The inefficacy of LinkedIn? A latent change model and experimental test of using LinkedIn for job search.

Job applicants are increasingly turning to LinkedIn for their job search, so much so that it is supplanting traditional job search tools in many ways. Despite this widespread usage, scholarly research that explores its efficacy and the mechanisms for job search success (or failure) in this context is lacking. Accordingly, we rely upon social-cognitive theory and self-regulation theory to explore beneficial and adverse outcomes of searching for a job on LinkedIn as well as these outcomes' influence on job search success. Using a multivariate latent change analysis model, our longitudinal data across 2 samples support a self-regulatory frame but not a social-cognitive view, suggesting that a change in LinkedIn use for job search is positively related to a subsequent change in ego depletion, which leads to an ensuing adverse change in job search success. Additionally, as opposed to what is predicted by social-cognitive theory and typically found in the literature, an increase in job search behavior on LinkedIn was found to lead to poorer job search self-efficacy. In Study 3, we conduct a between-person experiment that explores this finding with results showing that upward social comparisons on LinkedIn lead to lower levels of self-efficacy. In all, the more that individuals use LinkedIn for job search, the worse their job search self-efficacy becomes, the more they become depleted, and the poorer their ensuing job search success. Results suggest some caution should be taken when conducting a job search on LinkedIn. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).