Despite ample research showing the importance of corporate reputation in recruiting, knowledge about how companies work with employer branding is still limited. This first academic study in this topic is based on a comprehensive empirical data set systematized to a description of employer branding using a grounded theory approach. The description illustrates a process with three phases: brand input, brand support, and brand evaluation. Each phase is related to the messages enclosed in the brand. A comparative analysis of the empirical description and marketing literature shows that the underlying reasoning in branding at the labor market is quite similar to branding at the customer market. However, several important differences were also highlighted, indicating that employer branding is a multi-disciplinary phenomenon. The most surprising difference is a widespread homogeneity in the companies’ employer branding. This contrasts the emphasis on uniqueness in the marketing literature. A further analysis of this finding generated four homogenizing dimensions: time, industry, geography and corporate demographics. Each contains a number of corporate populations with companies similar in the dimension’s point of reference. Since the dimensions are not specific for the labor market a further analysis of the theoretical arguments for heterogeneity and homogeneity was motivated. This shows that there are economic as well as social arguments for both homo- and heterogeneity. From an economic perspective a heterogeneous employer branding creates a cost advantage, because with an attractive unique reputation a company can pay lower salaries than competitors for a given position. On the other hand a homogeneous branding generates cost advantages when the company benchmarks competitors or respects the institutional norms. From a social perspective a heterogeneous branding contributes to a distinct corporate identity, while a homogenous branding avoids social isolation. Consequently, homogeneity provides advantages that heterogeneity does not and vice versa. Companies therefore level the arguments. The balance is more likely to lean towards homogeneity when 1) the companies belongs to the same corporate population in one or many of the homogenizing dimensions and 2) a branding component relatively easily can be benchmarked or is connected with explicit and strong institutional norms. The balancing act signifies that a homogeneous branding is not a product of institutional determinism, but that the corporate populations give rise to different social identities and that the companies according to a logic of appropriateness act in a way that is rational given their specific situation and context. Thus, this logic creates coherent cohorts.

Organisational Identity (i.e. OI) could be described as an employee theory of who the organisation is. The concept is seen as one of the most problematic concepts to define. One of the main reasons for that is its close relation to the concepts of culture and image, as they are seen as defining each other. As expressed in previous research there is a need for theoretical clarification and investigations in practice in this area. We aim to contribute to an OI concept clarification and theoretical understanding by investigating OI in a single case at a Swedish company; Sapa Heat Transfer. The aim is fulfilled by a focus on research questions concerning how different employee groups perceive the organisational identity at this company, how the organisational identity can be described at the company and how the sum of these answers may develop the organisational identity concept further. In order to investigate OI at Sapa Heat Transfer we have used four qualitative methods; one to one informational interview with key personnel, observations, desk research and focus groups, where focus groups was the main data collection method. A key for this triangulation was to generate a deep contextual understanding in order to facilitate a separation between identity, culture and image making a definition of the OI possible. Our findings show the organisational identity at SHT as being built on four cornerstones; Responsibility, Engagement, Willingness and Energy. The OI at SHT is to be considered as weak rather than strong regarding the OI strength. There is a strong culture resulting in an "industrial mentality" regarding the employees. Our results are showing that the culture might appear as OI, i.e. false OI, if the present OI is weak. There might be multiple OIs at the company, which we are rejecting. Instead our results are showing an existence of multiple cognitive perspectives, functioning as cognitive platforms creating the employee perceptions of the OI. At SHT the perspectives are demonstrated to be developed by vocations, positions, departments, units/divisions and/or work groups. The individual perspective taken is dependent on the employee perceived belongingness. An alignment of all existing employee perspectives will define the true OI at a company. Further, the OI perspective framework presented could facilitate a separation between OI and culture if a time perspective is applied, since our results is indicating culture to be connected to a past time perspective and OI seems to be related to a present. Our results are presenting OI as changeable within limits, developed within a culture frame, possible to make explicit but at the same time occurring mainly unconsciously. Finally, our results have defined a need for a complementing category, regarding behaviouristic characteristics, among the categories presented as potential OI content characteristics within the Balmer and Greyser (2002) framework.

