Work

Who’s Here and Who’s Coming: Rethinking Symbolic Representation in Public Sector Recruitment

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article connects symbolic representation research to public sector recruiting. We theorize how gender diversity signals in hiring may affect job seekers’ intentions to apply and perceived organizational attractiveness. We contribute to representative bureaucracy by offering an extended reasoning about distinctive cognitive mechanisms, separating descriptive from prescriptive symbolic representation. The former reflects current representation related to identity-fit considerations, while the latter constitutes stated organizational goals for gender diversity, which evoke value congruence assessments. We investigate whether these signals impact organizational attractiveness and application intentions using a survey experiment ( n = 1,469 adults). The statistical analysis unveils mostly null findings when accounting for participants’ gender. Results indicate that public organizations cannot easily harness the benefits of symbolic representation signals, at least not in their initial recruiting efforts. Future research should further examine whether (symbolic) representation has positive effects in later stages of the recruitment process, such as interviews or selection procedures.

Source: Review of Public Personnel Administration

DOI: 10.1177/0734371x251369127

Authors: Martin Sievert, Claudio Buongiorno Sottoriva, Petra van den Bekerom

Institution: Leiden University

Language: English

Topic: Gender Diversity and Inequality

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900