Psychology Commons^™

Signal Cost And Value Alignment In Organizational Sustainability Messaging To New Hires, Mackenzie Law, Ellise Vangilder, Kaitlyn Miller, Mariana Solanilla, Luke Vavricka, Amanda Lillie, Jack Carson, Jim Westerman

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Introduction As companies continue to integrate sustainable initiatives as a strategic focus, their communications to new hires must adapt accordingly. Orientation programs represent an opportunity to inform new hires about the company’s sustainability values, but factors influencing the impact of sustainability messaging on new-hire perceptions remain unexplored. It is important for organizations to send signals to their new hires which are perceived as credible, meaningful, and genuine. However, the framing of sustainability orientation messages may combine with new-hire individual differences to influence these perceptions. We draw from signaling theory and value congruence research in HR to consider the potential impact …