ADVERTISEMENTS: AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TO ATTRACT
GRADUATES?
Master Thesis, MSc Human Resource Management, University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY RELATED INFORMATION IN JOB
ADVERTISEMENTS: AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TO ATTRACT
GRADUATES?
ABSTRACT
The importance of attracting and recruiting talented graduates has risen due to demographic changes. The current experiment therefore attempted to contribute to the latest findings concerning talent acquisition and recruiting by investigating the advantages of workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements as a link to the value set of the Generation Y. Thus, it was examined whether workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements (i.e. flextime, flexplace and compressed work weeks) increased the intention to pursue an application, mediated by the attraction to the organization. The experimental study was conducted via an online survey with 80 international graduates. With regard to flextime and flexplace related information the results supported my hypotheses for an increased intention to pursue the application. Conversely, the data revealed no significance for an increased intention to pursue the application due to compressed work week related information. Furthermore, a total mediation effect for attraction was confirmed. I linked these findings to possible explanations, directions for future research as well as theoretical, practical, and methodological implications.
INTRODUCTION
According to the European Commission, the European Union is facing unprecedented demographic changes due to an ageing population, low birth rates, and changing family structures (European Commission, 2010). This gap can only partly be closed by the so called Millennials or Generation Y – a highly educated generation of potential employees, born after 1980, with a strong focus on family values and unique expectations with regard to work-life balance (PEW Research Center, 2010; Twenge, Campbell, Hoffmann & Lance, 2010). Therefore, the competition on the labour market for these highly educated graduates will increase within the next years, which emphasizes the employer’s need for active positioning as an attractive, potential employer (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011). In this context, the use of workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements – as an indicator for the target groups’ esteemed compatibility of job and family – might become even more important for companies. It can serve as a first step in attracting and generating applicants.
Focusing on the pre-hire outcomes of recruitment strategies, such as the number of applicants, their quality or diversity, the content and the specificity of job advertisements play a crucial role in raising attraction to an organization (Barber & Roehling, 1993). As a result, vast research has been done in order to investigate the relationship between the specificity of job advertisements on the intention to apply as well as the attraction to the organization (e.g. Roberson, Collins & Oreg, 2005; Acarlar & Bilgic, 2013). The major part of these studies examined the inclusion of various job attributes like compensation, variety of activities, and training in job advertisements, which have been found to have a positive effect on applicant attraction to firms (Powell, 1984). However, the impact of work-life policies such as workplace flexibility policies in job advertisements on potential applicants has been less investigated. In this context, it is noteworthy to consider that the term workplace flexibility has been used in distinct ways, varying from approaching the characteristics of the supply side (i.e. the characteristics of the workforce) to the characteristics of the demand side (i.e. job design) (Hill et al., 2008; Wright & Snell, 1998). Focusing on the demand side approach, workplace flexibility can be defined as “when, where and how work is done” (UC Davis, 2013).
flexibility related information in job advertisements increase the graduate’s intention to pursue the application, mediated by the attraction to the organization?
Consequently, in this paper I will investigate the above stated relationship which has both theoretical and practical significance. On the one hand, I will contribute to current research on attracting talent via job advertisements by considering both the Millennials as a current target group of employers searching for talented graduates as well as workplace flexibility as a relevant information in job advertisements. On the other hand, I will also emphasize the practical benefit of including workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements, such as a competitive advantage. In order to do so, I will first present the theoretical and practical relevance of each investigated variable and the resulting conceptual model as well as the related hypotheses. Second, I will illustrate the method to examine the research problem. In a third step, I will present the results before finally linking the findings to possible explanations, directions for future research as well as theoretical, practical, and methodological implications.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES
Job Advertisements, Attraction to the Organization, and Intention to Pursue the Application
As the competition for talented human resources will increase within the next years, amongst others due to demographic changes (European Commission, 2010), the importance of effective recruitment strategies and instruments for companies rises (Rynes & Barber, 1990). According to Barber, recruitment can be defined as “those practices and activities carried out by an organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees” (Barber, 1998: 5). Among other facets, the function of recruitment includes achieving a sufficiently sized applicant pool at minimal costs and ensuring that the recruited employees are able to perform the job in the best possible way (Thomas & Wise, 1999).
screening and selection (De Cooman & Pepermans, 2012). Companies, which are successful and effective in using job advertising as recruitment instrument, have the possibility to hire from a diverse and qualified applicant pool and hence to gain a significant competitive advantage on the labour market (Thomas & Wise, 1999). Beyond that, as job seekers typically have only limited information about organizations, the contents of the job advertisements are perceived as signals referring to the organizational culture and values (Judge & Bretz, 1992) hereby fostering the perceived person-organization (PO) fit. Thus, advertisements are expected to influence the applicants’ attraction to the organization and their intentions to pursue further contact with the firm.
