Storytelling in Job Announcements: Can It Raise Organizational Attractiveness?
Viktoria Berger University of Amsterdam
Student Number: 11103361 Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s Programme Communication Science
Supervisor: dr. Wim Elving Date of submission: 28.06.2017
Abstract
Organizations are increasingly seeking skilled talent to foster their competitiveness and positive work outcomes. Employer branding has been shown to be effective to attract possible candidates, but storytelling could be a new tool to use in job advertisement to enhance the company’s values and augment organizational attractiveness. The experiment investigated whether job offers, that contain storytelling and employer branding, score higher on organizational attractiveness than those job postings without storytelling or employer branding. Results showed an insignificant effect for the use of storytelling in job
announcements. Despite this finding, the experiment revealed that job advertisements were more favourable when employer branding and storytelling were present. However, the job posting that was promoted without storytelling but with employer branding, was rated as the most appealing one. Concluding, this study suggests to further developing the use of
employer branding in job advertisements and to use storytelling not in those, but implement it in the broader process of recruitment.
Keywords: employer branding, storytelling, organizational attractiveness, P–O fit, job advertisements, war for talent, experiment.
Storytelling in Job Announcements: Can It Raise Organizational Attractiveness?
Introduction
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, organizations are facing the challenge of an effective talent management and finding the most qualified applicants (Jones, Shultz, & Chapman, 2006; McDonnell, 2011) due to a shift in demographics and a shortage of skilled employees. In modern economies and in the ‘war for talent’, intellectual human capital is one of the main drivers for a competitive advantage (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005; Elving, Westhoff, Meeusen, & Schoonderbeek, 2013; Gallardo-Gallardo & González-Cruz, 2013; McDonnell, 2011; Turban & Greening, 1997). Therefore, a successful talent management is an important predictor in an organization’s long-term success and stability (McDonnell, 2011). Thus, firms need to become an employer of choice to attract as well as obtain the high-skilled talent (Joseph, Sahu, & Zaman Khan, 2014; Ng & Burke, 2005). Microsoft, for example, has transformed its traditional office to modern working spaces, where employees can embrace work life and to engage them that it is not only about the products, but that Microsoft is a place where people want to work at (Alba, 2015). Transforming tangible assets is a first step to gain more attraction among future applicants, but that can only succeed if the message is effectively distributed. Considering the changes in the work place the question how an organization can be perceived as attractive as, or even more so as its competitors for a potential candidate, arises.
Over the last years, employer branding has grown in importance due to organizations’ need to recruit new employees, avoid fluctuation among current staff members (Berthon et al., 2005) and to foster its overall performance (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). A strong employer brand can be a powerful tool to manage the process of recruiting the people that fit best with the firm in the first place (Foster, Punjaisri, & Cheng, 2010). Balmer and Gray (2003) draw a distinction between the corporate brand and the product brand, defining a corporate brand
“to be grounded in values and affinities of company founders, owners, management and personnel” (p. 978) whereas product brand values are derived from “not inconsiderable skills of invention held by marketing and advertising creative” (p. 979). Looking at the definition, one can note that a corporate brand ties a valuable connection and promise between the firm and its stakeholders (Foster et al., 2010), hence, its potential future employees. Here it is crucial to constantly reflect the promised values in organizational behaviour and effectively communicate them at all time (Foster et al., 2010). Considering that, employer branding (EB) allows communicating both internally and externally the firm’s distinctiveness and its
attractiveness as an employer (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004), especially when talent is scarce (Elving et al., 2013).
Regarding the need of organizational attractiveness to keep the overall performance on a high level, this study focuses on the organization’s externally published job
announcements as they represent a first contact with possible talent. However, potential candidates might already have an image about an organization due to other information sources, such as the firm’s products, corporate news (Cable & Turban, 2001), or simply from their social circle. Thus, showing explicit content and features about organizational
characteristics and culture in job advertisements helps possible applicants to gain a deeper knowledge about the firm (Walker, Feild, Giles, & Bernerth, 2008). In the business world, corporate storytelling has been shown to be an effective tool to transport the organizational culture and its meanings to potential talent (James & Minnis, 2004; Marshall & Adamic, 2010), because learning through narratives lies within the human nature (Marzec, 2007). Organizations with successful corporate storytelling do not limit themselves to traditional media channels, but instead tell and live their stories in various ways (Marzec, 2007): for example in managerial operations, human resource processes, how the company operates and the firm’s values (Marzec, 2007).
Job announcements are the ‘employer brand’s first impression’ and are a powerful source in the recruiting process. Therefore, job advertisements are required to provide skilled
applicants with all the important company’s information to enhance its position as a desirable employer. Hence, job advertisements need to be shaped effectively to ensure the firm’s competitiveness in modern economies. Using narratives in job announcement might effectively transport the organization’s desirable characteristics as an employer and help candidates getting a feeling of the organization. Current research has already shown that job advertisements can be shaped in favour for the organization to gain an individual’s attraction (Jones et al., 2006), but there is a lack in research whether corporate storytelling has an impact on how applicants perceive a job announcement. As the importance of recruiting qualified talent has become obvious for organizations, the question arises:
To what extent does organizational storytelling influence the perceived attractiveness of an organization’s job advertisements?
Below I will first present the theoretical background and then the hypotheses of this study.
Theoretical background
The term branding was first used to distinguish between various products, but has developed into a management discipline, that aims to differentiate organizations, places, and their stakeholders (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). For stakeholders, branding represents a kind of orientation about the brand and its assigned attributes (Agrawal & Swaroop, 2009) while it benefits the organization to play a role in the stakeholder’s decision about purchasing a product or, more relevant for this paper, about choosing the organization as an employer (Agrawal & Swaroop, 2009). Hence, it is crucial for brands to communicate added values to the brand that are built upon factors regarding its functional performance to its stakeholders (Knox, 2004), which can be distributed by using storytelling. Resulting in organizations
finding themselves in the urgent situation of attracting skilled applicants, which forces them to create a strong brand as an employer.
