Workplace authenticity as an attribute of employer attractiveness
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2016-0156 |
| Pages | 1962-1976 |
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| Author | Germano Glufke Reis,Beatriz Maria Braga,Jordi Trullen |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Workplace authenticity
as an attribute of employer
attractiveness
Germano Glufke Reis
School of Management, Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
Beatriz Maria Braga
Department of General and Human Resources Administration,
Fundacao Getulio Vargas Escola de Administracao de Empresas,
Sao Paulo, Brazil, and
Jordi Trullen
Department of People Management and Organisation,
Escola Superior d’Administració i Direcció d’Empreses Business School,
Ramon Llull University, Sant Cugat, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance of authenticity as a possible attribute of
employer attractiveness. Additionally, the study compares authenticity to other factors of attractiveness,
such as economic, development, social, interest and application values.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey was conducted with a total of 937 respondents. The
questionnaire consisted of the employer attractiveness scale developed by Berthon, Ewing, and Hah (2005)
and an adapted version of the authentic living scale (Wood et al., 2008).
Findings –The results show that workplace authenticity is equally valued as an attractiveness attribute as
having opportunities for economic and personal development, and that it is significantly morehighly valued
than other attractiveness dimensions of the work environment, such as interest value, social value, and
application value. The results also show that authenticity matters more as an attribute of attractiveness for
top management, older professionals as well as women.
Practical implications –The findings suggest that firms become more competitive in attracting talent if
their recruitment strategies place more emphasis on authenticity as a psychological benefit that can be
obtained through working in the company. The use of social media (e.g. employee testimonials, chats, and
blogs) can help to this end.
Originality/value –The subject of workplace authenticity has been receiving increasing attention in the
academicliterature,and the studiesreveal the benefitsthat it may entailfor both developingand retaininga more
engaged and productive workforce. However, previous research has not considered how perceptions of workplace
authenticity may also helporganizations becomemore attractive in the eyesof potential job applicants.
Keywords Quantitative, Employer attractiveness, Recruitment, Authenticity, Employer branding
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The subject of workplace authenticity has been receiving increasing attention from
scholars (Cable et al., 2013; Robinson et al., 2013), practitioners, and companies (Rosh and
Offermann, 2013). Authenticity involves “the subjective experience of alignment between
one’s internal experiences and external expressions”(Roberts et al., 2009, p. 3), where
internal experiences may include thoughts, feelings, values, and behavioral preferences,
whereas external expressions refer to both verbal disclosures and non-verbal behavior
(Leroy and Sels, 2008; Roberts et al., 2009). In management research, authenticity has been
studied in relation to employee socialization and retention (Cable et al., 2013), employee well-
being (Ménard and Brunet, 2011), leadership effectiveness (Avolio and Gardner, 2005), and
career development (Craddock, 2004; Svejenova, 2005).
Personnel Review
Vol. 46 No. 8, 2017
pp. 1962-1976
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-07-2016-0156
Received 11 July 2016
Revised 10 February 2017
Accepted 12 March 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1962
PR
46,8
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