Employer branding : a pulling force of employee attraction?

Abstract

Employer branding (EB) has been articulated as giving an identity to the company as an employer (Melin, 2005). Moreover, different researchers stress the vitalness of EB towards attracting, enticing and retaining workers (Tanwar and Prasad, 2016), especially due to the shortage of talent encountered by companies (Mosley, 2014). The main motivation for this study is to explore which employee factors are likely to attract candidates towards an employer and the extent that EB factors are selected over and above more common features like salary. Subsequently, the study focuses on one facet of EB, being the attraction factors luring candidates rather than those to retain the current workforce. This study also looks at EB in relation to other phenomena namely CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and recruitment. The study presents two research designs. The first research question was analysed qualitatively using a Mentimeter as a rapid response system to elicit what is construed by EB and which attributes participants deem important in employment. Furthermore, to answer the second research question, the study adopted a quantitative approach by conducting a Vignette analysis. The vignettes reflect on different company scenarios, shared amongst respondents to determine the attractiveness of these employment features. Subsequently, the author discusses and gives recommendations based on the data collection acquired and the literature elicited to serve as insights to the reader. From the data collected, this study gathered that people look for satisfaction, communication, working conditions, leadership, consistency, honesty and authenticity in employment which are all functional or psychological attributes. However, the researcher added another vignette reflecting on wage to serve as a constant scenario which interestingly was rated higher than consistency. Conclusively, the author believes that functional and psychological attributes must be given more importance in the employment package to enhance the company’s competitive stance and make recruitment more efficient. Nonetheless, the author suggests that a balance must be found amongst these features and wage as although other attributes may be more attractive, wage was still a characteristic scored highly by participants.