In order to elaborate on the expected relationship between job advertisements, attraction to the organization and the applicant’s intention to pursue the application, previous research delivers theoretical and practical verification. Barber and Roehling’s study (1993) emphasized the influence and the need of certain vacancy characteristics for the job seekers’ intention to pursue the application, considering information adequacy and the probability of hire expectancy. Roberson et al. (2005) examined the positive impact of recruitment message specificity on the applicant’s perception of organization attributes and the perceived PO fit. Additionally, Acarlar and Bilgic (2013) found that the credibility and satisfaction of information given in job advertisements influence the graduates’ attraction to the organization as well as his or her intention to pursue the application.
Beyond that, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) serves as additional theoretical justification to support the expected relationship. According to the TRA, behavioural intention can be predicted while considering the attitude (i.e. attraction) towards and the subjective norm (i.e. extent to which other people’s expectations and norms influence a person) concerning certain behaviour. In line with the TRA, an applicant has to develop a certain attraction to the organization presented in a job advertisement in order to pursue his or her application. Thus, the attraction to the organizationcan be seen as a first and highly relevant outcome of a company’s recruitment activities, as without attraction other subsequent recruitment processes are unlikely to even get started (Barber & Roehling, 1993). Relevance of Work-Life Balance Aspects for a Company’s Recruitment Efforts
support of its employees in balancing work and non-work activities has become an important issue for HRM with beneficial results for the firms. Work-life balance policies have been related to positive organizational performance, sales growth, reduced absenteeism and reduced voluntarily turnover (Perry-Smith & Blum, 2000; Abbott, De Cieri & Iverson, 1998). As Carless and Wintle (2007) stated, work-life balance policies can take a number of forms and can answer a company’s various purposes (e.g. improve productivity, retain skilled employees). To do so, work-life balance policies usually include flexible work scheduling, child care assistance, family-leave policies, and other policies to improve the employee’s achievement of satisfying experiences in all life domains (Roehling, Roehling & Moen, 2001; Kirchmeyer, 2000). Regarding flexible work scheduling, the term ‘workplace flexibility’ has become popular in research and practical organizational context (Eaton, 2003). In the course of this paper I will focus on this aspect of work-life balance policies, as young graduates – the target group in my investigation – are expected to be mostly childless and currently not exposing with family planning (European Commission, 2009).
In this context, it is noteworthy that workplace flexibility is theorized in two distinct ways (Hill et al., 2008). On the one hand, it can be defined from the organizational perspective referring to the company’s ability to adapt to environmental changes. This approach includes various practices such as job rotation, quality circles, or contract workers instead of long-term employees (Hill et al., 2008). On the other hand, workplace flexibility can also be defined from the workers’ perspective (with regard to the task design). According to Hill and colleagues this approach reveals “the possibility of workers to make choices influencing when, where, and for how long they engage in work-related tasks” (Hill et al., 2008: 152). In the course of this paper, the latter definition is used when referring to workplace flexibility.
Present research delivers some empirical evidence for the added value of workplace flexibility policies. In such a way, Honeycutt and Rosen (1997) revealed that individuals are attracted to organizations offering family friendly human resource policies and flexible career paths. Furthermore, Caspar and Buffardi (2004) emphasized the relation between work schedule flexibility and job pursuit intention. More recent research, for example Thompson and Aspinwall’s empirical study in 2009, found a positive impact of flextime and flexplace related information in job advertisements on job choice. Beyond that, Pfeffer’s (1981) theory of symbolic action underpins the expectations of a competitive advantage for those companies, which incorporate workplace flexibility policies in their recruitment process. According to Pfeffer’s theory, organizational actions can lead to intangible benefits for a company if those actions symbolize organizational concern or special treatment. Linking this model to workplace flexibility, those policies symbolize a firm’s caring about their current and potential employees’ well-being as well as they allude a value system (Grover & Crooker, 1995). Hence, it is supposed that the inclusion of workplace flexibility policies in recruitment processes (i.e. job advertisements) will influence the applicant’s intention to pursue an application.
