企业雇主品牌吸引力及其形成机理研究

在人力资源国际化的背景下,越来越多的企业意识到打造自身的雇主品牌对吸引和保有优秀的人才,获得持久竞争优势的重要性。通过尝试性地提出了雇主品牌吸引力的概念,即企业的雇主品牌吸引、激励和保留员工的能力和程度,结合内部营销理论和个人组织适配理论,探讨了雇主品牌吸引力的形成机理,并提出管理建议。     

Measuring and Managing Employer Brand Image in the Service Industry

In competitive labour markets, the challenge for service-based organisations is to differentiate themselves in order to successfully attract and retain talented staff. Recently, the notion of branding the firm to potential and existing employees has been evoked in the marketing literature. In an empirical study, we measure aspects of this 'employer brand' image among potential recruits and recruiters during the recruitment process. The managerial implications of developing a more consistent employer brand image in the recruitment market are discussed. We conclude the paper by highlighting the contribution of our research, its limitations and areas for further research     

Righteousness and Profitableness: The Moral Choices of Contemporary Confucian Entrepreneurs

This paper explores the relationship of various trait emotions to the ethical choices of 189 college students who completed a managerial decision-making task as part of an in-basket exercise in a laboratory setting. Prior research regarding emotion influences on ethical decision-making and linkages between emotions and cognition informed hypotheses about how different types of emotions impact ethical choices. Findings supported our expectations that positive and negative emotions classified as active would be more strongly related to interpersonally-directed ethical choices than to organizationally-directed ones, and that passive emotions would be less related to ethical choices than active emotions. Implications for ethical decision-making research and organizational practices are discussed.     

The brand personality dimensions of business-to-business firms: a content analysis of employer reviews on social media

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand personalities that employees are creating of their employer brands, in particular business-to-business (B-to-B) brands, when describing these brands on social media. We examine how the brand personalities, based on written online reviews, differ between high- and low-ranked, and high- and low-rated brands.

Methodology/Approach: 6,300 written employee reviews from a social media platform, Glassdoor, are used for content analysis in DICTION, to determine the brand personality dimensions they communicate (J. L). An independent B-to-B brand ranking data source, Brandwatch, is used as a reference to various brands’ level of ranking, while an ANOVA test is used to determine whether there is a difference in the brand personality trait means when comparing high and low-ranked, and high- and low-rated brands.

Findings: Our findings suggest that a strong social media presence does not equate to a strong employer brand personality perception among employees, since there are no significant differences between B-to-B firms based on their rankings.

Research Implications: Extant literature has mostly explored the impact of either critical reviews or favourable customer ratings and reviews on company performance, with very little research focusing on the B-to-B context. In addition, research employing DICTION for the purposes of content analysis of reviews is sparse. The methodology used in this study could thus be employed to further compare and contrast the reviews from a single company, dividing top and low starred reviews to compare discrepancies.

Practical Implications: The results of this study show how online shared employee experiences of employer brands contribute to the formation of a distinct employer brand personality. From a managerial viewpoint, engaging with current and past employees and being cognizant of the online narratives that they share on social media, may be an early indicator of where the firm is lacking (or showing strength) in its’ employee engagement. This would offer a way for firms to both understand their employer brand personality as well as gauge how they compare to top employers in a specific sector or industry.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The study attempts to grow the literature of employee brand engagement in a B-to-B context, by recognizing the important role that employees play in engaging with their employer brand online. Two main contributions are offered. The first contribution relates to the finding that employees perceive highly-rated B-to-B brands as being more competent, exciting, sincere and sophisticated than low-rated B-to-B brands. Second, the methodology used in this study proves to be a novel and accurate way of comparing employee reviews and perceived employer brand personality, with the employer-created intended brand image.     

Crafting a paying-it-forward mindset in business: Five principles for a competitive employer branding advantage

Kindness can strengthen your employer brand. The business environment is changing, and the value of kindness in the corporate world is garnering increased attention. Paying it forward is a way to pass acts of kindness on to others. This allows employees and business partners to go above and beyond formal expectations that not only benefit the individuals involved but also the businesses they represent. Paying it forward can potentially create competitive advantage for firms from an employer branding perspective (to attract and retain talent) and in the broader market sense. This behavior can strengthen the employer brand in numerous and effective ways, and managers must understand, engage in, and encourage such conduct. In this article, we discuss different examples, benefits, and risks of paying kindness forward on a micro-, meso-, and macro-level. After providing this foundation, we introduce practical guidelines for managers on how to foster a paying-it-forward mindset among employees and the broader organization. The guidelines were created using insights from interviews we conducted with stakeholders in a business ecosystem in northern Sweden.     

