Masculinity and Femininity in Job Advertisements : a Cross-Cultural Analysis on the Use of Gendered Wording and Employer Branding in Job Advertisements

Masculinity and Femininity in Job Advertisements:

A Cross-Cultural Analysis on the Use of Gendered Wording and Employer Branding in Job Advertisements

Master Thesis

Name: Alexandra Lin - 11368179 Supervisor: Dr. S.C. de Bakker

Master’s Programme Communication Science Corporate Communication Track

Abstract

The competition among organizations and recruiters has increased: hiring the right employee is regarded as a competitive advantage in the global economy. In order to attract their desired talent, organizations have been advised to focus on recruitment communication strategies to stand out from the crowd. Employer branding and gendered wording can help organizations to attract the best employees, yet little is known about how countries with cultural differences on the masculinity dimension compose recruitment advertisements. To find out how online job advertisements from countries with masculine and feminine cultures differ from each other in terms of gendered wording and employer branding, a content analysis is conducted on 200 online job advertisements from the Netherlands (‘feminine culture’) and Switzerland

(‘masculine culture’). The ratio of gendered wording and the form of employer branding that was used in the advertisements was coded in an effort to learn more about the role of cultural differences in online job advertisements. Results showed that job advertisements from the Netherlands contained more feminine words than Swiss advertisements, whereas job advertisements from Switzerland did not contain more masculine words than Dutch

advertisements. The findings further showed that the cultural differences in masculinity and femininity between the two countries were not reflected in the way employer branding is used in job advertisements. The implications of the results are discussed and approaches for future research are proposed.

Introduction

Our world is more connected than ever; the past decades of globalization have lead to a growth in multinational enterprises, and diverse work-groups have become a fact of

organizational life (Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004). As such, the competition among organizations in the global economy and their recruiters to hire the best talent possible has also increased. Hiring the right, high-quality employee is regarded as a competitive advantage, yet finding them is not an easy task, as many organizations are looking for the same skill-set in their employees (Elving, Westhoff, Meeusen, & Schoonderbeek, 2013). Simply attracting the employees has also become more complicated, because demands are higher: especially candidates of Generation Y (those born after 1980) look for the whole package in a job, including flexibility, professional freedom, better work-life balance and meaningful jobs (Elving et al., 2013). This makes it even harder for organizations to entice their desired talent. Therefore, organizations are advised to focus on recruitment

communication strategies to become an employer of choice in order to stand out from other competing employers (Bhatnagar & Srivastava, 2008).

One way of attracting talents for an organization is job advertising or recruitment advertising. Online recruitment has been rapidly growing in recent years and has become an important recruitment channel for human resources (HR) professionals to find suitable applicants, which includes the use of commercial job boards (Gold, 2012). Depending on the different skills recruiters look for in potential hires, the right words must be found for

recruitment advertising, in order to draw the attention of desired applicants and incite their application for the position (Backhaus, 2004). One concept that has been researched in recruitment advertisements in the past, is the presence of gendered wording in such advertisements and its effects on potential applicants (Gaucher, Friesen, & Kay, 2011; Horvath & Sczesny, 2015; Bem & Bem, 1973). Studies have shown that job advertisements with gendered wording, words with stereotypical male or female connotations such as

‘dominant’ or ‘supportive’, may lower job appeal to potential female candidate and may even perpetuate gender inequality in different fields. Interestingly, the study found no effect of gendered wording on men’s appeal to apply for a position (Gaucher et al., 2011).

A tool that has also been popular in recruitment communication is employer branding, where organizations promote themselves as an attractive employer to potential applicants (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). In an effort to attract talents, candidates are presented with economic and psychological benefits that would be provided by employment, while the organizational culture of the employing company may be depicted in advertisements as well (Ambler & Barrow, 1996)

How much use an organization makes of gendered wording or employer branding in their recruitment advertisements, may be influenced by much more than just recruitment trends and linguistic styles. Although most organizations have an established organizational culture, the national culture of where the organization operates in is hard to fully neglect in their daily operations, simply because employees and managers bring their ethnicity to the workplace (Scheffknecht, 2011; Miroshnik, 2002). Management processes, and as such recruitment processes, can be affected by the culture of the national environment the organization is operating in (Hofstede, 1994). When analysing these processes, attention must also be paid to the respective national cultures and the different dimensions; the cultural dimension of masculinity is of particular interest in this context, since the dimension represents the preference in a society for elements that are also likely to appear in recruitment processes, such as achievement, cooperation, or material rewards for success (Hofstede, n.d.).

With research recognizing the potential influence of national culture on an

organization’s culture and decisions in the workplace, it is all the more important for HR management of organizations to acknowledge the cultural differences and take into account the cultural dimension of masculinity when recruiting for talent from abroad or multicultural

backgrounds (Hofstede, 1983; Charles, Buchmann, Halebsky, Powers, and Smith, 2001; Scheffknecht, 2011). Since countries differ on the masculinity vs. femininity spectrum, their citizens may also reflect these different attitudes in their professional life, and therefore HR communication should be aware of the possible presence of attitudes and behaviours that are characteristic of a national culture reflected in their recruiting efforts.

While past studies (Born & Taris, 2010; Gaucher et al., 2011; Horvath & Sczesny, 2015; Bem & Bem, 1973) have researched gender stereotyped wording in recruitment advertisement, cross-cultural studies researching the effects of national culture on these concepts have been absent. As such, the present thesis aims to fill this gap and analyse the moderating role of national culture. More specifically, the present study focuses on one of the five dimensions depicted by Hofstede (1980), namely the masculinity spectrum. The objective is to analyse to what extent words with gender stereotypes (gendered wording) and forms of employer branding are present in job advertisements from countries of different levels in masculinity and femininity. The research question is as follows:

How do online job advertisements from countries with masculine and feminine cultures differ from each other in terms of gendered wording and employer branding?

