The influence of images on organizational attractiveness: comparing Chinese, Russian and US companies in Germany

Abstract

In developed markets, Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises' (EMNEs) organizational attractiveness may crucially depend on applicants' country and corporate character images. Applying image and signaling theory, this study compares the influence of these images on the organizational attractiveness of Chinese, Russian, and US companies in Germany. Employing data from 287 German business students, findings show that applicants prefer US over Chinese and Russian companies as future employers, confirming the existence of the liability of emergingness. Moreover, findings indicate gender differences in applicants' attraction towards EMNEs. In particular, female applicants are less attracted to EMNEs with a bad corporate character image than male applicants are.

Foreign and domestic company attractiveness to host national employees in Japan: A person–organization fit and image theory perspective

“…In other words, individuals screen objects (e.g., organizational characteristics) by looking at the criteria that are not compatible with their values, principles, and goals. Drawing on image theory, scholars have argued that HCNs are less attracted to foreign than domestic companies in developed countries (Held & Bader, ; Newburry et al, ). Specifically, limited information about foreign companies and general bounded rationality in a host country can lead to stereotypical judgments based on organizational classes to which foreign companies are seen to belong, such as a home‐country.…”

“…In this war for talent, foreign companies are found to have problems to attract host country national (HCNs) in foreign countries because of their lack of fit with the host country context (Newburry, Gardberg, & Belkin, ). Despite its importance, research on foreign company attractiveness is scarce (for exceptions, see Froese, Vo, & Garrett, ; Held & Bader, ; Newburry et al, ; Newburry, Gardberg, & Sanchez, ; Turban, Ching‐Ming, Ngo, Chow, & Si, ). Insightful as these studies are, more research is needed to provide a more comprehensive account of organizational and individual factors affecting foreign companies' organizational attractiveness—the degree to which an individual would personally seek a company as an employer (Turban & Greening, ).…”

“…Third, we add to research on organizational attractiveness of foreign companies (Held & Bader, ; Hong & Kim, ; Newburry et al, ; Turban et al, ) by examining which specific HCNs are more attracted to foreign companies and organizational characteristics. This is important both from a theoretical and practical perspective.…”

“…From a theoretical point of view, we draw on P–O fit theory and organizational attractiveness research to examine the moderating effects of three sets of HCNs' individual characteristics: demographics (gender and age), work‐related skills (English proficiency and international experience), and value orientations (risk orientation and individualism). This allows to provide a more comprehensive account of which HCNs are more attracted by foreign companies; prior research has predominately focused on the interaction effect of gender and country‐of‐origin of the employer (Held & Bader, ; Newburry et al, ). From a practical perspective, our findings help to provide recommendations for foreign companies of what kind of HCNs to attract and whether to modify their HRM practices to better appeal to certain candidates.…”

“…Fourth, based on data from HCN employees, this study answers calls for organizational attractiveness research on employees' perceptions (Newburry et al, ; Turban et al, ). Prior research has relied on student samples (e.g., Froese et al, ; Held & Bader, ; Tsai & Yang, ; Turban et al, ), while foreign companies rely mainly on mid‐career recruitment (Peltokorpi & Froese, ). Attractiveness perceptions of HCNs with work experience are also identified to differ from students without work experience (Turban et al, ).…”