‘You are so like me! Revealing the underlying processes of the relationship between endorsement use in recruitment advertisement and organizational attractiveness.’
Master thesis, MSc HRM & MSc Marketing
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
September, 2014
LIANNE SANDERS Studentnumber: 1933671
Gedempte zuiderdiep 32 9711 HH Groningen tel.: +31 (0) 623674700 e-mail: l.m.sanders.4@student.rug.nl
Supervisor O. Janssen.
2 ABSTRACT
Research shows that using testimonials, endorsers and personalities in recruitment advertising has positive influence on the attraction process of job seekers. This study tries to gain insight in why and when organizational attractiveness benefits from endorsement use. Based on earlier research organizational identification is proposed as a mediator in the relationship between endorsement use and organizational
attractiveness, and self-image congruence as a first-stage moderator for the path from endorsement use to organizational identification. An online survey amongst 110 Dutch university students did not fully confirm the moderated mediation model. The results showed no effect from endorsement use on identification. This lack of
evidence could be attributed to content and style attributes of the recruitment advertisement and testimonial. However, self-image congruence is proven to be influential on organizational attractiveness. This implies that ‘similar attracts’ and testimonials could be a part of campus recruitment strategy.
Keywords: recruitment advertisement, endorsement use, testimonial, self-image congruence, organizational identification, organizational attractiveness.
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 8
Endorsement in recruitment advertising and attractiveness 9 The mediating role of identification with the organization 11
The influence of self-‐image congruence 15
METHOD 17
Participants and Design 17
Procedure 17
Endorsement manipulation 19
Measures 20
RESULTS 22
DISCUSSION 29
Theoretical implications 30
Limitations and future research 33
Implications for practice 35
REFERENCES 37
APPENDIX A 44
APPENDIX B 46
4 INTRODUCTION
This quote is part of a recruitment advertisement for management traineeships from a large Dutch multinational. A job advertisement is the first display for job seekers that there is a recruitment process going on in an organization. The recruitment process can be described as the activities an organization performs to identify and attract potential employees (Rynes & Boudreau, 1986). A job advertisement focuses on both the quality and quantity of potential co-workers (Boudreau and Rynes, 1985). The most important outcome of recruitment activities is attraction towards the
organization. When a job seeker is not attracted to the recruitment advertisement of an organization, there will be no chance that he or she will stay long enough in the selection process for the organization to determine whether he or she is suitable for the position (Connerley, Carlson, and Mecham, 2002). The applicant pool should be filled with sufficiently large numbers of qualified people that match the targeted job seeker. Organizations experience increased performance after hiring someone who perfectly matches the new job and individuals feel then more in place in their new company(Carlson et al., 2002).
‘Every workday I experience new challenges and opportunities. The inspiring work environment triggers me to maximize the use of my creativity, flexibility and
analytical skills. I did a lot of extra curricular activities during my study and I am still motivated to take the extra step. I receive trainings and I participate in the young development program, which gives me the opportunity to become part of the management team in 5 years. Working in this company fulfills every dream I had about my career during my student life!’
5 Research shows that using testimonials, endorsers and personalities in
recruitment advertising has positive influence on the attraction process of job seekers.
Adding a positive comment about daily work life to a vacancy attracts more
applicants (Walker, Feild, Giles, Armenakis & Bernerth, 2009). Marketing research supports this positive relationship between the use of endorsers and attraction. It has been suggested that recruitment advertisement is the marketing of an employment product: the opening job (Ryan, Gubern, & Rodriguez, 2000). Proven is that including a personality in a marketing campaign, like an expert, celebrity or just the ordinary
‘man of the street’ positively influences the attitude of consumers towards the displayed product or brand (Raju, Rajagopal, & Unnava, 2002). Therefore, it is not a surprise that adding a personality in recruitment advertisement also benefits from this positive effect.
Despite the favorable relationship between endorsement use in recruitment advertisement and attractiveness, no specific research has been done about the underlying ‘why’ of this relationship. However, it has been found that attraction outcomes of recruitment activities result from the extent to which job seekers identify with the organization as exposed in advertisement (Celani & Singh, 2011).
Identification with an organization begins during the recruitment process
(Griepentrog, Harold, Holtz, Klimoski, Marsh, 2012). Job seekers determine whether they want to be a part of the future of a company when they are exposed to a
recruitment advertisement. Stories and testimonials in job ads from employees about work life present the more human side of an organization. Incorporating a personality in advertisement to represent a brand or organization is known as ‘personification’
(Cohen, 2014). Personification of brands, products or companies to display their brand image is a widely used tool in advertising and marketing (Aaker, 1997).
6 Personification gives a brand or product a human face and voice and enables
consumers to identify more easily (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2009). Extending this
reasoning implies that personification of the organization in recruitment advertising, by using an endorser, can enhance identification with a company as well (Cober, Brown, Blumental, Doverspike & Levy, 2000; Fleck, Michel & Zeitoun, 2014).
Hence, I develop and test the hypothesis that ‘identification with the company’
mediates the relationship between endorser use in advertisement and organizational attractiveness.