This question is scientifically relevant, since past studies have stressed the importance

gendered wording and employer branding have for organizations and the impact they have on potential employees in their decision to apply (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005; Gaucher et al., 2011; Horvath & Sczesny, 2015). Nevertheless, only little is known about the extent to which organizations actually implement employer branding or use gendered wording in recruitment processes, especially in the context of different cultures. In practice, the results can help recruiters be aware of the possible impact their national culture

has on recruitment efforts, and gain further insights into how to attract employees in recruitment communication. Although gendered wording seems to have no effect on men’s appeal to apply for a position, such wording does have an effect on women (Gaucher et al., 2011). Considering that 54.3% of all tertiary students in the EU-28 Member States are women, and 57.4% among them are even studying towards a Master’s degree, it would be a large pool of highly educated talent that organizations could target, but fail to attract due to expressions with gender stereotypes in their job advertisements (Eurostat, 2015).

For this cultural comparison, the countries Switzerland and the Netherlands are chosen, as they represent two ends of the scope ranging from masculinity to femininity. According to the study based on data collected from 117 000 survey questionnaires from 66 countries, German-speaking countries, such as Switzerland, scored high on the masculinity index, whereas the Netherlands scored on the lower end of the index, representing a rather feminine society (Hofstede, 1980). As such, the national culture of the two countries differ systematically from each other on this dimension. Therefore, these two countries are chosen for further analysis in the present study. A content analysis will be conducted to analyse the differences and answer the research question; the content of online job advertisements for positions in both Switzerland and the Netherlands will be the focus in this research. Results of this study would provide insights into how countries with different national cultures compose recruitment advertisements in order to attract candidates.

In the following, the theoretical background will be laid out in detail, where previous research on the cultural dimension of masculinity and job advertisements are discussed. The concepts of employer branding and gendered wording will also be examined, followed by the research method and the results of the study. To conclude the thesis, the discussion of the results, as well as approaches for future research are presented.

Theoretical Framework

In this section, the theoretical background and central concepts relevant to the present study is be presented. Hypotheses are proposed deriving from existing literature in order to answer the research question.

Masculinity vs. Femininity

In a study researching national cultural differences, Geert Hofstede (1980) identified four main dimensions of national culture, which are labelled Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism, and Masculinity. A fifth dimension labelled Long-Term

Orientation was later added to the existing four dimensions (Hofstede, 2001). One of the five dimensions where national cultures differ systematically is the scope of masculinity versus femininity, which refers to the different distribution of roles between the sexes within a national society. This masculinity-femininity dimension primarily focuses on the emotional roles within a home, where children are socialized (Hofstede, 2016). One definition of this dimension describes a society as masculine,

“when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to be assertive, tough and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and

concerned with the quality of life“ (Hofstede, 2001, p. 297)

As such, men are specialized in ego-boosting roles, whereas women take on ego-effacing roles (Hofstede, 2016). On the other end of the spectrum, in societies where such gender roles overlap and both gender enjoy the aforementioned attributes, are the feminine societies (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). Furthermore, the emotional roles are more equally divided in feminine societies, where men are especially oriented toward ego-effacing roles

(Hofstede, 2016). These differences at home then spread to societies, determining what a particular society considers ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ behaviour (Hofstede, 2016).

Job Advertisements

In order to develop human capital, the organization must first find and attract talents through their recruitment channels (Backhaus, 2004). One recruitment channel that has seen a rapid growth in recent years is online recruitment, where organizations use their own website, commercial job boards, or social networking sites as a method to attract applicants (Gold, 2012). A key element to HR recruitment techniques, both on- and offline, is the job advertisement itself. By providing information about the employing organization and a description of the actual tasks and responsibilities that make up the job, potential employees have the possibility to look into vacant positions (Gold, 2012). As such, the design of the recruitment advertisement is of great importance, since it often establishes the first link between an organization and their potential employees (Backhaus, 2004). This initial engagement also serves as the first source of information for the candidate about an organization’s selection process and other offerings, where corporate images may also be conveyed and even enhance an applicant’s responsiveness to the recruitment advertisement (Feldman, Bearden, & Hardesty, 2006). Furthermore, organizations often face a trade-off when designing an attractive job advertisement: while a general advertisement with little specificity on job attributes may attract a large number of applicants and thus increase the pool of potential employees, it may also increase the number of unsuitable or unqualified applicants. At the same time, candidates who are highly focused and specific when searching for a job may find such general advertisements unappealing (Feldman et al., 2006).

Although organizations are competing against each other to attract the right applicant for their talent pool, the idea of the ‘right’ candidate for one organization is likely to vary from the ideal candidate of another organization. While some organizations focus on a match

between the candidate’s particular skills and values with those of the organization, other organizations may simply look for the best and brightest candidate available (Backhaus, 2004). Perhaps due to these differences in talent scouting, there’s no universally agreed upon format of job advertisements in the field of HR (Walters & Fage-Butler, 2014). Nevertheless, Rafaeli and Oliver (1998) were able to identify what they call a ‘skeleton’ with the four elements most recruitment advertisements share: “organizational identity, its human resources needs, information about what is required to fulfil these needs, and information about how to contact the organization” (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998, p. 345). In more practical terms, the element of ‘human resources needs’ is commonly referred to as the ‘job description’, where information about job title, specific duties and responsibilities, who they’re responsible to is provided (Walters & Fage-Butler, 2014). Furthermore, the element of ‘information about what is required to fulfil these needs’ describes what is commonly known as ‘personnel specification’. This section in the job advertisement gives information about what qualifications and experiences are required or desired of the applicant, which may also include descriptions of an ideal applicant’s motivation and commitment to success, certain goals or their ability to cope with stress (Walters & Fage-Butler, 2014; Gold, 2012).

