IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/crepre/v25y2022i2d10.1057_s41299-021-00119-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Got Employer Image? How Applicants Choose Their Employer

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Hoppe

    (Philipps-Universität Marburg)

  • Helen Keller

    (Philipps-Universität Marburg)

  • Felix Horstmann

    (Philipps-Universität Marburg)

Abstract

This research investigates applicants’ preferences in employer choice to identify relevant components of employer image that are best to be communicated in employer branding. Based on the instrumental–symbolic attribute framework assumptions about the relative importance of the organizational characteristics salary, location, flexibility of working hours, task attractiveness, prestige, innovativeness, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and their interrelations were tested in an empirical setting. Additionally, interindividual differences in career ambition were investigated as a moderating variable. To measure the actual decision behavior of N = 136 ongoing university graduates, Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint (ACBC) Analysis was used. Based on the respondents’ preferences, the importance of each attribute was calculated and set in relation to one another. The results show that moderate attractive instrumental organization attributes form a precondition for symbolic attributes to become relevant at all. There is no evidence for a compensating relationship between instrumental and symbolic attribute classes. Career ambition shows some effects, especially on two-way interactions between instrumental and symbolic attributes. The innovative use of conjoint analysis in the instrumental–symbolic framework allowed to further investigate trade-off effects of attribute classes in the employer decision. The findings provide additional information on relevant elements of employer image and give suggestions for employer branding researchers and practitioners.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Hoppe & Helen Keller & Felix Horstmann, 2022. "Got Employer Image? How Applicants Choose Their Employer," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(2), pages 139-159, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:crepre:v:25:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41299-021-00119-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41299-021-00119-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41299-021-00119-3
    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/s41299-021-00119-3?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Isabelle Maignan & David A Ralston, 2002. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe and the U.S.: Insights from Businesses' Self-presentations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 497-514, September.
    2. Soo-Yeon Kim & Hyojung Park, 2011. "Corporate Social Responsibility as an Organizational Attractiveness for Prospective Public Relations Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(4), pages 639-653, November.
    3. Keller, Kevin Lane & Staelin, Richard, 1987. "Effects of Quality and Quantity of Information on Decision Effectiveness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(2), pages 200-213, September.
    4. Longinos Marin & Salvador Ruiz & Alicia Rubio, 2009. "The Role of Identity Salience in the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 65-78, January.
    5. Jacoby, Jacob & Speller, Donald E & Berning, Carol A Kohn, 1974. "Brand Choice Behavior as a Function of Information Load: Replication and Extension," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 1(1), pages 33-42, June.
    6. Huhtala, Hannele & Parzefall, Marjo-Riitta, 2007. "A Review of employee well-being and innovativeness: an opportunity for mutual benefit," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 49873, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Brickley, James A. & Smith Jr., Clifford W. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 2002. "Business ethics and organizational architecture," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 1821-1835, September.
    8. Benjamin Artz & Ilker Kaya, 2014. "The impact of job security on job satisfaction in economic contractions versus expansions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(24), pages 2873-2890, August.
    9. John MacInnes, 2005. "Work–Life Balance and the Demand for Reduction in Working Hours: Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey 2002," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 273-295, June.
    10. Baum, Matthias & Sterzing, Anke & Alaca, Neslim, 2016. "Reactions towards diversity recruitment and the moderating influence of the recruiting firms' country-of-origin," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4140-4149.
    11. Highhouse, Scott & Thornbury, Erin E. & Little, Ian S., 2007. "Social-identity functions of attraction to organizations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 134-146, May.
    12. Baum, Matthias & Kabst, Rüdiger, 2013. "How to attract applicants in the Atlantic versus the Asia-Pacific region? A cross-national analysis on China, India, Germany, and Hungary," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 175-185.
    13. Cable, Daniel M. & Judge, Timothy A., 1996. "Person-Organization Fit, Job Choice Decisions, and Organizational Entry," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 294-311, September.
    14. Gene M. Grossman & Carl Shapiro, 1988. "Foreign Counterfeiting of Status Goods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(1), pages 79-100.
    15. Moser, Kilian J. & Tumasjan, Andranik & Welpe, Isabell M., 2017. "Small but attractive: Dimensions of new venture employer attractiveness and the moderating role of applicants' entrepreneurial behaviors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 588-610.
    16. Paul E. Green & Abba M. Krieger & Yoram Wind, 2001. "Thirty Years of Conjoint Analysis: Reflections and Prospects," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 31(3_supplem), pages 56-73, June.
    17. Natter, Martin & Feurstein, Markus, 2002. "Real world performance of choice-based conjoint models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(2), pages 448-458, March.
    18. H Andrew Schwartz & Johannes C Eichstaedt & Margaret L Kern & Lukasz Dziurzynski & Stephanie M Ramones & Megha Agrawal & Achal Shah & Michal Kosinski & David Stillwell & Martin E P Seligman & Lyle H U, 2013. "Personality, Gender, and Age in the Language of Social Media: The Open-Vocabulary Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    19. Hannes Hauswald & Andreas Hack & Franz W. Kellermanns & Holger Patzelt, 2016. "Attracting New Talent to Family Firms: Who is Attracted and under what Conditions?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(5), pages 963-989, September.
    20. Schuitema, Geertje & Anable, Jillian & Skippon, Stephen & Kinnear, Neale, 2013. "The role of instrumental, hedonic and symbolic attributes in the intention to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 39-49.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hannah Janssen & Christian Rudeloff, 2025. "Exploring the Role of Influencers in Shaping Employer Brands: A Comparative Study of Corporate and Third-Party Influencers," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 57-70, February.