Inom kunskapsbaserade yrken är det viktigt att rekrytera kompetent personal. Med hjälp av employer branding ökar möjligheten för företag att stärka sin attraktionskraft mot framtida potentiell arbetskraft. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka samt att jämföra hur Deloitte, KPMG, Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers samt Ernst & Young marknadsför sig som arbetsgivare mot Uppsalas ekonomistudenter. Fokus ligger på hur företagens frontpersoner, samt de evenemang företagen genomför, påverkar företagens attraktionskraft. Utifrån employer branding-teorier och med hjälp av intervjuer med studentkoordinatorerna på de undersökta företagen samt en undersökning av företagens evenemang har slutsatser dragits kring hur dessa faktorer påverkar hur attraktivt ett företag, enligt Universums Företagsbarometer, är hos ekonomistudenter på Uppsala universitet. Undersökningen visar att en stark studentkoordinator kan hjälpa företaget att klättra på rankingen, men också skada det långsiktiga employer branding-arbetet. Evenemangen i sig visar sig vara av mindre betydelse än de frontpersoner som representerar företagen i mötet med studenterna.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> <w:UseFELayout /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object><mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --> <!--[endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Garamond; panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:9.0pt; margin-left:0cm; text-align:justify; text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Garamond; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normal tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} --> <!--[endif]--> Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine what attributes graduating students prefer when choosing their first employer after graduation. Background: To attract good employees are becoming more and more important. Since there are over 60 000 students graduating every year from universities in Sweden, it is crucial for organizations to know how to best attract these talents. It is generally small- and medium sized companies (SMC’s) that have problem since they don’t have the resources to find information and brand themselves as good employers, and hence, large multinational companies are being ranked as the most attractive employers. If these SMC’s would know what attributes the graduate students find most important, they would be able to focus on those and more successfully attract the students suitable for their organization. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose, an exploratory study had been made. Quantitative data was collected by a delivery and collection questionnaire, which was handed out in classes at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and Jönköping School of Engineering (JTH). The findings in this thesis are based on 124 graduating students preferred job attributes. Conclusion: When looking at JIBS and JTH in total, the students find attributes relating to responsibilities and involvement in decision making to be the most important. However, when only looking at JTH, the students value job security and good relationship at the workplace over other attributes. At JIBS, graduate students are attracted to jobs where they can take responsibility and make further career advancements.

Employer branding has become an increasingly popular subject among practitioners. In order to gain competitive advantage it is claimed that companies should hold the best employees. However, in this thesis it is argued that the purposes of employer branding and HRM are strikingly alike, since they both aim to attract and retain employees. Earlier research lacks to explain how companies work with employer branding. Therefore, it is reasonable to wonder how employer branding is practiced and whether employer branding contributes something of value to the company, especially to HRM. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether employer branding contributes to HRM regarding attraction and retention of employees. A qualitative case study was conduced and the findings show that employer branding can contribute to HRM by: (1) giving HRM incentives to approach the whole spectra of employees; potential, current as well as former employees, (2) facilitating the maintenance of the corporate culture and (3) enabling a way for HRM to take a strategic approach.

Denna studie utgår från fältet PR och marknadskommunikation med inriktning mot employer branding. Landstinget i Jönköpings län har nyligen inlett ett arbete med employer branding och som ett led i detta arbete söker de nu kunskap om vad som bör kommuniceras till presumtiva medarbetare för att på så sätt skapa ett attraktivt employer brand. Syftet med studien var att identifiera de attribut som Landstinget i Jönköpings län med fördel kan lyfta fram i den marknadskommunikation som riktas till presumtiva medarbetare. För att besvara syftet utfördes en kvantitativ enkätundersökning bland studenter vid Högskolan i Jönköping för att få en bild av vilka attribut de ansåg viktiga hos en arbetsgivare samt hur de såg på Landstinget som arbetsgivare. För att få ytterligare substans i studien valde vi att ställa resultaten mot teorier om inre och yttre motivation för att på så sätt undersöka vilken typ av motivaton som de tillfrågade studenterna drivs av när de väljer arbetsgivare. Studiens resultat ger en tydlig bild av vad som anses vara mest respektive minst attraktivt hos en arbetsgivare, där goda relationer med kollegor är det attribut som värderats högst och förmånersamt bonus värderats lägst av respondenterna. Goda relationer med kollegor är även det attribut som respondenterna ansåg som mest troligt att Landstinget kunde erbjuda som arbetsgivare. Sammanfattningsvis har studiens resultat visat att psykologiska attribut som kan härledas till inre motivation är de som värderats mest attraktiva. Vidare visar resultatet att de ekonomiska attributen, som kan härledas till yttre motivation, inte anses vara lika attraktiva. Studenterna vid de olika utbildningsprogramen som ingick i studien visade sig värdera attraktivitet och image på ett likvärdigt sätt, vilket har möjliggjort en rekommendation av ett employer value proposition för Landstinget i Jönköpings län.