However, the skeleton for job advertisements is just as the name suggests: it simply

announces vacancies with the fundamental, basic information (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998). Most recruitment advertisements go beyond using only the skeleton, and embellish the skeleton with additional information about an organisation’s attributes, such as their size, financial status, history and anticipated future, organizational values and their culture (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998). By enriching job advertisements, the advertisement represents not only the discourse between employer and job seeker, but also between the organization and its public audience, and serves two functions: attracting people to work for the organization, and impress people about organizations (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998). These additional information

provided to embellish the skeletal job advertisements seem to reflect what is understood as employer branding, as described in the following section.

Employer Branding

An increasingly used concept in recruitment communication is employer branding, where the organizations promote themselves as an attractive employer to potential applicants

(Backhaus  & Tikoo, 2004). While employer branding is a part of the corporate brand management process, employer branding can also improve recruitment efforts of an

organization (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). This may come in the form of presenting candidates with economic and psychological benefits, which would be provided by employment, as well as depicting the organizational culture of the employing company (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). By establishing an identity of the organization as an employer, the organization’s values, policies and behaviours are also used in an effort to attract candidates whose values fit with those of the organization (Hatch & Schultz, 2003). Attractive organizational traits that contribute to a strong employer brand include promoting an organization’s mission, values and achievements, a supportive organizational climate, corporate social responsibility, organizational attributes such as size and profitability, work/family balance, and good compensation and benefits (Elving et al., 2013; Backhaus, 2004). While they can easily be incorporated into job advertisements, employers must also pay attention; attractive

organizational traits should not be incorporated just to attract talent, but they should actually be a part of the organization’s identity (Berthon et al., 2005; Mosley, 2007).

In order to increase their attractiveness as an employer and differentiate themselves characteristically from their competitors, organizations would therefore use employer branding in form of attractive organizational traits to embellish recruitment advertisements. Since this additional information illustrates the organization’s identity, it can be expected that the aforementioned text embellishments in form of employer branding would primarily

appear in the section of a job advertisement describing organizational identity (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). The first hypothesis is as follows:

H1: Employer branding is more present in sections describing organizational identity than in other sections of the job advertisement.

In further detail, employer branding often includes the promotion of work/family balance, supportive organizational climates and an organization’s mission, values, and corporate social responsibility (CSR): facets that correspond to the aforementioned understanding of the femininity dimension (Elving et al., 2013). Feminine societies also favour a balance between family and work, and don’t consider work as a central part of a person’s life. Corresponding to a supportive, healthy organizational climate, feminine societies also stress solidarity and cooperation at work, as well as quality of work life. Furthermore, societies with low levels of masculinity consider the preservation of the environment, help for the needy and a welfare society more important than economic growth and a performance society; characteristics, that are reflected in an organization’s need to promote CSR and organizational mission and values (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, the following hypothesis is formed:

H2: Job advertisements from the Netherlands contain more feminine employer branding than job advertisements from Switzerland.

Further organizational traits promoted in employer branding are commonly the size and profitability of an organization, an organization’s support for further career development, and the salary and other benefits of the advertised position (Elving et al., 2013). Since masculine societies value achievement in terms of wealth and recognition, mentioning organizational profitability would reflect these facets. Societies with high levels in masculinity regard

advancement as highly important and often hold ambitious career aspirations, both of which would correspond to an organization’s support for career advancement. Another characteristic of masculine societies are the importance of money and things; since people have a higher tendency for the ‘live in order to work’ mentality, earnings and wealth become more

important in comparison to feminine societies (Hofstede, 2001). Thus, hypothesis 3 proposes:

H3: Job advertisements from Switzerland contain more masculine employer branding than job advertisements from the Netherlands.

Apart from the aforementioned text embellishments in form of employer branding, the linguistic style in which a job advertisement is written in may also differ. In the following, gendered wording and its role in recruitment advertisements is discussed.

Gender Stereotyped Words

As a societal construct, social gender roles exist based on a societal consensus about what social roles men and women should adopt and what behaviours they are to display (Spence & Buckner, 1995). Resulting from observations of behaviours in different gender-typical social roles (e.g. breadwinner and housewife), gender stereotypes contain beliefs about certain attributes women and men should hold (Sczesny, Bosak, Neff, & Schyns, 2004). Different socially shared expectations about how men and women should behave within society are thus still present in everyday life. Past research has demonstrated that these socially shared gendered expectations come in terms of agency and communion. Men are generally attributed with being agentic, which relates to power and control, while women are expected to be communal, who put an emphasis on harmony (Johnson, Murphy, Zewdie, & Reichard, 2008; Diekman & Eagly, 2000). As such, men are more often stereotyped with attributes such as being independent, competent, and achievement oriented, whereas women are attributed with

being warm, sociable, and relationship oriented (Jost & Kay, 2005). This shows that while the same behaviour may be exhibited, many characteristics are deemed to be more typical and acceptable for one gender than the other in a given society (Johnson et al., 2008).