It could be assumed that not everybody feels as strongly identified with each random personality in recruitment advertisement. There is no literature that reveals the specific relationship between endorsement use in recruitment advertisement and identification. When do job seekers feel more or less identified with personalities giving testimonials in job advertisement? A combination of the ‘similar-to-me’-theory and the construct ‘self-image congruence’ explains when people feel more identified with personalities in regular advertisement. Byrne ‘s (1971) ‘similar-to-me’ theory says that people evaluate others more positively when they think that the other is similar to him or herself. They feel more identified with the product, brand or company the person is representing. Self-image congruence is the fit between someone’s self-concept, the beliefs and attitudes about themselves, and the exposed information. This fit is tighter when the person displayed in advertising is perceived as similar to oneself (Aaker, 1999). When people see characteristics in a person giving a testimonial about a company in a job ad that are similar to characteristics they use to describe themselves, they feel strongly identified with that person and the marketed organization he or she represents (Dutton, Duckerich & Harquail, 1994). I
7 therefore propose and test that the use of personalities in advertising results in
stronger identification with the organization when self-image congruence is high.
This research provides insight in the mediation process between the use of endorsers in advertisement and attraction towards an organization. This contributes to the existing literature about the positive effects of endorsement use on attractiveness, specifically in the area of recruitment research. Incorporating the construct ‘self- image congruence’ explains when the positive effect of endorsement use on identification will be strengthened. This will strengthen existing theory about the boundary conditions under which the mediated relationship between endorsement use, identification, and attraction will be more or less pronounced. Revealing the
conditions and underlying processes of the relationship between the use of
personalities in recruitment advertising and organizational attractiveness provides a solid ground for the explanation of endorsement use effects.
In a more practical way, when this theory about the effect of self-image congruence on identification with an organization is supported, it allows recruiters to more effectively target job seekers by adding a testimonial of an employee that is similar to the profile they are looking for. Attracting qualified applicants who form a perfect match with the job criteria is key to recruitment success. It’s therefore very important to reveal the conditions and clarifying processes that enhance
organizational attractiveness and deliver perfectly matched job seekers.
8
FIGURE 1. Conceptual Model Endorsement use in
recruitment
Identification with organization
Organizational attractiveness
Self-image congruence
9 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Endorsement in recruitment advertising and attractiveness
For years, the use of endorsers in advertising has been topic of interest in marketing research. In 1976, Friedman, Termini and Washington proposed in their research ‘that it may be worthwhile for a company to spend some additional money on endorsers for their advertising to enhance effectiveness’ (Friendman, Termini & Washington, 1976). The definition of an endorser is a person that tells (a part of) the message in an advertisement, based on his or her experience (Raju, Rajagopal, & Unnava, 2002).
Using celebrities, experts or ordinary people to promote a product or service can strengthen the persuasive power of advertising. The inclusion of endorsers in a marketing campaign attracts more consumers and results in more positive attitudes towards the displayed brand or product (Raju et al., 2002). Matching the image of the brand to a similar perceived endorser could lead to even more favorable brand or product attitudes (Mittelstaedt, Riesz, & Burns, 2000).
When a brand or product has a very distinct target group, it is effective to include an endorser in the advertising campaign. Specifically when the used personality is similar to the targeted consumer (Feick & Higie, 1992). For example Suitsupply, a men-fashion company that targets at modern, stylish businessmen, always uses extraordinary classy male executives they find on the street in their advertisement to reach the group they are aiming at.
An advertised job is a typical example of a product that has a specific target group. This implies that the use of endorsers would be an effective advertisement tool.
The implementation of endorsers in recruitment advertising has therefore already received some attention.
10 From an organizational perspective, including employee testimonials in job
advertisement provides the opportunity to use the preference for interpersonal contact from job seekers in a way that is completely controllable (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). Job seekers tend to value interpersonal sources of information when reviewing job advertisements. Potential applicants are affected by individual stories of
employees about their experiences and career opportunities. The likelihood of
developing a positive attitude towards recruitment advertising will be greater when an incumbent serves as a spokesperson (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). People are more affected by others’ first-hand experiences than information given by recruiters. Job incumbents are seen as more credible because they are closer to the actual work situation than managers or recruiters. Job seekers attribute therefore more expertise to these future co-workers (Fisher, Ilgen, & Hoyer, 1979). Including testimonials and pictures of employees enhance the perception of a supportive organizational culture.
Quoting workers implies that sharing is appreciated and that employees in the organization are open and approachable (Braddy, Meade & Kroustalis, 2006).
When adding employee’s experiences to job advertisement, the variety and amount of information about the job opening increases. Exposure to a greater amount of information about a current vacancy provides the possibility for job seekers to make a more realistic representation of the job opening and organization in their head.
This gives job seekers more insight in whether the job will be suitable for them (Yuce
& Highhouse, 1998).
Despite these positive effects of endorsement in recruitment advertising, some research suggested a counterproductive effect of using employee’s testimonials in job ads. When quotes of employees are used in an anecdotal way, job seekers tend to question the authenticity of the information given by the employee. They view the
11 testimonial as forced and artificial, which diminishes the credibility of the
advertisement (Highhouse, Hoffman, Greve & Collins, 2002). Also the fact that testimonials are used in company dependent sources can be a danger to positive attitudes about the advertisement and the organization. Van Hoye and Lievens (2007) found that information about work experiences, work ethics and career opportunities could better be spread by organization independent sources like friends or peers. The fact that this information is not controlled by an organization makes it more credible and enhances attractiveness towards a vacancy and organization.