    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. Volkmer, Philipp & Baum, Matthias & Coviello, Nicole, 2024. "Do international new ventures have attraction advantages? Insights from a recruitment perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(3).
    2. Ehlers, Annika & Rumble, Ryan & Binz Astrachan, Claudia & Baù, Massimo, 2024. "Fulfillment or status: Job seekers’ reward expectations towards family and non-family employers," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    3. Dauth, Tobias & Schmid, Stefan & Baldermann, Sebastian & Orban, Fabienne, 2023. "Attracting talent through diversity at the top: The impact of TMT diversity and firms' efforts to promote diversity on employer attractiveness," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 9-20.
    4. Alan L. Montgomery & Kartik Hosanagar & Ramayya Krishnan & Karen B. Clay, 2004. "Designing a Better Shopbot," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 189-206, February.
    5. Rudic, Biljana & Hubner, Sylvia & Baum, Matthias, 2021. "Hustlers, hipsters and hackers: Potential employees’ stereotypes of entrepreneurial leaders," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    6. Gahye Hong & Eunmi Kim, 2017. "Overcoming country-of-origin image constraints on hiring: the moderating role of CSR," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(4), pages 253-271, December.
    7. Überschaer, Anja & Baum, Matthias, 2020. "Top employer awards: A double-edged sword?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 146-156.
    8. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    9. Christian P Theurer & Andranik Tumasjan & Isabell M Welpe, 2018. "Contextual work design and employee innovative work behavior: When does autonomy matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-35, October.
    10. Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly & Maria Börjesson, 2020. "A critical appraisal of the use of simple time-money trade-offs for appraisal value of travel time measures," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 1541-1570, June.
    11. Vicenta Sierra & Oriol Iglesias & Stefan Markovic & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2017. "Does Ethical Image Build Equity in Corporate Services Brands? The Influence of Customer Perceived Ethicality on Affect, Perceived Quality, and Equity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 661-676, September.
    12. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 2020. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2067-2086, October.
    13. DeShazo, J. R. & Fermo, German, 2002. "Designing Choice Sets for Stated Preference Methods: The Effects of Complexity on Choice Consistency," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 123-143, July.
    14. Huan-Ming Chuang & Yi-Deng Liao, 2021. "Sustainability of the Benefits of Social Media on Socializing and Learning: An Empirical Case of Facebook," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-20, June.
    15. Kausel, Edgar E. & Slaughter, Jerel E., 2011. "Narrow personality traits and organizational attraction: Evidence for the complementary hypothesis," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 3-14, January.
    16. Jack Walker, H. & Feild, Hubert S. & Giles, William F. & Bernerth, Jeremy B. & Short, Jeremy C., 2011. "So what do you think of the organization? A contextual priming explanation for recruitment Web site characteristics as antecedents of job seekers' organizational image perceptions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 165-178, March.
    17. Paolo Antonetti & Benedetta Crisafulli & Aybars Tuncdogan, 2021. "“Just Look the Other Way”: Job Seekers’ Reactions to the Irresponsibility of Market-Dominant Employers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 403-422, November.
    18. Juan Jose Duran & Nuria Bajo, 2014. "Institutions as Determinant Factors of Corporate Responsibility Strategies of Multinational Firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(6), pages 301-317, November.
    19. Choudhary, Vidyanand & Currim, Imran & Dewan, Sanjeev & Jeliazkov, Ivan & Mintz, Ofer & Turner, John, 2017. "Evaluation Set Size and Purchase: Evidence from a Product Search Engine," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 16-31.
    20. Sergey Turlo & Matteo Fina & Johannes Kasinger & Arash Laghaie & Thomas Otter, 2025. "Discrete choice in marketing through the lens of rational inattention," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 45-104, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:crepre:v:25:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41299-021-00119-3. 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.