The congruence effect between product emotional appeal and country-based emotion: The moderating role of country-of-origin

Previous research has suggested that country-based emotions (i.e., emotions associated with a country) can influence consumer evaluations of a product from that country. However, it remains unclear when and how country-based emotions can be influential in consumer decision making. The results from an experiment reveal that only for a destination with a less favorable country-of-origin image will the match (vs. mismatch) between the country-based emotion and the emotional appeal of the product advertisement increase the purchase likelihood of the product. These findings are beneficial for local brands in that they can promote tourist spending at their destination by cooperating with destination marketers in developing integrated promotional campaigns that elicit congruent emotions.     

Branded app atmospherics: Examining the effect of pleasure–arousal–dominance in brand relationship building

Given the incredible ability to interact with consumers, branded apps have become a new important brand relationship building platform for marketers. However, despite the remarkable growth of app users, many brands are still struggling to attract continuous usage among user. Past research emphasized on the functional perspective of branded apps usage, yet emotional factors have received less attention. Therefore, to address the research gap, present research draws from the conceptual lens of pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) model from environmental psychology to examine the emotional factors of branded apps. The objective of this research is to investigate the drivers of branded app atmospherics in brand relationships. We recruited 408 users by an online survey. Results identify atmospherics cues that influence the experiential emotions of pleasure, arousal and dominance, which generates usage intention. This research contributes knowledge by extending PAD model to branded app context and provide an important ground where practitioners can design atmospherics cues that create emotional experience in branded app to foster brand relationship.     

Why do firms delete brands? Insights from a qualitative study

Large consumer goods firms manage and market an assortment of brands and consistently deal with strategic challenges related to brand portfolio management, such as creating or acquiring brands, growing brand equity, managing brands in the portfolio and deleting brands. There is substantial research on several areas of brand portfolio management except in the area of brand deletion. This situation exists despite the fact that deleting weak brands has important implications for a firm and its brand portfolio. Therefore, it is critical to understand why firms delete brands from their portfolios. This research applies a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis in the context of firms that adopt a ‘house of brands’ brand architecture and presents findings guided by the strategic decision-making literature.     

On the Role of Brand Stereotypes in Shaping Consumer Response toward Brands: An Empirical Examination of Direct and Mediating Effects of Warmth and Competence

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the branding literature by examining the critical role of brand stereotypes in shaping consumers’ brand‐related responses. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model, this article examines how warmth and competence stereotypes impact consumers’ emotional reaction toward brands and in turn consumers’ brand attitudes and behavioral intention. In addition, this article examines how brand stereotypes mediate the relationships between brand personality and consumers’ brand emotions. The results from this study support the dual role of brand stereotypes as relevant predictors of brand emotions, and intervening variables mediating the effects from brand personality perceptions on brand emotions. The findings support the view that mechanisms of social perception apply to brand perception and provide new insights about the relationship between consumers’ brand perceptions and their responses toward brands.     

Influencer marketing: When and why gen Z consumers avoid influencers and endorsed brands

Consumer avoidance of brands and influencers is a widespread phenomenon, especially among Generation Z (Gen Z); however, influencer marketing literature lacks clarity about when and why Gen Z engages in such avoidance. Our experimental investigation, across four studies, reveals that Gen Z considers brands' control over influencers to be morally irresponsible and, thus, avoids both. We introduce a novel construct, influencer avoidance, and examine its drivers. Study 1 indicates that perceived brand control engenders avoidance; moderation evidence shows that macro (vs. micro) influencers accentuate (attenuate) the influence of brand control on avoidance. Study 2 shows that Gen Z enjoying a strong versus weak relationship with influencers results in lower (higher) avoidance towards influencers and endorsed brands. Study 3 demonstrates that negative moral emotions mediate the relationship between perceived brand control and avoidance behavior. Study 4 generalizes the findings by analyzing a different influencer and endorsed brand and including a prominent advertisement disclosure. By investigating the drivers and mechanisms of Gen Z's avoidance behavior, our research contributes to research on the theory of moral responsibility, Gen Z's influencer avoidance behavior, and anti-consumption literature. This offers key insights into how to prevent acts of consumer retribution towards influencers and brands.     

