Search results

Public services around the world are grappling to enhance their leadership capacity. One approach is to provide leadership training and development to public servants, while another would be to target and hire individuals with proven leadership ability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on that latter strategy by critically examining the concept of branding the public service as an employer of choice as a means of recruiting and retaining sufficient leadership capacity.

The paper begins by outlining the challenge faced by governments to recruit the best and brightest employees into the public service. It then reviews the literature on the concept of branding as an employer of choice, including its perceived advantages and limitations, before undertaking a case study analysis of the 2007 public sector branding initiative of the Canadian federal government.

It is very difficult to develop a single, master brand given the diversity and complexity of the hundreds of organizations that comprise the public sector. While it may be a popular concept for private sector organizations, the concept of branding the public sector as an employer of choice has yet to demonstrate its merit. Canada, which was ostensibly the vanguard in terms of public sector branding, has been unable to position the federal public service as an employer of choice.

There is very little research on the use of branding as an employer of choice in the public sector. This paper contributes to the knowledge about the limitations of such strategies for ensuring that the public sector has the requisite leadership capacity.

Drawing on the psychological contract theory and signaling theory, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the effect of employer rankings and employment experience on employee recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice and second, to examine whether these effects vary by employee characteristics (i.e. full-time vs part-time, current vs former and newcomers vs established employees).

The authors used multilevel logistic regression on a sample of 39,010 Glassdoor employee reviews, drawn from the companies for which three-year employer rankings (from 2015 to 2017) were available, to achieve our research objectives.

The results show that employment experience influenced employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice. The average standardized rankings for three years (i.e. 2015–2017) was also associated with employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice. Employee characteristics such as employment type (i.e. full-time vs part-time), employment status (i.e. current vs former) and tenure significantly interacted with employment experience in affecting recommendations of a company as an employer of choice.

In contrast to the bulk of the research on employer branding that relied on job seekers, the authors studied factors that influence employees’ recommendation of an employer as an employer of choice, arguably the most important indicator of employer internal brand strength. The results offer fresh theoretical and practical insights in an area where research lags far behind practice.

Employees often expect an emphasis on financial aspects to be predominant when their employers choose a fund management company for the investment of employees’ pension fund deposits. By contrast, in an attempt to appear as socially responsible company managers may emphasize social responsibility (SR) in pension fund choices. The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent managers for small- and medium-sized companies emphasize SR vs expected returns when choosing investment managers for their employees’ pension funds.

A conjoint experiment among 276 Norwegian SMEs’ decision makers examines their trade-offs between social and financial goals in their choice of employees’ pension management. Furthermore, the study examines how the companies’ decision makers’ characteristics influence their pension fund management choices.

The findings show that the employers placed the greatest weight to suppliers providing funds adhering to socially responsible investment (SRI) practices, followed by the suppliers’ corporate brand credibility, the funds’ expected return, and the suppliers’ management fees. Second, employers with investment expertise emphasized expected returns and downplayed SR in their choice, whereas employers with stated CSR-strategies downplayed expected return and emphasized SR.

Choice of supplier to manage employees’ pension funds relates to a general discussion on whether companies should do well – maximizing value, or do good, – maximizing corporate SR. In this study, doing well means maximizing expected returns and minimizing costs of the pension investments, whereas doing good means emphasizing SRI in this choice. Unfortunately, the employees might pay a price for their companies’ ethicality as moral considerations may conflict with maximizing the employees’ pension fund value.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between employer brand dimensions and employer of choice (EOC). The paper also analyses the role of person-organisation fit in transferring employer brand dimensions to EOC status, and the moderating role of social media in the relationship between person-organisation fit and EOC.

Factor analysis has been conducted to validate the “employer attractiveness” scale for identifying the dimensions of employer brand. Structural equation modelling has been used to conduct mediation and moderation analysis. The results are based on the perceptions of college students regarding employer brand dimensions and EOC status.

The paper provides empirical insights on how the person-organisation fit helps in transferring employer brand dimensions to EOC status. The results indicate that the person-organisation fit acts as a full mediator, indicating that for becoming a EOC, the dimensions of employer brand must be linked to the person-organisation fit. Also, the moderation analysis results highlight the importance of social media towards obtaining EOC status.

The authors believe that the study is the first of its kind to investigate drivers of EOC, and to identify the role of the person-organisation fit as a mediating variable and social media as a moderating variable.

