Competing for Future Leaders

Employer marketing in public administration will become one of the most important functions in the light of shrinking labor supply due to future demographic change. For a successful development of human resource selection and marketing measures, public administration needs to know more about its perception as an attractive employer and what implications employer attractiveness has for the behavioral trends of potential employees. Using data from a sample of university students, this study tests a theoretical framework of employer attractiveness. Against the background of person–organization fit theory, the results show significant differences between the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic work motives. Overall, the results support the hypothesized relationship between public service motivation and attractiveness of public sector organizations and its impact on behavioral trends like intention to apply for a job or to recommend an employer.