Due to the socially imposed masculine and feminine roles and traits, many higher-status occupational terms including lawyer, surgeon or scientist are often automatically attributed to the male-specific pronoun ‘he’ in the English language. Lower-status

occupational titles such as schoolteacher, secretary or nurse on the other hand are more likely to be linked to the female pronoun ‘she’ (Hellinger & Bussmann, 2015). Resulting from this divide between genders, certain words in the English language have thus been characterized as being typically male or female. In light of such gendered stereotyping, Gaucher, Friesen, & Kay (2011) have used the term ‘gendered wording’ for terms with stereotypical male or female connotations. Words such as ‘individualistic’, ‘competitive’, and ‘ambitious’ are an example for masculine words, whereas ‘committed’, ‘supportive’, and ‘compassionate’ are words with feminine stereotyping (Gaucher et al., 2011). Studies in the past have also shown that the presence of such gender stereotyped terms in recruitment advertisements can

influence the degree to which men and women feel attracted to the position. While gendered wording had no influence on men, women perceived a lack of fit for an advertised position and found a position less appealing, if many stereotypically male qualities and words were listed (Horvath & Sczesny, 2015; Gaucher et al., 2011).

Following this, the national culture is also expected to have an impact in the use of gendered wording. Since in masculine societies, men are seen in ego-boosting roles and tend to favour achievement and success, traditional male gender stereotypes could be more present (Hofstede, 2001). As such, the use of masculine words would also dominate in such societies also when it comes to creating job advertisements.

H4a: Job advertisements for positions in Switzerland contain more masculine words than job advertisements for positions in the Netherlands.

Conversely, the job advertisements from a feminine society would be expected to contain stronger influences of female gender stereotypes. Although the social gender roles overlap and emotional roles are more equally divided in feminine societies, men are especially

oriented toward ego-effacing roles. Thus, striving for values as mutual support, solidarity and harmony also reflect female stereotypes (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, it can be expected that job advertisements from feminine societies would have an increased use of feminine words.

H4b: Job advertisements for positions in the Netherlands contain more feminine words than job advertisements for positions in Switzerland.

As a result of a societal consensus about what behaviour and traits men and women should exhibit, gendered words thus reflect personal characteristics (Born & Taris, 2010). In job advertisements, organizations commonly give information on the profile of their ideal applicant, which may include desired personal characteristics and traits their ideal employee would have, next to requirements on qualifications and experiences (Walters & Fage-Butler, 2014). Organizations are also increasingly specifying certain personality traits and list the characteristics of an ideal corporate individual in job advertisements, such as interpersonal, self-confident, efficient, team-player (Cremin, 2003). Therefore, it can be expected that these traits of distinct gendered expectations and words are most prominent in the recruitment advertising section describing ‘personnel specification’. Thus, the hypothesis is as follows:

H5: Gendered wording is used more frequently in sections describing personnel specification than in other sections of the job advertisement.

Method

In order to analyse if job advertisements from Switzerland differ from those in the Netherlands in regards to gendered wording and employer branding, a content analysis is conducted to examine the content of the job advertisements. A content analysis is deemed to be appropriate for the present study, as it provides a suitable technique to research the

contents of the job descriptions objectively and systematically (Berelson, 1952). The selection of N=200 was chosen with the assumption that on average, one recruitment advertisement would take 10-15 minutes to code which results in approximately 50 hours of coding. The sample data was analysed by a single coder. Using Qualtrics, each job advertisement was coded on 16 questions. The data was further processed and analysed with IBM SPSS.  

Sample

In total, the data of 200 recruitment advertisements were collected; 100 from Switzerland and 100 from the Netherlands. Data was collected from the leading global job search website indeed.ch and indeed.nl for job advertisements in Switzerland and the Netherlands respectively. By using the search term ‘english’ on the website’s advanced job search

function, sorting by relevance, the first 100 English job postings were selected for the sample. If the search query returned multiple job advertisements by the same company, only the first three were included in the sample to minimize repetition of certain organizational elements in the recruitment advertisements. This was done on both indeed.ch and indeed.nl.

Indeed was chosen, since the website has a national domain for both countries, and its content offers advantages to the present study: as an online job search engine, Indeed not only lets companies post their job openings on their website, but also aggregates job postings from other job sites and company listings, therefore enlarging the job pool (Thomas, 2016).

Furthermore, job postings found on Indeed’s website often lead to the original poster’s website, the company websites. This ensures that the content of the job advertisement is

endorsed by the company, which is important for analysing possible employer branding elements, since it reflects the organization as an employer directly.

Inter-Coder Reliability

An inter-coder reliability test was conducted to measure the reliability of the codebook. Using Krippendorff’s Alpha (Kalpha; Hayes & Krippendorff, 2007), 10% of the sample was coded by two coders. Following a coder training, where the codebook and the variables were discussed, 20 job advertisements were coded.

Apart from the variables country (α=1.00) and gender preference (α=1.00), results of the first inter-coder reliability test showed that the initial codebook was not reliable enough. The initial employer branding variables corporate history (α=.27), corporate mission (α=.38), corporate culture (α=.27), working hours (α=.16), flexible work arrangements (α=-.05) and supportive organization (α=.17) were all below the approved Kalpha value for reliability. Variables coding gendered wording showed weak results in reliability as well: masculine words in job description reported α=.26 and organizational description α=-.03, while in personnel description was α=.71. Feminine words in all three variables of personnel

description (α=.30), job description (α=-.19), and organizational description (α=-.03) were all deemed unreliable as well.

After much deliberation and thorough discussions about the issues of the unreliable variables, a second inter-coder reliability test consisting of 15 job advertisements was conducted on the improved codebook for the present study. The robust variables and reliability results of the second inter-coder reliability test were then used for further operationalization and coding of the complete sample. The final coding variables and

operationalization are presented in more detail in the following section. The codebook can be found in appendix A.