Employer Branding & Employer Image
Within the last decade, scientific research has directed more and more attention to employer branding which derives from the implication of core branding principles on the human resources department (Alnıaçık & Alnıaçık, 2012; Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). EB is defined by the firm’s sum of efforts to manage and communicate its unique identity of a desirable employer who manages to be different than its competitors to both internal (employees) and external (potential applicants) audiences (Alnıaçık & Alnıaçık, 2012; Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Berthon et al., 2005; Elving et al., 2013; Gomes & Neves, 2010; Lievens, Van Hoye, & Anseel, 2007). Based on Ambler and Barrow (1996), EB is “the package of functional, economic, and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company” (p.187). Thus, EB is combining personality and positioning similar to consumer brands. The goal is to create an image in the mind of potential applicants and in the market, presenting the company as a desirable employer to work for (Berthon et al., 2005). In this context, the organization’s propositions including its values (thus the brand) can be seen as a contract or promise between both applicants and employees and the firm itself (Foster et al., 2010). However, organizations need to carefully make sure that their propositions are well–arranged and their rational and emotional benefits are aligned with existing and the potential talent’s expectations (Foster et al., 2010).
Additionally, a carefully built EB might enhance recruited employees that have been attracted by the brand to automatically create a set of assumptions about the company and their work (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). Hence, those can strengthen the employees’
commitment to the firm and at the same time endorse the organization’s values (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). However, such assumptions might be tied to an individual’s position, which can influence the personal attitude towards the firm’s employer image. Potential employees set their own and individual needs and personalities in relation to the organization’s employer image which is a distinct concept from EB and “(a) is defined by an image that is held by individuals (versus the public), (b) might fluctuate (versus being relatively stable), (c) targets
specific aspects (versus an overall impression), and (d) is cognitive in nature” (Lievens & Slaugther, 2016, p. 409). Tsai and Yang (2010) found that the corporate image, which includes the employer image, is an important factor to determine an organization’s attractiveness.
It becomes evident that EB is a valuable tool for organizations to launch various coordinated initiatives to effectively recruit and retain the best potential talents (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). Therefore, it is important to include and apply the employer brand in the firm’s job advertisements as they represent an important resource to gain potential benefits for the organizations (Elving et al., 2013) and to communicate the brand to potential high-skilled talent.
Employer Branding in Job Advertisements. A study conducted by Elving et al. (2013) showed that companies could achieve a more attractive status among human talent they are seeking for when building up a strong and desirable employer brand. Further, including EB in job advertisement can positively influence the applicants’ attitude towards their personal fit with the company (Elving et al., 2013). Recruiting messages should also contain information and transparency of the dimensions of EB, as it might lead to strengthen attitudes towards a job application (Gomes & Neves, 2010). The medium, such as corporate websites or social media networks, through which job advertisements are distributed plays an important role on the applicant’s perception of a company (Brown, Cober, Cober, Keepin, & Levy, 2003). Using social media in employer branding campaigns might facilitate creating a good corporate reputation, which is important to consider, as research found a link between organization’s having a good reputation and intentions to apply for a job (Sivertzen, Nilsen, & Olafsen, 2013). To enhance job applications and to use social media in an even more
effective way for the recruiting process, organizations might focus on factors that are important to potential applicants once they assess employers (Sivertzen et al., 2013). According to those results, social media shows to be an effective instrument for EB and recruiting qualified employees (Sivertzen et al., 2013). This might function as a new
distribution channel to promote job openings due to its high interactivity (Fortin & Dholakia, 2005) and its characteristic of “an extension of traditional word-of-mouth communication” (Mangold & Faulds, 2009, p. 359).
These findings lead to the conclusion that effective EB may include social media channels as a tool to release its job advertisements to gain a highly positive response rate among potential applicants. Nevertheless, organizations should consider that mainly younger professionals and professionals who are keen on dealing with social media might respond to these job advertisements. Therefore, organizations are advised to have a clear picture of applicants they are seeking for when choosing a media channel to publish their job announcements, or combine several channels.
Organizational Attractiveness
Companies face the question what makes them attractive as an organization and employer when creating a desirable employer brand. The concept of an effective EB is directly tied to both organizational (Elving et al., 2013) and employer attractiveness (Berthon et al., 2005). Employer attractiveness is defined “as the envisioned benefits that a potential employee sees in working for a specific organization” (Berthon et al., 2005, p. 151), which can be linked to the individual attitude towards employer image. From a general perspective, an organization can be perceived as attractive when the firm combines various attributes of attractiveness that allow for some relationship (Elving et al., 2013), which can be set in relation to several initiatives an organization engages in under the umbrella term employer branding. As employer attractiveness is a characteristic of organizational attractiveness, this study sees them deeply connected with each other and will refer to the term ‘organizational attractiveness’ in the following paragraphs.
Organizational structure including for example decentralized decision making (Turban & Greening, 1997), reward systems, framing and the amount of information in recruitment messages (Brown et al., 2003), the organizational image, and corporate social responsibility
(CSR) activities are defined to influence the applicant’s perception of attraction of an
organization (Backhaus, Stone, & Heiner, 2002). Additionally, salary and offered benefits by the organization play an important role when determining a firm’s level of attractiveness (Brown et al., 2003). All dimensions of attributes are likely to add value to the employer brand (Berthon et al., 2005), because it is perceived stronger the more potential employees think of the organization as an attractive employer (Berthon et al., 2005). To investigate what makes an organization the employer of choice, Berthon et al. (2005) created a scale measuring employer attractiveness (EmpAt) among potential applicants. However, the study has been conducted among only graduates, which should be kept in mind as a limitation to this scale (Berthon et al., 2005). The scale revealed five dimensions that their peers used to evaluate the attractiveness of an organization: social value, development value, application value, interest value, and economic value (Berthon et al., 2005).