Is television advertising being placed to reach product users?

Several textbooks, journal articles, and advertising practitioners indicate that the advertising for many products should be directed toward the heavy users of the product category. Other works suggest that advertising should be directed at current users of a brand to retain them or to users of competitive brands in an effort to attract them. The purpose of this article is to compare these directions for how advertising should be placed with data showing how advertising is being placed. The comparison is made using supermarket scanner panel data and household advertising exposure data. Examples are also provided to indicate the extent to which advertising could be targeted to heavy users of the product category and users of a brand, given the actual viewing and consumption patterns. Several implications for the placement of advertising are discussed.     

Joint Advertising and Brand Congruity: Effects on Memory and Attitudes

This research examined how brand congruity in joint advertising affects individuals’ processing of advertising messages. An experiment was conducted whereby ads promoting two congruent or incongruent brands were presented to subjects under low versus high processing load. Results showed that advertising messages for congruent brands were better remembered under both high and low processing loads. However, ads with congruent brands led to positive attitudes only when subjects’ processing resources were constrained. These findings suggest congruent brands that appear in joint ads have a clear advantage over incongruent brands. The results have both practical and theoretical implications.     

Some antecedents and outcomes of brand love

Survey research is employed to test hypotheses involving brand love, a new marketing construct that assesses satisfied consumers’ passionate emotional attachment to particular brands. Findings suggest that satisfied consumers’ love is greater for brands in product categories perceived as more hedonic (as compared with utilitarian) and for brands that offer more in terms of symbolic benefits. Brand love, in turn, is linked to higher levels of brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. Findings also suggest that satisfied consumers tend to be less loyal to brands in more hedonic product categories and to engage in more positive word-of-mouth about self-expressive brands.     

Hubristic pride & prejudice: The effects of hubristic pride on negative word-of-mouth

Prior research has demonstrated how negative emotions influence negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). However, what if there exist certain positive emotions that influence consumers to spread NWOM? This research develops and tests a novel prediction that shows how a discrete positive emotion – hubristic pride – can increase intention to engage in NWOM following a service failure. Results from six experiments support this prediction. Further, this research shows that psychological entitlement drives the effect of hubristic pride. Moreover, this effect is attenuated when consumers are nudged to focus on helping others. This research builds on current theory involving emotion and NWOM, presents a number of areas for future research, and discusses managerial implications stemming from the findings.     

An experimental test of brand insulation against competitor attacks: Effects of consumer heterogeneity and residual desire

Price discounts generally move consumers from lower‐quality brands to higher‐quality brands more than from higher‐quality brands to lower‐quality brands. This asymmetry can reverse, however, to favor the lower‐quality brand when improvements are made to product quality. Whether such variations exist when the goal is to retain rather than steal customers remains untested and constitutes the focus of this study. Experimental results indicate that customer retention strategies tend to favor higher‐quality brands. Higherquality brands are able to retain customers by matching the form of the lower‐quality brand's attack (price reduction or quality improvement). For lower‐quality brands, matching is effective only in the case of a price attack by a higher‐quality brand. Furthermore, higher‐quality brands are able to effectively retain customers with price reductions that are smaller than the discount offered by a lower‐quality competitor, whereas lower‐quality brands must match the magnitude of a discount by a higher‐quality brand to retain customers. The findings suggest that differences in customer retention across quality levels arise from (1) heterogeneity among consumers of different quality levels in the relative weightings of price and quality, and (2) switching decisions based on reasons that are biased toward continuing to purchase, or moving to, higher quality products. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Modeling the relationship between firm and user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel

While research has successfully linked social media to separate customer metrics, an in-depth conceptual and empirical understanding of how social media affects the stages of the marketing funnel is currently lacking. We draw on extant theories of consumer information processing and source credibility to conceptually link and contrast the relationships between firm generated content (FGC) dimensions of neutral valence, positive valence and vividness, user generated content (UGC) dimensions of volume and valence and the marketing funnel stages of awareness, consideration, purchase intent and satisfaction. Using daily aggregate brand-level data for 19 brands across seven industries, our analysis shows that UGC dimensions have a stronger relationship with awareness and satisfaction while FGC dimensions are more effective for consideration and purchase intent. Specifically, we observe that FGC vividness has the strongest relationship with consideration and purchase intent, while UGC valence dominates UGC volume for these stages. Our results also show that brands with higher corporate reputation have stronger relationships between dimensions of FGC and the marketing funnel stages. Findings by consumption category show that UGC and FGC dimensions have larger positive relationships with awareness for durables and non-durables, and with consideration, purchase intent, and satisfaction for services. Thus, overall, our study offers critical managerial insights into social media marketing regarding how to leverage both FGC and UGC in managing the marketing funnel and brand reputation.     

