Employer Branding: Review & an Agenda for future research

Neetha Azeez

Doctoral candidate

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

COSMAR 2014

Significance of Employer Branding

• The last two decades have brought about significant changes in the work environment (Burke, 2005; Ewing, Pitt, de Bussy & Berthon, 2002; Joo & Mclean, 2006; Srivastava & Bhatnager, 2010)o Need to retain and attract talented and flexible workforce

• Prospective employees were found to be as particular about choosing the right organization as they were about choosing the right job (Srivastava & Bhatnager, 2010).

• Organizations try to differentiate themselves from others

How did the concept of Employer

Branding come about??• 1990- The notion of employer branding was created• 1996- Conceptualised and formally defined

o ‘the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company’.

• 2001- “War for Talent”• 2004- Seminal paper by Bachaus & Tickoo (2004)

o “the process of building an identifiable and unique employer identity”

o Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Employer Branding-DefinitionsDefinition of Employer Branding Respective Literature

The package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and

identified with the employing company

Ambler & barrow (1996)

Building an image in the minds of the potential labour market, that the company above all others, is a

great place to work.

Ewing et al. (2002) (as cited in Srivastava &

Bhatnagar (2010))

The sum of a company's efforts to communicate in to existing and prospective staff that it is a desirable

place to work.

Lloyd (2002) (as cited in Srivastava&Bhatnagar

(2010))

Managing a company’s image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires Martin &Beaumount (2003)

The process of building an identifiable and unique employer identity

 

Backhaus and Tikoo (2004)

A targeted, long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential

employees, and related stakeholders with regards to a particular firm

Sullivan (2004)

Logical process through which companies reach one main goal: to have a strong appeal on their current

and future ideal employees

Van Dam (2006)

Overemphasis which is placed on communicating brand promises at the expense of longer term

management of the employee experience.

Mosley (2007)

Image projected by the employer through their policies, procedures and actions Mandhanya & Shah (2010)

A strategy of internal and external communication of the unique attributes that establishes the identity

of the firm as an employer and what differentiates it from others, with the aim of attracting and

retaining potential and current employees.

Jonze&Öster (2012)

Employer Brand -DefinitionsDefinition of Employer brand Respective literature

Set of distinctive associations made by employees (actual or potential) with the

corporate name

Davies (2008)

A set of attributes and qualities-often intangible-that makes an organization

distinctive, promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to

those people who will thrive and perform best in its culture

CIPD (2009) ( as

cited in Jiang &Llies

(2011).

An organization's image as seen through the eyes of its actual and potential

employees

Kimpakom and

Tocquer(2009)

A generalized recognition for being known among key stakeholders for providing

a high-quality employment experience, and a distinctive organizational identity

which employees value, engage with and feel confident and happy to promote to

others.

Martin et al. (2011)

Recent views of Employer Branding

• EB as providing an employment experience (Edwards,2010; Mosley, 2007)

Source: Mosley (2007)

Source: Edwards (2010)

Recent views of Employer Branding

• EB as a strategic process• Characteristics are:

o Anchoring in & providing support for overall corporate strategy

o Continuously renegotiating values with stakeholders according to their stakes and expectations

o Establishing sustainable employer-employee relationships which are oriented towards a continuous reflection on mutual needs as well as current and future expectations

Source: Aggerholm, Andersen & Thomsen (2011)

Attributes of Employer Branding

What the Organization is as an employer What the Organization has for its employees

Credible and fair

Flexible and ethical

Product and service brand image

Positive employer image

 

Caring organization

Enabling organization

Career growth

Global exposure

Adapted from Srivastava & Bhatnagar (2010)

• Lievens, Van Hoye & Anseel (2007)• Instrumental-objective, concrete, and factual attributes that

organization possess• Symbolic- subjective, abstract, and intangible attributes that

convey symbolic company information

Attributes of Employer Branding

• Four categories (Kucherov & Zavylova, 2012)o Economic

• Material/monetary remuneration; including high salary, fair system of rewards and bonuses

o Psychological• Those which influence the feeling of recognition and membership of employees in

the organizationo Functional

• Those concerning the specific workplace, content of work, growth aspects etco Organizational

• Perception of the company in the external market

Process of Employer branding

Source: Moroko & Uncles (2005)

Measuring Employer brand Image

E.B.I. = Employer Brand Image ;

Vi = Valence of attribute i - which i is the anticipated

satisfaction from an outcome;

Ii = Instrumentality for attribute i- which indicates the

degree to which an individual perceives a given employer

to be instrumental in attaining an outcome. Source: Knox & Freeman (2006)

Proposed three level outcome model of Employer Branding

Agenda for future research• Explore how employer brand perceptions are formed

o Whether they differ on the basis of age and gender

o Whether they differ among potential and existing employees

• Impact of country of origin on perceptions of employer brando How the internal and external marketing techniques vary with the country of origin

• Impact of different culture and nationalities on perception of brand image

• Further studies to identify outcomes of employer branding.

• Explore further the role of marketing techniques in maintaining employer brand image

Agenda for future research6) Focus on employer branding process

7) Impact of EB on customer outcomes

8) Focus on existing employees

9) Focus on other sources to develop EB

10) Focus on process- related issues of EB

Reference• Aggerholm, H. K., Andersen, S. E., & Thomsen, C. (2011).Conceptualising employer branding in sustainable

organisations. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(2), 105-123.

• Ambler, T., & Barrow, S. (1996). The employer brand. Journal of Brand Management, 4, 185-206.

• Backhaus, K., &Tikoo, S. (2004). Conceptualizing and researching employer branding. Career development

international, 9(5), 501-517.

• Berthon, P., Ewing, M., and Hah, L.L.(2001), Captivating Company; Dimensions of Attractiveness in

Employer Branding, International Journal of Advertising, 24(2), 151-172.

• Ewing, M.J., Pitt, L.F., de Bussy, N.M. and Berthon, P. (2002), Employment Branding in the Knowledge

Economy, International Journal of Advertising, 21, 3-22

• Joo, B. K. B., & Mclean, G. N. (2006). Best employer studies: a conceptual model from a literature review and a case

study. Human resource development review, 5(2), 228-257.

• Knox, S., & Freeman, C. (2006). Measuring and managing employer brand image in the service industry. Journal of

Marketing Management, 22(7-8), 695-716.

Reference• Kucherov, D., &Zavyalova, E. (2012). HRD practices and talent management in the companies

with the employer brand. European Journal of Training and Development, 36(1), 86-104.

• Lievens, F., Van Hoye, G., &Anseel, F. (2007). Organizational identity and employer image:

towards a unifying framework. British Journal of Management, 18(1), 45-59.

• Moroko, L., & Uncles, M. (2005). Employer Branding–The Case For A Multidisciplinary

Process Related Empirical Investigation. Paper presented at ANZMAC Conference, New

Zealand.

• Mosley, R.W. (2007): Customer Experience, Organizational Culture and the Employer Brand.

Brand Management, 15 (2), 123-134.

• Srivastava, P., &Bhatnagar, J. (2010). Employer brand for talent acquisition: an exploration

towards its measurement. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 14(1-2), 25-3