To clear these inconsistencies in theory, Walker, Feild, Giles, Armenakis, and Bernerth (2009) studied the difference in effects of including and excluding a
testimonial with picture and text in a job advertisement on organizational
attractiveness. They found that including an employee testimonial with quotes about daily work life and a supporting picture enhanced organizational attractiveness.
However, there has not been any research yet regarding the underlying ‘why’
of the positive effect of endorsement use on attractiveness. Why do job seekers feel more attracted to organizations that use endorsers in their advertising? To provide a more solid ground for this relationship, it’s important to examine which processes are responsible for this positive effect. Moreover, identifying conditions under which these mediating processes occur will provide more fine-grained theory about the influence of endorsement use on attractiveness.
The mediating role of identification with the organization
Organizational attractiveness can be the result of the extent to which job seekers identify with the organization as exposed in recruitment advertisement (Celani &
Singh, 2011). Organizational identification can be defined as a sense of oneness with
12 the organization. A person can identify itself with an organization when the
characteristics, motivations and attributes of a company are clearly communicated and are part of who he or she is (Ashforth & Mael 1989).
Identification with the company begins during the recruitment process. During this process, the ‘early seeds of the employment relationship are being planted’ and job seekers learn more about the company as a potential employer (Griepentrog, Harold, Holtz, Klimoski, Marsh, 2012). Several studies give reason to believe that organizational identification is not only an antecedent of organizational attractiveness, but can also be responsible for the underlying processes between endorsement use in recruitment advertisement and attraction towards an organization.
Stories about work life from employees, the endorsements, present the more human side of an organization (Cober, Brown, Blumental, Doverspike & Levy, 2000).
Using a current employee to serve as a spokesperson personifies the image of a company. Personification of brands or companies to present brand image and to influence the formation of attitudes is widely used in marketing and advertising (Aaker, 1997). Personification can be defined by ‘using a real person to embody or represent certain benefits or other constructs, principles, concepts or values’ of
products and organizations’ (Cohen, 2014). Early marketing research already revealed that an endorser, like the CEO, a company’s employee, or a product user, is able to communicate personality traits as associated with a brand and gives a human face to an organization (McCracken, 1989). This positively influences affective and cognitive attitudes towards a brand or product.
Consumer psychology research displays that using spokespersons to
communicate a message makes it simpler to evaluate a brand or product. Assessing whether a brand or organization possesses characteristics that you see as a defining
13 aspect of your own identity is easier when personalities are used that represent the
displayed brand or product, instead of being confronted with plain advertisement (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2009). Dove’s campaign about real beauty, for example, used women from al ethnicities, ages, skin types and weights as endorsers to communicate their brand personality. They simplified identification with the brand for their
consumers by using the endorsement tool. Incorporating personalities in their
advertisement personified the brand Dove, gave it a human face and abled consumers to easily identify with it.
A recent study by Fleck, Michel and Zeitoun (2014) about the use of
spokespersons in advertising confirms that an endorser can give a face and voice to an organization or brand and ‘humanizes’ it. The organization will therefore be less anonymous and abstract in the hearts and minds of job seekers and consumers. They also took a closer look to the influence of ‘ordinary’ employee testimonials on perceptions of consumers and job seekers and concluded that ‘employees may come across as “real people” with whom ordinary people can identify’.
Van Hoye and Lievens (2007) confirm the positive influence of interpersonal contact in a recruitment setting. They stated that it would be easier for job seekers to determine whether salience aspects of their own identity are reflected in an
organization when they are confronted with the human side of the organization.
Contact with current workers therefore strengthens attraction towards a recruiting organization. Griepentrog et al., (2012) extend this reasoning by proposing that exactly this personal touch triggers job seekers during the recruitment process to think about whether the recruiting organization is a place they would commit to.
Personification of a company or brand is also proven to be effective in retail.
Identification with a brand or organization appears to be higher when a consumer has
14 been in contact with a sales person instead of shopping alone and picking out goods
without help of sales assistants. Organizations perceive their sales persons as human representatives of the organization. Interaction with this human representative serves as a personal insight in the organization and allows consumers to establish a stronger feeling of connection and identification than when the personal touch was absence (Marín & Ruiz de Maya, 2013).
Adding a testimonial of a current employee to a recruitment advertisement will put a human face to the recruiting organization. This personification of the
recruiting company makes it easier to identify with the organization. A job ad with the incorporation of an endorser will lead to more organizational identification by giving the company a face and voice, as opposed to an ordinary job ad where no ‘human face of the organization’ is used. The generated organizational identification will in that way lead to more attraction towards the company. This reasoning points out that
‘identification with the company’ serves as a mediator between endorser use in advertisement and organizational attractiveness. The following hypotheses are proposed:
Hypothesis 1a: Endorsement use in advertisement will result in higher levels of identification with the organization than no endorsement use.
Hypothesis 1b: Identification with the organization will be positively related to organizational attractiveness.
Hypothesis 1c: Identification with the organization will mediate the positive effect of endorsement use on organizational attractiveness.
