Title

What’s the Inside Scoop? Challenges in the Supply and Demand for Information on Employers

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6839-2512

Publication Date

9-8-2022

Source

Journal of Labor Economics 2022

Abstract

Workers struggle to understand prospective employers. Through experienced workers' volunteered reviews, Glassdoor is a platform that seeks to provide information about prospective employers to jobseekers. We find that the content most valuable to jobseekers (negative information) is the kind most risky to supply, pointing to a Catch-22. Higher ratings increase job applications to smaller firms only, creating an incentive for them to discourage negative reviews. Concerns about employer retaliation discourage negative reviews and motivate employees who do disclose to conceal aspects of their identity, degrading the information's value. Reputation institutions provide valuable but partial solutions to workers' information problems.

DOI

10.1086/721701

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Subject Areas

LABOR MARKET ISSUES

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Citation

Sockin, Jason and Aaron Sojourner. 2022. "What’s the Inside Scoop? Challenges in the Supply and Demand for Information on Employers." Journal of Labor Economics. https://doi.org/10.1086/721701