Fun as a recruitment tool : a discourse analysis of job advertisements

Abstract

Critical discourse analysis was used to examine how fun is represented in job ads from two websites in the Information Technology (IT), and Oil and Gas (O&G) sectors. The study identified two central discourses in recruitment ads. Fun, as a controlled discourse and fun as a discourse of control. Each are manifested through different representations of fun between sectors. Fun was likely incorporated in job ads as one element of a strategic organizational impression management to attract applicants. Differences between the industries provided an opportunity to examine existing typologies in the literature. The typology identifies the degree to which fun is a function of managerial control. The examination of fun as a discourse problematizes the definitions and depictions of fun in recruitment ads, thus demonstrating the importance of contextualizing any study of fun in the workplace within the organization’s sector or industry, as well as in terms of power relationships.