The Impact of Culture on Perceived Employer Attractiveness

As the years go on the struggle to attract the most talented people has gotten increasingly fierce for organisations all over the world. In order to help them win this struggle organisations have developed a tool. This tool is employer branding, which is when an organisation implements marketing strategies to human resource activities. A branch of employer branding which deals specifically with the ability to attract employees is employer attractiveness. Studies on what makes an organisation particularly attractive as an employer has been conducted all over the world, and they have reached different conclusions. There has been speculation that the cultural differences between countries is the underlying cause to these differences in the findings, but not enough research has been conducted in the area to say for certain. The purpose of this thesis is to explain that apparent connection between what makes and employer attractive to someone and that person’s cultural values, as well as seeing if culture has an impact on what someone finds attractive in an employer. The best way of doing so was to conduct a quantitative, explanatory study, where questionnaires were sent to university students in two countries, Sweden and Germany. The questionnaire contained both elements related to employer attractiveness as well as to culture. The data was then analysed using statistical tests such as correlation and regression in order to fulfil the purpose of the study. After the analysis was conducted it was clear that there is a significant connection between employer attractiveness and culture, and that a person’s culture has an impact on what they find attractive in a potential employer. However, not all aspects of employer attractiveness perfectly correspond with all aspects of culture, but enough do to state that a connection and impact does exists. These findings are of value for organisations wanting to better target their strategies of attracting employees. The findings are especially relevant for organisations operating in a multinational environment, where impact of difference between cultures have to be taken into account to an even greater extent