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Family business employer brand: Understanding applicants’ perceptions and their job pursuit intentions with samples from the US and Belgium

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  • Arijs, Diane
  • Botero, Isabel C.
  • Michiels, Anneleen
  • Molly, Vincent

Abstract

Recruiting college educated non-family employees has been one of the challenges identified by family business owners affecting the success and continuity of family firms. To better understand this challenge, we build on previous work from recruitment, branding, and family business literature to introduce the family business employer brand construct and its components. We explore the perceptions that non-family applicants have about the family business employer brand components, and how these perceptions affect intentions to pursue a job with a family firm. Data were collected through surveys in the USA (N = 293) and Belgium (N = 324). Results from both countries indicate that participants evaluated instrumental (i.e., compensation, job security, and advancement opportunities) and symbolic (i.e. trustworthiness, innovation, thrift, style, and dominance) components of the family business employer brand differently in the two countries and these factors varied in the effect that they had on the intent to pursue a job in a family firm. Implications of these results for practice and further research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Arijs, Diane & Botero, Isabel C. & Michiels, Anneleen & Molly, Vincent, 2018. "Family business employer brand: Understanding applicants’ perceptions and their job pursuit intentions with samples from the US and Belgium," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 180-191.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:fambus:v:9:y:2018:i:3:p:180-191
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2018.08.005
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    2. Jaufenthaler, Philipp, 2023. "A safe haven in times of crisis: The appeal of family companies as employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
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    4. Llanos-Contreras, Orlando & Alonso-Dos-Santos, Manuel & Welsh, Dianne H.B., 2024. "Graduating college students apply here: Communicating family firm ownership and firm size," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    5. Stefano Amato & Rodrigo Basco & Nicola Lattanzi, 2022. "Contextualizing employment outcomes in family business research: current findings and future research avenues," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 531-604, June.
    6. Binz Astrachan, Claudia & Prügl, Reinhard & Hair, Joseph F. & Babin, Barry J., 2019. "Marketing and branding in family business: Assessing the landscape and charting a path forward," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 3-7.
    7. Stutz, Adrian & Schell, Sabrina & Hack, Andreas, 2022. "In family firms we trust – Experimental evidence on the credibility of sustainability reporting: A replication study with extension," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4).
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    9. Waterwall, Brian & Alipour, Kent K., 2021. "Nonfamily employees’ perceptions of treatment in family businesses: Implications for organizational attraction, job pursuit intentions, work attitudes, and turnover intentions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3).
    10. Unai Arzubiaga & Alfredo De Massis & Amaia Maseda & Txomin Iturralde, 2023. "The influence of family firm image on access to financial resources in family SMEs: a signaling theory perspective," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 233-258, January.
    11. Phillips, Duygu & Madison, Kristen & Wolf, Sandra & Hack, Andreas & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2024. "Signaling the family firm brand in recruitment materials: The role of category-based cognitive processing on applicant attraction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    12. Fernando A. Martín-Hidalgo & Ines Herrero & Ana Pérez-Luño, 2024. "The Lights and Shadows of Family Involvement in Small and Medium-Sized Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4137-4160, March.
    13. Kinias, Ioannis & Chalis, Spyridon & Glyptis, Loukas, 2023. "Family business research: A systematic review and an uncelebrated role of marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    14. Naciye Sekerci & Jamil Jaballah & Marc van Essen & Nadine Kammerlander, 2022. "Investors’ Reactions to CSR News in Family Versus Nonfamily Firms: A Study on Signal (In)credibility," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(1), pages 82-116, January.
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    16. Santiago, Andrea & Pandey, Shweta & Manalac, Ma. Theresa, 2019. "Family presence, family firm reputation and perceived financial performance: Empirical evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 49-56.

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