Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Employer Branding In The Belgian Army: The Importance Of Instrumental And Symbolic Beliefs For Potential Applicants, Actual Applicants, And Military Employees, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study conceptualizes employer brand as a package of instrumental and symbolic attributes. Using a sample of 955 individuals (429 potential applicants, 392 actual applicants, and 134 military employees), we examine the relative importance of instrumental and symbolic employer brand beliefs across different groups of individuals: potential applicants, actual applicants, and military employees (with less than three years of tenure). Results show that instrumental attributes explain greater variance in the Army's attractiveness as an employer among actual applicants compared to potential applicants or employees. In all three groups, symbolic trait inferences explain a similar portion of the variance. In addition, …