Abstract
Start-up ventures often face significant information asymmetry in the labour market, making recruitment interfaces critical for signaling organizational attractiveness to the job candidates. The recent advances of AI in recruitment provides the decision-makers with a strategic choice between AI-led and human-led interviews. We propose that AI-led interviews act as an innovation signal, portraying the firm as technologically advanced. Hence, the tech-savvy candidates show greater organizational attractiveness due to perceived person-organization fit. However, the efficacy of this signal depends on the suitability of the interview for the role. Human-led interviews are viewed as more suitable for the ambiguity of managerial roles, whereas AI-led interviews are better for the rule-based, analytical nature of individual contributor roles. Using an online scenario-based experiment, we test and confirm the moderating effect of role type and AI self-efficacy on the relation between interview format and organizational attractiveness. These findings offer actionable guidance for start-ups towards attracting a talent pool that have a better fit with organization.