Conceptual Model and Hypotheses
Figure 1: Conceptual model (Author, 2014)
Hypothesis 1a: Flextime related information in job advertisements increases the graduate’s intention to pursue the application.
Hypothesis 1b: Flexplace related information in job advertisements increases the graduate’s intention to pursue the application.
Hypothesis 1c: Compressed work weeks related information in job advertisements increases the graduate’s intention to pursue the application.
Hypothesis 2a: The attraction to the organization mediates the relationship between flextime related information in job advertisements and the graduate’s willingness to apply.
Hypothesis 2b: The attraction to the organization mediates the relationship between flexplace related information in job advertisements and the graduate’s willingness to apply.
Hypothesis 2c: The attraction to the organization mediates the relationship between compressed work week related information in job advertisements and the graduate’s willingness to apply.
METHOD Research Design and Measures
Job Advertisement. All four groups received a job advertisement that was about a position in a fictive consumer goods company looking for a General Management Trainee. To construct the scenarios, I used the input of real job descriptions as found on various corporate websites. Although the underlying job was the same for all advertisements, the characteristics varied in the specificity of the given information. The basic job advertisement (scenario 1) did not include any workplace related information, while the information of scenario 2 (company fostering flextime), scenario 3 (company fostering flexplace), and scenario 4 (company fostering the compressed work week) were adjusted, depending on the specific workplace flexibility aspect (see Appendices A-D). For example, scenario 2 stated that ‘The company offers its employees the possibility of flexible work schedules, choosing start and ending time of their work to arrange professional as well as personal duties’. As the control group served as the reference group, participants within this group received the scenario (#1) without any workplace flexibility related information in their job advertisements.
Manipulation Check. To check the manipulation of the presented job advertisements, a subsequent scale was used (see Appendix E). This scale consisted of three statements regarding the perceived workplace flexibility within the fictive organization. The statements were related to flextime, flexplace and compressed work weeks, for example ‘The presented job offers me flexibility due to starting and ending times of my work’. In order to measure the perceived workplace flexibility, respondents were asked to rate the given statements on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (a lot).
Trial Study
To ensure face validity of my subsequent empirical research, I recruited 8 graduate students from my network and asked them to answer the randomly assigned online surveys. All students participated voluntarily and did not receive any compensation for their effort. Subsequent to their participation in the online questionnaire, I conducted a short interview to get the graduates’ feedback concerning the intelligibility of the survey and the possible ambiguity of my questions. Furthermore, I checked the manipulation of my job advertisements and asked the participants for suggestions to improve the survey. As only minor changes had to be made to improve the survey (e.g. lay-out, spelling), I added these results to my main study.
Participants
To conduct the experimental study, I took advantage of my own network as well as I recruited graduate students from the University of Groningen, Netherlands. To meet the characteristics of Generation Y, all participants were born after 1980 and not later than 1995 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2013). Out of the 108 participants, who started the online survey, 80 participants (74.07%) (i.e. n = 20 per condition) completed the whole survey. To avoid incorrect and invalid data, I did not consider the uncompleted surveys in my study.
As a result, the final sample encompassed 80 graduates, still fulfilling the statistical requirements of a valid sample, and consisted of 37 (46.25%) men and 43 (58.75%) women. Within the sample, the year of birth ranged from 1984 to 1994, with 1988 as mean year of birth. Furthermore, 58 participants (72.5%) were single, whereas only 5 partakers were either married (3.8%) or in a registered partnership (2.5%). Beyond that, 21.3 % stated a different marital status. With regard to the educational level, the majority of graduates, namely 58 (72.5%), were Master students, followed by 14 (17.5%) Bachelor students. Apart from that, 8 (10%) graduates completed their Pre-Master, their PhD, or an international degree. Lastly, the sample included 54 (67.5%) German, 8 (10%) Dutch and 9 (11,3%) Austrian participants. The remaining 9 (11.2%) participants were from 7 further nationalities.
