Social media and employer branding

Engaged in a “war for talent”, attracting human capital has become a major challenge for
organizations. Applying a branding perspective to recruitment, researchers have started to
examine how organizations can establish an image as an attractive and distinctive employer in the
eyes of potential applicants. However, little is known about how the perceptions that constitute
such an employer brand image can be managed through strategic recruitment communication and
practices. Practitioner surveys point out that social media are widely used, both by organizations
and by job seekers. Social media might thus prove to be a useful new type of channel through
which organizations can reach both active and passive job seekers. However, research on this topic
is lacking. By conducting five complementary studies, this research project wants to shed light on
whether, how, and why organizations’ use of social media affects their image and attractiveness as
an employer for potential applicants. First, the project aims to clarify the effects of social media
use on employer brand image and attractiveness. Second, I rely on media richness theory and
source credibility theory to investigate through which processes these effects take place. Third,
the project examines the situational factors and individual differences that might affect the
relationship between social media and employer image and attraction.