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This study conceptualizes employer brand as a package of instrumental and symbolic attributes. Using a sample of 955 individuals (429 potential applicants, 392 actual applicants, and 134 military employees), we examine the relative importance of instrumental and symbolic employer brand beliefs across different groups of individuals: potential applicants, actual applicants, and military employees (with less than three years of tenure). Results show that instrumental attributes explain greater variance in the Army's attractiveness as an employer among actual applicants compared to potential applicants or employees. In all three groups, symbolic trait inferences explain a similar portion of the variance. In addition, in all three groups, symbolic trait inferences explain incremental variance over and above instrumental attributes. Implications for employer branding practices and image audits are discussed.

PurposeThe paper aims to expand the authors' knowledge on gamification and the signals sent on behalf of the organization when gamified assessments are used. The authors examine the mechanisms through which the use of gamification into an assessment method may increase the attractiveness of an organization as a prospective employer.Design/methodology/approachThe first study examines, following a longitudinal design, the signals that an organization sends to applicants about the organization's symbolic traits (e.g. innovativeness), through the characteristics of a gamified assessment, in terms of enjoyment and flow and impact on organizational attractiveness. Upon clarifying this mechanism, the second study uses an experimental design to provide evidence that people's perceived enjoyment and flow is enhanced when a gamified version of a situational judgment test (SJT) is used, leading to more positive perceptions of organizational characteristics and attractiveness.FindingsPositive perceptions of the characteristics of a gamified assessment influenced the attractiveness of the organization via the symbolic organizational traits.Practical implicationsOrganizations should be aware of the signals sent to applicants when different assessment formats (such as gamified assessments) are used.Originality/valueThe authors' findings contribute to gamification and signaling theory by testing a signaling mechanism in a novel and timely assessment context.

This study examines (1) the relationship between the feedback environment and job satisfaction and (2) the mediating role of leader-member exchange in a Belgian context. Results from a sample of 155 employees of a governmental service for employment and vocational training supported our hypotheses. A favorable supervisor feedback environment was related to higher levels of job satisfaction 5 months later, and this relationship was fully mediated by the quality of leader-member exchange. These findings highlight the usefulness of diagnosing and assessing the feedback environment for a better understanding of feedback processes and for enhancing feedback interventions in organisations.

This study aims to bridge two research streams that have evolved relatively apart from each other, namely the research streams on organizational identity and on employer branding (employer image). In particular, we posit that it is crucial to examine which factors company outsiders (applicants) as well as company insiders (employees) associate with a given employer. To this end, this study uses the instrumental-symbolic framework to study factors relating to both employer image and organizational identity of the Belgian Army. Two samples are used: a sample of 258 Army applicants and a sample of 179 military employees. Results show that both instrumental and symbolic perceived image dimensions predict applicants' attraction to the Army. Conversely, symbolic perceived identity dimensions best predict employees' identification with the Army. Results further show that employees also attach importance to outsiders' assessment of the organization (construed external image). Theoretical and practical implications for managing organizational identity and image are discussed.

This study uses Cable and Turban's (2001) employer knowledge framework as a conceptual model to formulate hypotheses about a broad range of possible factors affecting the attractiveness of an organization (i.e. armed forces) among potential applicants (576 high-school seniors). Results show that gender, familiarity with military organizations, perceptions of job and organizational attributes (task diversity and social/team activities), and trait inferences (excitement, prestige, and cheerfulness) explained potential applicants' attraction to military organizations. Relative importance analyses showed that trait inferences contributed most to the variance, followed by job and organizational attributes, and employer familiarity. Finally, we found some evidence of interactions between the three dimensions. Specifically, trait inferences and job and organizational attributes had more pronounced effects when familiarity was high. From a theoretical perspective, these results generally support the framework of employer knowledge. At a practical level, implications for image audit and image management are discussed.

In case that both the goals of selection quality and diversity are important, a selection system is Pareto-optimal (PO) when its implementation is expected to result in an optimal balance between the levels achieved with respect to both these goals. The study addresses the critical issue whether PO systems, as computed from calibration conditions, continue to perform well when applied to a large variety of different validation selection situations. To address the key issue, we introduce two new measures for gauging the achievement of these designs and conduct a large simulation study in which we manipulate 10 factors (related to the selection situation, sensitivity/robustness, and the selection system) that cumulate in a design with 3,888 cells and 24 selection systems. Results demonstrate that PO systems are superior to other, non-PO systems (including unit weighed system designs) both in terms of the achievement measures as well as in terms of yielding more often a better quality/diversity trade-off. The study also identifies a number of conditions that favor the achievement of PO systems in realistic selection situations.