In the ever increasing competition in the employment market, an organization’s need to become a “great place to work” has gained significant momentum. Employer branding has thus emerged as an essential management practice employed by the organization to create its image as desirable employer in the eyes of prospective employees. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the understanding of employer branding through the eyes of “potential” young employees in Delhi and North Central Region, India. The results presented in this paper throw light on the perceived importance of employer branding among the prospective employees via analysis of various branding factors chosen for the study. The study results report that the perceived significance of employer branding factors differs mainly across gender and age of prospective employees. Notably, public and private sectors are being perceived significantly different by the potential job applicants on employer branding factors. Thus, this paper presents important findings enabling employers to build brand value and an attractive reputation in the job market so as to attract and retain the best talent.

Survey methodology was used to test the hypothesis. The sample was selected from Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) primarily from the students of business schools who were randomly selected to fill in the questionnaire. As they are the potential hires, it seemed appropriate to know their preference of employer branding factors. They are ready to join the corporations therefore, data extracted would be much more suitable as they can throw light on their immediate preferences and provide insight into the research study. For collection of data an online structured questionnaire was administered. A total of 270 questionnaires were administered and 239 filled questionnaires were received.

From the results it can be seen that private sector emerged as preferred sector of choice for the majority of potential employees. However, there are some factors which are handled well in private sector as compared to public sector and vice versa. There are some factors like – stability of the company, work-life balance and job security which potential employees perceive as important and therefore, need to be addressed by both public and private sector organizations.

Limitation of this study is that the findings cannot be generalized therefore, provide opportunities for further research. Moreover, the sample included only students as prospective employees seeking a new job or a career change. Thus the results obtained on a sample of relatively inexperienced job seekers, might partially reflect commonly held stereotypes of attractive organizations. Hence, it is interesting to use other samples such as experienced job seekers or those who are currently employed. Another limitation is that the study is restricted to Delhi and NCR region hence, the data is not representative of a wider population. Further research may expand the scope in terms of sample size as well. Future research may also explore the extent of employee attraction and retention vis-à-vis employer branding factors in organizations. A final avenue for future studies consists in exploring the processes which underlie the organizational choice decisions of prospective applicants.

This study has added to the growing body of research on employer branding factors by generating more knowledge and arguments in favor of certain employer branding factors in the workplace. If organizations truly want to attract good talented people then management needs to bring about the necessary organizational support and infrastructure at the early and middle stages of an employee’s career which are most often the stages where important choices are made. They need to be more considerate toward employee needs. Efforts can be made to build a good work culture by paying heed to their preferences. Therefore, this study helps establish a foundation for implementation of various employer branding factors which are perceived important by the potential job applicants, especially in Indian context. The findings are of particular important for human resource (HR) managers and policy makers in both public sector as well as private sectors in these times of increased inter-sectoral personnel movement. These findings can be utilized as a guiding instrument while inter-sectoral recruitment is being made. These would also enable employers to take appropriate action in order to build their employer brand based on certain discussed employer branding factors so as to attract talent which in turn would also help them in retaining talent.

There are many employer branding factors which tend to affect the mindset of potential employees in selecting their prospective employer. Employers can therefore, endeavor to understand those factors at length so as to attract talent which in turn would also help in retaining talent.

Results throw light on the perceived importance the potential employees give to various employer branding factors taken for the study. Perceived significance attached to employer branding factors differs across gender, age, education background, etc. It was also found that for some important employer branding factors public and private sectors are being perceived significantly different by the potential job applicants. Thus, paper presents important findings that would enable employers to take actions in order to build their employer brand so as to attract talent which in turn would also help them in retaining talent.

This paper presents a typology exploring employers’ perceptions of the quality of available applicants and employers decisions to buy qualified staff vs. to hire available workers and then make i.e. develop them via employer-supported training.

This study uses 2015 survey data from Southwestern Ontario, Canada, based on responses from 834 employers regarding their hiring, separations, training and other HRM policies.

Among surveyed employers, 10% are “Reliants” who found the quality of available applicants to be low, yet these employers do not provide employee training. Almost half of employers (at 45%) are “Developers” who find the quality of applicants to be low but they do provide employee training. Approximately, 7% of employers are “Poachers” who find that the quality of applicants is high and do not provide employee training, while 38% are Refiners, who find the quality of applicants is high and they provide employee training.

Employers need to make their training decisions in alignment with their assessment of the quality of job applicants to whom they have access. In this paper, decisions on training and applicant quality are considered concurrently. From an academic viewpoint, the findings raise the issue as to whether other stakeholders (such as educational institutions) are sufficiently helping individuals gain the skills, credentials and work experiences that employers are seeking. If job openings are remaining unfilled because employers are unwilling to hire those available, then applicants lose, employers lose and societies lose.

