One Size Fits All? Employer Branding in Different Contexts

Antonia Hein; Wim Elving; Sierdjan Koster; Arjen Edzes

One Size Fits All? Employer Branding in Different Contexts

Antonia Hein, Wim Elving, Sierdjan Koster, Arjen Edzes

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculteit Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen

Onderzoeksoutput: Article › Academic › peer review

Samenvatting

Met employer branding (EB) proberen bedrijven hun organisatienormen af te stemmen op de normen van hun huidige en toekomstige werknemers en communiceren ze expliciet over de normen van het bedrijf. Communicatie heeft echter verschillende betekenissen, afhankelijk van de context waarin men opereert. Ook kunnen de organisatorische normen variëren afhankelijk van de context, d.w.z. de bedrijfstak, de verschillende landen en de geografische context waarin een bedrijf actief is. Als zodanig kan het proces van EB ook contextafhankelijk zijn. Deze studie onderzoekt of en hoe EB verschillend wordt toegepast in verschillende landen en industrieën. De analyse is gebaseerd op een kwantitatieve inhoudsanalyse van 226 vacatures gericht op hoogopgeleide afgestudeerden en professionals in IT, energie en gezondheidszorg uit Noord-Nederland en vergelijkbare regio's uit Duitsland en Bulgarije. Onze bevindingen laten zien dat EB, zoals die tot uiting komt in kernwaarden en onderscheidende kenmerken, niet op grote schaal wordt toegepast in de vacatures die we in onze analyse hebben betrokken. Wanneer EB wordt toegepast, worden verschillende waarden benadrukt, afhankelijk van de context. Algemene informatie en functiespecifieke informatie komen het vaakst voor in alle sectoren en landen. EB is een multidimensioneel concept waarbij verschillende dimensies worden gebruikt afhankelijk van de context. De belangrijkste implicatie van het onderzoek is dat bedrijven rekening moeten houden met de context waarin een EB-strategie wordt gebruikt. Een one-size-fits-all benadering van EB is waarschijnlijk niet de meest effectieve. Dit is vooral relevant voor multinationals die een wereldwijd organisatiemerk hanteren.

Originele taal-2	English
Artikelnummer	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41299-024-00210-5
Pagina's (van-tot)	1-16
Aantal pagina's	16
Tijdschrift	Corporate Reputation Review
Status	Published - 8 jan. 2025

Keywords

werkgeversimago
vacatures
context
werkgeversbranding
content analyse

Research Focus Areas Research Centre or Centre of Expertise

Hernieuwbare brandstoffen en duurzame gassen
Industriële transformatie

Duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen van de VN

Deze output draagt bij aan de volgende duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelstelling(en)

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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41299-024-00210-5#citeasLicentie: CC BY

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title = "One Size Fits All? Employer Branding in Different Contexts",

abstract = "With employer branding (EB), businesses aim to align their organizational norms with the norms of their current and prospective employees, and they explicitly communicate about the firm{\textquoteright}s norms. Communication, however, carries different meanings depending on the context in which one operates. Also, the organizational norms may vary depending on the context, i.e., industry, different countries, and geographical context in which a firm operates. As such, the process of EB may be context-dependent, too. This study explores if and how EB is applied differently in different country and industry contexts. The analysis draws on a quantitative content analysis of 226 job vacancies targeted at highly educated graduates and professionals in IT, energy, and healthcare from the North of the Netherlands and comparable regions from Germany and Bulgaria. Our findings show that EB, as manifested in core values and distinctive characteristics, is not widely adopted in the vacancies we included in our analysis. When adopted, different values are emphasized depending on the context. General information and job-specific information are most frequent among all industries and countries. EB is a multidimensional concept with different dimensions used according to the context. The study{\textquoteright}s main implication is that companies need to be mindful of the context in which an EB strategy is used. A one-size-fits-all approach in EB is likely not the most effective. This is particularly relevant for multinationals that adopt a worldwide organizational brand.",

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author = "Antonia Hein and Wim Elving and Sierdjan Koster and Arjen Edzes",

year = "2025",

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journal = "Corporate Reputation Review",

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AU - Hein, Antonia

AU - Elving, Wim

AU - Koster, Sierdjan

AU - Edzes, Arjen

PY - 2025/1/8

Y1 - 2025/1/8

N2 - With employer branding (EB), businesses aim to align their organizational norms with the norms of their current and prospective employees, and they explicitly communicate about the firm’s norms. Communication, however, carries different meanings depending on the context in which one operates. Also, the organizational norms may vary depending on the context, i.e., industry, different countries, and geographical context in which a firm operates. As such, the process of EB may be context-dependent, too. This study explores if and how EB is applied differently in different country and industry contexts. The analysis draws on a quantitative content analysis of 226 job vacancies targeted at highly educated graduates and professionals in IT, energy, and healthcare from the North of the Netherlands and comparable regions from Germany and Bulgaria. Our findings show that EB, as manifested in core values and distinctive characteristics, is not widely adopted in the vacancies we included in our analysis. When adopted, different values are emphasized depending on the context. General information and job-specific information are most frequent among all industries and countries. EB is a multidimensional concept with different dimensions used according to the context. The study’s main implication is that companies need to be mindful of the context in which an EB strategy is used. A one-size-fits-all approach in EB is likely not the most effective. This is particularly relevant for multinationals that adopt a worldwide organizational brand.

AB - With employer branding (EB), businesses aim to align their organizational norms with the norms of their current and prospective employees, and they explicitly communicate about the firm’s norms. Communication, however, carries different meanings depending on the context in which one operates. Also, the organizational norms may vary depending on the context, i.e., industry, different countries, and geographical context in which a firm operates. As such, the process of EB may be context-dependent, too. This study explores if and how EB is applied differently in different country and industry contexts. The analysis draws on a quantitative content analysis of 226 job vacancies targeted at highly educated graduates and professionals in IT, energy, and healthcare from the North of the Netherlands and comparable regions from Germany and Bulgaria. Our findings show that EB, as manifested in core values and distinctive characteristics, is not widely adopted in the vacancies we included in our analysis. When adopted, different values are emphasized depending on the context. General information and job-specific information are most frequent among all industries and countries. EB is a multidimensional concept with different dimensions used according to the context. The study’s main implication is that companies need to be mindful of the context in which an EB strategy is used. A one-size-fits-all approach in EB is likely not the most effective. This is particularly relevant for multinationals that adopt a worldwide organizational brand.

KW - werkgeversimago

KW - vacatures

KW - context

KW - werkgeversbranding

KW - content analyse

KW - employer branding

KW - employer image

KW - job vacancies

KW - context

KW - content analysis

M3 - Article

SP - 1

EP - 16

JO - Corporate Reputation Review

JF - Corporate Reputation Review

M1 - https://doi.org/10.1057/s41299-024-00210-5

ER -

One Size Fits All? Employer Branding in Different Contexts

Samenvatting

Keywords

Research Focus Areas Research Centre or Centre of Expertise

Duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen van de VN

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