Dominant influences on Human Resource practitioners’ perceptions of methods of attraction in South Africa

Abstract

Companies in South Africa are continually confronted with vacancies which need to be filled. A number of methods of attraction, for example, word of mouth, recruitment agencies or internet recruitment, could be utilised in the process of filling these vacancies, and Human Resources practitioners have to make decisions on which method to adopt. Using a statistical technique called Correspondence Analysis, this research intended to explore the criteria that inform the decision of which method to adopt. The purpose of this was to determine if there is an overriding set of dominant influences on Human Resources practitioners‟ perceptions of methods of attraction, which could ultimately guide Human Resources practitioners in their decision processes. Furthermore, the research served to determine whether there were any material differences in perceptions of performances of the methods of attraction on any identified criteria and dominant influences. Utilising a sample of 35 Human Resources practitioners, from a variety of industries, it was possible to illustrate that there are two dominant influences on Human Resources practitioners‟ perceptions of methods of attraction. The results also highlight that perceptions of methods of attraction do differ significantly according to Human Resource practitioners on their effectiveness relative to these two influences, and demonstrate which methods of attraction perform best or worst on the criteria included in the research