La Búsqueda de la Verdad. De una resistencia pasiva a la Satyagraha

In recent years, organisation attraction and choice has been closely aligned with marketing principles in an attempt to further the understanding of the applicant’s decision making (Collins & Stevens, 2002; Highhouse, Lievens, & Sinar, 2003; Keller, 1993).

The alignment is plausible due to the use of marketing and advertising involved in the recruitment and attraction of applicants to the organisation. Various authors have applied marketing principles and concepts to explain applicant attraction and recruitment (e.g., Aiman-Smith, Bauer, & Cable, 2001; Collins & Stevens, 2002; Han & Collins, 2002;

Highhouse & Lievens, 2003; Maurer, 2006; Turban & Cable, 2003).

The choice between two or more organisations and a consumer’s buying decisions is regularly compared with the implication that the act of purchasing an item is comparable to potential applicants making application decisions (Maurer, Howe, & Lee, 1992). The steps in this process are represented in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3. A generic model of consumer problem solving (Peter & Olson, 2008 as cited in Ajzen, 2002)

Graduates nearing the end of their studies face various challenges presented by the labour market or intrapersonal factors. At the heart of this decision-making process is the problem structuring that occurs prior to making a decision. This includes becoming aware of the need or availability of a job; collecting information about the alternatives;

identifying likely future events and other circumstances relevant to the organisation/job decision; and considering possible outcomes contingent on the decision (Albert, Aschenbrenner, & Schmalhofer; Peter & Olson; Slovic, Lichtenstein, & Fischhoff, as cited in Ajzen, 2002).

When deciding which organisations to apply to, applicants will search for relevant information about various organisations; consult family, friends or lecturers; and attend career fairs or information sessions. The information sought from these sources becomes evaluative criteria for comparison, alternative solutions and the performance of each alternative on each evaluative criterion (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, & Best, 2007). These alternatives are grouped into evoked sets (or considered alternatives), inert sets (backup alternatives) and inept sets (avoided alternatives) (see Figure 2.3). In addition, decision makers limited by time, ability, and motivation to search for information might limit the number of sources they consult. Once the problem has been structured and the obtained information processed, the applicant will choose a preferred course of action, and implement the decision at an appropriate opportunity (Ajzen, 2001). The final step in this process involves feedback for the re-evaluation the decision.

An applicant’s decision is also influenced by the recruitment marketing and advertising used by organisations intent on attracting potential applicants. More organisations are investing time and effort into developing and endorsing a defined identity and image. The concept of brand image is the schematic recall of a brand that contains the target market’s construal of the product attributes, benefits, usage situations and marketer characteristics (Hawkins, et al., 2007). It represents the feelings and thoughts that come to mind when people see the brand. Keller (1993) expands this idea with the description of brand image as the perceptions related to product-related/non-product-related attributes and the practical/experiential/symbolic benefits that are manifest in the brand associations stored in the consumer’s memory. The application of this concept is company or corporate image.

The vehicle for brand image is product positioning whereby a marketer attempts to attain a defined and differentiated brand image relative to competition within a market segment (Hawkins et al., 2007). That market segment will value a brand that matches a target market’s needs and desires. Such a brand is said to have brand equity. Brand equity is the value consumers assign to a brand beyond the functional characteristics of the product (Hawkins et al., 2007). Brand equity is often synonymous with the reputation of the brand, even though equity has a stronger implication of economic value. Hawkins et al.

(2007) explain the effect of brand equity as the favourable response that is achieved when a brand with a good reputation is evaluated. They argue that the relevant dimensions that distinguish brand knowledge and affect consumer response are brand awareness and the favourability, strength, and uniqueness of the brand associations in consumer memory.

These dimensions are considered antecedents of brand equity. As a result, brand equity occurs when “the customer is familiar with the brand and holds some favourable, strong and unique brand associations in memory” (Keller 1993).

When applying these marketing concepts to the recruitment process, potential employees are the consumers and the organisation, as an employer, is the product or brand. It can thus be assumed that employment brands are a combination of instrumental and symbolic characteristics (Caines, 2008). Instrumental aspects are those job and organisation characteristics that are tangible, such as remuneration and benefits, work location, promotion and training and development. The symbolic characteristics translate into the potential employee’s perception of the company or organisation’s brand personality (Highhouse & Lievens, 2003).

Employer branding is “a targeted, long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders with regard to a particular firm” (Sullivan, as cited in Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004, p. 501). Put differently, employer branding is “the sum of a company’s efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff that it is a desirable place to work” (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005). It is also an on-going process whereby all the tangible and intangible elements that constitute a company’s image and reputation are organised and communicated and can thus be

explained as the personification of an organisation. In recruitment practices therefore portray the organisation as a good place to work. In order to differentiate the organisation from its competition, branding highlights its individuality or unique employment offerings and environment (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004).

The outcomes of an applicant’s decision opportunities attributable to his/her beliefs about the company as an employer is defined as employment brand equity (Han & Collins, 2002). Ambler and Barrow (as cited in Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004) define the employer brand in terms of benefits, calling it “the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company” and establishes the identity of the organisation as an employer (p. 502). One dimension of the employer brand and brand equity is employer attractiveness. Berthon et al. (2005) define employer attractiveness as “the envisioned benefits that a potential employee sees in working for a specific organisation” (p.156). In addition, when viewed as an antecedent of employer brand equity, the attractiveness of the employer may be stronger than the organisation’s brand equity is. In another study, Vroom (1966) found that both before and after choosing an organisation/employer, there was a noticeable and somewhat linear relationship between the attractiveness rating of an organisation and the extent to which it was believed to be instrumental to the individual’s goal attainment.

Employer attractiveness may therefore be an intrinsically motivated perception.

Prospective applicants may also use their perceptions of an organisation’s instrumental and symbolic features to make evaluations about the organisation (Highhouse & Lievens, 2003). More specifically, inferences about the symbolic features of organisations have been suggested as indicators of the extent to which an organisation can serve personal needs for self-expression (Highhouse, Thornbury, & Little, 2007). Therefore, the symbolic features of the organisation could also be used to make inferences about an individual’s fit with the organisation.