A.F. Schlechter, Charlene Gerber, J.A. Horn
Abstract
The purpose of the research study was to investigate, within the context of reward optimisation, the influence of employer brand and remuneration on perceived job attractiveness. A 22 full-factorial field experiment was designed for the purposes of the research study. A 2×2 between-subjects Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was utilised to assess the differences in perceived job attractiveness as a function of remuneration (remuneration well-above the industry norm present or not present), employer brand (desirable employer brand present or not present), as well as their interaction (remuneration*employer brand). Four fictitious job advertisements were designed, with the stimuli manipulated. Respondents (n = 161) were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions and asked to rate the attractiveness of the job advertisement they were exposed to. Statistically significant main and interaction effects were found. The presence of 1) remuneration well-above the industry norm, 2) a desirable employer brand, and 3) the interaction term causally led to significantly higher levels of perceived job attractiveness. Notably, the presence of a desirable employer brand yielded not significantly different levels of perceived job attractiveness in the absence of remuneration well-above the industry norm. The findings suggest that having a desirable employer brand or being an employer of choice may offer organisations a remuneration discount. Few experimental studies that enable causal inferences are conducted in business science and HR research. Limited research exists that has employed a field experiment to investigate the impact of employer brand and remuneration level on perceived job attractiveness.