How Can Employers Signal Trustworthiness to Job Seekers? Determinants of Employer Reputation

Abstract

"Reputation is often seen as a mechanism for solving problems of incomplete information in matching job seekers and employers. We conducted our study on this matching process from the job seeker perspective and analyze how job seekers use perceived firm reputation to assess its attractiveness as a possible employer. Our theoretical framework is based on the idea that job seekers use available information on firms’ behavior toward society and customers as a reputation signal to perform the best possible assessment of how employers treat their employees. We conducted a factorial survey with a sample of 183 employed respondents to analyze the attractiveness of different hypothetical job offers. Our results show that higher firm engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and more generous warranty policies enhance the attractiveness of such firms as employers; such attractiveness can also be affected by the salary and degree of the firm’s publicity. The results are also stable if we consider only cases of unknown employers. This shows that respondents consider employers’ good behavior, even if others are not aware of it. We therefore conclude that the motive of impressing others with a good employer is less important for our respondents. Our hypothetical job seekers also seem to use employers’ good behavior to assess how they treat their employees." (Author's abstract, © Springer Nature ((en))

Cite article

Abraham, M., Gniza, J. & Ostermann, K. (2021): How Can Employers Signal Trustworthiness to Job Seekers? Determinants of Employer Reputation. In: I. Krumpal, W.Raub, A. Tutić (eds) (2021): Rationality in Social Science, Wiesbaden, Springer VS p. 269-292. DOI:10.1007/978-3-658-33536-6_13