15 The influence of self-image congruence
It could be assumed that not everyone can identify as much with random
spokespersons in recruitment advertisement. Byrne ‘s (1971) ‘similar-to-me’ theory proposes that people evaluate others more positively when they believe that the other is similar to him or herself. Values, statements and experiences of others are rated higher when someone is recognizing himself in the other person. This encourages a feeling of connection and belonging and enhances attraction. Organizational research shows that job seekers choose companies that consist of people who have
characteristics that are similar to their own. People tend to categorize themselves into psychological groups and value organizations that consist of people they perceive to be in the same social group. They prefer to choose memberships in companies that consist of workers that are similar to them, based on characteristics, background and demographics (Tsui, Egan & O’Reilly, 1992).
During the organizational identification process, job seekers try to match the characteristics, attributes and motives of an organization with their self-concept. This self-concept can be defined as the beliefs and attitudes about a person’s character, competences, values and skills (Aaker, 1999). When people define themselves with attributes that have similarities with attributes they use to define an organization, brand or product, they easily match themselves to that organization and they feel strongly identified with the entity. Job seekers tend to choose companies that embody activities that are congruent with salient aspects of their own identities (Ashforth &
Mael, 1989). The fit between someone’s self-concept and exposed information about a product, brand or organization is called self-image congruence. It has been argued that self-image congruence with exposed information in advertising can enhance affective, attitudinal and behavioral responses to brands, products and organizations.
16 Consumers can identify with the endorsers in advertisement when spokespersons
propose experiences and opportunities that are valuable and reachable and a salience aspect of how they see themselves (Aaker, 1999).
The fact that similarity attracts and that people feel more connected when a personality is used that has the same experiences or background as themselves, implies that recognizing oneself in an endorser strengthens organizational identification. In contrast, when the personality used in a job ad is completely different from the job seeker, it does not enhance the identification process triggered by the personification of the company. The current study attempts to find out whether identification with the organization is affected by the use of endorsers in recruitment advertising. An important condition for identification with an organization will be the congruence of experiences, background and career opportunities as proposed in the employee testimonial with one’s self-image.
Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between self-image congruence with the endorser in recruitment advertising and level of identification with a company.
17 METHOD
Participants and Design
Students from all Dutch universities, who were in the end of their bachelor, in their master’s or recently graduated, were invited to participate in the study. The final sample (N = 110) was primarily female (57%) with an average age of 24 (SD = 1,84) and all individuals were living in the Netherlands. From all the students that
participated were 28 in their bachelor, 31 in their master’s and 51 respondents were recently graduated. All the participants were included in hypotheses testing as there was no missing data. To determine the underlying factors that enhance the positive relationship between endorsement use and organizational attractiveness a between subject experiment was performed. All subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two endorsement use conditions (advertisement with and without an endorser). There was no need in using a control group, because it was not possible to measure
participants’ attractiveness towards the organization when they were not exposed to the treatment; the recruitment ad.
Procedure
The students were approached by email and personal messages via Facebook and asked if they wanted to participate in the study. These personal messages stated clearly that the study would take 5 minutes of their time, that anonymity was
guaranteed and that they wouldn’t receive compensation. When a respondent consent with participating in the study, they received an online survey.
The experiment began with an introduction that made clear what the
participant needed to imagine: receiving a vacancy from a prestige consultancy firm
18 for a management traineeship. After the introduction, the individuals were asked
about their age, gender and study phase to gain more insight in their background.
After the questions about the participant’s background, the scenario was presented. The scenario consisted of a straightforward designed vacancy for a
traineeship, without logo’s or pictures in it. The recruitment advertisement displayed, was patterned after those of actual consultancy firms (Berenschot, KPMG). The job ad targeted academic students from all studies, so a broad range of students was addressed.
The vacancy described a company that was a global leader in consultancy, passionate and striving for excellence. They valued the development of their employees and were therefore progressive in offering trainings and development programs. They stated that the reason the firm provided traineeships for ambitious academic students was to stimulate them to expand their talent and give a kick-start to their career. They promised that trainees would be part of their consultancy projects immediately and work in a driven and ambitious team. Aside to that, trainees would be able to develop themselves with the help of a senior consultant and a personal development plan. The company searched for ambitious, academically graduated students with a maximum of two years experience in the work field. The new trainee needed to have strong analytical skills. He or she should be results and customer orientated, independent and a team player.
The vacancy concluded with some stimulating questions like ‘Are you driven and do you see extraordinary solutions to complex problems?’ and ‘Do you want to work for one of the top advisory concerns of the world?’ to trigger the students to apply for the job.
19 Endorsement manipulation
Both versions of the advertisement included the standard job description and
specification. By randomly displaying either a (a) regular recruitment advertisement with only a job description and specification or a (b) regular advertisement with the addition of a testimonial of a management trainee, endorsement use was manipulated.
The job ad with the testimonial was designed exactly like the plain ad, except a quote of a current trainee was added to the page. This quote was also patterned after those of actual consultancy firms. The trainee called ‘Robin’ was 25 years old and shared his/her experience with the organization: ‘Every workday I experience new challenges and opportunities. The inspiring work environment triggers me to maximize the use of my leadership skills, customer orientation and analytical skills. I did a lot of extra curricular activities during my study and I am still motivated to take the extra step. I think that doing a board year or studying abroad really expands your talent and that you need this in your further career. Being a trainee of this challenging consultancy firm gives me the opportunity to become part of the management team in 5 years.