An applicant’s impression of organizational attractiveness depends on the individual perception of the corporate image. In consequence, the applicant will further evaluate if his or her own personality fits the organization (Elving et al., 2013) to decide if it appears to be a desirable employer.
Person-Organizational fit. Potential applicants seek to align individual values, personality and needs with the company’s propositions and experience the organization as attractive if it matches each other (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Kristof, 1996; Morley, 2007; Sivertzen et al., 2013). Hence, person-organizational fit (P–O fit) describes two parties providing for the needs of each other and the relationship between an individual and the overarching organizational attributes sharing similar basic characteristics (Carless, 2005; Kristof, 1996). Kristof (1996) distinguished between a supplementary fit, which describes an individual’s characteristics as like others, and a complementary fit, which means that an individual’s characteristics complement its environment and add the missing attributes. Apart from considering organizational dimensions (e.g. size of organization, company image, work environment), prospective candidates further make their choice for an employer on job
attributes that may seem attractive to them, such as pay, benefits, and position (Chapman, Uggerslev, Carroll, Piasentin, & Jones, 2005). For recruiting departments, their efforts of reaching a high level of P–O fit may lead directly to work-related outcomes (Ng & Burke, 2005). For example, it may result in organizational commitment, identification and retention (Ng & Burke, 2005) or also organizational attractiveness (Elving et al., 2013).
The perceived fit of an individual with the organization is a strong predictor of
organizational attractiveness (Chapman et al., 2005). A strong employer brand seems crucial for organizations to communicate their organizational characteristics, values and mission to attract high profiled applicants (Elving et al., 2013). When communicating the employer brand, the organization should be clear whom to recruit (Breaugh, 2013). However, scientific research has not provided a general theory of recruitment messages on organizational attractiveness yet (Breaugh, 2013). This study suggests job advertisements to provide the job seeker with favourable and unfavourable information about the job and the company (Breaugh, 2013) in order for him or her to be able to evaluate if the individual personality fits the values and characteristics of the organization. A more detailed job advertisement might increase P–O fit (Breaugh, 2013). Due to the information and transparency about the organizational attributes, attractiveness of the company may be increased (Chapman et al., 2005) and a competitive advantage among other recruiting outcomes in the war for talent may be achieved.
Corporate Storytelling
The importance of employer branding to influence a firm’s attractiveness has become evident. However, how should organizations communicate their positioning among their targeted peers and, more specifically, in job ads to be able to recruit the most qualified applicants? Organization’s started to make use of narratives to distribute their corporate culture that sets the framework for the employer branding and thus, the firm’s attractiveness.
Adamic, 2010), help organizational members to understand the working environment, and are now central to organizations (James & Minnis, 2004). A story told by a leader does not only reflect the company’s position but might lead to an unconscious change of patterns in employee’s behaviour (Marshall & Adamic, 2010), because individuals gain a deeper understanding (James & Minnis, 2004). However, organizations need to make sure that stories are told “with a purpose, which allude to a company’s history and role in the market, told by the right person to the proper audience, and that contain an inspiring emotional appeal” (Marshall & Adamic, 2010, p. 18) in order to be effective. A firm needs to deal with various stories simultaneously as they are slightly distinct in their internal or external purpose, but has nevertheless only one core story that tells its fundamental mission and values (Christensen, 2002). Corporate storytelling can be performed formal (communicating the management’s values to internal and external stakeholders) or informal (creating
meaning of the working environment to every single employee) (Christensen, 2002). In my study, I will focus on how storytelling can be used for becoming an employer of choice and therefore, the core story will represent the central element. Aaker and Aaker (2016)
developed the core story for an organization a bit further calling it signature stories that are defined as “intriguing, authentic, involving narrative with a strategic message that clarifies or enhances the brand, the customer relationship, the organization, and/or the business
strategy. It is a strategic asset that enables growth, provides inspiration, and offers guidance both internally and externally over an extended time period” (p.50).
Scientific literature has not yet revealed how storytelling can be used in job
advertisements to make them more appealing to potential candidates. However, storytelling may be a powerful tool for human resource departments as it could be used to set the
company’s values into a recruitment context while at the same time, giving a company image with a purpose to the external audience (Christensen, 2002). Stories might enable applicants feeling familiar with the firm and thus, experiencing meaning related to the organization (Christensen, 2002). In the US, parts of the healthcare system had to deal with a shortage of
nurses. In order to recruit new nurses, benefits, improved compensations, and new campaigns have been introduced and combined with stories that show what a difference each single nurse makes to the company (Kaufman, 2003). Even though storytelling has not been used directly as a recruiting message, one can acknowledge the usage of storytelling to attract skilled nurses and overcome shortage. Additionally, stories need to show what
distinguishes them from other stories or competitors and who or what people can identify with (Kaufman, 2003). Thus, not only will storytelling provide the infrastructure for
prospective candidates to be informed about the organization’s past, present and future, but also introduced to the firm’s values (Christensen, 2002).
