Recruiter and Applicant Use of LinkedIn: A Spotlight on India

Abstract

In this study we investigated recruiter and applicant usage of LinkedIn in India. We replicated Zide, Elman, and Shahani-Denning (2014), who examined the use of LinkedIn with a U.S. sample. Following their methodology, we surveyed a small sample of India-based hiring professionals to identify important variables in the evaluation of LinkedIn profiles. We used these variables to code a sample of 200 LinkedIn member profiles across 2 industries: sales or marketing (SM) and human resources (HR). Similar to the case in the American sample reported in Zide et al., a review of chi-square and analysis of variance results indicated significant differences in how SM and HR professionals represented themselves on LinkedIn. Similarities and differences between the American and Indian samples on the use of LinkedIn are discussed.