Operationalization Basic Information

Each job advertisement was first coded for basic information. This included in which country (α=1.00) the advertised position was located, either in ‘Switzerland’ (N=100) or ‘the

Netherlands’ (N=100). Furthermore, the number of words of the advertisement (α=.99) was coded.

Employer Branding

Next, it was determined whether or not, and where, traits of employer branding were present in the job advertisement: this was done by coding for the presence and placement of six dimensions. Work/family balance (α=1.00) was coded if the support of a work/family balance, as well as flexible work arrangements, such as teleworking or flexible work hours, was

mentioned. If the job advertisement described a cooperative work environment, formalities with co-workers, or the work space itself, organizational culture (α=.64) was coded.

Corporate mission (α=.74) was coded for the presence of organizational mission, values and goals, the product or service provided by the organization, as well as explicit mentions of CSR activities. The variables work/family balance, organizational culture, and corporate mission were then recoded into the variable feminine employer branding for further analyses. Corporate success (α=.74) was coded, if success numbers in terms of revenue, organizational growth and profitability, was mentioned. If the advertisement mentioned mentoring by

supervisors or work related workshops and trainings offered by the organization, support for development (α=.85) was coded. Organizational benefits (α=.69) was coded, if the salary, other job benefits such as paid overtime or number of holidays, or employee discounts were mentioned. The variables corporate success, support for development, and organizational benefits were then recoded into the variable masculine employer branding for further analyses.

For each of the six employer branding dimensions, it was coded in which section of the recruitment advertisement according to the skeleton of job advertisements the employer branding trait appeared: ‘Organizational Identity’, ‘Job Description’, ‘Personnel

Specification’, ‘Contact Information’, or ‘No mention at all’, if the trait did not appear in the entire advertisement.

Gendered Wording

To determine whether the job advertisement contained masculine words, the number of masculine words was coded for the three sections of the advertisement according to the skeleton of job advertisements: personnel specification (α=.98), job description (α=.93), and organizational identity (α=.77). ‘Contact Information’ was excluded here, since this section only contained telephone numbers, addresses or contact names. The masculine word ratio (α=.97) shows the percentage of masculine words in the job advertisement. The sum of the masculine words of each section (α=.97) was divided by the total number of words in the job advertisement (α=.99) and then multiplied by a 100.

The same was done for feminine words: the job advertisements were selectively searched for the presence of feminine words from the list of gendered words. The amount of feminine words were then coded for each section as well: personnel specification (α=1.00), job description (α=.82), and organizational identity (α=.51). The feminine word ratio (α=.95) shows the percentage of feminine words in the job advertisement. As before, the sum of the feminine words (α=.96) was divided by the total number of words and then multiplied by a 100. The complete list of masculine and feminine words used in the content analysis can be found in appendix B.

Analysis

t-tests and paired samples t-tests were conducted. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to test the first and fifth hypothesis. Using the variables personnel specification and job description, each of them was paired with the variable organizational identity for

hypothesis 1. In a second step, the three variables were recoded into the variable employer branding other sections and paired with organizational identity again. For hypothesis 5, the variables personnel specification, job description and organizational identity of both feminine and masculine words were recoded into gendered wording (GW) personnel specification, GW job description, and GW organizational identity. The variables GW job description and GW organizational identity were then paired with GW personnel specification. In a further step, GW job description and GW organizational identity were recoded into GW other sections and paired with GW personnel specification again.

Throughout the analyses for hypotheses 2, 3, 4a, and 4b, the variable country was used as the independent variable for the independent samples t-tests. For hypothesis 2, the variable feminine employer branding was used as the dependent variable, while the variable masculine employer branding was used as the dependent variable for testing hypothesis 3. For

hypotheses 4a and 4b, the variables masculine word ratio and feminine word ratio were used respectively as dependent variables in the independent samples t-tests. The results of the analysis are presented in the following section.

Results

To test the first hypothesis, a paired samples t-test was conducted to compare the frequency of employer branding in sections describing organizational identity and in other sections of the job advertisements. There was a significant difference between the scores of employer branding, ranging from 0 to 1, in the sections of organizational identity (M=.83, SD=.38) and employer branding other sections (M=.20, SD=.40); t(199)=14.96, p<0.001, therefore

difference, as shown in table 1, when compared to the sections job description, personnel specification, and contact information separately, recoded as employer branding other sections.

Table 1. Results of a paired samples t-test.

Pair Mean

Difference

SD SE Mean p 95% CI

Organizational Identity - Job Description

.63 .60 .04 .000 [.55, .71]

Organizational Identity - Personnel Specification

.83 .38 .03 .000 [.78, .88]

Organizational Identity – Contact Information

.83 .38 .03 .000 [.78, .88]

N=200

In order to test the assumption that job advertisement from the Netherlands contain more female employer branding than advertisements from Switzerland, an independent samples t-test was conducted to compare female employer branding. Results of the t-test showed no significant difference in the scores for the Netherlands (M=.79, SD=.41) and Switzerland (M=.83, SD=.38); t(198)=-0.72, p=.473: hypothesis 2 is rejected.

Comparing whether or not masculine employer branding would be more frequently found in Swiss than Dutch job advertisement, another independent samples t-test was conducted. Disproving hypothesis 3, the results also showed no significant difference in the scores for job advertisement from Switzerland (M=.77, SD=.42) and the Netherlands (M=.75, SD=.43); t(198)=0.33, p=.742.