Giving the rationale for the relevance of effective employer branding to achieve a high level of organizational attractiveness, the tool of storytelling becomes more and more present. Stories enhance individuals to make sense of their environment and thus are a powerful tool to communicate a broad and deep understanding of the organization. Communicating the organizational core values and at the same time providing as sharp information as possible within job advertisements is crucial to compete successfully for high-qualified talent and to stay competitive in the market as well as a brand. Consequently, this study investigates if the use of storytelling in job advertisements influences the perceived attractiveness of an organization. Therefore, three hypotheses have been developed:
H1. Job announcements that contain storytelling will
(a) be more attractive than job announcements without storytelling. (b) lead to a stronger P-O fit than job announcements without storytelling. H2: Job advertisements that contain employer branding will
(a) be more attractive than job announcements without employer branding. (b) lead to a stronger P–O fit that job advertisements without employer
H3: Job announcements that contain storytelling and employer branding will
(a) be more attractive among professionals than job announcements without storytelling or employer branding.
(b) lead to a higher P-O fit than job postings without storytelling or employer branding.
Method Design
To investigate whether storytelling combined with employer branding has an effect on the perceived organizational attractiveness, a 2x2- factorial design experiment has been conducted with the factor storytelling (present vs. absent) and the factor employer branding (present vs. absent). The independent variables are Storytelling and Employer Branding, with organizational attractiveness and P-O fit as dependent variables.
Procedure. The online experiment consisted of a self-completion questionnaire. A convenience and snowball sample was used to invite respondents to fill in the questionnaire. A post was shared on Facebook including the link to the survey without stating the exact purpose of the study and was shared by friends on their Facebook. Participants were
recruited during three weeks in May. Starting the survey, all participants were asked to agree voluntarily to a consent form, which guaranteed that their data would not be handed to third parties, and ensured the anonymity of the survey. All questions had to be answered before respondents could move on to the next page. After filling in demographic questions,
participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions while respondents not meeting the inclusion criteria were thanked for their participation and excluded from the survey. Participants of each condition were shown a job advertisement and were asked to read it carefully before they had to answer the questions. At the end of the survey, each participant was asked to indicate what this study is about and it was revealed, that all shown content was fictional and only created for the purpose of the study.
Sample. To participate in this study, respondents were required to have an academic degree already or to be currently studying to obtain their first academic degree, as the job advertisement offered a management traineeship. Current students have been included in the study because they represent future talent who will be job hunting within the next years, which explains the importance of their participation in the study. Respondents who neither studied nor had an academic degree were excluded from the experiment after the pre-questionnaire. Of all participants, 39 did not complete the survey. Thus, the final sample consisted of 122 respondents. On average, respondents were 26 years old (M = 26.2, SD = 3.46, N = 122). Most respondents (51%) held a MA degree. It was an international sample consisting of 24 nationalities with the most represented nationality being German with 42% of all respondents. Of the participants, 66% indicated that they would like to apply for a job they were shown.
Stimulus Material. Four fictional job advertisements that showed a job opening for a management trainee position in a large company within the consumer goods sector were created. A bicycle company was chosen as a brand, because the product, the bicycle, is a usual product in the Netherlands and does not require participants to have extra knowledge. However, all conditions leave the brand out as much as possible to avoid interference with positive or negative associations with the shown brand (Elving et al., 2013). The
development of the different conditions of the job advertisements was based on the findings of Elving et al. (2013). The conditions are presented in Table 1.
The first condition (n = 31) was inspired by traditional job advertisements and by the exploratory research of Elving et al. (2013). This ‘regular’ job offer provided rather formal characteristics, but did not reveal the organization’s personality. This job announcement was shaped upon four elements that are described as the skeleton of a job posting (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998): (1) the organization’s identity (what industry is the organization operating in), (2) the human resources needed (what position is being offered), (3) required skills and experiences the applicant needs to have, and (4) information about how to contact the
organization regarding the position (invitation to send the resume and to apply) (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998).
Table 1: Illustration of the two independent variables including the four resulting conditions Storytelling
Employer Branding Absent Present
Absent Condition 1 Condition 3
Present Condition 2 Condition 4
The second condition (n = 30) was based on the research and findings of Elving et al. (2013), which were shown to be effective. The job offer contained the regular requirements used for condition one (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998), while information on the most crucial ones of the 25 dimensions of organizational attractiveness has been added to the job offer (Berthon et al., 2005). An additional section of what the company has to offer to potential employees complemented the job advertisement. The elements of the scale were used to measure the organization’s employer branding later on by using a questionnaire.
To create condition three (n = 30) the job posting of the first condition has been used while storytelling has been added to it. Accordingly, the second condition presented the base for condition four (n = 31) and the element storytelling was added to it. Both conditions, three and four, were supplemented with the same story that was created based upon four
elements for effective corporate storytelling that were developed by Marshall and Adamic (2010): purpose, allusion, people, appeal.
For all different versions of the job advertisement, the exact amount of the salary was not mentioned, as the salary is not usually indicated in current job offers, which was
confirmed by several young graduates. However, at the end of condition one and three, the applicant was asked to send the CV “including expected salary”, while in condition two and four, an “attractive overall compensation package” was mentioned. To assure that all conditions will be more or less equally long, the conditions without EB contained more
information on the job than the conditions with EB. Below, Figure 1 demonstrates condition four with storytelling and employer branding. All conditions can be found in Appendix A.
Figure 1: Condition four of the stimulus material includes storytelling and employer branding
Questionnaire and Measurements
The questionnaire was directed at two dependent variables, namely the organizational attractiveness and the P-O fit. The entire questionnaire can be found in Appendix B. To make organizational attractiveness measureable, a scale (EmpAt) was used that was developed by Berthon et al. (2005) and adapted by Elving et al. (2013). The 25 items of the EmpAt scale have been grouped together into four dimensions: organizational climate, development, innovation, and compensation (Elving et al., 2013). Participants were asked to indicate to what extent they perceive the 25 items from the scale measuring organizational attractiveness applicable to the organization that was shown in the job
= completely inapplicable, 7 = completely applicable). The results of the reliability analyses, that were run to determine the internal consistency of the scale measuring organizational attractiveness (OA) and its dimensions, are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Reliability scores for OA Table 3: Reliability scores for the P–O fit
To measure the P-O fit, a scale with work-value items developed by Cable and Edwards (2004) and adjusted by Elving et al. (2013) was used. The questionnaire asked respondents for their perception of the presence of certain organizational characteristics in the job advertisements. All 16 items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = completely disagree, 7 = completely agree). Table 3 illustrates the results of the reliability analysis for the scales measuring the P–O fit.
