EXPLORING EMPLOYER BRANDING TO ENHANCE DISTINCTIVENESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer a methodological contribution to empirical studies on employer branding in higher education, exploring a framework to measure organizational attractiveness of higher education institutions and identifying particular features of employment experience that are most manifested, valued by and significant to their employees. Specifically, this paper reports the results of research undertaken in 19 Lithuanian higher education institutions (N = 1105) applying an 11 dimensional 67-item Organizational Attractiveness Extraction Scale (OAES). The findings indicate that work in academia is predominantly driven by interesting, intellectually challenging work, attentive supervision and good relationships. This study corroborates the findings of previous research that higher education institutions face lowering salaries, increasing work load and occupational stress, and deepening culture of mistrust. The paper also aims at operationalizing labor market identities of higher education institutions as a meaningful strategy for establishing distinctiveness and developing employer branding strategies. To that end, cluster analysis based on employee perceptions of employment experience in higher education institutions has been carried out and produced four attitudinal segments, and, consequently, derived four groups of organizational identities. The study also demonstrates that data does significantly differentiate between types of higher education institutions, i.e. surveyed universities and colleges. Implications and recommendations for the employer brand development in higher education are presented.