Are they willing to work for you? An employee-centric view to employer brand attractiveness

Abstract

Purpose The present study aims to propose a novel employee-centric framework for the study of employer brand attractiveness. This framework disentangles the role of employer attributes, employee benefits and employee perceived value in the study of employer brands to better develop policies for talent attraction. Additionally, this study formulates a research agenda to help advance an employee-centric view of the employer’s brand management by following the tradition of customer-centric research and identifying benefits and forms of value that are yet unexplored. Design/methodology/approach This paper performs a systematic and critical review of the literature on employer brand attraction from the lens of means-end chains to examine how the notions of “employer attributes”, “employee benefits” and “perceived value” have been addressed in past studies and what relations have been established among these three concepts. Findings The results unveil the existing conflation among attributes, benefits and value in the conceptualization of employer brand attractiveness. By proposing an employee-centric framework following the tenets of current consumer-centric paradigms, this paper disentangles the notions of attributes, benefits and value in the creation of attractive employer brands; establishes a hierarchical relationship among them; and suggests studying the multiple paths of relationships between attributes and benefits. These conditions should help organizations understand how to create successful strategies to ultimately ensure that they are selected as employers of choice. Research limitations/implications Further research is needed to clarify the domains in which the already studied empirical relations hold. This could be achieved by conducting a laddering process based on a means–end chain approach. Additionally, the impact of this framework on the construction of effective value propositions and employee market segmentation should be further explored. Originality/value This paper has revisited the construct of employer brand from a means–ends approach to propose an employee-centric view guiding employer brand strategies. As competition for the best employees sharpens, understanding how employer brand traits are valued in the eyes of different segments of employees and applicants may help organizations to develop more effective strategies to attract the best talent.

Designing job ads to stimulate the decision to apply: a discrete choice experiment with business students

“…The study contributes to research interested in the perceived values of job and organizational attributes in early applicant attraction for the ultimate sake of employer brand differentiation (Bullinger & Treisch, 2015;Ronda et al, 2018). Furthermore, we join research interested in exploring only one recruitment source in depth (Hoppe, 2021).…”

“…In the beginning of a job search, the number and details of knowable job and organizational attributes are limited (Collins & Stevens, 2002), especially for labor market entrants. Complementary to a cognitive psychology perspective on brand equity built from employer knowledge based on observable attributes (Aaker, 1991;Keller, 1993;Ronda et al, 2018;Zeithaml, 1988), an information economics view (Erdem & Swait, 1998;Wilden et al, 2010) underlines that recruitment is a process of asymmetrical information exchange between employers and potential applicants. By using available job and organizational attributes as signals, potential applicants draw conclusions about otherwise unobservable overall working conditions and reduce uncertainty (Rynes, 1991;Spence, 1974).…”

“…Second and related to the first, by conflation of benefits and attributes in the recruitment message. As Ronda et al (2018) clarify using product branding literature (Zeithaml, 1988), benefits are the individual interpretations of attributes by job seekers (what can this attribute do for me?) and are characterized by a higher level of abstraction through relating attributes to personal goals.…”

“…Employer brands build their 'package of functional, economic and psychological benefits' (Ambler & Barrow, 1996, p. 187) in the minds of potential applicants from observable job and organizational attributes that describe employment with a company and the bundle of subjective benefits in turn culminates in the individual perceived value regarding the overall utility of an employment opportunity (Ronda et al, 2018(Ronda et al, , 2020. This hierarchical triad of employer brand elements offers an analytical lens for better understanding how recruitment messages translate into applicant preferences by revealing the means-end chain behind evaluation processes.…”

A Framework for Résumé Decisions: Comparing Applicants’ and Employers’ Reasons

“…Third, these studies lack explanation about why people choose to conform to or violate format guidelines (Amare & Manning, 2009;Waung et al, 2017). Applicants' desires have been a point of discussion in recruitment and selection scholarship (e.g., Avery & McKay, 2006;Catanzaro et al, 2010;Ronda et al, 2018;Ryan & Derous, 2016;Thomas & Wise, 1999;Williamson et al, 2010) but are noticeably missing from some résumé scholarship.…”