Topic: Recruiting
Publication: International Journal of Selection and Assessment
Article: Does image matter to different job applicants? The influences of corporate
image and applicant individual differences on organizational attractiveness
Authors: W-C. Tsai & I. W-F. Yang
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger
From a recruitment perspective, an organization’scorporate imagerefers to job seekers’ shared beliefs about the organization’s characteristics (i.e., attributes). These beliefs basically serve as information about the potential “employment conditions” within an organization and thus its corporate image can play a big role in determining whether or not it attracts top talent. Recently, Tsai and Yang (2010) have extended the research on corporate image by arguing that corporate image is comprised of as many as four dimensions: (1) product image, (2) service image, (3) citizenship image and (4) credibility image.
So what exactly do these dimensions of corporate image reflect?
Product image – Job seekers’ perceptions of the innovativeness and quality of the
organization’s products.
Service image – Job seekers’ perceptions of the customer orientation of the
organization.
Citizenship image – Job seekers’ perceptions of the organization’s
involvement in environmental protection and community development.
Credibility image – Job seekers’ perceptions of the trustworthiness
and reliability of the organization.
Tsai and Yang’s results suggest that three of the four corporate image dimensions are important determinants of job seekers’ attraction to an organization: product, citizenship, and credibility.
Overall, Tsai and Yang’s results suggest that job seekers use several sources of information to infer attributes of different organizations that ultimately impact their attraction to those organizations. This study can guide organizations to construct their employment advertisements, which should focus on the innovativeness and quality of the organization’s products, its involvement in community and environmental initiatives, and its track record of trustworthiness and reliability.
Tsai, W-C., & Yang, I. W-F. (2010). Does image matter to different job applicants? The influences of corporate image and applicant individual differences on organizational attractiveness. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 18(1), 48-63.