European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 18, Number 3 (2011)

Relationship between Perceived Employer Branding and Intention to Apply: Evidence from Pakistan
Khurram Shahzad Corresponding Author, Faculty of Management Sciences Riphah International University, Pakistan E-mail: kshahzad78@yahoo.com Asma Gul Faculty of Management Sciences, Riphah International University, Pakistan Khurram Khan Faculty of Management Sciences, Riphah International University, Pakistan Rabia Zafar Faculty of Management Sciences, Riphah International University, Pakistan Abstract The present study revolves around two major dimensions of the recruitment function i.e. perceived employer branding and the intention to apply from the potential candidates. Data was gathered through questionnaires from 101 students of different universities who were near to start their career. To test the employer branding, questions were asked about the telecom companies of Pakistan. Students provided answers by perceiving the image of these companies in their minds. Results indicated that employer branding is positively associated with applicants intention to apply. If organizations want to attract more qualified people they need to be attractive as an employer by focusing on different factors which contribute towards employer branding, in this way they can increase the applicants intention to apply.

Keywords: Employer branding, intention to apply, telecom companies, graduating students, Pakistan.

1. Introduction
For any organization provided with all the financial and strategic support with latest possible technologies and proactive innovative measures, the major driving force to lead it up from one step to another is its workforce. Organizations can attract better workforce only, when it has a positive image as an employer. Therefore employer branding or organizational image play a vital role in intention to apply and job choice decisions of applicants. Initial job choice decisions are highly correlated to the image of an organization held by potential applicants (Gatewood, Gowan & Lautenschlager, 1993). Why applicants are attracted toward a particular organization? According to Cable and Judge (1994), job seekers focus on different characteristics of organization such as reputation, location, pay level and person-organization fit. Perceptions of person job (PJ) fit have significant positive relationship with job application attitude and job application intention (Van-Hooft, Born, Taris & Flier, 2006). Thus the organizations that are more familiar to respondents are more likely to have positive reputations and are rated as more attractive employers (Daniel, Turban & Greening, 1997). In the same 462

European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 18, Number 3 (2011) way organizational image and reputation influence the quality and size of organizations applicant pool (Turban & Cable, 2003). Hence it can be said that the corporate image is a symbolization of available information to an individual at a given time and positive corporate image can attract more potential job seekers towards organization (Liang, & Wei, 2009). It is the initial corporate image that can influence the potential applicants decision to apply because image influences attraction which ultimately shows an effect on intention to apply in a particular organization (Collins & Stevens, 2001). Purpose of this study was to explore the importance of the employer branding in the culture of Pakistan. In comparison to world, organizations of Pakistan are also focusing on the concept of employer branding because employer branding has gained much recognition among practicing managers in recent years (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). In past, there was not much focus on the organizational image and people were least concerned with name of the organization but in the recent times the trend is changing and people are getting the awareness of the concept of the employer branding. Now organizations pay attention on the name of the company as well as its culture because they are facing severe competition from each other and they can win this competition war successfully if they have good corporate image with qualified and talented employees. Therefore this study focuses on some key factors that directly or indirectly add to perceived employer branding of the respective company in the mind of the potential candidates and how these aspects affect their intention to apply in an organization.

2. Literature Review
Previous literature suggests that positive employer branding increases the applicants intention to apply. Employer branding is defined as the efforts of the organizations (both within and outside the organization) to promote a clear view of attributes which make them desirable and different as an employer (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). When organizations are perceived as attractive employers due to their performance in regard to quality products and services, treatment of the environment, and issues of diversity, it leads them to attainment of competitive advantage (Daniel et al., 1997). According to Lievens, Van Hoye and Anseel (2007), employee identification and applicant attractiveness are closely associated with organizational identification and organizational image. Individuals seek the job in the organization with high positive image (Liang, & Wei, 2009) because potential job candidate interprets organizational image as a signal of certain organizational aspects and values, and thus develops positive or negative feelings based on that interpretation (Smith, Bauer & Cable, 2001). More applicants are attracted toward organizations that have positive reputation and these organizations can be more selective in choosing higher-quality applicants to interview (Turban & Cable, 2003). Awang. and Jusoff (2009) found that three elements of corporate reputation (a) emotional appeal towards the services, (b) emotional appeal towards the firm, and (c) corporate social responsibility of the firm; contribute highly to the corporate reputation of the firm. According to Lemmink, Schuijf and Streukens (2003), building an image is very important and has strong relationships with application intentions of students. Lievens and Highhouse (2003) examined that intentions toward the company, its attractiveness, and prestige are different but interconnected with each other. Lievens and Van Hoye (2005) concluded that three dimensions of employer branding i.e. employer image, employer familiarity, and employer reputation are significant predictors of attractiveness. The organizational attraction has a positive relationship with familiarity of firm (Turban, 2001) and similarly job seekers' familiarity with employer is positively associated with their reputation beliefs (Cable & Graham, 2000) and these beliefs can be managed during the anticipatory stage of socialization (Cable, Aiman-Smith , Mulvey & Edwards, 2000). Martin, Beaumont, Doig and Pate (2005) while explaining the importance of organizational image said that strong external image development is important component of organizational strategy. Image is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to intentions to leave the organization (Riordan, Gatewood & Bill, 1997). Therefore job applicants are more likely to pursue jobs at firms with positive reputations 463