Analytical Plan
Two separate two-way MANOVAs have been performed to examine whether Storytelling and Employer Branding used in job advertisements have an effect on
organizational attractiveness and on the P-O fit. To gain a broader picture, the first analysis included Storytelling (present vs. absent) and Employer Branding (present vs. absent) as independent variables, while the overall organizational attractiveness and the overall P–O fit were used as dependent variables. For more detailed results, a second two-way
MANOVA was run with Storytelling (present vs. absent) and Employer Branding (present vs. absent) as independent variables, while the dimensions of organizational attractiveness
Scale Cronbach’s α Overall OA .94 Organizational Climate .92 Development .82 Innovation .82 Compensation .70 Scale Cronbach’s α
Overall P–O fit .90
Work climate .87
Compensation .79
Social Responsibility .86
factors of the P–O fit (work climate, compensation, social responsibility, and social climate) represented the dependent variables.
It was assumed that storytelling used in job advertisements would increase organizational attractiveness (H1a) and the P–O fit (H1b). Equally, the use of employer branding in job advertisements will lead to higher organizational attractiveness (H2a) and a higher P–O fit (H2b). Additionally, it was expected that the use of storytelling combined with employer branding in job postings will lead to higher levels of organizational attractiveness (H3a) and a higher level of the P–O fit (H3b).
Results Prior Analysis
Manipulation Check. To ensure that participants had carefully read the job offer, the respondents were asked whether there was a story present in the job posting they were shown. Of the participants who were in the conditions with storytelling, 79% indicated that they had seen a story in the job posting, while 21% stated that they had not perceived a story. The difference was statistically significant, X2(1) = 21.06, p = .000. Hence, the manipulation was successful. Furthermore, respondents were asked to rate the realism of the job advertisement on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very unrealistic, 5 = very realistic). All four conditions were perceived as realistic which is presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Realism of the job advertisement
Randomization Check. To see if the random assignment of the participants to each condition was successful, a two-way ANOVA was conducted with Storytelling (present vs.
3,5 4,5
no-S/ no-EB no-S/ EB S/ no-EB S/ EB
dependent variable. Results showed that the randomization was successful for the variable age, F(1,118) = 1.17, p = .282. Additionally, a Chi-square test showed the random
assignment for the degree participants possess, X2(2) = 1.17, p = .556, and gender, X2(1) = 4.13, p = .064, as successful as well.
Testing the Effects of Storytelling and Employer Branding
The results of the first two–way MANOVA did not show a multivariate main effect for Storytelling, Wilks’ λ = .977, F(2, 117) = 1.41, p = .249. Thus, there is no effect of
storytelling on organizational attractiveness, F(1,118) = .46, p = .500, and neither an effect on the estimation of the P–O fit, F(1, 118) = .12, p = .735. Hence, hypothesis H1 cannot be supported.
Furthermore, the results did not show a significant multivariate main effect for the interaction of Storytelling and Employer Branding, Wilks’ λ = .981, F(2, 117) = 1.11, p = .334, on organizational attractiveness, F(1,118) = 1.29, p = .258, nor on the P–O fit, F(1,118) = 2.21, p = .139. Consequently, hypothesis 3 cannot be confirmed.
However, the same analysis revealed a significant multivariate main effect for Employer Branding, Wilks’ λ = .845, F(9, 117) = 10.71, p = .000, η2 = .155. Power to detect the effect was .988. On average, respondents rated the job advertisement as more
attractive when it contained elements of employer branding. Furthermore, participants estimated the P–O fit higher when EB was used in the job advertisement than for job postings where employer branding has not been present. This is a significant difference between the means of the two conditions. Table 4 illustrates the means and F values for the effect of Employer Branding on the overall organizational attractiveness and the overall P– O fit. In consequence, hypothesis 2 is to be confirmed.
Based on the findings of the first analysis, a second two-way MANOVA has been performed to draw a more detailed picture. Results showed an insignificant multivariate
an effect of storytelling on the dimensions of organizational attractiveness nor on the work-value factors of the P–O fit. Furthermore, no significant multivariate main effect was
revealed for the interaction of Storytelling and Employer Branding, Wilks’ λ = .912, F(8, 111) = 1.11, p = .234, on the dependent variables.
Nevertheless, there was a significant multivariate main effect for Employer Branding, Wilks’ λ = .776, F(8, 111) = 4.01, p = .000, η2
= .224. Power to detect the effect was .989.
Given the significance of the multivariate main effect of Employer Branding on the dimensions of organizational attractiveness and the work-value factors of the P–O fit, the univariate main effects were examined. The F values revealed significant results for each dimension of organizational attractiveness. These are presented in Table 5.
To identify the influence of the four dimensions of organizational attractiveness, a multiple regression analysis was conducted with the dimensions of organizational
attractiveness as independent variables and employer branding as dependent variable. The analysis to predict the most influential dimension was significant, F(4,117) = 6.48, p = .000, R2 = .18. Organizational climate was shown to be the only significant dimension. In total 18% of the variance of attractiveness was explained. The results of the multiple regression analysis are illustrated in Table 6.
Regarding the univariate main effects of Employer Branding on the P–O fit,
significant differences of the conditions’ averages for all four factors of the work-value scale were found. Results are presented in Table 7.