Procedure
any manipulation. Hence, the sample was based on independent observations. Furthermore, all graduates participated voluntarily and did not receive any compensation for their effort. They received the relevant job advertisement as well as the questionnaire in an online format. After starting the online questionnaire, the participants first obtained a short introduction as well as an instruction for processing the subsequent pages. In a second step, the partakers were asked to carefully read the job advertisement presented below and to answer the scales adapted from Aiman-Smith et al. (2001) with regard to attraction to the organization of the fictive job advertisement as well as his or her intention to pursue the application. Subsequently, the participants had to answer three questions (manipulation check) regarding the perceived workplace flexibility within the fictive company. Filling out the online questionnaire lasted about 10 minutes.
Data Analysis
In order to investigate the conceptual model and the related hypotheses, I used IBM Statistics SPPS version 20 for Windows to conduct all my analyses. The examination of the data set itself was performed in four steps.
First, I focused on the descriptive information, the premises as well as the reliability of my data. In this context, I conducted a missing value analysis to identify the cases which were not completed and which I disregarded in the further course of the analysis. Moreover, I executed a correlation and reliability analysis on the attraction scale (Cronbach’s Alpha of α =.94) as well as on the intention scale (Cronbach’s Alpha of α =.94) and summed each into one mean score. The correlation between those two mean scores was r = .843. Additionally, I reviewed the assumptions for the performance of parametric tests on the manipulation check as well as on the attraction and the intention scale. The outcome assured a normal distribution for the attraction and the intention scale as well as for the three manipulation check statements. The homogeneity of variance was confirmed for all scales by a non-significant Levene’s Test. The assumptions of independence as well as of interval scaling (cf. Norman, 2010) were also fulfilled for the respective scales.
1.27, t (38) = -12.17, p < .01), indicating an awareness for the promoted information in all three job advertisements.
Third, I checked the potential influence of gender, age, nationality, marital status, parenthood as well as highest educational level and field of study on the dependent variable to avoid misled findings and to increase the feasibility of study replications (Becker, 2005). I tested them by using t-tests, one-way ANOVA as well as correlations. Gender revealed a significant difference in the scores of men (M = 4.69, SD=1.32) and women (M = 5.43, SD = 1.17) on the dependent variable (i.e. intention to pursue the application); t (78) = -2.64, p < .01. Thus, women in general more likely intended to pursue the application than men. Besides gender, all further control variables had no significant effect on the dependent variable, p > .05. Hence, I did not regard the latter in the further course of this paper.
Fourth, I reverted to the use of parametric tests to investigate the conceptual model and the resulting hypotheses. To check the different effects of the distinct job advertisements on the relevant dependent variable (attraction to the organization and intention to pursue the application) as well as the varying degree of peculiarity, I depended on t-tests, the one-way ANOVA as well as the related post-hoc tests. Moreover, I used the regression analysis to test the relation between attraction to the organization and the intention to pursue the application. Finally, the ANCOVA allowed for the test of mediation.
RESULTS
The up streamed correlation analysis of the attraction as well as the intention scale was significant for all items in the respective scales. Furthermore, the reliability analyses revealed a Cronbach’s alpha of α = .94 for both scales. Thus, I computed an average score variable for the attraction scale (M = 5.17, SD = 1.24) as well as for the intention scale (M = 5.09, SD = 1.29). Additionally, and as stated above, the assumptions for parametric tests (i.e. independence, equal group sizes, and homogeneity of variance as well as normal distribution) were fulfilled.
Job Advertisements and the Attraction to the Organization
1.08), flexplace (M = 5.39, SD = 1.19) as well as compressed work week (M = 5.19, SD = 1.31) vs. the job advertisements without workplace flexibility related information (M = 4.41, SD = 1.09). Thus, each job advertisement including workplace flexibility related information led to a higher attraction to the organization than the job advertisement without the additional information.
Subsequently, the one-way ANOVA examined the whole sample (n = 80) and revealed distinct influences on the attraction to the organization among the various job advertisements. The influence on attraction differed significantly across the four conditions, F (3,76) = 4.42, p = .006. Moreover, the inclusion of the control variable “gender” as covariate revealed no significance at p < .05. The subsequent Tukey post-hoc test of the four groups, which also corrected the significance level for the comparisons, indicated that participants assessing the job ad including flextime (M = 5.70, 95% CI [5.20, 6.21]) and flexplace (M = 5.39, 95% CI [4.84, 5.95]) were significantly more attracted to the organization than the control group assessing the job advertisement without any workplace flexibility related information (M = 4.41, 95% CI [3.90, 4.92]), p = .004 (flextime) and p = .047 (flexplace). Comparisons between the compressed work week group (M = 5.19, 95% CI [4.58, 5.80]) and the other three groups were not statistically significant at p < .05. Furthermore, a comparison between the group assessing flextime and the group assessing flexplace also revealed no significance at p < .05.
