Purpose Generation Z expresses strong views on ethical corporate behaviour and the environment; they claim to prefer interesting jobs and company corporate social responsibility practices over big earnings. Therefore, it is important to explore how these views impact their intentions, decisions and behaviours related to work and employment. The purpose of this study is to understand how the perceptions of the information about corporate social responsibility practices provided in company vacancy descriptions impact the intentions of generation Z job seekers to apply for the advertised positions. Design/methodology/approach The sample included 257 university students completing an undergraduate program in international business. The authors manipulated a real-life vacancy description for an assistant manager of a large well-known company by creating three versions of the advertisement with different amounts of information about corporate social responsibility practices. The respondents were asked to randomly and blindly select one version and complete an online survey, which consisted of three scales. Findings Perceptions of the amount of information about corporate social responsibility practices given in a vacancy description positively affected the respondents’ corporate identification, which, in turn, positively impacted their organizational attraction towards the company. Also, the organizational attraction positively influenced their intentions to apply for the position. However, there was no statistically significant direct effect of the amount of information about the practices on their intentions to apply for the position. Research limitations/implications This research surveyed students majoring in international business, so the results may differ if a similar study includes participants in other fields, for example, agriculture, medicine, law or IT. Using other research methods, such as phenomenology or case-study, researchers could explore to what extent and how student job seekers use proactive behaviours to find organizations that match their values using job portals or any other channels. The study is limited to undergraduate students, so future research could explore the importance of corporate social responsibility practices for recruitment of graduate students. Practical implications All stakeholders, including company recruitment decision-makers, job search portals, independent employment agencies, career advisors and university administration and faculty could use the results of this study to adjust their practices related to the integration of generation Z job seekers into the workforce. These stakeholders should strengthen their partnerships and approach graduate employment as a match not only of competencies but also of values. Originality/value The authors provide empirical support to earlier suggestions that corporate social responsibility views impact career-related intentions of generation Z job seekers and that a perceived fit with the organization plays a decisive role in their attraction to the organization. The study results demonstrate how generation Z job seekers make decisions about a potential employer: information about corporate social responsibility practices signal to them that the company values match their own, which impacts their decision to apply. Also, this study shows that corporate identification and organizational attraction play a pivotal role in this process.
Plakhotnik et al. (Tue,) studied this question.