Employer Branding: Review & an Agenda for future research

1. COSMAR 2014 Employer Branding: Review & an Agenda for future research NeethaAzeez Doctoral candidate Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

2. 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) • 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

3. How did the concept of Employer Branding come about?? • 1990- The notion of employer branding was created • 1996- Conceptualised and formally defined • ‘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) • “the process of building an identifiable and unique employer identity” • Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

4. Employer Branding-Definitions

5. Employer Brand -Definitions

6. Recent views of Employer Branding • EB as providing an employment experience (Edwards,2010; Mosley, 2007) Source: Mosley (2007) Source: Edwards (2010)

7. Recent views of Employer Branding • Characteristics are: • Anchoring in & providing support for overall corporate strategy • Continuously renegotiating values with stakeholders according to their stakes and expectations • Establishing sustainable employer-employee relationships which are oriented towards a continuous reflection on mutual needs as well as current and future expectations • EB as a strategic process Source: Aggerholm, Andersen & Thomsen (2011)

8. Attributes of Employer Branding • 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 Adapted from Srivastava & Bhatnagar (2010)

9. Attributes of Employer Branding • Four categories (Kucherov & Zavylova, 2012) • Economic • Material/monetary remuneration; including high salary, fair system of rewards and bonuses • Psychological • Those which influence the feeling of recognition and membership of employees in the organization • Functional • Those concerning the specific workplace, content of work, growth aspects etc • Organizational • Perception of the company in the external market

10. Process of Employer branding Source: Moroko & Uncles (2005)

11. 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)

12. Proposed three level outcome model of Employer Branding

13. Agenda for future research • Explore how employer brand perceptions are formed • Whether they differ on the basis of age and gender • Whether they differ among potential and existing employees • Impact of country of origin on perceptions of employer brand • 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

14. Agenda for future research • 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

15. 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.

16. 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