European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 18, Number 3 (2011) because they feel pride from association with that firm and make inferences about their job attributes on these bases (Cable & Turban, 2003). Puusa and Tolvanen (2006) examined that strong organizational identity has significant influence on identification and as a result the creation of trust. Turban (2001) proposed that organizations are seemed as highly attractive employers because of various organizational activities, i.e. advertising, recruitment and public relations, which make potential applicants to build positive image of company. Word of mouth also has a strong effect on attractiveness of organization, even in the presence of recruitment advertising (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). Companies that lack good reputations should focus on developing programs that boost goodwill (Bailey, 2005) because higher the positive perception of firm greater will be the applicant pool (Turban & Cable, 2003). Specific information about recruitment, organization attributes perception and PO fit highly influences application intentions (Roberson, Collins & Oreg, 2005). Hypothesis: The review of empirical literature reveals that perceived employer branding is positively associated with intention to apply.

3. Methodology
The study measures the relationship between perceived employer branding and intention to apply in Pakistan. For perceived employer branding, items were adopted from measures applied by Harris and Fink (1987). Intention to apply was measured by adopting items from study of Highhouse, Lievens and Sinar (2003). All items were measured on a five point likert scale. According to the nature of topic, data was collected from the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students of different universities. These respondents were selected because they were in the final year of their degree program and prepared to start their career soon. Therefore it was important to know the brand image of organizations in the mind of these respondents. For research, telecom sector was selected because telecom companies are doing a good job and perceived as attractive employer by applicants. To collect the data 110 questionnaires were distributed among the students. Out of 110 questionnaires, 101 complete questionnaires were included in the analysis while 9 incomplete questionnaires were ignored. SPSS software was used to check the reliability of data and to run the correlation and regression.

4. Results
The relationship between employer branding and intention to apply is analyzed by correlation and regression technique.
Table 1: Correlation Analysis
Employer Branding 1 .723** Intention to apply .723** 1

Employer Branding Intention to apply **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

In the study, correlation analysis shows a strong and positive relationship between employer branding and applicants intention to apply. According to the hypothesis the image of the organization is positively correlated (.723**) with intention to apply. The results indicate that organizational attractiveness has a strong impact in the mind of potential candidates, therefore, affects their intention to apply. The correlation is in expected direction hence supporting the hypotheses of our study.
Table 2: Regression analysis
Beta Intention to apply Employer Branding .723 t 1.108 10.415 Significance .271 .000

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European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 18, Number 3 (2011) Regression analysis indicates that the value of R square is .523 showing that there is 52.3% variation in applicants intention to apply in an organization due to employer branding while 47.7% remained unexplored. It shows that the value of R square is highly significant and model fits the data well. The value of F=108.479 is significant at .000 level. Beta value is .723 for employer branding, which is significant at the .000 level. The positive beta weights that if intention to apply is to be increased, it is necessary to increase the organizational image / employer branding.

5. Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations

Study examines the relationship between perceived employer branding and intention to apply. Results indicate that there is a significant and strong relationship between employer branding and applicants intention to apply in organizations of Pakistan. So our findings are consistent with previous findings. The image of any organization plays a significant role in attracting the experienced and well qualified workforce. Therefore organizations use this image and brand to recruit and retain the best talented people in the employment environment (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). In Pakistan organizations with a good repute and strong market image are able to attract more applicants with good talent because good reputation can help organizations to attract applicants to a given job with less salary as compared to the organizations that have poor reputations (Cable & Turban, 2003). Employer branding can be increased through certain things. First of all the overall image of an organization really matters, organizations should care about employees, provide appropriate training programs, pleasant work environment, co-operative staff, competitive salary, strong work security, good career path, opportunities to use the abilities of employees and interesting and different tasks. The person-job fit, person-organization fit and non monetary rewards are also very important factors while designing recruitment activity. On the basis of above discussion it can be recommended to organizations that they must focus on the factors which add value in the creation of good employer branding including good and relax work environment, appropriate training programs, co-operative staff, competitive salary, strong work security, good career path, non monetary rewards and motivation to all the employees. Freeman and Albinger (2000) suggested that an organizations corporate social responsibility provide it with competitive advantage to attract applicants to the organization. Organizations can express their positive image through effective advertisements (Gatewood et al., 1993). These advertisements can gives sufficient information to job seekers about the organization and consequently applicants perceive the culture and their fit with organization.

Limitations
This study has some limitations which can be reduced by further research on this issue. Currently the research focuses on the overall brand image and applicants intention to apply but in future specific dimensions of employer branding can be studied. The study was tested on the students but in future with some changes, it can be applied on the employees working in the organizations to explore their thoughts about the image of organization. In this study only telecom sector was focused but in future research other sectors can be included.

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European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 18, Number 3 (2011)

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