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Recruiting under the influence: New labor market entrants' reactions to workplace drinking norms

Anthony C. Klotz¹; Serge P. da Motta Veiga²

¹ Oregon State University · ² American University

Prior research indicates that the influence of alcohol use, at work or at home, on employees' personal and professional lives is often harmless, but that it can be detrimental under certain circumstances. Alcohol's prevalence in and around some workplaces suggests that some employees value it, and that companies seeking to hire and retain these employees perhaps see a competitive advantage in embracing permissive workplace drinking norms. In this article, we draw from signaling theory and the fit, applicant attraction, and political skill literatures, to propose that during the recruitment process, organizations that promote workplace drinking norms are likely to attract applicants with high levels of political skill while turning off those with low levels of political skill. We conducted two studies and found that new labor market entrants with lower levels of political skill perceived lower levels of fit with companies that promote the acceptance of alcohol use at work‐related events during the recruitment process compared to companies that do not signal the presence of workplace drinking norms in their recruitment activities. In turn, these lower fit perceptions related to reduced organizational attraction.

DOI

10.1002/hrm.21906

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