Next, an independent samples t-test was run to compare the ratio of masculine words in Swiss and Dutch job advertisements. Results showed no significant difference in the scores for Switzerland (M=0.91, SD=0.63) and the Netherlands (M=1.09, SD=0.81); t(198)=-1.79, p=.074. Thus, hypothesis 4a is rejected.

To test the assumption that Dutch job advertisements contain more feminine words than Swiss job advertisements, another independent t-test was run. Results show that job advertisements from the Netherlands (M=1.27, SD=0.74) had a higher ratio of feminine words than job advertisements from Switzerland (M=1.03, SD=0.57); t(198)=-2.57, p<0.015.,

95%  CI [-0.42,-0.06]. The difference between the groups is significant and supports hypothesis 4b.

Another paired samples t-test was conducted to compare the frequency of gendered wording in sections describing personnel specification and in other sections of the job advertisements. There was a significant difference between the scores of gendered wording, ranging from 0 to 1, in the section of personnel specification (M=.81, SD=.39) and in the GW other sections (M=.99, SD=.10); t(199)=-6.09, p<0.001. Although the difference is

significant, the direction is opposed to the one proposed in the hypothesis, thus hypothesis 5 is rejected. However, while gendered wording in personnel specification showed significant difference when compared to job description, no significant difference is found when compared to organizational identity, as shown in table 2.

Table 2. Results of a paired samples t-test.

Pair Mean

Difference

SD SE Mean p 95% CI

Personnel Specification – Job Description -.13 .45 .03 .000 [-.19, -.06] Personnel Specification – Organizational Identity .06 .55 .04 .122 [-.02, .14] N=200

Discussion

The aim of the present study was to analyse, how online job advertisements from countries with masculine and feminine culture differ from each other in terms of and employer branding and gendered wording. The results presented in the previous section demonstrate that overall, Dutch recruitment advertisements contained more feminine words than Swiss advertisements, whereas Swiss job advertisements did not contain more masculine words than those from the Netherlands. The findings further showed that the cultural differences in masculinity and femininity between the two countries were not reflected in the way employer branding is used in job advertisements.

The first hypothesis proposed that in general, employer branding would be more present in sections of the job advertisement describing organizational identity than in other sections, including sections outlining job description, personnel specification, and contact information. Results supported the assumption, showing that employer branding is more often found in sections describing organizational identity. This is in line with Backhaus & Tikoo’s (2004) reasoning for the use of employer branding in recruitment advertisements. Organizations feel

a stronger need to differentiate themselves characteristically from their competitors on an organizational level, and use it to increase their attractiveness as an employer. Furthermore, job advertisements intend to not only attract employees, but also impress an audience about their organization (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998). Thus, employer branding is increasingly apparent in the sections, where an organization’s identity is presented. These results also support Rafaeli & Oliver’s (1998) observation that, although no universally agreed upon format of job advertisements exists, many organizations and employers choose to embellish their

recruitment advertisements in the same way: with additional information in regards to organizational identity.

Unlike expected, online recruitment advertisements from the Netherlands did not contain more feminine employer branding than advertisements for positions in Switzerland. This could be explained by the global feminization of work and the on-going debate for gender equality. The ‘feminization of work’ refers to the increased female participation in the workforce and women’s increased presence in fields traditionally occupied by males, such as law or business (Fondas, 1996). As a result, promoting gender equality in all areas, including employment, work and pay, has been a fundamental topic for countries of the European Union (EU) (European Union, 2011). While the EU signed the Amsterdam treaty in 1997, which promotes such equality between women and men in Article 23, Switzerland also had their own corresponding article enforced in the Swiss federal constitution in 1981 (European Union, 2011; Bundesamt für Statistik, 2016). As such, Switzerland also demonstrated an interest in increasing the female workforce, which may have also affected an increased use of feminine employer branding in Swiss job advertisements to appeal to female job applicants. Results of the Gender Gap Index 2016 showed that while the female/male ratio in the Dutch labour force participation is at 0.87, the Swiss ratio is at a comparable 0.89 (World Economic

Forum, 2016): this is a number Swiss organizations may have achieved by increasing female employer branding in recruitment advertisement.

There also seemed to be no difference in the frequency of masculine employer

branding appearing in Dutch and Swiss online job advertisements. Elements that were defined as masculine employer branding in the present study, such as organizational benefits, salary description and development opportunities, have generally been found to increase job seekers’ intention to apply for a position and therefore enlarging the applicant pool (Kaplan, Aamodt, & Wilk, 1991; Cober, Brown, Levy, Keeping, & Cober, 2003). Since organizations compete against each other to attract applicants for their talent pool, such masculine employer branding may be used increasingly by organizations from both countries, regardless of cultural

differences.

Another factor to account for the discrepancy is the fact that there is an uneven adoption of different organizational policies between different organizational sectors,

company size, and positions (Hyman & Summers, 2004). Organizations operating in different sectors face different challenges: public organizations often struggle to compete with extrinsic rewards that private organizations can offer to prospective employees, and try to focus on emphasising organizational values and rewards of service for the public good instead (Lyons, Duxbury, & Higgins, 2006). While companies may understand the value of flexible work arrangements, depending on the job, it simply may not be feasible for certain positions where face-to-face contacts with customers or colleagues are part of the job (Gareis, 2002). In a similar fashion, employer branding in form of support and training for career advancement may be interesting when advertising for junior positions, but irrelevant for those seeking employment for senior positions. As such, the masculinity-femininity cultural dimension proposed by Hofstede (1980) seems to have no impact on which type of employer branding is applied. This could simply be due to the fact that Hofstede’s (1980) research on the

to have influenced national cultures in the past years, which would have shifted the

femininity dimension as well. Therefore the cultural dimension of masculinity-femininity may have had little influence in the analysis.