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.

Being a good employer is no longer enough, you must also be perceived to be a good employer. This means communicating effectively to a range of key stakeholders. Simon Hepburn explains why managing employer reputation should be a business priority and outlines steps you can take to ensure your reputation is ahead of the rest.

One of the most decisive objectives of human resource management (HRM), essential for business performance, is to attract, maintain and engage a qualified workforce. This study aims to identify and prioritize the antecedents of employer branding, which are considered extremely important by potential applicants when they choose to join a particular employer.

The authors have adopted a popular multicriteria decision-making technique fuzzy analytical hierarchy process, to prioritize the identified antecedents. The modified Delphi techniques with the 22 experts have been conducted to validate the identified antecedents. Structured questionnaires were discussed, and their reliability was assessed using the expert’s opinion.

Results of this study indicate that potential applicants consider career advancement opportunities as the most important enabler that persuades them to join a particular employer. Future employees are also motivated to join if they are offered attractive compensation packages, which are distinct from competitors. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility is evolving as an antecedent of employer branding as potential candidates are attracted to employers who are socially responsible.

Employer branding can serve as a strategic HRM technique for any business seeking to attract, recruit, retain and involve outstanding employees, as the success of the organization is determined by how its image is built, communicated and promoted. This study provides insights for HR managers and practitioners who can think of developing an effective employer brand communication that offers a distinct and in-imitable image and reputation as an employer of choice.

This study is unique, as it offers meaningful visions to HR practitioners and experts for designing employer branding strategies for attracting potential applicants to join their organizations.

There is growing scholarly interest in the use of penalty in employment contracts which reduce employees' pay if the employee's performance does not meet a pre-specified performance threshold. Prior accounting research has focused exclusively on the effect of penalty on employee performance. In this study, the authors extend earlier research by examining how penalty affects the employers' wage offers. Prior research suggests that employers' generous wage offers in employment contracts are normally translated as trust by employees who in turn reciprocate with higher effort. The authors present a theory that predicts penalty reduces employers' wage offers. Then, the authors propose unrestricted communication between employers and employees as a potential moderator for the negative effect of penalty on trust and reciprocity.

The authors implement a controlled lab experiment with a 2 × 3 experimental design (Penalty: Present and Absent; and Communication: None, One-Way and Two-Way).

The authors develop their predictions by utilizing insights from motivational-crowding and organizational communication theories. The authors hypothesize and find evidence that employers' ability to penalize employees can reduce employers' motivation to offer generous wages. As a result, reduced trust demotivates employees to provide high effort. However, the authors find that a two-way communication moderates the negative effect of penalties by restoring trust, thereby, increasing reciprocity. Finally, the authors find evidence that relationship-oriented messages explain the moderating effect of communication.

This study is subject to limitations inherent in all experimental studies. The decisions in the study experiment are less complex than those found in practice. Moreover, there are significantly higher costs and potential benefits to shirk on effort in practice. The authors encourage future research on other organizational features that would influence the generalizability of their theory and results. Nonetheless, this study makes an important contribution to the literature on trust, reciprocity, gift-exchange contracts, managerial controls and communication.

This paper has several important implications for theory and practice. The authors show that the presence of penalty may not automatically result in increasing employees' effort level, contrary to traditional economic theory predictions. This effect is driven mainly by the crowding out effect of a penalty on employers' desire to signal trust. Therefore, the presence of an open communication channel may become an important tool to reverse the psychological effect of reduced trust when penalty is present. Therefore, the study's findings contribute to the trust–reciprocity literature on how management control system influences employers' and employees' behavior. These findings are especially germane given the trend in the workplace toward establishing open communication at different levels within the firm hierarchy. The study also contributes to the literature on trust–reciprocity as critical informal controls and social norms in accounting practices (Bicchieri, 2006; Stevens, 2019), shedding light on how firms may influence employees' reciprocity in management control practices and induce them to act in line with the firm's objectives by opening communication channels.

Prior accounting research document that penalty in employment contracts increases employee performance due to loss aversion. The study, however, demonstrates that the positive effect of penalty is not sustained in a gift-exchange contract. Specifically, the study's experimental results provide evidence that the availability of penalties can psychologically change the way employers perceive their decisions on offering generous wages (i.e. trust) and consequently reduce employees' reciprocation of high effort levels. Yet, the authors propose a two-way communication as a restorative mechanism for the lost trust. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.