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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.

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.

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.

The study is based on cross-sectional self-report data, which limits causal inference.

Results suggest that young workers are particularly influenced by symbolic attributes of the organizations’ brand image.

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.

The study attempts to extend the current scholarship in the field of employer branding. Integrated communication is about consistent communication that is synergistic through multiple communication channels. Employer branding activities that involve multiple internal communication channels aim to attract employees. The study proposes that the perceived impact of effective integrated communication in employer branding shapes employee attitude and hence employee attraction. Employee perception of the choice of communication channels is also proposed to have an impact on employee attraction.

An exploratory qualitative study in the form of interviews and a preliminary survey was conducted in the first phase. The main study involved a questionnaire survey to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. The respondents were information technology–business process management (IT-BPM) employees (n = 520) in India.

The direct and interaction effects of integrated communication and usefulness of communication channels on employee attraction within the organization were empirically validated to suggest a positive impact on employee attraction.

The study extends the current body of knowledge on talent attraction to include present employees. Similarly, the study on integrated communication and its impact on employee attraction is an important addition to the literature on employer branding, internal communication and talent management, given the present coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for employer brand equity (EBE) that combines both perspectives of employer brand customers into a unified framework for employee attraction and retention.

This paper extends previous conceptual work on EBE by identifying the role of EBE antecedents in internal and external employer branding. In addition, it recognizes the interactive nature of employer-employee relationship.

The framework incorporates employee experience with the employer, which relates to the interaction between employee and employer and recognizes the internal and external perspectives simultaneously. Further, the unified framework helps to develop a four-cell typology for the strategic management of an employer brand.

Existing research has failed to integrate the two perspectives of employment customers in a clear model and, thus, offered limited applicability to an employment setting. The EBE framework goes beyond existing models by providing a conceptualization that aims to reflect the employer-brand relationship from the perspective of existing and potential employees. Further, it provides theoretical and empirical rationale for a set of propositions that can empirically be examined in future research.

The purpose of this paper is to expand and test Backhaus and Tikoo’s (2004) employer branding (EB) conceptual framework from the perspective of internal EB in a sport event sponsorship context.

This study developed a set of hypotheses, which were tested in the context of a business-to-business multinational organization’s sport event sponsorship project. Empirical data were collected from 716 employees of the case company after the sponsorship project was complete.

The results support all the hypotheses and reveal that a sport event sponsorship project can act as a means to achieving EB goals in the investigated context.

The sample of the study was limited to the existing personnel of one case company. The study measures the effects at a single point in time, thus the findings should be validated with longitudinal research design.

The results propose that companies can benefit from integrating sport sponsorship with internal EB. Practitioners are advised to create sponsorship projects that involve current employees effectively.

The study adds to the literature by being among the first empirical studies to have tested the effects of EB among current employees via a sponsorship project.

This chapter explores different strategies implemented by three companies using professional (LinkedIn) and non-professional (Facebook) social networking websites (SNWs) as a recruitment tool and investigates the influence of their perceived usability and attractiveness on job seekers’ attraction and their intention to apply.

First, a laboratory experiment involving 171 MBA students compares the effectiveness of three different social recruitment strategies. Second, a survey among 110 job seekers focuses on the most effective strategy in terms of attraction as an employer and the influence of perceived usability and attractiveness of professional SNW pages on job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The laboratory experiment confirms the key role of LinkedIn as an e-recruitment practice. The survey shows that the overall company image, the usability of the LinkedIn page and the interaction between the attractiveness of the page and the overall company image positively influence job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The research offers insights on job seekers’ reactions to 2.0 Internet-based recruitment. Companies should focus on and invest in professional social medias, paying attention to the usability of their SNWs pages.

Recruitment is a strategic HRM practice to attract talents; however, research lags behind practice and little is known about job seekers’ perceptions and reactions to Internet recruitment. This chapter sheds light on the use of social media for recruitment and identifies two features that contribute to an effective e-recruitment strategy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Although researchers agreed that corporate image and employer image are important factors affecting organizational attractiveness, understanding the role of social identity within the attracting process, in addition to exploring the relationship between corporate image and employer image, is still a research gap. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of corporate and employer image on organizational attractiveness in addition to understanding the moderating role of social identity on the relationship between corporate image and employer brand and organizational attractiveness.

The study used a survey method for data collection from fourth year students.

The findings show that both employer image and corporate image have a significant positive effect on organizational attractiveness . In addition, it has showed that social identity consciousness plays partial role as a moderator in the model.

This paper is one of the first papers that include corporate image, employer image, social identity consciousness and organizational attractiveness in the same model . In addition, it is one of the limited papers that considered both signal and social identity theory in attraction process.

To deal with the agenda of extensive research to establish employer branding as a valuable Human Resource (HR) practice, this study aims to examine perception of seafarer to explore the attributes related with employer branding in maritime industry. This study intends to explore the applicability of instrumental-symbolic framework of employer branding in maritime industry to understand the dimensions related with attractiveness of seafarers’ jobs.

Sample of the study is Indian seafarers include only officers from both deck and engine. Total 276 usable responses were considered at the end for data analysis.

Both, the instrumental and symbolic attributes explained significant variance in predicting attractiveness of seafarers’ occupation, thus supporting hypotheses 1 and 2. In particular, among instrumental dimensions, social/team activities, structure, advancement, travel opportunities and pay and benefits positively predicted seafarers’ attraction towards their job. As symbolic dimension, sincerity, competence and prestige was positively related, and ruggedness was negatively related to attractiveness of the present job among seafarers.

Overall, the present findings ascertain the utility of the framework as a conceptualization of employer brands and support the applicability of instrumental-symbolic framework for understanding the dimensions of occupational attractiveness in different context and culture, i.e. Indian Seafarers.

Although the popularity of employer branding is growing amongst human resources practitioners, but still, there is dearth of academic (mainly empirical research) literature on the subject, `appeals to management researchers (Cable and Turban, 2001; Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004, Edwards, 2009; alniacik and alniacik, 2012; Kucherov and Zavyalova, 2012). With this in consideration and to deal with the agenda of extensive research to establish employer branding as a valuable HR practice, the present study examines perception of seafarer to explore the attributes related with employer branding in maritime industry.

Employer branding represents a firm's efforts to promote, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes it different and desirable as an employer. In recent years employer branding has gained popularity among practicing managers. Given this managerial interest, this article presents a framework to initiate the scholarly study of employer branding. Combining a resource‐based view with brand equity theory, a framework is used to develop testable propositions. The article discusses the relationship between employer branding and organizational career management. Finally, it outlines research issues that need to be addressed to develop employer branding as a useful organizing framework for strategic human resource management.

Service‐dominant logic of marketing claims that employees' knowledge and skills are the firm's only sustainable advantage. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of branding in attracting the right employees.

This paper employs the image congruency hypothesis and social norms from consumer behavior. To test the hypotheses empirically, it uses a scenario‐based survey of respondents recruited from job‐seeking graduate students.

Based on data sampled and analyzed, it finds that both image congruency between prospective employee and preferred employer and social norm weigh in when job seekers decide on the preferred employer.

The paper tests the model only on first‐time job seekers. This group may have greater desire to find a job than employed job seekers do. However, it believes that image congruency and social norm will impact the latter group's attitudes regarding employer.

For managers who need to differentiate their market offering the findings illuminate the importance of branding and brand building not only in the consumer market but also in the labor market. It is all about attracting the right customers and moreover, the right employees to serve them.

To the knowledge, this is the first study in the field of employer branding that uses the image congruency hypothesis to study branding in the labor market, thereby linking branding to organizational behavior.