Incongruent skills and experiences in online labor market

摘要

In online labor markets (OLMs), employers evaluate job applicants based on the published information in their profiles. In this study, we empirically investigate how applicants’ skill information as well as their previous experiences affect employers’ hiring decisions when considering the heterogeneity of online labor markets. We find that (1) employers prefer job applicants with more incongruent skills in low-skill industries, but not in high-skill industries; (2) job applicants’ experiences attenuate employers’ price sensitivity on making hiring decisions in both high-skill industries and low-skill industries. Our findings provide a different perspective from the prior literature on OLMs by considering the labor market heterogeneity, i.e. high-skill industries and low-skill industries. We also provide new insights into employers’ assessment on job applicants’ skill and experience information.