Working in this company fulfills every dream I had about my career during my student life!’ The exact design of both job advertisements is visible in appendix A.
After viewing the vacancy, respondents were asked to indicate whether they felt attracted to the organization. Next to the three questions about organizational attractiveness, there were five questions that measured whether they felt identified with the organization. The scenario that included the testimonial of the management trainee had six additional questions measuring self-image congruence. Before the questions about self-image congruence were proposed, the respondents were asked to imagine what kind of person ‘Robin’ was and to compare themselves to this trainee.
20 Measures
Demographics included information about the participants’ age, gender and
phase of their studies. Respondents had three optional answers for the question about their study phase: ‘in the end of my bachelor’, ‘in my master’s’ or ‘recently
graduated’. These options covered all the study phases the target group could be in.
Study phase was included because it was possible that individuals who were in a later phase of their study had already spend more time on career orientation and were more eager for job opportunities than respondents who were in the end of their bachelor, which could influence their reaction on a vacancy for a traineeship.
Organizational attractiveness was measured using a three-item scale (see
appendix B) developed by Cable and Judge (1997). Example items are ‘Please rate your overall attraction to this organization’ and ‘Please rate the likelihood that you would accept a job offer from this organization, if it were offered’. The response format was a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ‘not attracted’ to 7 ‘very attracted.’
Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was .88.
Organizational identification was measured using a five-item scale (see
appendix B) as proposed by Mael and Ashfort (1995). Example items are ‘When someone criticizes this organization, it feels like a personal insult’ and ‘Imagining working at this organization, I would usually say “we” rather than “they”’. The response categories ranged from a 7-point likert scale from 1 ‘totally disagree’ to 7
‘totally agree’ and Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was .67. Because deleting an item in the scale only enlarged Cronbach’s alpha to .68, it was decided to still use all the items.
Self-image congruence was measured by a six-item scale (see appendix B) developed by Sirgy et al. (1997). Example items were: ‘I am very much like the
21 typical management trainee’ and ‘The image of the typical management trainee is
very dissimilar from the kind of person I am’ (reverse coded). The response format was a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ‘totally disagree’ to 7 ‘totally agree’ and Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was .89. The scale that was used measured self-image congruence directly, without measuring the individuals’ perception of the endorser and his or her perception of oneself separately, which is referred to as the ‘traditional method’. In the latter measurement method, self-image congruence is based on measuring the respondent’s perception of the management trainee separately from his or her perception of their self-image, where after the scores are mathematically computed and a discrepancy score gives insight in the amount of congruence.
Research from Sirgy et al. (1997) provided support for the high predictiveness of the new method, which is used in this study, over and beyond the traditional one.
22 RESULTS
Descriptive statistics
The means, standard deviations and correlations for all variables are presented in table 1. The demographic variables showed that age is positively correlated to study phase (r = .54, p < .01). This could be expected, as older students are most of the time further in their study phase than younger ones. Study phase was not related to one of the dependent variables, what could have been possible due to differences in career orientation and eagerness to find a job. Because age and study phase wasn’t related to any dependent variable, it wasn’t taken into further analysis (Becker, 2005). The variables ‘use of an endorser in job advertisement’ (r = .19, p < .05), ‘identification with the organization’ (r = .59, p < .01) and ‘self-image congruence’ (r = .42, p < .01) were all positively correlated to organizational attractiveness (see table 1).
TABLE 1
Means, Standard Deviations and Correlations Between Variables
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Age 24.07 1.85
2. Gender 1.57 .50 -.23*
3. Study phase 2.21 .83 .54** -.09
4. Attraction 4.79 1.20 -.18 -.06 -.07
5. Congruence 4.56 1.26 .13 -.06 .03 .42**
6. Identification 3.99 .96 -.02 -.19* -.02 .59** .26
7. Endorser use .50 .05 -.04 -.02 -.14 .19* - .1
Note: gender was coded 1=male, 2=female; study phase was coded 1= end of bachelor, 2=master, 3=recently graduated, endorser use was coded 0=no endorser, 1=endorser used. N = 110. *p < .05. **p < .01
23 Gender differences and identification
Remarkable is the negative significant correlation between gender and identification with the organization (r = -.19, p < .05), indicating that women identify less with the organization than men.
To highlight the nature of the difference, after the dependent variable
‘identification’ was studied, I split the results into the different conditions: with and without endorsement use (N = 55 for both conditions). I performed a Welch ANOVA analysis to indicate the significant differences between men and women regarding organizational identification. Levene’s test for equality of variances showed a significance level of 0.02, so the variances of both groups were assumed to be unequal, which required the use of a Welch test. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference for identification with the organization between men and women (F = 4.6, p = .03). To specify whether identification with the
organization still differed for men and women when an endorser is used in the job ad, I executed a one-way ANOVA. As Levene’s test for equality of variances showed a non-significant result this time (p = .10), the normal ANOVA test could be
performed. There was no significant difference in identification with the organization when an endorser was used between men and women (F = .07, p = .79). However, when individuals were confronted with the ordinary job advertisement, without an endorser, a significant difference occurred. Men who were confronted with the job ad without a testimonial scored significantly higher on organizational identification than women, which was proven by the Welch ANOVA test (F = 7.63, p < .01). However, the difference was only significant in the condition where respondents viewed the advertisement without the endorsement. Gender has therefore no influence on the
24 hypotheses testing and will not be incorporated into further analysis. The results are
summarized in table 2.
