Organisation Pursuit Intention Through Perceived Employer Brand, Person Organisation Fit and Perceived Organisational Prestige

Abstract

The primary aim of this study is to analyse the impact of the dimensions of the Employer Brand on a candidate’s intention to pursue an employer. Secondly, the focus is on analysing the mediation effect of Perceived Organization Prestige (POP) between the independent variable (Employer Brand) and the dependent variable (organization pursuit intention), followed by an evaluation of the moderating effect of Person–Organization Fit (POF) between POP and Organization Pursuit Intention (OPI). Data for this study was collected from 419 final year students of engineering at various Central and State universities of Delhi, India, as per the approved list of Institutions by the University Grant Commission (UGC). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), has been applied to validate the adopted scales in the current context. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) has been used to analyse the underlying relationship between the dimensions of Employer Brand and OPI, along with the mediating effect of POP and the moderating effect of POF in this context. This study finds a significant relationship between independent variables (career enhancement opportunity, work culture, company reputation, salary and other incentives and CSR and ethics) and organization pursuit intention (independent variable). Furthermore, perceived organization prestige was found to mediate the respective relationship of career enhancement opportunity (complete mediation), corporate reputation (partial mediation) and Salary and other incentives (partial mediation) with the candidate’s pursuit intention. Also, the POF (moderator) was found to have a significant impact on the relationship between the POP and the organization pursuit intention. This is the first study of its kind to investigate the dimensions of Employer Brand that determine the intentions of a candidate to pursue an organization for employment. Also, past research studies have highlighted the concept and importance of employer attractiveness in the international context with a focus on management graduates and working executives. However, the current study elaborates the analysis of the pursuit intentions of final year students of engineering in India, who aspire to secure a job in the near future. In addition, previous studies have not focused much on the mediating effect of an organization’s prestige between the Employer Brand and OPI. Lastly, some studies have investigated POF as a mediator but this study explains its effect as a moderator between the POP (mediator) and the candidate’s pursuit intentions (dependent variable).