Got Employer Image? How Applicants Choose Their Employer

Abstract

This research investigates applicants' preferences in employer choice to identify relevant components of employer image that are best to be communicated in employer branding. Based on the instrumental-symbolic attribute framework assumptions about the relative importance of the organizational characteristics salary, location, flexibility of working hours, task attractiveness, prestige, innovativeness, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and their interrelations were tested in an empirical setting. Additionally, interindividual differences in career ambition were investigated as a moderating variable. To measure the actual decision behavior of N = 136 ongoing university graduates, Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint (ACBC) Analysis was used. Based on the respondents' preferences, the importance of each attribute was calculated and set in relation to one another. The results show that moderate attractive instrumental organization attributes form a precondition for symbolic attributes to become relevant at all. There is no evidence for a compensating relationship between instrumental and symbolic attribute classes. Career ambition shows some effects, especially on two-way interactions between instrumental and symbolic attributes. The innovative use of conjoint analysis in the instrumental-symbolic framework allowed to further investigate trade-off effects of attribute classes in the employer decision. The findings provide additional information on relevant elements of employer image and give suggestions for employer branding researchers and practitioners.

Who is CSR for in employer branding? Insights on employer branding strategies across industries, educational backgrounds and career styles

“…Given that applicants' choices differ based on career ambitions (Hoppe et al, 2022), we also hypothesise that: Hypothesis 6. Advancement opportunities are more important for boundaryless careerists than for traditional careerists in predicting job attraction.…”

“…Among the more frequently signalled employer attributes, empirical research suggests that applicants are deeply concerned about salient and distinctive information about employers' CSR activities (Hoppe et al, 2022;Jones et al, 2016;Klimkiewicz & Oltra, 2017).…”

“…The extant literature includes organisation's corporate social responsibility (CSR) among the most desired employer brand attributes among outsiders (Dogl & Holtbrugge, 2014; Hoppe et al, 2022; Puncheva‐Michelotti et al, 2018), proposing that a good CSR image enhances prospective employees' attraction via anticipated pride of being affiliated with an ethical organisation and perceived value fit (Jones et al, 2014).…”

Antecedents of labor shortage in the rural hospitality industry: a comparative study of employees and employers

“…The framework is based on the basic premise of marketing literature; that people associate brands with symbolic meanings and specific objective functions (Aaker, 1997; Keller, 1993). Existing research has examined the impact of various factors on the attractiveness of organizations as potential employers (Ehrhart and Ziegert, 2005; Hoppe et al , 2021; Renaud et al , 2016). The instrumental-symbolic framework can be used to classify these factors (Hoppe et al , 2021; Kumari and Saini, 2018; Schwaiger et al , 2021).…”

“…Existing research has examined the impact of various factors on the attractiveness of organizations as potential employers (Ehrhart and Ziegert, 2005; Hoppe et al , 2021; Renaud et al , 2016). The instrumental-symbolic framework can be used to classify these factors (Hoppe et al , 2021; Kumari and Saini, 2018; Schwaiger et al , 2021).…”