Learning to navigate the American retail servicescape: Online forums as consumer acculturation platforms and consumer gift systems

With consumer mobility on the rise, marketers need to understand how to best serve the increasing number of immigrants, expatriates, and foreign nationals. We examine an independent (non-corporate, brand agnostic) online forum that operates as a consumer acculturation platform and a consumer gift system, where Chinese-speaking consumers assist one another with navigating and even exploiting the American retail servicescape. Forum participants bestow the gift of experience on the collective to enhance the market-oriented communicative competence of forum participants necessary to master the American retail environment. Consumers on the platform systematically employ American English to reference brands and describe retail marketing promotions in a forum dominated by Chinese language. Specifically, we find that code switching, typically expected in early stages of language acquisition, becomes a robust norm to communicate specifically about American retail phenomena (metaphorical code switching) and bridge the gulf between home and host cultures. We offer firms four tactical strategies to attract and retain Chinese-language consumers.     

The role of Swedish retailers in food innovations

Innovations should create value for increasingly individualistic consumers with varying demands and for other stakeholders. Today, retailers have the power in the supply/value chain. This research investigates how Swedish food retailers view innovations, their role and that of customers and suppliers in the development process and how they see future development. The study is based on open-ended interviews. The results show that Swedish retailers regard food product innovations as something to provide to consumers rather than achieve with consumers. Retailers want more collaboration with packaging suppliers to differentiate. Retailers are successful in establishing their own brands, in becoming brands themselves and in competing with producer brands. This follows the UK model and may result in fewer alternatives in stores and fewer product – or new technology-based innovations by Swedish producers. Service innovations can still occur for retailers to retain consumer loyalty. Consumers demand more than new products; they want to be excited by the shopping experience. More innovations will require deeper insight about consumers, efforts from the value chain and from outsiders. Collaboration is needed to establish trust among supply chain actors.     

In search of status through brands from Western and Asian origins: Examining the changing face of fashion clothing consumption in Chinese young adults

Consumption for many is increasingly underpinned by the search for and creation of identity and status through specific consumption practices, including consumerism and placing a high priority on brands. One product category where such consumption practices underpin its growth and marketing is fashion clothing. The expressive nature of clothing makes it particularly important in societies where consumerism and status seeking is a priority. In picking up the significance and the role of fashion clothing, this study explores the impact of Chinese young adults’ consumerism, their status consumption tendencies and decision-making style on their perceptions of fashion clothing brands’ status, with origins from the West versus Asia. The results show that Chinese young adults prefer fashion clothing brands with Western origins over those with Asian origins. The levels of consumerism, status consumption and decision-making styles were major contributors to how they perceived the brands, and in this sense western fashion clothing brands may communicate status and wealth better than Asian brands. Further, the findings show a willingness on the part of young Chinese adults to buy more than what they need and look for prestigious-symbolic brands of fashion clothing.     

How focused identities can help brands navigate a changing media landscape

In today's rapidly changing and fast-paced media landscape, consumer attention is a rare and fractured commodity. Within this environment, marketing and branding must serve customers who are attending to multiple media simultaneously, while brand placement moves brands outside of advertisements and into incidental exposure. Some brands offer a strong, consistent, and focused brand identity on all consumer-facing fronts, from advertising to event promotion and retail environments. These brands can retain their effectiveness in this new media reality, as mere exposure is all that's required to activate their rich brand identity. At the same time, brand exposure effects illuminate the vast role of nonconscious attention and processing in consumer cognition and behavior. New research shows that even incidental exposure to a brand can alter consumer behavior in manners consistent with brand identity, producing effects which may persist outside of marketing contexts and occur even when the product is not purchased or consumed. These findings suggest that strong brand identities can retain effectiveness in the modern media environment, but further work is needed to explore their multi-dimensional effects on consumer life.