Building on communication accommodation theory, we examine the effect of language style matching – the degree to which the language style of a response matches the language style of a relevant negative review – on prospective customers’ attitudes toward firms and firms’ sales performance, and the moderating effect of firms’ overall ratings.

Whilst companies try to attract talents through different means (e.g., financial incentives, flexible working hours), it is discussed that particularly high-quality candidates value information about a company’s ethicality. However, the influence of ethical market signals on talents’ intention to pursue with a job application is not well understood. Particularly in the digital context, it must be considered that companies can control some ethical market signals (e.g., ethical certifications in job advertisements), while others are beyond their control (e.g., ethical electronic word-of-mouth (eWoM)). The present study extends previous research related to job hiring by exploring how both signals affect talents’ job pursuit intention, and which factors mediate the influence of ethical market signals on job pursuit intention. To test the hypotheses, an online study was conducted with 265 university students. The results reveal that both types of ethical market signals increase an applicant’s job pursuit intention, although the effect appears to be stronger for eWoM. Furthermore, both signals enhance candidates’ willingness to apply for a job through affecting the attitude towards the advertisement and company employment image. Moreover, self-referencing is an additional mediator for the influence of eWoM on job pursuit intention. This suggests that candidates relate the information to their self-concept when others promote the ethicality of a company online. In summary, the present study helps to better understand how talents can be attracted to apply for a company, which positions itself as an ethical employer in the context of increasingly digitalized recruitment environments.