Attracting innovative applicants through employee testimonials : an experimental study using video and text testimonials

Abstract

This study tries to dig a little deeper in the employer branding activities of organizations and researches on the aspects which refers to the term coined by McKinsey and Company “War for Talent”. Organizations are trying to adapt improved and technological advanced methods of recruiting and attracting top talent and employee testimonials are an important tool to attract top talent. We narrow talent to ‘Innovative’ applicants in this study because innovative individuals are considered to be an important part of organizational innovation and organizational innovation is quite important for an organization to gain a competitive advantage. Our research question is described as “How can Organizations Attract Innovative Applicants through Employee Testimonials”. The theoretical reasoning behind this research question was based on the Person-Organization Fit model which suggests that applicants will be attracted towards an organization which shares the same values and traits. We tested the effects of mainly three variables of employee testimonials on job attractiveness 1) Communication medium of Employee testimonials 2) Content of Employee Testimonials 3) Industry type depicted in Employee Testimonials. We used a 2x2x3 factorial design and we used a web administered survey to collect data from 160 students. The survey contained an employee testimonial which was manipulated according to the three variables. The findings of this study suggested that applicants with a higher propensity to innovate are more attracted to jobs that signal an innovative culture through their employee testimonials. This can be done by adding content which shows that the organization encourages the use of creativity at work place as well as the job provides autonomy which means that there is freedom in the ways used to accomplish the tasks. When this information is exposed to innovative applicants they are attracted towards the organization and job because they find a ‘fit’ between them and the organization. In addition, we also try to establish a link between the traits of innovative people and activities of the organization such as CSR activities. These findings have interesting implications; from both theoretical and practical perspective. Studies exploring employee testimonials are somewhat limited and we try to fill a void in literature by linking employee testimonials with innovative applicants. Organizations would also consider these findings quite useful as it can help them in their employer branding activities.