How recruitment signals become memes: competitive intelligence dynamics in ten Chinese AI firms

Abstract This qualitative study analyses recruitment texts from ten Chinese AI firms using grounded theory, NVivo , and network visualisation to identify meta-memes that structure competitive recruitment signalling. The findings demonstrate how recruitment memes replicate across firms of different sizes, revealing differentiated signalling strategies under resource constraints and extending signalling theory towards a memetic intelligence perspective. By conceptualising recruitment texts as replicable informational units, this study extends traditional signalling theory and competitive intelligence research towards a memetic intelligence perspective. It contributes a micro-textual explanation of how competitive signals diffuse, stabilise, and evolve within technology-intensive labour markets.