E-Recruitment, from Website Aesthetics to Application Intentions: The Roles of Organizational Attractiveness and the Corporate Reputation

Corporate websites play a critical role in digital recruitment, influencing job seekers’ perceptions and intentions to apply. This study examines how website aesthetics—Classic Aesthetics (CA) and Expressive Aesthetics (EA)—interact with corporate reputation to shape applicants’ intention to apply (ITA). Using a two-wave survey with 435 participants, we explore the mediating role of organizational attractiveness and the moderating effect of Corporate Reputation (CR). The results indicate that both CA and EA influence ITA through organizational attractiveness, but the moderating effect of CR is significant only in the indirect relationship between EA and ITA: when the CR is low the effect of EA is higher.These findings underscore the meaningful influence of website aesthetics on applicants’ initial perceptions, illustrating how different design elements shape both their views of the recruitment medium and the organization.