Ghost ads in recruitment: a conceptual exploration

Purpose This article examines the phenomenon of job postings created without genuine hiring intent, commonly referred to as ghost ads. These postings have become a strategic tool for organizations in the digital recruitment era, particularly with the rise of platforms like LinkedIn for talent sourcing. Design/methodology/approach This study employs a conceptual, theory-driven analysis to examine ghost job advertisements as an organizational recruitment practice. Drawing on Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) and Transaction Cost Theory (TCT), the paper theorizes why and how organizations deploy job postings without immediate hiring intent within social media–based recruitment systems. Practitioner surveys, industry reports, and documented recruitment practices are used selectively as contextual indicators rather than as empirical tests. The analysis develops a multi-level conceptual framework and formal propositions that explain organizational antecedents, platform-enabled mechanisms, and consequences for job seekers, organizations, and labor markets, with the aim of guiding future empirical research. Findings The study finds that ghost job advertisements can be understood as a structurally embedded recruitment practice rather than isolated or unethical anomalies. Drawing on RDT and TCT, the analysis shows that organizations use ghost ads to manage labor market uncertainty, maintain access to potential talent, and signal organizational vitality, enabled by the low marginal costs and data-retention capacities of social media recruitment platforms. While these practices provide short-term organizational flexibility, they shift informational and emotional costs onto job seekers, distort vacancy signals, and raise longer-term concerns for trust, transparency, and legitimacy in labor markets. Originality/value This study offers one of the first theory-driven conceptual analyses of ghost job advertisements as a structurally embedded recruitment practice rather than an isolated or deviant behavior. While ghost ads are widely discussed in practitioner and media contexts, they have received little systematic attention in HRM and employee relations scholarship. By integrating RDT and TCT, the study develops an original multi-level framework explaining why organizations deploy ghost ads, how digital recruitment platforms enable their use, and what consequences arise for job seekers, organizations, and labor markets.