Young workers’ perception of brand image: main and moderating effects

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between an employer’s brand image (i.e. symbolic and functional attributes) and job seekers’ attraction to the firm among a sample of young workers. Design/methodology/approach – Job seekers completed a questionnaire regarding their knowledge of a particular firm, their perceived image of that firm, and their attraction toward that firm in terms of future employment. Moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses of interest. Findings – Consistent with previous findings, both functional and symbolic attributes of the brand image were related to job seekers’ attraction to the firm. In contrast to previous research, work experience moderated the effect of symbolic, but not functional, attributes such that these effects became stronger with more experience. Symbolic and functional attributes also interacted to predict job seekers’ attraction to the firm. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on cross-sectional self-report data, which limits causal inference. Practical implications – Results suggest that young workers are particularly influenced by symbolic attributes of the organizations’ brand image. Originality/value – This paper compares the role of symbolic and functional attributes in predicting young workers’ attraction to the firm. Young workers are more influenced by symbolic attributes and these influences are stronger when individuals gain in work experience and when they perceive higher functional attributes.

Do Employment Experience and Attractiveness Rankings Matter in Employee Recommendation? A Firm-level Analysis of Employers

“…Thus, the results of model 1 support Hypothesis 1. It may be noted that previous studies (i.e., Kumari & Saini, 2018; Myrden & Kelloway, 2015) have found the significance of symbolic and instrumental attributes with respect to firm's attractiveness to job seekers, while we found the significance of such attributes in employee recommendation. To control for countries-wise differences in ranks, we used 11 dummies, which included 10 dummies for countries and 1 dummy for world.…”

“…Most studies on employer branding have focused on outcomes of branding, for instance, ability to attract job seekers (Collins, 2007; Keeling et al, 2013; Myrden & Kelloway, 2015). However, there is no research study on what actually leads to branding, particularly, recommendation of an organization as an employer of choice, a potent form on internal branding.…”

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine how employment experience and most attractive employer rankings influence employee recommendation of employees using firm-level data. Second, unlike previous studies, which mainly studied potential employee’s assessment of pre-recruitment activities and intention to apply (e.g., Collins, 2007; Myrden & Kelloway, 2015), our main study variable is the employees’ recommendation of an organization as an employer of choice. Finally, our study responds to Lievens and Slaughter’s (2016, p. 420) critique that ‘this (i.e., social media and employer branding) is an area where research lags far behind practice’.…”

How COVID-19 Pandemic Changes Job Seeker Perceptions about an Indonesian Giant Startup as Top Employers

“…However, not all dimensions have been shown to have a significant effect on intention to apply. Employer brand image was confirmed to influence a potential job applicant's intention to apply to an organization [26,32]. In other results, work culture, diversity and ethics & CSR have a significant effect on person-organization fit.…”

“…Four dimensions that are salary and incentives, work culture, ethics and CSR, and diversity adopted from Tanwar and Kumar [30]. Two dimensions (leader capacity and company familiarity) wereadopted from Myrden and Kelloway [32]. Market value used from Alnıaçık and Alnıaçık [4] and Training and development adopted from Tanwar and Prasad [33].…”