Tempus Fugit: Unraveling Temporal Occurrence and Display Order Effects of Online Information on Employer Impressions

Abstract

As social media readily enables users to traverse a targets’ posted content across time, the present research explores the effects of two types of temporality–occurrence and display order–on offline perceptions. Using the context of employers’ impression formation of job applicants, N = 200 human resource personnel were exposed to a job posting and an applicant’s resume and supplemental social media posts in a fully crossed 2 (occurrence order: posts becoming either more or less positive over a 4-year period) and display order (most-recent posts presented either first or last), and a one-condition offset in which all posts were made 2 years ago and displayed in a random order. Findings support the main effect of temporal occurrence so that more recently posted information more strongly influenced resultant perceptions of the applicant’s employability, person-organization fit, and starting salary; but neither primacy or recency effects of display order were detected. Findings are discussed with respect to warranting theory, primacy/recency effects, and the hiring process.