Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Types of Audience Decisions 69

by the content in job advertisements than their stylistic features. Their less experienced coun-

terparts, however, are more affected by irrelevant cues such as the attractiveness of the people

shown in the ads.^46

When it comes to choosing among job offers, a meta-analysis of 232 studies fi nds six decision

criteria account for most applicants’ job choice decisions: characteristics of the job, the organization,

and the recruitment process, as well as recruiter behaviors, hiring expectancies, and their perceived

fi t with the job.^47 The primary criterion applicants use when choosing among job offers is their

perceived fi t with the job. Happily, this is also the criterion recruiters weight most heavily when

making their staffi ng decisions.^48

The following list of questions subsumes many of the criteria identifi ed previously and provides

a starting point for predicting agents’ decision criteria for any particular employment decision. The

list can also serve as an outline for documents and presentations principals produce in order to elicit

employment decisions from their agents or potential agents.

• How does the job fit with my education, experience, and career goals?


• What are the job’s responsibilities and status?


• What are the job’s working conditions and the firm’s culture?


• What is the job location’s cost of living and quality of life?


• What is the size and reputation of the employer?


• What is the job’s compensation and benefits package?

In addition to employers’ answers to the previous questions, job seekers may also require bench-

mark information about salaries, benefi ts, and working conditions at competing fi rms and at

fi rms in the same geographical locale. Job seekers may also seek comparative ratings of regional

educational and cultural resources, as well as comparative information on job scarcity in differ-

ent locales.^49

Exonerative Decisions: Responses to Requests for Pardon

Audiences, usually acting as principals, make exonerative decisions when they decide whether

to exonerate an agent from blame. For example, customers make exonerative decisions when

deciding whether to continue to patronize a business that has provided poor service, jurors

make exonerative decisions when deciding whether to convict a business executive accused of

fraud, supervisors make exonerative decisions when deciding whether to allow a routinely late

employee to keep her job.

Principals make exonerative decisions in order to ensure fair outcomes for all concerned and to

avoid setting a bad precedent. Agents seek exonerative decisions from principals when they want to

be, or when they want others to be, exonerated from blame. Documents and presentations agents

produce in order to elicit exonerative decisions from principals include crisis press releases, media

interviews , responses to customer complaints , rate hike notices , and defense arguments, as well as the more

commonplace excuses , denials , and apologies.

Failure to elicit a favorable exonerative decision can be costly to an individual or an organiza-

tion. When society decides a business is to blame for an unfortunate incident, the business can have

a hard time attracting new customers, investors, and employees.^50 A fi rm’s inappropriate behavior

can also lead to lawsuits, sales declines, increases in the cost of capital, market share deterioration,

and network partner loss.^51