A Conceptual Framework for Organizational Attractiveness among Malaysian Millennial Jobseekers Aimed at the Aftermath of COVID-19

Abstract

Attracting superior talent from the job market is a crucial task for the organization. Due to the technological paradigm-shifting in the direction of Industrial revolution 4.0, tech-savvy millennials are the organization's dominant priority to gain a competitive advantage. Scholars predict that the ongoing COVID-19 is likely to change millennial's job preferences. On the other hand, in this economic climate, where young people are at an amplified risk of being jobless, organizations must play a vital role in providing jobs and attract young entry-level millennial jobseekers. Millennials have unique expectations from employers, thus selective about organizations to join. Understanding the millennial job seeker's perception is imperative for the organization to create an "attractive employer" image. However, very little is known about the factor attracting entry-level millennial jobseekers towards an organization from literature. Consequently, the present study identifies four factors, corporate social responsibility, perceived work environment, individual value, and organizational reputation, which have organizational attractiveness. The study develops a conceptual model of organizational attractiveness utilizing social identity theory and signaling theory. Further, this concept will empirically be tested and validated in the future.

Leveraging workforce insights to enhance employer attractiveness for young job seekers during pandemic era

“…Employers need to deal with this turning point as young generations now see the world of work differently; therefore, it is time to forecast and monitor young workforce requirements and their shifting attitudes and expectations ( Sharma, 2019 ). Thus, employers should go with the flow and ride the wave of change to maintain their competitive position in the market by getting a sufficient supply of competent and tech-savvy human capital; youth is the best match ( Moore and Khan, 2020 ; Hira et al., 2021 ).…”

Factors Influencing Organizational Attractiveness among Millennial Job Seekers: A Study on Students in Malaysian Research Universities

“…They tend not to be influenced by that organization due to a lack of self-belonging factor (Jones et al, 2014). Thus, the conceptual framework in Figure 1 has been adopted from Hira et al (2021), which was developed based on these two theories to test empirically. Conceptual framework…”

“…Again, the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0) ushered in a paradigm change in the job market, requiring an independent and capable workforce to deal with global diversity. Organizations are in a time of transformation as the work market moves away from conventional hierarchies (Hira et al, 2021). Therefore, organizations have prioritized hiring millennials because of their adoptive and tech-savvy nature.…”

“…Organizations must attract millennials to the organizations under consideration in the Malaysian context because they must contribute to the "New Economic Model." Millennials' diversity and leadership qualities have prompted businesses to recognize their contribution to the Malaysian workforce, especially in the coming years (Hira et al, 2021). Increasing organizational attractiveness (OA) would help mitigate the millennial youth unemployment issue (Ismail & Seng, 2016).…”

“…Accordingly, OA's definition has shifted to include soft factors like organizational perceptions of the workplace atmosphere and social benefits. Also, researchers are concerned that the job market for entry-level millennial job seekers (MJS) who are between fresh graduates will get much worse because of imminent COVIE-19 (Hira et al, 2021).…”