1. Employer Branding: Review & an Agenda for future research
COSMAR 2014
Employer Branding: Review & an Agenda for future research
Neetha Azeez
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
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
Definition 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)

5. Employer Brand -Definitions
Definition 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)

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
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)

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),
Ambler, T., & Barrow, S. (1996). The employer brand. Journal of Brand Management, 4,
Backhaus, K., &Tikoo, S. (2004). Conceptualizing and researching employer branding. Career development international, 9(5),
Berthon, P., Ewing, M., and Hah, L.L.(2001), Captivating Company; Dimensions of Attractiveness in Employer Branding, International Journal of Advertising, 24(2),
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),
Knox, S., & Freeman, C. (2006). Measuring and managing employer brand image in the service industry. Journal of Marketing Management, 22(7-8),

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),
Lievens, F., Van Hoye, G., &Anseel, F. (2007). Organizational identity and employer image: towards a unifying framework. British Journal of Management, 18(1),
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),
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