One brand for half of Sweden's healthcare : A qualitative case study of Region Västerbotten and their recruitment communication

The lack of highly educated medical personnel is increasing in small municipalities which therefore makes it interesting to investigate how Region Västerbotten takes into account that they have three hospitals in different municipalities to recruit for. The purpose of this study was to understand how the region communicate in their recruitment communication together with how this communication is decoded by nursing students and medical students. We also aimed to investigate how the students perceive the regions brand in general and therefore Reception Analysis was used in combination with Rhetorical Analysis. We have gathered the material for the analysis by interviewing students and by choosing recruitment material from the region's website and LinkedIn page. The theoretical framework has its point of departure in the field of promotional culture and focuses on the meaning of place branding, employer branding, decoding and the concept of reception. Previous research review communication in public sector and branding in public sector along with its difficulties. The study concludes the relevance of communicating the place brand in combination with the employer brand to create awareness and attractivity for a hospital in a smaller municipality. It was also shown that the communication for the university hospital, which is placed in a bigger municipality, did not include any place branding but instead was built up on authority and credibility. Another finding is also that the employment experience must be clearly stated in the recruitment ad for the student to gain interest in the workplace, they also appreciated when the communication addressed them by using words like you. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate PR and relationship-building communication throughout recruitment. Based on the results of this study we also draw the conclusion that there is a complexity in communicating a uniform brand for three hospitals situated in municipalities of different sizes