Social Media and Political Affiliation (Nabity-Grover et al. 2025) | ISR FT50

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, the podcast where we break down cutting-edge research that shapes the way we understand work, technology, and society. This is our Weekend Book Review, and today, we’re diving into a study that hits right at the crossroads of social media, politics, and hiring decisions.The paper we’re discussing is Social Media and Political Affiliation: How Expressing Hot-Button Opinions Affects Raters’ Assessments of Job Applicants, published in Information Systems Research, an FT50 journal. The authors—Teagen Nabity-Grover, Kevin D. Matthews, Philip L. Roth, Youngjin Kwon, and Jason B. Thatcher—take on a question that’s more relevant than ever: How do political opinions expressed on social media impact a person’s job prospects?We all know that social media gives us a space to express our views, but unlike a casual conversation, these posts are permanent, public, and often scrutinized by people we’ve never met—including hiring managers. Through a detailed experiment with 377 professionals, this study found that when recruiters see a job applicant’s posts on hot-button issues, it influences their hiring decisions—sometimes even more than job-relevant factors like internships.The most surprising part? It didn’t matter whether the post appeared on Facebook or Twitter. The effect was the same. Employers expect to see a candidate’s “true self” on social media, and when political views enter the picture, those judgments can override qualifications.So here’s the big question: Are we really being judged for our skills, or is our digital footprint quietly reshaping our professional opportunities?A big thank you to the authors for this fascinating research. If you found this episode insightful, don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube at Weekend Researcher. Your support on Patreon also helps us keep the conversation going.ReferenceTeagen Nabity-Grover, Matthews, K. D., Roth, P. L., Kwon, Y., & Thatcher, J. B. (2025). Social Media and Political Affiliation: How Expressing Hot-Button Opinions Affects Raters’ Assessments of Job Applicants. Information Systems Research. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0497Supplements Open Access https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/isre.2020.0497/suppl_file/isre.2020.0497.sm1.pdfRelated paper: Roth, P. L., Bobko, P., Shan, G. (“J.”), Roth, R. W., Ferrise, E., & Thatcher, J. B. (2024). Doxing, political affiliation, and type of information: Effects on suspicion, perceived similarity, and hiring-related judgments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 109(5), 730–754. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001153Youtube Channel⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠Support us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/weekendresearcher