Job Advertisements and the Intention to Pursue the Application
The results of the independent samples t-test only presented significance for two out of the three scenarios including workplace flexibility related information in contrast to the control group. The job advertisements containing flextime (M = 5.46, SD = 1.27) and flexplace (M = 5.36, SD = 1.07) led to a higher intention to pursue the application than the job advertisement without workplace flexibility related information (M = 4.41, SD = 1.11) (see Table 2). In contrast, the job advertisement indicating the possibility of compressed work
t-tests t df p
Flextime vs. No WPF Information 3.76 38 .001
Flexplace vs. No WPF Information 2.72 38 .010
Compressed Work Week vs. No WPF Information 2.05 38 .047
Table 1 - Impact of Job Advertisements with Workplace Flexibility (WPF) Information on the Attraction to the Organization.
weeks (M = 5.13, SD = 1.48) revealed no significance at p < .05. These results support hypothesis 1a and 1b respectively, while hypothesis 1c is not confirmed.
Just as in the first step of the main analysis (i.e. job advertisements and the effects on the attraction to the organization) the outcome of the one-way ANOVA (n = 80) revealed significance for the distinct influences of the various job advertisements on the intention to pursue the application, F (3,76) = 2.90, p = .040. The investigation of the control variable “gender” as covariate also revealed significance at p < .05. Additionally, the post-hoc test of the ANOVA (which again corrected the significance level for comparisons) showed that the job advertisement without workplace flexibility information (M = 4.41, 95% CI [3.89, 4.93]) was significant in comparison to flextime (M = 5.46, 95% CI [4.86, 6.05], p = .045), whereas the comparison to the other two conditions demonstrated no significant effect at p < .05. Attraction to the Organization and the Intention to Pursue the Application
The results of the regression analysis showed that the attraction to the organization significantly predicted the intention to pursue the application (R2 = .71, F (1,78) = 191.15, which is significant at p < .01 ( β = .843).
Mediation
To finally investigate whether the relationship between the job advertisements and the intention to pursue the application was mediated by the attraction to the organization, I reverted to the ANCOVA. In this context I again examined the influence of the control variable “gender” on the construct. The analysis revealed that the main effect for the job advertisements disappeared when controlling for attraction (F (3,74) = .30, ns). Additionally, the outcome emphasized a main effect for attraction, F (1,74) = 149.21, p < .01 (see also Table 3) and no main effect for the control variable at p < .05.
t-tests t df p
Flextime vs. No WPF Information 2.78 38 .008
Flexplace vs. No WPF Information 2.75 38 .009
Compressed Work Week vs. No WPF Information 1.75 38 .088
Table 2 - Impact of Job Advertisements with Workplace Flexibility (WPF) Information on the Intention to Pursue the Application.
Investigating the distinct job advertisements individually, the covariate (i.e. attraction) mediated the intention to pursue the application for flextime, flexplace and compressed work weeks for the given situation. For flextime and flexplace the significance level dropped from significant at p < .01 to not significant, p = .910 (flextime) and p = .368 (flexplace). In both cases, attraction had a significant effect, p <.01. The job advertisement including compressed work week was not significant at p < .05 in the first place, p = .088. The significance further decreased after considering the covariate (p = .950), whereas attraction had a significant effect on the intention to pursue the application, p < .01. These results supported hypothesis 2a, 2b and 2c, respectively (see Table 4).
Ancova- Between Subjects Effects MS df F p
Intercept .13 1 .28 .602 Gender 1.76 1 3.62 .061 Attraction 72.46 1 149.21 .001 Job Advertisements .15 3 .30 .825 Error .49 74 (n = 80)
Table 3 - Job Advertisements and the Intention to Pursue an Application - The Mediation Effect of Attraction when Controlling for Gender.