TABLE 2
Summary of (Welch) ANOVA Analyses, Means and Standard Deviations of Gender Predicting Organizational Identification in Different Conditions
Note: *p < .05. **p < .01.
Endorsement use and organizational identification and attractiveness
A MANOVA analysis was performed to indicate whether endorsement use leads to higher organizational identification and attraction. The results appear in table 3.
At the multivariate level, the main effect was not significant. There was no statistically significant difference in response on the job advertisement based on endorser use (p >.05, Wilk's Λ = 0.97, partial η2 = .04). At the univariate level however, the effect was significant for organizational attractiveness.
Participants who received the job ad including the testimonial of a current employee were significantly more attracted to the organization (F = 3.95 , p = 0.05).
Specifically, students who read the advertisement where an endorser was displayed Identification with the
organization
Identification with the organization – endorser used
Identification with the organization – no endorser used Mean SD Welch
statistic
Mean SD F Mean SD Welch statistic
Men 4.20 .74 4.14 .78 4.27 .72
Women 3.83 1.07 4.08 1.02 3.59 1.1
4.6* .07 7.63**
25 scored on average 5.02 on organizational attractiveness and students who viewed the
plain ad 4.57. This supports previous research about the positive relationship between endorsement use and organizational attractiveness.
The results showed no significant difference in perceived organizational identification between respondents who were confronted with the ad including a testimonial and those who received the ordinary ad (F = 1.57, p = .21). Therefore, H1a was not supported.
TABLE 3
Multivariate F, Univariate F’s, η2, Means and Standard Deviations of Measures of Dependent Variables as a Function of Endorsement Use
Note: *p < .05. **p < .01
Organizational identification and organizational attraction
Hypothesis 1b stated that individuals who identified more with the organization were also more attracted to it. As can be seen in table 4, participants indeed felt more attracted towards the organization when they first felt identified with it, which supports H1b (t = 7.33, p = .00).
Endorser (N=55)
No
Endorser (N=55) Multivariate
F(2,107)
Univariate F(1,108)
Partial η2
M SD M SD
Total 1.96 1. Identification 1.57 .014 4.11 .91 3.87 1.00 2. Attraction 3.94* .035 5.02 1.01 4.57 1.33
26 TABLE 4
Results of Regression Analysis for Testing Hypothesis 1b and Mediation Analysis of Testing Hypothesis 1c.
Note: *p < .05. **p < .01
The mediation effect of organizational identification
To test whether identification with the organization mediates the relationship between endorsement use and organizational attractiveness (H1c), I performed a mediation analysis. To directly test the significance of the indirect effect, I executed model 4 of A.F. Hayes’ interactive PROCESS tool (available from www.afhayes.com). The Predictor
Mediator variable
Identification with the organization
B SE t p
Hypothesis 1c
Constant 3.87 .13 29.93 .00
Endorsement use .23 .18 1.25 .12
R2 .01
Dependent variable Organizational attractiveness
B SE t p
Hypothesis 1b
Constant 1.80 .40 4.51 .00
Endorsement use .29 .19 1.52 .13
Identification .71 .10 7.33 .00
R2 .36
Indirect relationship between endorsement use and organizational attractiveness through identification
Indirect effect SE 95% confidence interval
Hypothesis 1c .16 .15 -.10, .48
27 relationship between endorsement use and organizational identification was not found
significant. Individuals who were confronted with the advertising including a
testimonial did not identify more with the organization than respondents who viewed the plain ad. The confidence interval of the indirect relationship between endorsement use and organizational attractiveness, mediated by identification, contained zero, so H1c is not supported (indirect effect = .16, SE = .15, 95% confidence interval: [–
.10, .48]). The mediation analysis is summarized in table 4.
Self-image congruence and Identification
To investigate hypothesis 2, I conducted a regression analysis where self-image congruence predicted identification with the organization. Because self-image congruence with the endorser could only occur in the condition where the endorser was displayed in the job ad, I tested the relationship between self-image congruence and identification for the endorsement use condition (N = 55). This analysis showed that self-image congruence did relate marginally significantly to organizational identification (t = 1.93, p = .059). This result, however, is based on two-sided testing, whereas a one-sided test yielding a significant result was allowed as the direction of the relationship was hypothesized. Therefore, it can be concluded that some support was found for H2.
Although no formal hypotheses were made about a direct effect of self-image congruence on organizational attractiveness, a regression analysis revealed that recognizing oneself in the endorser to a higher extent strengthens organizational attractiveness (t = 2.75, p = .008). This means that self-image congruence has also a positive influence on attraction towards an organization (see Table 5).
28 TABLE 5
Summary of Regression Analyses for Self-image Congruence Predicting Organizational Identification and Attractiveness
Note: *p < .10. **p < .05
Organizational attractiveness Organizational identification
Variable B SE B β B SE B β
Congruence .26 .10 .33** .19 .10 .26*
R2 .18 .07
F 11.52 3.72
29 DISCUSSION
In this research, the underlying process of the relationship between endorsement use in job advertisement and organizational attractiveness was studied. The main goal of this study was to understand why endorsement use predicts organizational
attractiveness and when this underlying process was even strengthened. Expected was that the use of testimonials in recruitment ads increases organizational identification, which influences job seekers attractiveness towards the organization. Moreover, it was proposed that when a job seeker recognizes himself in the endorser,
organizational identification would be even higher.