Thus, hypothesis H2 can be confirmed. The organization in the job advertisements with EB elements was rated significantly more attractive. Additionally, the factor
organizational climate was the most influential one on organizational attractiveness in this study. Participants indicated a significantly higher P–O fit when employer branding was present and estimated the presence of the different factors; namely work climate, compensation, social responsibility, and social climate as being significantly higher.
Item no-EB M (SD) EB M (SD) F-test, p all F(1, 118) Organizational attractivenessa 4.64. (.10) 5.28 (.10) 19.79, .000 P–O fitb 4.33 (.10) 4.94 (.10) 19.40, .000
Note. All means differ significantly from each other with the following effect sizes: a η2 = .144, b η2 = .141
Table 5: Effect of Employer Branding on the dimensions of organizational attractiveness
Item no-EB M (SD) EB M (SD) F-test, p all F(1, 118) Organizational climatea 4.59 (.11) 5.30 (.11) 21.94, .000 Developmentb 4.82 (.12) 5.20 (.12) 5.03, .027 Innovationc 4.78 (.12) 5.38 (.12) 12.81, .001 Compensationd 3.94 (.17) 4.59 (.17) 7.41, .007 Note. All means differ significantly from each other with the following effect sizes:
a η2
= .157, b η2 = .041, c η2 = .098, d η2 = .059
Table 6: Relative influence of the dimensions of employer branding
Dimension of employer branding Organizational attractiveness b*
Organizational climate .25
Innovation .07
Development -.13
Compensation .02
Table 7: Effect of Employer Branding on work-value factors of the P–O fit
Item no-EB M (SD) EB M (SD) F-test, p all F(1, 118) Work climatea 4.53 (.12) 5,13 (.12) 13.42, .000 Compensation .b 3.95 (.14) 4.37 (.14) 4.77, .031 Social responsibilityc 4.32 (.14) 4.75 (.14) 4.98, .028 Social climated 4.45 (.15) 5.49 (.15) 25.89, .000 Note. All means differ significantly from each other with the following effect sizes:
a η2 = .102, b η2 = .039, c η2 = .040, d η2 = .180
Even though no statistically significant interaction effect of Storytelling and Employer Branding was found, the univariate results of the second two-way MANOVA were
investigated to gain a more detailed picture. Results showed a significant, small interaction effect between Storytelling and Employer Branding on the factor work climate, F(1,118) =
most applicable in the condition with no storytelling but employer branding. There was no other significant interaction effect. Figure 3 shows the resulting means of the univariate analyses for the work-value factors. However, the results for the multivariate analysis were not significant and consequently, hypothesis 3 cannot be confirmed.
Figure 3: Means of the interaction effect on the P–O fit and its dimensions
Conclusion
In this study I set out to investigate the effect of storytelling and employer branding on organizational attractiveness and the P–O fit. The presented results demonstrate that organizations are estimated as more attractive when employer branding is used in job advertisements. Most strikingly, showing the organizational climate in job offers overall enhances the organizational attractiveness.
Further, applicants assess the individual fit with the company higher when employer branding is applied. All four dimensions assessing the P–O fit were positively related to the P-O fit when reading the job posting. Storytelling did not significantly affect the
organizational attractiveness or the estimation of the P–O fit.
Despite these findings, applying storytelling and employer branding at the same time in a job advertisement, did not lead to a positive overall outcome regarding organizational attractiveness and the P–O fit. The only positive relation was the dimension of the work climate as related to the P–O fit. Still, it can be concluded that the condition without
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 no-S /
no-EB S / no-EB no-S / EB S / EB
P–O 6it Work Climate Compensation Social Responsibility Social Climate
scientific literature as well as their practical implications for organizations competing for talent will be discussed below.
Discussion
With respect to the results of hypotheses 1a and 1b, storytelling used in job advertisements does neither affect organizational attractiveness nor the P–O fit. This is especially interesting given the fact, that narratives are a central concept within
organizations (James & Minnis, 2004) and support individuals’ learning of meaning
(Marshall & Adamic, 2010). Previous research already stated the importance of storytelling for internal purposes to foster employee engagement and loyalty (Gill, 2011; Marshall & Adamic, 2010), which might lead to positive overall work outcomes (McDonnell, 2011). Further, it has become crucial for improving the internal and external brand as well as organizational reputation (Gill, 2011) and it is an important tool in difficult situations such as organizational changes (Sinclair, 2005). As current employees are already in contact with environmental cures, they are able to build their set of assumptions (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004) tied to the company to fully understand and interpret the focused purpose of the story. However, in the context of this study, the use of storytelling in job advertisements followed an external goal to attract skilled applicants. This may lead to missing the mark of successfully communicating the values and desired organizational characteristics. Job advertisements address applicants who – most likely – are unacquainted with the
organization’s context and its values as of yet. Thus, in this context, stories might leave too much space for personal interpretation (Gill, 2011; Sinclair, 2005), which may blur the estimation of the individual fit with the company and of the firm’s attractiveness.
It has been outlined that storytelling provides more detailed information and transparency about the company, which could lead to an increase of organizational attractiveness (Breaugh, 2013, Chapman et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the lack of precise interpretation given to the applicant for him or her being able to understand the work
is not positively related to the P–O fit or the attractiveness of the firm. Instead, job offers should clearly communicate the advantages of the organization as well as all relevant information of the position offered. Thus, narratives might be better placed in an organizational context and address current stakeholders.