Ancova- Between Subjects Effects MS df F p
Flextime
Intercept 2.99 1 6.10 .018
Job Advertisement Flextime vs. No WPF .41 1 .83 .368
Attraction 27.32 1 55.67 .001
Error .49 37
Flexplace
Intercept .80 1 1.31 .260
Job Advertisements Flexplace vs. No WPF .01 1 .01 .910
Attraction 31.51 1 51.52 .001
Error .61 37
Compressed Work Week
Intercept .37 1 .69 .412
Job Advertisements CWW vs. No WPF .00 1 .00 .950
Attraction 45.57 1 85.76 .001
Error .53 37
Table 4 - The Distinct Job Advertisements including Workplace Flexibility (WPF) Information and the Intention to Pursue the Application - The Mediation Effect of Attraction.
DISCUSSION
In my study, I aimed at investigating the impact of job advertisements including workplace flexibility related information (i.e. flextime, flexplace, and compressed work weeks) as a potential competitive advantage in the initial stage of a company’s recruitment effort for graduates. The basic job advertisement was identical for each of the four experimental groups within my study, but differed in the degree of the provision of workplace flexibility related information. The partakers read one job advertisement dependent on the group they were randomly assigned to and subsequently assessed the fictive company’s attraction as well as his or her intention to pursue the application.
Reflection on Results and Theoretical Implications
The results of the experimental study confirmed my hypotheses that workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements increases the graduate’s intention to pursue the application for the scenarios flextime and flexplace (hypotheses 1a and 1b). In contrast, the data did not support evidence for hypothesis 1c (compressed work week related information in job advertisements increases the graduates intention to pursue the application). Nevertheless it is noteworthy that the data indicated a trend, which favours the inclusion of compressed work week related information in job advertisements. All participants who read the manipulated job advertisements scored higher on the attraction to the organization as well as on the intention to pursue the application than the participants within the control group. However, these results differed in their peculiarity. Thus, flextime was assessed as most attractive to graduates, followed by flexplace and compressed work weeks whereas the job advertisements including no workplace flexibility related information were evaluated as least attractive. These findings as well as the missing significance for hypothesis 1c might be based on the degree of familiarity and the missing practical experience of the graduates. Flextime is the most common work-life policy (Wharton University of Pennsylvania, 2014) whereas compressed work weeks might be almost unknown to graduates, who do not possess professional experiences and also might not have dealt with this topic yet.
Linking these findings to current research, my study elucidates the striving for balance between work and private life at least for Generation Y. Moreover, it supports the proposition of a prioritization of family values (PEW Research Center, 2010) for the Millennials. The results are also aligned with the studies of Honeycutt and Rosen (1997) as well as Caspar and Buffardi (2005) and once more emphasize the value of work-life policies for a company, both to represent as an attractive employer as well as to meet the employees’ obvious needs. Moreover, the results of my current study support the outcome of Thompson and Aspinwall’s empirical study in 2009, showing a higher impact of flextime on the partakers’ job choice than flexplace. My inclusion of the compressed work week extended their theoretical approach, but stayed behind in its influence potential in comparison to the firstly mentioned ones.
In order to reason the clearly positive effect of the manipulated job advertisements on the company’s attractiveness within my study, the theory of symbolic action (Pfeffer, 1981) might serve as a potential explanatory approach. The inclusion of workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements serves as signal to a company’s work-life policies for potential applicants and leads to a higher attraction to the organization.
Practical Implications
promotion of workplace flexibility related information in job advertisements should be linked with the actual use of these policies.
Limitations and Future Research
My study faces several limitations with regard to the methodological approach. First, I focused on graduates as target group of my study and by doing so, I accepted a possible lack of previous application experiences (a “benchmark” with regard to company policies, career opportunities, comparable job postings etc.). As a consequence, the participants might have had no comparative job advertisements in plain view while assessing the one within my study. This might have tarnished their assessment of the given job advertisements in comparison to the market. As a result, it reduces the study’s generalizability beyond the graduates as target group.
A second limitation of my study is the consideration of students from different national backgrounds, which might influence the attraction to my job advertisements due to different cultural values or economic experiences (e.g. unemployment rate in Spain is higher than in Germany (European Commission, 2013)). Therefore, a national focus or a bigger sample might be more appropriate to distinguish potential differences. Beyond that, the distribution of my online survey reveals a further restriction. As a convenience sample, my study did not consider a selection of participants that are representative for the entire population and thus it reduces the study’s generalizability. Instead, I took advantage of my own network as well as I recruited graduates from the University of Groningen, Netherlands.
