@article{2020:wnderlich:branded_em,
title = {Branded Employee Behaviour as a Double-Edged Sword: How Perceptions of Service Employees Impact Job Seekers' Application Intentions},
year = {2020},
note = {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.},
journal = {SMR - Journal of Service Management Research},
pages = {205--215},
author = {Wünderlich, Nancy V. and Iseke, Anja and Becker-Özcamlica, Hürrem},
volume = {4},
number = {4}
}