EFFECTS OF ATTRIBUTE SET SIZE AND PAY AMBIGUITY ON REACTIONS TO HELP WANTED ADVERTISEMENTS

Findings in multiattribute decision research were used as a basis for predicting the effects of help-wanted advertisement characteristics on vacancy attractiveness. In the first experiment, undergraduate studen ts were presented with entry-level service job advertisements differin g in attribute set size, attribute relevance, and pay ambiguity. Resul ts revealed strong evidence for a set-size effect, with ads containing more (relevant or irrelevant) attributes increasing the attractivenes s of the vacancies being advertised. Pay ambiguity decreased the attra ctiveness of vacancies with ads containing a small set of attributes. A second experiment presented students with the same advertisements, e xcept that the small-set ads were physically enlarged to equal the siz e of the large-set ads. Results replicated the (large) set-size effect only for relevant-attribute ads. Also, pay ambiguity increased the at tractiveness of vacancies promoted by ads containing a larger amount o f relevant attributes. We conclude that merely adding relevant attribu te information to help-wanted advertisements can lead to the inference that the jobs promoted in the ads are more attractive. Moreover, we t entatively suggest that pay ambiguity can lead to pessimistic inferenc es about pay for ads containing less information, and optimistic infer ences about pay for ads containing more information. (C) 1998 John Wil ey & Sons, Ltd.