IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/abaman/v21y2022i2d10.1057_s41291-020-00128-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of return on investment and labor market conditions on job seekers’ preferences of employment attributes in the Indian context

Author

Listed:
  • Sabit K. Sonu

    (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)

  • I. M. Jawahar

    (Illinois State University)

  • Gordhan K. Saini

    (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)

Abstract

Previous research has treated job seekers’ preference of employment attributes as invariant across labor market conditions. In contrast, drawing on human capital theory and labor market theory, we propose that employment attributes preferred by job seekers vary as a function of expected return on investment (high versus low return on investment) and job environment (job scarcity versus abundance). Using secondary data, we classified premier Indian business schools into one of four quadrants. We then collected primary data from 1010 job seekers about their preferences to examine, heretofore, unexamined research questions. Results reveal that return on investment (ROI) influenced job seekers’ preferences of employment attributes, such as career growth, learning opportunities and job security while job environment impacted job seekers’ preference for compensation. In addition, results indicate that the effect of job environment varies according to ROI, such that the impact of job environment varied more in high versus low ROI condition. We discuss implications for theory and practice and offer suggestions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabit K. Sonu & I. M. Jawahar & Gordhan K. Saini, 2022. "Influence of return on investment and labor market conditions on job seekers’ preferences of employment attributes in the Indian context," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 286-315, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:abaman:v:21:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41291-020-00128-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41291-020-00128-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41291-020-00128-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41291-020-00128-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roxana Barbulescu, 2015. "The Strength of Many Kinds of Ties: Unpacking the Role of Social Contacts Across Stages of the Job Search Process," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 1040-1058, August.
    2. Gallie, Duncan & White, Michael & Cheng, Yuan & Tomlinson, Mark, 1998. "Restructuring the Employment Relationship," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198294412, Decembrie.
    3. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-990, October.
    4. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5, March.
    5. Matthew Bidwell & Shinjae Won & Roxana Barbulescu & Ethan Mollick, 2015. "I used to work at Goldman Sachs! How firms benefit from organizational status in the market for human capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1164-1173, August.
    6. Rothstein, Jesse & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 2011. "Constrained after college: Student loans and early-career occupational choices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-2), pages 149-163, February.
    7. Kuhnen, Camelia M. & Oyer, Paul, 2012. "Exploration for human capital: Theory and evidence from the MBA labor market," MPRA Paper 39411, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Carolina Gomez, 2003. "The Relationship Between Acculturation, Individualism/Collectivism, and Job Attribute Preferences for Hispanic MBAs," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 1089-1105, July.
    9. Walter W. McMahon & Alan P. Wagner, 1981. "Expected Returns to Investment in Higher Education," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 16(2), pages 274-285.
    10. Link, Charles R, 1975. "Graduate Education, School Quality, Experience, Student Ability, and Earnings," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 477-491, October.
    11. Liang Huang & Yunyue Yang & Tomoki Sekiguchi, 2020. "Attractiveness of Japanese firms to international job applicants: the effects of belongingness, uniqueness, and employment patterns," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 118-144, February.
    12. Layard, Richard & Psacharopoulos, George, 1974. "The Screening Hypothesis and the Returns to Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(5), pages 985-998, Sept./Oct.
    13. Lewis C. Solomon, 1975. "The Definition of College Quality and Its Impact on Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Explorations in Economic Research, Volume 2, number 4, pages 537-587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Fleisher, Belton M. & Hu, Yifan & Li, Haizheng & Kim, Seonghoon, 2011. "Economic transition, higher education and worker productivity in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 86-94, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Kryscynski & Russ Coff & Benjamin Campbell, 2021. "Charting a path between firm‐specific incentives and human capital‐based competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 386-412, February.
    2. Sabrina T. Howell & J. David Brown, 2020. "Do Cash Windfalls Affect Wages? Evidence from R&D Grants to Small Firms," Working Papers 20-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Gielen, A. C. & van Ours, J.C., 2006. "Why do Worker-Firm Matches Dissolve?," Other publications TiSEM 8c99a292-9f34-4ce8-8fd9-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Jed DeVaro & Michael Waldman, 2012. "The Signaling Role of Promotions: Further Theory and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 91-147.
    5. Baert, By Stijn & Neyt, Brecht & Siedler, Thomas & Tobback, Ilse & Verhaest, Dieter, 2021. "Student internships and employment opportunities after graduation: A field experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Arnaud Lefranc, 2003. "On the sensitivity of returns to seniority to the measurement of earnings," Post-Print hal-01651776, HAL.
    7. Georg Graetz, 2021. "On the interpretation of diploma wage effects estimated by regression discontinuity designs," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 228-258, February.
    8. Evan Starr & Justin Frake & Rajshree Agarwal, 2019. "Mobility Constraint Externalities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 961-980, September.
    9. Dan A. Black & Lars Skipper & Jeffrey A. Smith & Jeffrey Andrew Smith, 2023. "Firm Training," CESifo Working Paper Series 10268, CESifo.
    10. Antoine Bertheau & Edoardo Maria Acabbi & Cristina Barceló & Andreas Gulyas & Stefano Lombardi & Raffaele Saggio, 2023. "The Unequal Consequences of Job Loss across Countries," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 393-408, September.
    11. Sami Napari, 2006. "The Early Career Gender Wage Gap," CEP Discussion Papers dp0738, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Jäger, Simon & Heining, Jörg, 2019. "How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths," MPRA Paper 109757, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Jan 2019.
    13. Robert Hill & Kezia Lilenstein & Amy Thornton, 2020. "Job spells in an emerging market: Evidence from apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-27, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Leuze, Kathrin, 2010. "Smooth Path or Long and Winding Road? How Institutions Shape the Transition from Higher Education to Work," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 251573, July.
    15. Heski Bar-Isaac & Raphaël Lévy, 2022. "Motivating Employees through Career Paths," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(1), pages 95-131.
    16. Arellano-Bover, Jaime & Saltiel, Fernando, 2021. "Differences in On-the-Job Learning across Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 14473, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Poege, Felix & Gaessler, Fabian & Hoisl, Karin & Harhoff, Dietmar & Dorner, Matthias, 2022. "Filling the Gap: The Consequences of Collaborator Loss in Corporate R&D," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 340, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    18. Sam, Vichet, 2018. "Impact of education-job mismatches on wage: The case of university graduates in Cambodia," MPRA Paper 110011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Adina D. Sterling, 2018. "(When) Is Hiring Strategic? Human Capital Acquisition in the Age of Algorithms," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 668-682, December.
    20. Heijke, J.A.M. & Meng, C.M., 2006. "The effects of higher education programme characteristics on allocation and performance of the graduates: a European view," ROA Research Memorandum 4E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:abaman:v:21:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41291-020-00128-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.