Abstract
This study examines the extent to which the symbolic and instrumental images and attractiveness toward an organization are related. This study further focuses on global human resource management and reports findings from two studies: Study 1 uses the data from undergraduate students, and Study 2 cross-validates the findings of Study 1 by using actual data from employees. The distinction of this study from previous works is that the present work focuses on a Korean organizational context (collectivistic cultures) and the differences between the potential applicants and employees in the perception of an organization′s attractiveness. Furthermore, it investigates the relationship between the symbolic and instrumental images toward organizations, unlike existing relative research. The results show that the symbolic and instrumental images are related, and the perceptions of the corporate image differ for the potential applicants and employees in the context of collectivistic cultures. The more competent employees consider their organization to be, the more job security they perceive their organization to provide. Moreover, the symbolic image of being competent is negatively related to the instrumental image of job security. Since this study used cross-sectional data, future studies need to use longitudinal data to establish our model′s causal claim empirically and investigate the underlying reasons behind these differences.
Highlights
Accepted: 23 April 2021Attracting and retaining the most competent human capital is crucial for organizational success and survival [1,2]
Since companies are aware of the fact that competent human resources are among the most valuable intangible assets [3], they make tremendous efforts to increase the effectiveness of the recruitment process, using different mediums, such as a realistic job preview (RJP), survey, and recruiting metrics [4,5]
Since hiring competent employees is an important issue, it is crucial to understand why and how potential applicants are attracted to organizations in the recruitment process
Summary
Attracting and retaining the most competent human capital is crucial for organizational success and survival [1,2]. Van Hoye and colleagues [2] examined whether both instrumental (working conditions) and symbolic image (competence) were related to organizational attractiveness in a non-Western collectivistic culture and supported that the instrumental–symbolic framework should be applied differently across different countries and cultures. There are no consistent findings across the different cultures, namely in collectivism; we should identify the differences of the relationships among corporate images and organizational attractiveness between individualistic and collectivist cultures These studies were focusing on the effect of symbolic and instrumental factors on organizational perception. The distinction of this study from previous works is that the present work focuses on a Korean organizational context (collectivistic culture) and the differences between the potential applicants and employees in the perception of an organization’s attractiveness It investigates the relationship between the symbolic and instrumental images toward organizations, unlike existing relative research. RQ3: What are the differences in types of image factors that the potential applicants and employees consider to be attractive in South Korea?
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