With regard to the statistics, a third limitation has to be listed. The high correlation between the dependent variable (intention to pursue the application) and the mediator (attraction to the organization) (r =.843) is an indication for the conceptual closeness of both variables which may (partly) explain the support I found for my mediation hypotheses.
flexibility related information on the attraction to the organization as well as on the intention to pursue the application.
Beyond and partly based on the limitations, my experimental study emphasized certain aspects for future research. Hence, I recommend the presentation of distinct job advertisements to the participants (within group design) while examining graduates and the impact of work-life policies in the initial recruitment steps. By doing so, the graduates’ limited experiences regarding applications and the related skill lack to evaluate the job ads in comparison to the market might be circumvented. Furthermore, the importance of workplace flexibility related information should be assessed in comparison to other job characteristics (e.g. salary, location, tasks) to make a final statement about the importance of their inclusion to gain a competitive advantage. By considering these two aspects, the different drivers for attraction might become clearer as well as the relative influence of work-life policies. Moreover, when focusing on graduates, research should already consider the values of the successive generation (Generation Z) and the relative importance of work-life balance for them. Future findings might already relativize the importance of these policies for recruitment, thus reducing its impact on a short-term perspective.
Additionally, the impact of workplace flexibility policies on the attraction to organizations was only regarded in the initial recruitment phase. However, there might be a positive impact on the further steps of the acquisition phase (i.e. selection and final decision making). Thus, the applicant’s later assessment of a job or even a job offer might also be influenced by these policies. Ergo, future research might detect the potential of workplace flexibility related information e.g. in job interviews, job offers etc..
Conclusion
REFERENCES
Aiman-Smith, L., Bauer, T.N. & Cable, D.M. 2001. Are you attracted? Do you intend to pursue? A recruiting policy-capturing study. Journal of Business and Psychology, 16 (2): 219-237.
Abbott, J., De Cieri, H. & Iverson, R.D. 1998. Costing Turnover: Implications of work/family conflict at management level. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 36 (1): 25-4.
Acarlar, G. & Bilgiç, R. 2013. Factors influencing applicant willingness to apply for the advertised job opening: The mediational role of credibility, satisfaction and attraction. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24 (1): 50-77.
Barber, A. 1998. Recruiting Employees: Individual and Organizational Perspective. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Barber, A. & Roehling, M. 1993. Job postings and the decision to interview: A verbal protocol analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78 (5): 845-856.
Becker, T.E. 2005. Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: A qualitative analysis with recommendations. Organizational Research Methods, 8 (3): 274-289.
Biro, M. 2013. 5 Reasons why workplace flexibility is smart talent strategy. Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2013/08/18/5-reasons-why-workplace-flexibility-is-smart-talent-strategy/ (posted on 18. August 2013).
Carless, S.A. & Wintle, J. 2007. Applicant attraction: The role of recruiter function, work-life balance policies and career salience. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 15 (4): 394-404.
Casper, W. & Buffardi, L. 2004. Work-life benefits and job pursuit intentions: The role of anticipated organizational support. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65: 391-410.
De Cooman, R. & Pepermans, R. 2012. Portraying fitting values in job advertisements. Personnel Review, 41 (2): 216-232.
European Commission. 2009. Youth in Europe a statistical portrait. Luxembourg: Luxembourg Office for Official Publ. of the European Communities 2009.
European Commission. 2010. Demography Report 2010 Older, more numerous and diverse Europeans. Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=502&langId=en (accessed on 13. December 2013).
European Commission. 2013. Labour Market Developments in Europe 2013. Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs. http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/european_economy/2013/pdf/ee6_en.pdf (accessed on 01. June 2014).
Fishbein, M. & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. http://people.umass.edu/aizen/f&a1975.html (accessed on 04. January 2014).
Grover, S. & Crooker, K. 1995. Who appreciates family-responsive human resources policies: The impact of family-friendly policies on the organizational attachment of parents and non-parents. Personnel Psychology, 48: 271-288.
Hill, E., Grzywacz, J., Allen, S., Blanchard, V., Matz-Costa, C., Shulkin, S. & Pitt-Catsouphes, M. 2008. Defining and conceptualizing workplace flexibility. Community, Work & Family, 11 (2): 149-163.
Honeycutt, T.L. & Rosen, B. 1997. Family friendly Human Resource policies, salary levels, and salient identity as predictors of organizational attraction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50: 271-290.
Judge, T.A. & Bretz, R.D. 1992. Effects of work values on job choice decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77 (3): 261-271.
