The use of online profiles generates new matching opportunities by making worker information public. Workers use occupational labels to signal their expertise concisely. Under this context, workers may attempt to increase their employability by affiliating with multiple occupational categories. While the signaling strategy can be successful by extending the pool of potential recruiters, it may also cause negative reactions due to its lack of focus. The study approaches the dilemma by applying categorization theory from economic sociology. We hypothesize that claiming multiple categories may increase the attention workers receive but decrease their credibility. To test the mechanisms, the study exploits an exogenous change of category visibility in a South Korean job-matching platform. The platform suddenly deleted occupational categories from the user list without prior announcements. The results show that category spanners received greater profile views but fewer interview offers when the occupational affiliations were visible. The decoupling of attention and legitimacy challenges the traditional idea that inattention to category spanners drives the social penalty. The study concludes with implications for the online labor market, platform design, and boundaryless career literature.