Another explanation for the outcome might be represented by the chosen medium for storytelling. Sinclair (2005) argues, that in the case of narratives used as a
communication medium, verbal stories represent the best suit for communicating complex matters. Furthermore, stories have been defined to be effective when told by a person to a certain audience (Marshall & Adamic, 2010). Thus, a face-to-face communication might transport the message more effectively than narratives on paper. However, written stories could still match the purpose of communicating and introducing the organization’s values and vision (Christensen, 2002; Sinclair, 2005). Consequently, choosing job advertisements as a medium for narratives might not be the right track, but they should be distributed via another written medium. Given the framework of job postings, there is not too much space for adding stories that require the applicant’s interpretation next to all relevant job related information. As the individual’s capacity to learn is limited (Marzec, 2007) and the applicant may be unable to get acquainted with the provided organizational characteristics, which may affect the estimation of the organizational attractiveness and the P-O fit (Carless, 2005).
Therefore, many organizations are using a loophole by implementing the stories they want to tell on their online appearances to provide the applicants with more information about themselves. On their career pages, employees of different hierarchy levels are
functioning as testimonials and tell a story about themselves and the organization. Further, the future applicant can click through the website to get to know the firm’s values and the way they operate. Even though this requires extra efforts and time spent to gain insight in the organization’s characteristics to estimate whether one matches the company, online
interpretation of the message to the applicant.
Regarding the second hypothesis, the results are in line with prior research, for example, Elving et al. (2013), who found out that using employer branding in job advertisement leads to a higher organizational attractiveness and the P–O fit. All four dimensions are positively related to organizational attractiveness, but especially discussing organizational climate in job advertisements fosters the attractiveness of the firm and enhances possible talent to apply. As on average, participants belonged to generation Y and this generation seeks independence, flexibility and freedom to perform the job in their own way (Martin, 2005). An organizational climate that represents these values may therefore be the most attractive one. However, this may not apply to an older generation and organizations need to carefully align the use of employer branding with their own corporate identity (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Foster et al., 2010).
With regards to the P–O fit, participants positively estimated the alignment of the individual values with the organizational values. Thus, an employer brand stimulates the positive estimate of the applicant that the organization matches the personal beliefs. In this study, a more detailed picture of the job that contained employer branding increased the own fit with the company (Breaugh, 2013) and may ultimately boost organizational attractiveness (Chapman et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the job advertisement offered a traineeship, which mostly attracts recent graduates. Hence, companies need to be clear whom to address when advertising a job (Breaugh, 2013) so that the applicants’ desired dimensions of the P–O fit will be communication. Again, generation Y and another generation may differ in its desires.
When combining storytelling and employer branding in job advertisements during the recruitment process, the organization in the job posting is not perceived as more attractive nor is the estimate of the individual match with the company higher. This is interesting given the rationale that employer branding used by its own leads to positive
possible reasons stated above why storytelling did not achieve positive results in this study, the story presented in the job offer have may led to confusion and might not have been perceived as aligned with the organizational values communicated through employer branding. Thus, the purpose of the story might not have been clear and might therefore not be perceived as consistent with the organization (Marshall & Adamic, 2010). The HR departments’ successful use of stories for internal purposes might not be applicable for external purposes to a more or less unknown audience (Breaugh, 2013; Christensen, 2002).
Due to the combination of both elements in the job advertisement, respondents were unable to achieve a good estimate of whether the organization matches the individual personality. Interestingly, when the working climate was discussed in the job offer, respondents rated the individual fit with the organization significantly higher, but
unexpectedly, the job offer without storytelling, was more favourable. This indicates that even though the participants saw the similar characteristics between themselves and the company based on employer branding, storytelling evoked a decrease of the P–O fit. Concluding, one can assume that when both storytelling and employer branding were used, similar characteristics were not shared anymore between the organization and the possible applicant (Carless, 2005; Kristof, 1996). However, getting an idea of the working climate in an organization seems to be important for respondents. Again, participants mainly belong to generation Y and thus, prioritize experiences and independency more than monetary
benefits (Martin, 2005). This may present an explanation why the factor compensation has lower results in this study.
Practical Implications
Conclusions drawn from this study lead to some managerial implications. Not only should organizations continue to implement employer branding in their recruitment process and the offered positions (Elving et al., 2013), it should equally be considered to extend the
implies that stories need to be directed at current employees. Using storytelling successfully as a tool to communicate internally may lead to current employees spreading out the
message to possible skilled talent. Also career pages and recruitment messages need to be extended and carefully monitored. However, when targeting younger employees, human resource departments should consider the use of social media (Sivertzen et al., 2013) as the interactivity of this new medium (Fortin & Dholakia, 2005) might allow that the message of the new job opening spreads via snowball sample and reaches more possible applicants. In addition, as social media has word-of-mouth characteristics (Mangold & Faulds, 2009), all relevant social media platforms such as for example Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat can present a possible source to advertise the job to the target audience.
Additionally, firms need to be certain of the candidate they want to recruit, as the message needs to be shaped in favour of the desired talent. More information about the job may need to be provided for a senior level than for a junior level and different aspects of organizational attractiveness need to be communicated with respect to the generation applicants belong to.
Based on the findings, it is advised that companies should always discuss organizational and the work climate in the recruitment messages as this may foster how possible applicants perceive organizational attractiveness and the P–O fit, particularly when seeking young talent. However, it is crucial to align the elements used with the corporate identity.
Limitations
There are several limitations that need to be taken into account. First, the sample needs to be considered when evaluating the study. Respondents that answered this survey were collected via Facebook and are part of the researcher’s immediate entourage.
Therefore, using a probability sample might evoke different results (Bryman, 2015). Furthermore, it consisted of international participants from 19 different countries. Thus,
their cultural background. Additionally, the position offered a traineeship, which provided quite broad information about the job and hence, might not have met each participant’s vision of a future job.
