Employer Brand and Job Application Decisions: Insights from the Best Employers

In: Management and labour studies: a quarterly journal of responsible management, Band 40, Heft 1-2, S. 34-51

Abstract

Communication of employer brand to external stakeholders has, in the recent past, seen new developments in the form of best employer surveys (BESs) and a potent form of employer branding lies in the BESs. In this article, we examine the impact of firm-related and job-related attributes on a candidate's job application decisions by selecting firms from the BES lists. The study is based on the secondary and primary data of 139 companies which have appeared in four major BES lists from 2001 to 2012 (the longest time period for which data is available in an emerging economy—India) and primary data collected from 2,854 respondents. We find that both firm-level and job-related variables significantly influence a candidate's job application decisions, such as, intention to apply and consideration of the best companies to work for. Firms, with an objective to attract huge candidates, should carefully examine the factors that positively affect the job choice decisions and make concerted effort to improve on those parameters. The study fills several research gaps present in the literature due to inadequate empirical studies, insufficient sample size and consideration of a limited variables in the past studies.