Chapter 10: Employer and Employee Vetting: Reputation Management Challenges in the Information Age

The technology of the twenty-first century has created a paradigm shift in reputation management, and as such has made it an increasingly prominent issue particularly in recruitment and selection for the employer and job applicants. As traditional forms of information were replaced by electronic documentation and online resources, a new practice called ‘cyber-vetting’ emerged. Cyber-vetting is the proactive process of gathering online information in the recruitment and selection process (Berkelaar, 2014), facilitated by the presence of social media sites which has increased information gathering opportunities for employers. However, as more and more information about employers becomes available online, employer branding and reputations are increasingly subject to the views of their applicants and employees. Given the important role that employer branding and image plays for the attraction and retention of talent in contemporary research (e.g. Biswas & Suar, 2016; Russell & Brannan, 2016), online reputation management in the age of cyber-vetting and online review sites is becoming a challenge for many organisations.