Another limitation is represented by the created job advertisement. The brand was fictional and therefore unknown which excludes a possible association between the brand and the brand as an employer. This is important to keep in mind, as candidates might be familiar with a brand they apply for. Additionally, experiments are conducted in an
unrealistic setting (Bryman, 2015). Hence, it might be advised to approach only graduates who stated that they are looking for a traineeship and present the job advertisement on an online job portal, which might create a more realistic setting.
The limitations involve the story that has been created for the job posting. A story’s success depends on the narrator (Marshall & Adamic, 2010) who was in this case,
unknown. Furthermore, even though the story was created with the goal to include as many dimensions of organizational attractiveness as possible, the story’s purpose was mainly directed at organizational climate and the employee’s possibility to develop within the company. It needs to be considered that the story might have an uncertain, but concrete, effect on the outcome of the study.
Regarding the results of this study, it needs to be considered that an organization’s reputation is one major factor for its ability to attract new talents (Cable & Turban, 2003). Job seekers perceive an advertised job as more attractive when the firm has a positive reputation, because it lets them draw personal conclusion about job attributes (Cable & Turban, 2003). However, job advertisements might not be the best medium to communicate and promote the company’s prestige, because an organization’s reputation develops on a long-term basis through past activities, accomplishments, and former advertising (Cable & Turban, 2003). As the brand used in the stimulus material was fictional, it therefore has no prior reputation, upon which participants could base their judgement on. Thus, to make a
influence the way applicants perceive the reputation (Cable & Turban, 2003).
As argued, narratives can be one gadget to change patterns in behaviour and in people’s minds, and enhance customer relationships (Aaker & Aaker, 2016; Dowling, 2006). Even though, stories might be helpful to affirm the corporate’s reputation (Dowling, 2006), they might be misplaced in job advertisements. It might be best to communicate several stories with the same purpose and morality (Dowling, 2006) before and after the recruitment process tailored to the targeted stakeholders. With this, firms are able to be sure of communicating to both former and current job seekers, as well as to their employees who are familiar with the organization and can tie the knot between the reputation, the job and the stories. Hence, stories might complement the relationship between stakeholders and the firm, but might not augment a higher positive outcome in job advertisements.
Future Research
The topic employer branding has often been discussed in current scientific literature. However, the connection of employer branding with different communication channels during the recruitment process needs further investigation. Companies are seeking for digital native. Hence, it is interesting to investigate what role social media play in the distribution and communication of job advertisements.
As diversity of firms is an important topic in the business world, it is interesting to see whether men and women differ in their perception of job advertisements and if the cultural background plays a crucial role in the recruitment process. This is important for companies as diversity always has both positive and negative effects on the work outcomes (Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004) and these influences should be managed in an effective way.
Similar to this study, many researchers use fictional companies to investigate whether the reputation has an altering effect on application intentions in job advertisements
setting with existing companies if the company’s current reputation has an influence on job seekers when reading the job posting (Cable & Turban, 2003). However, to ensure realism of the job announcement, the respondents in this study received information about the company before reading the stimulus material and the job conditions were kept as realistic as possible.
Additionally, further research regarding storytelling as an external tool is required to investigate its efficiency when competing in the war for talent. Stories might foster
organizational attractiveness as well as the P–O fit, but it should be examined if that is enhanced when stories are used for internal purposes.
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Questionnaire
Dear participant, I would like to invite you to participate in a research study to be conducted under the auspices of the Graduate School of Communication, a part of the University of Amsterdam. As a part of my Master Thesis, I'm conducting a research on job advertisements. The goal of this research is to get your thoughts on job posting from organizations. If you decide to participate, you will first be asked to complete a short pre-questionnaire asking for some demographics. Afterwards, you will be shown a job advertisement and asked to complete a questionnaire on your thoughts about it. This questionnaire will be conducted with an online Qualtrics-created survey and will take around 15 minutes to complete. As this research is being carried out under the
responsibility of the ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, we can guarantee that: 1) Your anonymity will be safeguarded, and that your personal information will not be passed on to third parties under any conditions, unless you first give your express permission for this. 2) You can refuse to participate in the research or cut short your participation without having to give a reason for doing so. You also have up to 24 hours after participating to withdraw your permission to allow your answers or data to be used in the research. 3) Participating in the research will not entail your being subjected to any appreciable risk or discomfort, the researchers will not deliberately mislead you, and you will not be exposed to any explicitly offensive material. For more information about the research you are welcome to contact the project supervisor Wim Elving, via e-mail: W.J.L.Elving@uva.nl at any time or myself, Viktoria Berger, via e-mail: viktoria.berger@student.uva.nl. Should you have any complaints or comments about the course of the research and the procedures it involves as a consequence of your participation in this research, you can contact the designated
member of the Ethics Committee representing ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR Secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020‐525 3680; ascor‐secr‐fmg@uva.nl. Any complaints or comments will be
information. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your
assistance with this research, which we greatly appreciate. Kind regards, Viktoria Berger
Informed Consent
I hereby declare that I have been informed in a clear manner about the nature and method of the research, as described in the introduction for this survey. I agree, fully and voluntarily, to participate in this research study. With this, I retain the right to withdraw my consent, without having to give a reason for doing so. I am aware that I may halt my participation in the experiment at any time. If my research results are used in scientific publications or are made public in another way, this will be done such a way that my anonymity is completely safeguarded. My personal data will not be passed on to third parties without my express permission. If I wish to receive more information about the research, either now or in future, I can contact Wim Elving, via e-mail: W.J.L.Elving@uva.nl or Viktoria Berger, via e-mail: viktoria.berger@student.uva.nl. Should I have any complaints about this research, I can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee
representing the ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020‐ 525 3680; ascor‐secr‐ fmg@uva.nl.
I have read and understood the above consent form and desire of my own free will to participate in this study.
m Yes (1) m No (2)
