Social media, a communication tool for employer attractiveness criteria in the employer branding concept: an exploratory study

This study explores what attracts talents to organizations in the employer branding concept. In-depth interviews with master students revealed 88 attractiveness criteria, offering valuable insights into what information is sought by talents and what they perceive as an attractive employer. The instrumental-symbolic framework was used to structure the criteria. Because of the increased and worldwide use of social media, this study also investigates how social media can be used as a communication tool for the employer branding attractiveness criteria. Therefore a conceptual framework was developed and tested. To select the organizations for the testing an extensive selection method was used. First organizations from different Fortune 500 rankings were selected. Next, they were tested on their social media activities and finally they were tested on the strength of their employer branding activities. Results show that social media page(s) were missing attractiveness criteria and that improvements can be made. This study contributes to scientific research by providing new insights into the usages of social media as a communication tool for employer branding. The discussion reveals theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research opportunities