Theoretical implications
The results supported previous research about the positive influence of endorsement use in advertising on organizational attractiveness (Walker, Feild, Giles, Armenakis &
Bernerth, 2009). It was also proven that organizational identification can be formed in the early stage of the recruitment process and that higher identification leads to more attractiveness towards the company. This adds evidence to existing literature about the emergence of organizational identification (Celani & Singh, 2011). Moreover, it extends current theory about the antecedents of organizational attractiveness (Acarlar
& Bilgic, 2013; Feldman et al., 2006). However, results did not confirm any relationship between endorsement use and organizational identification and a
mediating effect of the latter between testimonial use and organizational attractiveness was therefore not found. People who were confronted with recruitment advertising that used a testimonial as personification of the company, to humanize the
organization, did not score significantly higher on organizational identification than people who viewed an ordinary job ad.
30 An explanation for this lack of significant difference can be that the
testimonial that was displayed in this research was not vivid and rich enough.
Consumer psychology theories propose that richer message attracts more attention.
Using colors, pictures and even videos in the testimonial enhances attention and elaboration of viewers and is more effective in communicating complex material (Tybout & Artz, 1994). It could therefore be possible that respondents did not pay enough attention to the testimonial, as it was a plain text without a picture or further enriching elements.
Another explanation could be that the testimonial did not strengthen the recruitment ad because the information in the quote did not repeat the information in the main text. As explained by Fennis and Stroebe (2010), mere exposure of
information that requires systematic processing, as a job advertisement, increases the likelihood that people form favorable attitudes towards the ad and the organization behind it. In addition, repeating information in a job advertisement with a maximum of three times makes the ad more likeable. In the job advertisement that was used in this research, the quote of the trainee did not contain content that was also already mentioned in the main text. Adding the testimonial could therefore have been much more influential when there was some repetition of organizational values and opportunities as stated in the main text.
Taking a closer look to this main text could give even more insight in why organizational identification was not influenced by endorser use. Early research on message specificity already revealed that concreteness and explicitness of the text used in advertisement leads to more favorable opinions about the displayed product or organization (Macklin, Bruvold, & Shea, 1985). Moreover, informativeness of a text or advertisement is the strongest predictor of ad likeability and attitudes towards the
31 advertising company (Aaker & Stayman, 1990). Since the main text of the recruitment
advertisement as used in this study was already explicit, concrete and informative, it could have been possible that the addition of the ‘human face’ did not gain more favorable attitudes towards the presented firm. Adding the testimonial could have been more effective when the main text in the advertisement was briefer and less concrete.
Personification of an organization through giving it a human face and voice did not have a positive influence on identification with the organization. Self-image congruence with the endorser did however relate marginally significantly to
organizational identification. This give some support for the theory that people can identify more with organizations when they recognize themselves in current employees (Tsui, Egan & O’Reilly, 1992).
Remarkable was that self-image congruence did have a positive influence on organizational attractiveness. In the condition where the endorser was used in the recruitment advertisement, self-image congruence had a positive direct effect on attraction towards the organization. This contributes to existing literature about the influence of endorsements in recruitment activities. Research already revealed that job seekers’ exposure to endorsement in recruitment activities leads to more favorable attitudes about the recruiting organization (Collins & Stevens, 2002). The results of this study extent this implication by displaying that a higher level of self-image congruence with the endorser relates to more organizational attraction. Self-image congruence itself has also already proven to be effective in recruitment activities.
Earlier research shows that when job seekers’ self-image matches the intangible characteristics that are used to make trait inferences about companies (like
‘innovativeness’ or ‘dominance) as exposed in job ads, they feel more attracted
32 towards the organization (Nolan & Harold, 2010). The findings of this research
contribute to this existing theory about self-image congruence and organizational attractiveness in recruitment advertising by specifically testing this congruence process when using testimonials.
A noteworthy finding was the significant difference between men and women regarding identification with the organization when they were exposed to the ordinary job ad, without the endorser. Men could more easily identify with the organization as presented in the advertisement than women. This could be clarified by the word use of the advertisement. As explained by Taris and Bok (1998), job descriptions and
specifications may contain words that are more typical for men or women. For example, ‘having good communication skills’ is more a feminine phrase and ‘have a commercial feeling’ is more masculine. Women tend to react stronger to this
difference in wording than men. When women are exposed with an advertisement that contains more masculine words, they implicitly feel that they are not qualified enough for the job and are less able to identify with current workers. The advertisement used in this study incorporated two feminine words (team player, customer oriented) and five masculine words (success, ambitious, analytical skills, results oriented and independent), which can explain the difference in reactions on the advertisement between men and women.
Another explanation of this difference can be find in theory about the difference in self-esteem of men and women. Men tend to be more self-confident when it comes to their personality (Gentile, Grabe, Dolan-Pascoe, Twenge, Wells, &
Maitino, 2009). They are not put off when a vacancy includes a long list of criteria or demanded characteristics. The vacancy that was used in this study had more than ten
33 personal characteristics in it, which could have raised some doubt by women whether
they could meet all the expectations.
