Has perceived corporate social responsibility attracted job seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The traditional corporate employment relationship in China has changed under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but how to attract core talent remains an urgent challenge for companies to address. Using the stereotype content model, we constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effect of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on job seekers. We conducted two mock recruitment experiments with Chinese undergraduates and graduates who were seeking jobs, and found that perceived CSR significantly and positively affected organizational attractiveness, and that the relationship between perceptions of warmth and competence and CSR were mediated by corporate nature. These findings provide guidance and suggestions for managers to carry out CSR and for human resource recruitment practices in the postpandemic era.