When looking at the location in which gendered wording appeared in the online job advertisements, there seemed to be a difference between the different sections in which gendered wording would appear. Results however, did not support the hypothesis, stating that gendered wording appears more frequently in sections describing personnel specifications than in other sections of the recruitment advertisement. In fact, gendered wording in personnel specification appears less frequently than in the other sections. However, this outcome is from the analysis that combined the variables of all other sections, which did not describe personnel specifications. Although gendered wording appears more frequently in the section describing job tasks than in sections describing personnel specification, no difference is found in the frequency gendered wording appears in personnel specification and

organizational identity. This could be due to the fact that recruitment advertisements in general try to put a stronger emphasis on task descriptions to attract candidates, rather than on other sections. According to Feldman, Bearden, and Hardesty (2006), job advertisements with specific information about the jobs themselves can increase a candidate’s perception of the advertisement’s truthfulness, their attitude toward the company, and appropriateness for the candidate. Organizations may be aware of this and are more specific when giving information about the job tasks rather than detailing their ideal employee’s requirements. In an effort to be more specific about the job tasks, the section describing them may entail more gendered wording than the section describing personnel specification. As such, the section of job description stands out in regards to informativeness, including gendered wording, while sections describing organizational identity and personnel specification fall behind and show similar results when compared to each other.

Contrary to the assumption, masculine words did not appear more frequently in Swiss online job advertisements than recruitment advertisements from the Netherlands. The fact that neither in Switzerland nor in the Netherlands English is spoken as a national language could have influenced the results. Switzerland has four national languages, where 63% of the population speak German / Swiss German on a daily basis, while roughly 23% call French their main language. Italian (8.1%) and Rhaeto-Romanic (0.5%) are also spoken in certain regions (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015). Although the English language is widely-used, it remains a business language for most (Zinggeler, 2007). Similarly, English is also still regarded as a foreign language in the Netherlands, rather than a second national language to the first national language Dutch (Gerritsen, Van Meurs, Planken, & Korzilius, 2016). While the present study analysed job advertisements from both countries to compare them better in terms of gendered wording, the national language of each country could be more

representative of the national culture.

In the present case, both languages may have shown their similar tendencies in the usage of masculine words due to the fact that in both Dutch and German, the languages spoken by the majority of the people in the Netherlands and Switzerland, the masculine generic exists. As such, masculine personal nouns in both languages (e.g. winner, smoker, visitor) can be used to reference to people in different ways: generically, referencing to people regardless of their natural gender, or with a masculine generic, in reference to the male gender (De Backer & De Cuypere, 2011). Past findings indicated that in the German language, personal nouns are becoming more male-biased instead of a generic use of the nouns (De Backer & De Cuypere, 2011). Similarly, masculine terms are also being used increasingly in the Dutch language (Gerritsen, 2002). Although the masculine generic refers to personal nouns and the masculine words analysed were mostly adjectives, the male-bias of the national languages may have rubbed off when writing the job advertisements in English, therefore overpowering the possible influence of the cultural dimension. Since language expresses,

embodies and symbolizes cultural reality, the English foreign language used in the present study was not indicative enough to reflect dimensions of the national culture (Kramsch, 1998).

While there was no difference in the frequency masculine words appeared in the job advertisements, the results showed that online recruitment advertisements from the

Netherlands did contain more feminine words as opposed to Swiss job advertisements. This reflects the notion that as a feminine society, Dutch job advertisements include more female words than the masculine society of Switzerland. Since emotional roles are better distributed amongst men and women, the use of female words may be appealing to both men and women in the Netherlands, men are also oriented towards ego-effacing, ‘feminine’ roles (Hofstede, 2016). Thus, an increased use of feminine words is sensible for HR to use in job

advertisements, as they attract both genders equally. Although the national language would possibly have reflected the cultural dimension better, it seems that in this case, the feminine society of the Netherlands came through in the English language. This could be due to the fact that English in the Netherlands has the status of a foreign language, but it is in the course of changing to a second language in the country (Gerritsen et al., 2016).

Practical Implications

The present study gives an overview on the current use of gendered words and forms of employer branding in online job advertisements from Switzerland and the Netherlands. The results and discussion can be used by HR professionals and internal communications practitioners to better understand and target their recruitment efforts, especially when recruiting for international talents from different cultural backgrounds through online job advertisements. The study showed that employer branding most often comes in form of detailing organizational characteristics to prospective employees and other audience members

of the job advertisements. When it comes to the wording of the job advertisements, HR professionals should be aware of the gendered words they may be using unconsciously.

Scientifically, the study has shown that the cultural dimension of masculinity according to Hofstede (1980) may not have much impact in general on employer branding and gendered wording in job advertisements. Findings did show however, that organizations in both Switzerland and the Netherlands implement employer branding in their recruitment advertisement, as advised by past scholars (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Berthon et al., 2005). Furthermore, the study brought to light that gendered wording is still present, despite efforts for gender equality and the rise of feminization of work. The presence of male words may thus continue to dissuade female candidates to apply for positions (Gaucher et al., 2011).

Limitations

As a first limitation it must be acknowledged that the sample contained job advertisements from both national and international organizations of different sizes, sectors, and levels of job hierarchy. Since this information was not coded, it can be a limitation in the understanding of how sectoral or job hierarchy differences may be reflected in the use of gendered words and employer branding. Additionally, national organizations would be stronger attached to the national cultures, while an internationally operating organization with simply an office in one of the countries may have a centralized HR team dictating the job advertisements.

