Research Proposal

TITLE

A study of factors that student look for in companies during Final Placement Process.

RESEARCH TOPIC DESCRIPTION

We intend to determine the factors that differentiates a superior brand perception from an average one so that the management could understand the different factors to focus on. By focusing on these factors, the company shall be able to attract the best talent and from this talent pool and subsequently, through their recruitment methods, arrive at the right candidates.

Employer Branding is gaining wide acceptance and encouragement by corporate far wide. In recruitment space, the fierce competition among companies shifts from the market place to college campuses. Hence, a well defined strategy would give the company a definite edge. This strategy may be developed from two broad aspects:

1. What do candidates expect from the company

2. What do companies look for in candidates.

The focus of this paper is one the former aspect. The latter aspect is subjective and varies across companies, countries, job profiles etc.

We arrive at our conclusions by understanding the students' (prospective employees) perspective. Hence, our approach of administering questionnaires to our target respondents who were II Year B-school students from different campuses.

Currently, the literature suggests a lack of similar studies with respect to the Indian context. Hence, we hope to bridge this gap to some extent. (not sure about this)

LITERATURE REVIEW

Employer Branding as a concept, is a process of developing an image of being a 'great place to work' in the minds of the targeted candidate pool. An employer brand has external & internal values associated with it (Kapferer, 1997). It is defined as the package of functional, economic & psychological benefits provided by employment & identified with the employing company (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). Employees are attracted to employers on the basis of the latter's functional & symbolic characteristics & corporate images. Organization theory has also been used to suggest that this attraction is related to a fit between employee & employer traits (person-organization (P-O fit)).

The employer brand is a combination of Employee Satisfaction & Employee Attraction (Robin Jeffrey Katoen, 2007). It helps for better talent management, acquiring the right fit & staying ahead of competitors. An organization's culture & values act as the basis for building employer brand. The Universum IDEAL Employer Survey conducted, identified the top places to work on the basis of the ranking that students gave to different parameters like employer characteristics, location, top corporate, salary etc (Soumya Gaddam, 2008). As organizations seek to attract new employees & retain existing staff, it is necessary to understand the factors contributing towards employer attractiveness'. When organizations work towards integrating these factors into the employment brand, they can hope to successfully compete in attracting new employees. (Pierre, Michael & Li Lian, 2005).

There are multiple works done in this regard of identifying the determinants of good employer branding. According to Pierre, Michael & Li Lian, individuals are attracted towards an employer on the basis of five major factors namely- Interest Value (exciting work environment, novel work practices, deployment of employee creativity etc.), Social Value (happy work environment, good collegial relationships & team atmosphere), Economic Value (Competitive salary, job security & promotional opportunities), Development Value (recognition, self-worth, confidence & career-enhancement etc.) & finally, Application Value (opportunity to apply what has been learnt in a customer oriented & humanitarian environment). These factors are subsets of the eight factors identified by Bhadra & Alan as the prime determinant of employer attractiveness in the context of Indian B-school students. According to Rakesh & Pragati, dimensions of 'responsibility & empowerment' and 'Compensation & location' are significantly related to application intentions, unlike the dimensions of 'learning & advancement' and 'social cultural factors. The intentions are however, not influenced by prior work experience. As per a study conducted by Ralf, Siegfried & Ian, greater brand clarity leads to increased credibility of the brand message, lower perceived risk associated with the employer & increased perceived quality regarding the employer. Greater consistency leads to reduced information costs regarding the employer & higher employer brand credibility. Finally, perceived risk decreases employer attractiveness. In accordance with Vroom's Expectancy theory, the employer brand image (Attractiveness) is a function of importance of the attribute to the individual & extent to which an employer scores in that attribute (Simon & Cheryl).

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