The relationship between early recruitment-related activities and the application decisions of new labor-market entrants: A brand equity approach to recruitment.

Theory and research from the marketing literature on customer-based brand equity were used to predict how positive exposure to 4 early recruitment-related activities--publicity, sponsorships, word-of-mouth endorsements, and advertising--may affect the application decisions of engineering students. Similar to prior marketing findings, the results suggested that early recruitment-related activities were indirectly related to intentions and decisions through 2 dimensions of employer brand image: general attitudes toward the company and perceived job attributes. The relationships between word-of-mouth endorsements and the 2 dimensions of brand image were particularly strong. In addition, it was found that early recruitment-related activities interacted with one another such that employer brand image was stronger when firms used publicity in conjunction with other early recruitment-related activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)