Branded Employee Behaviour as a Double-Edged Sword: How Perceptions of Service Employees Impact Job Seekers' Application Intentions

Abstract

Prior brand experiences affect job seekers’ application decisions, as they recall service encounters with brands which they have experienced as customers. As brand representatives, service employees play a critical role in these recollections. Their behaviour might inform job seekers’ understanding of the employer brand, thereby affecting their application decision. The impact of the service employee’s behaviour might be even more impactful if this behaviour is branded, meaning that the employee’s appearance and manner are representative of the brand values. In this paper, we analyse whether and how branded service employee behaviour affects job seekers’ application intentions. We argue that branded service employee behaviour provides two opposing signals: it contributes to consistent evaluations of the brand, leading to more brand trustworthiness and enhancing job seekers’ application intentions. However, it may also be perceived as inauthentic, reducing job seekers’ application intentions. Findings from a scenario experiment provide evidence of both effects.