@phdthesis{8770977,
  abstract     = {{In today’s age of increased competition, a strong employer brand is critical to attract and retain talented people. To understand the organization’s employer brand and learn about its impact, prior research has mostly taken a content-oriented approach. This means that most prior studies have operationalized employer brand or image as a combination of instrumental (e.g., salary, job security) and symbolic attributes (e.g., sincerity, competence) and examined which of these predict the various reactions directed towards the employer, such as employer attractiveness, organizational attachment, employee ambassadorship. As a result, the employer branding strategies of most organizations revolve around employer brand content and tend to promote attributes that are relatively similar and common among organizations and industries. However, we believe that apart from content attributes, there could be other characteristics or contextual factors that might impact an organization’s evaluation as an employer. Especially, considering the present fast-paced communication, one might not solely rely on attributes like pay, working conditions to assess an employer. Hence, the purpose of this dissertation is to look beyond the content of employer brand and explore other interesting phenomena (spillovers) and employer-related features (process attributes) that could impact employer impressions and reactions. Specifically, the dissertation examines 1) the spillover effects of organizational crisis response and other organizational images, and 2) the role and added value of employer brand process attributes versus content attributes, via three empirical chapters. 
        The first empirical chapter addresses the first research theme and examines the role of organizational crisis (COVID-19) response to understand employer attractiveness. Using signaling theory and employer brand personality literature, it tests whether providing a COVID-19 response and signaling it in terms of organizational warmth and competence could attract potential applicants. Results of two experimental studies indicate that communicating a COVID-19 response in a warm way leads to the highest employer attractiveness and job pursuit intentions, although a competent response was still more attractive than no response. Moreover, developing the response in terms of warmth and competence helps build positive perceptions about the organization’s employer brand personality, and enhances applicants’ trust. Overall, this chapter suggests employers to pay attention to the context, e.g., implications of the recent pandemic and apply innovative employer branding strategies such as designing attractive crisis responses to manage their attractiveness during negative events. 
        The second empirical chapter examines the spillover effects of other organizational images (corporate, product/service, financial performance, corporate social performance image) in relation to the organization’s employer image to understand its employer attractiveness. Based on interviews with employees from five luxury hotels, this study shows that inconsistencies perceived between the organization’s external images and internal employer image has an impact on employees’ attraction towards their employer. Moreover, this external-internal image inconsistency also influences employees’ attachment (intentions to quit) and recommendation behavior. The study also found that employees use three distinct ways i.e. reactive, tactful, and adaptive strategies to deal with image inconsistencies. The chapter ends with a theoretical model that presents how employees perceive, react, and deal with inconsistent organizational images. Addressing both research themes, this chapter suggests organizations to consider the spillover effects of other organizational images and ensure employer brand consistency to stimulate positive employee reactions. 
        The third empirical chapter addresses the second research theme and investigates the role of other employer-related features (process attributes), in addition to content attributes to understand employee reactions (employer attractiveness, organizational identification, employee ambassadorship). Using Kelley’s attribution principle and HRM system strength theory, the study conceptualized and examined three process attributes: employer brand distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus. The findings show that employees were more attracted to their employer and displayed positive ambassadorship (recommendation behavior) when they considered the employer brand as high on distinctiveness and consistency. Moreover, employees identified more with their employer when the employer brand was perceived high on all three process attributes. Results also demonstrate the additional value and unique contribution of process attributes over the content attributes in explaining employees’ reactions. Overall, the chapter demonstrates the importance of features that typically highlight the process of employer branding to create a distinctive, consistent, and clear image of the organization as an employer. 
        The dissertation suggests both organizations and researchers to adopt a contextual and holistic (content plus process) approach to realize the true benefits of employer branding. In this regard, researchers could further extend this integrated thinking perspective to investigate what other factors or variables beyond the regularly investigated content attributes could add value and help understand organizations as employers. Similarly, organizations could employ more evidence-based employer branding practices that emphasize its process attributes, alignment with other organizational images, and enhanced warmth especially during crises, besides advertising a set of attractive functional and symbolic benefits.}},
  author       = {{Kanwal, Hira}},
  keywords     = {{Employer branding,Employer image,Applicant attraction,Employee reactions,Spillover effects,Employer brand content,Employer branding process,COVID-19 response,Employee ambassadorship}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{285}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Beyond employer brand content : understanding spillover effects and process attributes in employer branding}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}