Problem: Companies are facing problems concerning the attraction and retention of talented employees, due to the shortage of individuals with competence. Employer Branding is a relatively new concept that can function as an instrument for firms to position themselves as an employer, in order to attract and retain wanted employees. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the field of Employer Branding in the context of recruitment and retaining. The study examines the questions of how and why Employer Branding is implemented in firms and what role such implementation plays in Human Resource Management, in the context of recruitment and retaining processes. Methodology: This study has been made with a qualitative approach, with a descriptive and exploratory purpose a case study approach. Data has primarily been collected through interviews at five different companies with knowledge within the area of Employer Branding. Findings: Employer Branding can be utilized both externally to attract potential employees, and internally to increase commitment and loyalty among current employees. In the context of recruitment, Employer Branding can make the process more effective. For the Employer Brand to be trustworthy and successful the consistency between the internal values and the external image is vital.

Kommunikation är en grundläggande källa till spridning av kunskap med en påverkan på både individ och samhälle varpå ett intresse föreligger i att undersöka fenomenet närmare. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka sociala representationer potentiella medarbetare har av ett attraktivt Employer Brand. Vidare syftar studien till att kartlägga sociala representationer av Länsförsäkringar Skaraborgs Employer Brand. Empirin samlades in genom enkäter och i studien ingick 207 högskolestudenter. Resultatet visade att Symboliska Image-attribut värderas högre än Funktionella Image-attribut men att båda dimensionerna är betydande gällande ett attraktivt Employer Brand. Resultatet påvisade att respondenternas sociala representationer av Länsförsäkringar Skaraborg främst är kopplade till deras kundvarumärke och inte till dem som arbetsgivare. Vid jämförelsen av värderingen mellan Attraktiv Arbetsgivare och Länsförsäkringar Skaraborg och erhöll Länsförsäkringar Skaraborg ett generellt lägre medelvärde.

This thesis investigated how information on a firm’s website presented with richmedia employee testimonials differs compared to a poor media descriptioncommunicating the same content in its ability to positively influence potential jobseekersperceptions about a firms employer brand values, in particular social valuedue to its potential in differentiation. A problem was identified being that firms areexperiencing difficulties with communicating social value of the firm to potential jobseekers. The authors used a mixed-method research design containing explorativeexpert interviews, an explanatory experiment where potential job-seekers wereexposed to two different versions of a firms’ website (one containing rich mediaemployee testimonial, and one containing a written text description of the samecontent), and a number of focus groups with the aim to further explain the findingsfrom the experiment. The findings indicate that rich media employee testimonials embedded in afirm's website increase potential job-seekers perceptions about a firm in terms of bothsocial value and identification with the firm. These findings suggest that firms shouldconsider using rich media employee testimonials on their career websites as analternative to the more commonly used poor media written descriptions.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka huruvida en arbetstagares bristande identifiering med sin organisation kan predicera dennes intention att lämna sin anställning inom den ideella sektorn. För att kunna ge en nyanserad bild av sambandet mellan minskad organisatorisk identifikation och intentionen att sluta delades variabeln in i två dimensioner: externt konstruerad organisationsbild samt upplevd organisatorisk identifikation. Undersökningsdata bestod av enkätsvar från 65 tjänstemän arbetandes hos en idéburen organisation. Resultatet visade att upplevd organisatorisk identifikation predicerar intentionen att sluta men att inget sådant samband fanns för den externt konstruerade organisationsbilden. Vidare fanns heller inget samband mellan en arbetstagares anställningstid, ålder eller kön och intentionen att sluta. Något som kan ha sin förklaring i studiens mer generella operationalisering av den externt konstruerade organisationsbilden, studiens låga interna varians samt svarsfrekvens. Till sist efterfrågas en breddning av forskningsområdet till att också inkludera arbetstagare med olika typer av funktionsnedsättning eller HBTQ-tillhörighet.