Kirchmeyer, C. 2000. Work-life initiatives: Greed or benevolence in regarding workers’ time?. In Cooper, C. & Rousseau, D. (Eds.) Trends in organizational behavior (Vol. 7, pp. 79-93). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Norman, G. 2010. Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics. Advances in Health Science Education, 15 (5): 625-632.
Perry-Smith, J. & Blum, T. 2000. Work-family human resource bundles and perceived organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 43 (6): 1107-1117.
PEW Research Center. 2010. Millennials. A Portrait of generation next: Confident. Connected. Open to Change. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/ (accessed on 14. December 2013).
Pfeffer, J. 1981. Management as symbolic action: The creation and maintenance of organizational paradigms. In L. Cummings & B. Staw (Eds.) Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 3, pp: 1-52). Greenwich. CT: JAI Press.
Powell, G. 1984. Effects of job attributes and recruiting practices on applicants decisions: A comparison. Personnel Psychology, 37 (4): 721-732.
PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2011. Millennials at Work – Reshaping the Workplace. http://www.pwc.com/en_M1/m1/services/consulting/documents/millennials-at-work.pdf (accessed on 18. January 2014).
PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2013. PwC’s NextGen: A global generational study. http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/hr-management-services/pdf/pwc-nextgen-study-2013.pdf (accessed on 18. January 2014).
Roberson, Q., Collins, C. & Oreg, S. 2005. The effects of recruitment message specificity on applicant attraction to organizations. Journal of Business & Psychology, 19 (3): 319-339.
Roehling, P., Roehling, M. & Moen, P. 2001. The relationship between work-life policies and practices and employee loyalty: A life course perspective. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 22 (2): 141-170.
Rynes, S. & Barber, A. 1990. Applicant attraction strategies: An organizational perspective. Academy of Management Review, 15 (2): 286-310.
Times Higher Education. 2012. Final-year students fear for their working future. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/final-year-students-fear-for-their-working-future/420025.article (posted on 22. May 2012).
Thomas, K. & Wise, P. 1999. Organizational attractiveness and individual differences: Are diverse applicants attracted by different factors?. Journal of Business and Psychology, 13 (3): 375-390.
Thompson, L. & Aspinwall, K. 2009. The recruitment value of work/life benefits. Personnel Review, 38 (2): 195-210.
Twenge, J., Campbell, S., Hoffman, B. & Lance, C. 2010. Generational differences in work values: Leisure and extrinsic values increasing, social and intrinsic values decreasing. Journal of Management, 36 (5): 1117-1142.
University of California/Davis. 2013. Workplace Flexibility. Worklife & Wellness. http://www.hr.ucdavis.edu/worklife-wellness/work/workplace-flexibility (accessed on 08. January 2014).
Wharton University of Pennsylvania, 2014. Wharton’s Procedures for Flexible
Work Options. HR Home.
https://sharepoint.wharton.upenn.edu/hr/Pages/flex_time_place_policy.aspx (accessed on 01. June 2014).
APPENDICES APPENDIX A:
APPENDIX B:
APPENDIX C:
APPENDIX D:
APPENDIX E:
Manipulation Check (Author, 2014)
Item Question Function
1 The presented job offers me flexibility due to starting and ending times of my work.
Manipulation Check
2 The presented job offers me the flexibility to choose where to work. Manipulation Check 3 The presented job offers me the possibility to compress my work week
up to 4 days.
Manipulation Check
APPENDIX F:
Attraction to Organization Scale (Aiman-Smith et al., 2001)
Item Question Function
1 This company would be a good place to work for. Attraction 2 I would want a company like this in my community. Attraction
3 I would like to work for this company. Attraction
4 This company cares about its employees. Attraction
5 I find this a very attractive company. Attraction
Intention to Pursue the Application Scale (Aiman-Smith et al., 2001)
Item Question Function
1 I would accept a job offer from this company. Intention 2 I would request more information about this company. Intention 3 If this company visited campus I would want to speak with a
representative.
Intention
APPENDIX G:
Demographical Information (Author, 2014)
Item Question Function
1 What is your gender? Demographic
Information
2 What is your year of birth? Demographic
Information
3 What country are you from? Demographic
Information
4 What is your marital status? Demographic
Information
5 Do you have children? Demographic
Information
6 What is your field of study? Demographic
Information 7 What is the highest level of education you have achieved or are you
going to achieve within a year?
