearance are irrelevant in social media recruitment and selection and the firms using social media to access information about a candidate. Lack of company regulations that cover was also identified as a challenge. To analyse the third objective the findings revealed that when using social media, the HR managers collect standardized information for all applicants makes recruitment fair to all. Most of the respondents however disagreed that they have company regulations that cover many social media use in recruitment and selection. Analysis of the fourth objective revealed that the research revealed that commercial banks are more likely to make use of social media for recruitment of young professionals, and the banking sector recruit’s young professionals who are tech savvy for innovation and creativity. Most of the respondents however disagreed that Facebook is dominating the recruitment market or they are targeting young professionals. The study concluded that use of social media in recruitment and selection is affordable for the banks, and helps in offering a wide access to a wider pool of people using social media, as a result many of the banks have set up equal opportunity and diversity policies. The use of social media has enabled the HR managers collect standardized information for all applicants hence resulting into fair recruitment fair to all. A prospective challenge would be the lack company regulations that cover use of social media in recruitment and selection. Lack of laid down company regulations that cover social media use in recruitment and selection is a challenge and this has also given lee way to misuse of information as the practitioners are able to view individuals profiles without the owner’s consent. Commercial banks are more likely benefit from the use of social media for recruitment of young professionals. The study recommended that banks need to adopt social media more to assist in recruitment and selection as it is very affordable and offers access to a wider pool of prospective candidates. There is a need to set up the rules and regulation to mitigate victimisation due to access of sensitive issues such as political affiliations or physical appearance and demographic information about applicants. Commercial banks need to set up procedures and regulations that cover social media use in recruitment and selection. Also, information retrieved from individual’s profiles should be used carefully to minimize cases of litigation against the firm. Alternatively, the institutions also need to use social media sites for communication not only during a crisis but also to keep the public informed of activities such as recruitment drives. Further studies need to be undertaken but focus should be on the young professional in order to determine what young professionals prefer in social media recruitment