Limitations and future research
The present study has some weaknesses. An important limitation is that the sample used in this research has a broad scope of study backgrounds, which does not all match the target group of the recruitment advertisement. The job ad was offering a consultancy traineeship that is not in the field of interest of all participants. This could have biased the results, as respondents who did not have interest in a consultancy traineeship per se already had a negative attitude towards the vacancy. Future research on recruitment advertisement should work with a sample of respondents that are already interested in a specific function or internship, so the pure manipulation could be tested. In that way the chance that someone reacts differently because the opening job is not in his or her field of interest is ruled out.
Second, the job opening was specifically targeted at academically graduates.
This means that the results are not applicable to all kinds of recruitment practices and mostly suitable for campus or graduate recruitment. To expand the insights of this study about self-image congruence and organizational identification and attractiveness and its applicability to a broad scope of recruitment practices, future research could focus on different target groups like senior or executive positions.
Third, the present research focuses completely on organizational attractiveness. As proposed by Acarlar and Bilgic (2013), organizational attractiveness is an antecedent of willingness to apply. Without a job seeker’s willingness to apply, the recruitment procedure would not get started and the
individual will not be in the pool of suitable applicants. Only measuring the degree of
34 organizational attractiveness is therefore not enough to make inferences about the
number of applicants that will react after being exposed to the recruitment advertisement. Future studies could research the effect of endorsement use on willingness to apply and investigate whether organizational attraction functions as a mediator between these constructs.
Fourth, in this research ‘attraction towards the organization’ is measured as the attractiveness towards the organization that is offering a job, using items that blend job and organizational attractiveness, where as identification is exclusively focusing on the organization. Future studies could specifically focus on the offered job or the recruiting organization to rule out interaction effects.
This research did not offer an answer on the question why endorsement use has a positive influence on organizational attractiveness. There is no prove that endorsement use is related to organizational identification. Optimizing the testimonial in the experiment by adding vivid and enriching elements and repeat information that is already stated in the main text can gain some new insights in the mediating role of organizational identification. Also keeping the main text briefer can generate a different effect of endorsement use.
To gain alternative insights in the underlying process between testimonial use and attractiveness, variables that explain attraction towards an organization could be investigated. Constructs that can serve as a mediator and are proven to lead to
attractiveness in recruitment advertisement could be ‘credibility of the advertisement’,
‘perceived appropriateness of the job’ and ‘perceived informativeness of the ad’
(Acarlar & Bilgic, 2013; Feldman et al., 2006).
This research showed that self-image congruence with the endorser is a predictor of organizational attraction and marginally of organizational identification.
35 It can be interesting for future research to investigate whether identification serves as
mediator between self-image congruence and organizational attractiveness and to assess self-image congruence in other contexts than endorsement use. In the latter case, the values of the organization as displayed in recruitment advertisement can for example be related to personal values to measure self-image congruence.
Finally, the remarkable difference between the reactions of men and women on the ordinary job ad can be interesting for future research. As proven by Born and Taris (2012), women are more attracted to an opening vacancy when the job
advertisement contains feminine words. It could therefore be worthwhile to investigate whether the gender of the endorser has influence on the reactions of women towards the recruiting organization.
Implications for practice
Organizations need to recruit potential employees that fit their organizational values and are a perfect match to the opening vacancy. Hiring someone who perfectly matches the new job increases performance and satisfaction, what will lead to a competitive advantage (Carlson et al., 2002). Before selecting the employee that ultimately matches the criteria, a pool of talented applicants should be created.
Several studies confirm that recruitment advertisement affect the quality of the applicant pool, which have consequences for the selection of the most suitable
workforce (Carlson et al., 2002; Kirnan et al., 1989). This study gives meaning to the theory that the content of the recruitment advertisement influences the applicant pool.
The results show that when job seekers’ recognize themselves in an endorser as displayed in a recruitment advertisement, they feel more attracted to an organization.
This implies that adding an endorsement to a job ad can attract likeminded
36 individuals. So, constructing a testimonial in such a way that it represents the ideal
candidate will attract individuals that perfectly match the opening job. The testimonial should contain information about experience, opportunities and work atmosphere, so a broad scope of someone’s personality and experience is addressed. It is wise to
choose a member from the current workforce that is a classic example of the optimal employee to provide a testimonial.
Incorporating the endorsement of the perfect worker in the job ad brings the organization a step closer to the target group of high quality applicants. Carefully paying attention to the recruitment advertisement by including an endorser that reflects the ideal candidate can therefore be a perfect tool to incorporate in (campus) recruitment strategy to enhance job satisfaction and increase organizational
performance.
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44 APPENDIX A
Scenario 1 and 2 of the experiment
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- Develop yourself with the help of a senior consultant and a personal development plan
We look for someone who:
- Is academically graduated
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- Is independent but also a team player - Is results and customer oriented
Are you driven and do you see extraordinary solutions to complex problems? Are you confident that consultancy is the work field that you will have your career in? Do you want to work for one of the top advisory concerns of the world? Apply for our traineeship!
Figure 1 - Scenario 1
