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Purpose The changing demographics of talent market calls for a better understanding of the expectations of diverse job seekers. However, there is limited research on employer attractiveness (EA) factors which cover the expectations of new generation job seekers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of career growth opportunities (CGO), work–life benefits (WLB) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation on the perceived attractiveness of an organization as an employer and the job pursuit intention (JPI) of job seekers. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (CGO: many vs limited)×2 (WLB: many vs limited)×2 (CSR reputation: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design was used for this study. A total of 240 respondents participated in the study. Findings The results showed that provision of CGO had the highest effect on both EA and JPI. This effect was strong enough to compensate for limited WLB and a low CSR reputation. A significant interaction effect between CGO and CSR reputation revealed that the effect of CSR reputation on EA depends on the availability of many or limited CGO. Originality/value The study contributes and expands literature on attributes relevant in job choice decisions by providing useful insights regarding how job seekers weigh these attributes while making an employment choice. Also, the study offers suggestions for designing organizations’ recruitment strategy for attracting talent.

Purpose Drawing on the psychological contract theory and signaling theory, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the effect of employer rankings and employment experience on employee recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice and second, to examine whether these effects vary by employee characteristics (i.e. full-time vs part-time, current vs former and newcomers vs established employees). Design/methodology/approach The authors used multilevel logistic regression on a sample of 39,010 Glassdoor employee reviews, drawn from the companies for which three-year employer rankings (from 2015 to 2017) were available, to achieve our research objectives. Findings The results show that employment experience influenced employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice. The average standardized rankings for three years (i.e. 2015–2017) was also associated with employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice. Employee characteristics such as employment type (i.e. full-time vs part-time), employment status (i.e. current vs former) and tenure significantly interacted with employment experience in affecting recommendations of a company as an employer of choice. Originality/value In contrast to the bulk of the research on employer branding that relied on job seekers, the authors studied factors that influence employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice, arguably the most important indicator of employer internal brand strength. The results offer fresh theoretical and practical insights in an area where research lags far behind practice.

The role of corporate brand and product brand in consumer decisions is well documented in marketing literature. However, the application of these brands in human resource management has received little attention. In this paper, we examine the relationship between an organization's product brand and employer brand; and corporate brand and employer brand; and their subsequent impact on job seekers’ intention to apply. Using a standard questionnaire, we collected 619 responses about corporate brand, and product brand and employer brand of 11 organizations. We find that a strong corporate brand positively contributes to the employer brand dimensions, and employer brand fully mediates the relationship between corporate brand and intention to apply. However, a product brand may not provide sufficient information for making job‐related decisions; therefore, the efficacy of job advertisement showing great products/services by the employer need to be reassessed. Managerial implications, the results and future research directions are provided.

Communication of employer brand to external stakeholders has, in the recent past, seen new developments in the form of best employer surveys (BESs) and a potent form of employer branding lies in the BESs. In this article, we examine the impact of firm-related and job-related attributes on a candidate’s job application decisions by selecting firms from the BES lists. The study is based on the secondary and primary data of 139 companies which have appeared in four major BES lists from 2001 to 2012 (the longest time period for which data is available in an emerging economy—India) and primary data collected from 2,854 respondents. We find that both firm-level and job-related variables significantly influence a candidate’s job application decisions, such as, intention to apply and consideration of the best companies to work for. Firms, with an objective to attract huge candidates, should carefully examine the factors that positively affect the job choice decisions and make concerted effort to improve on those parameters. The study fills several research gaps present in the literature due to inadequate empirical studies, insufficient sample size and consideration of a limited variables in the past studies.