Secondly, the study analysed job advertisements in English instead of the national language of Switzerland and the Netherlands. While the English job advertisements provided a good sample to compare them to each other, the content in the original language could have yielded information more reflective of the nation’s cultural dimension.

Finally, Hofstede’s (1980) research on national culture presently dates back to over 30 years. Globalization has come a long way in the meantime and lead to many multinational enterprises, where diverse work-groups have become a fact of organizational life (Van

Knippenberg et al., 2004). With changes in organizational behaviour such as flexible work arrangements, job sharing, paternal leave, an emphasis on work-life balance and the feminization of work, the social gender roles may have generally become more equally distributed amongst men and women. As such, the masculinity-femininity dimension of the countries may have shifted and had therefore little influence in the analysis.

Future Research

The present study showed that the online job advertisements from the Netherlands and Switzerland showed little differences in terms of employer branding. In further research, it would be interesting to see, if these results remain the same when comparing the job

advertisements from different sectors to each other, as well as different level of the position in the job hierarchy.

Findings of the study also demonstrated that the online job advertisements of the Netherlands, a feminine society, contained more feminine words than Swiss advertisements, a masculine society. Future cross-cultural studies should concentrate on the job advertisements written in the national languages to see if the differences in the dimensions of national culture would emerge with more prominence.

Finally, the cultural spectrum could be enlarged. While Switzerland and the

Netherlands may have differed on the masculinity-femininity dimension, both nations are of Western culture. Future studies may find surprising results if countries with Eastern cultures, such as China, Japan, South Korea are added to the analysis.

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Appendix A: Codebook

ID: ID number of job advertisement (see folder for job advertisements) 001 = Job advertisement 1

002 = Job advertisement 2 003 = Job advertisement 3 …

200 = Job advertisement 200

CTY: Country in which the job opening is located 1 = Switzerland

2 = the Netherlands

EB_FLX: Where in the job advertisement are flexible work arrangements mentioned? - mentions support for work/family balance (e.g. company day care available) - mentions flexible working hours

- mentions possibility for working from outside the office (e.g. home office, video conferences) 1 = Organizational Identity 2 = Job Description 3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

EB_OC: Where in the job advertisement is organisational climate/culture mentioned? - mentions cooperation at work, team work (i.e. working together with co-workers

and/or supervisors)

- description of work place (e.g. open space office, closed office, interior design, attractiveness of office, attractive office location)

- mentions informalities (e.g. co-workers and supervisors are greeted on a first name basis, direct contact with supervisor, have lunch together, team events, drinks together) 1 = Organizational Identity 2 = Job Description 3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

EB_MIS: Where in the job advertisement is corporate mission mentioned? - explicit mention mission or value

- mentions product or service the organisation produces / provides - mentions Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities 1 = Organizational Identity

2 = Job Description

3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

EB_SUC: Where in the job advertisement is corporate success mentioned? - mentions company size (small, medium, large; number of employees) - mentions company profitability: sales, user numbers, revenue

1 = Organizational Identity 2 = Job Description

3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

EB_SUP: Where in the job advertisement is support in the work space mentioned? - mentions mentoring or support by supervisor, team leader, or co-workers - mentions support/opportunities for work related workshops and trainings

- mentions support/opportunities for further education/training for career development 1 = Organizational Identity

2 = Job Description

3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

EB_BEN: Where in the job advertisement are benefits of the position mentioned? - mentions of salaries (e.g. explicit amount of income, competitive salary, paid

overtime, paid leave)

- mentions number of holidays, social security benefits, free/discounted laptops or similar 1 = Organizational Identity 2 = Job Description 3 = Personnel Specification 4 = Contact Information 999 = No mention at all

WORDS: How many words does the complete job advertisement have? - starting from job title

- ending at last fact regarding the position or the organization, including contact information

- copy text from preview to google docs, see word count n = number of words

MAS_PER: In the job advertisement section ‘personnel specification’ describing the applicant (including profile, character and experience of candidate, requirements for the position), how many masculine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

n = number of words

999 = no personnel specification available

MAS_JOB: In the job advertisement section ‘job description’ describing the position (including tasks and responsibilities), how many masculine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

n = number of words

999 = no job description available

MAS_ORG: In the job advertisement section describing the organization (including organizational history, mission, or culture), how many masculine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

n = number of words

MAS_TOTAL: How many masculine words are found in the job advertisement in total? n = number of words

MAS_RATIO: What percentage of the job advertisement are masculine words?

• (Number of total masculine words/total words of the complete job advertisement)*100 • 3 decimals, e.g. 1.538%

n = ratio percentage

FEM_PER: In the job advertisement section ‘personnel specification’ describing the applicant (including profile, character and experience of candidate, requirements for the position), how many feminine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

n = number of words

999 = no personnel specification available

FEM_JOB: In the job advertisement section ‘job description’ describing the position (including tasks and responsibilities), how many feminine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

n = number of words

999 = no job description available

FEM_ORG: In the job advertisement section describing the organization (including

organizational history, mission, culture and what they offer), how many feminine words from the list are counted? Repetitions of the word are counted and summarized.

999 = no description of organization available

FEM_TOTAL: How many feminine words are found in the job advertisement in total? n = number of words

FEM_RATIO: What percentage of the job advertisement are feminine words?

• (Number of total feminine words/total words of the complete job advertisement)*100 • 3 decimals, e.g. 1.538%

n = ratio percentage

GEN: Does the job advertisement state the preference for a gender? E.g. ‘a woman is preferred’, ‘only men are considered’, ‘women are encouraged to apply’.

0 = Female preference 1 = Male preference