The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital

This paper uses the lens of Social Identity Theory (Ashforth & Mael 1989; Tajfel 1982), frompsychology and organisational psychology literature, and the concept of employer branding (Ambler& Barrow 1996; Ewing et al. 2002) from the marketing discipline, to investigate differing perceptionsof...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Archer, Catherine
Other Authors: Jacquie Hutchinson
Format: Conference Paper
Published: University of Western Australia 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21441
_version_ 1848750591169265664
author Archer, Catherine
author2 Jacquie Hutchinson
author_facet Jacquie Hutchinson
Archer, Catherine
author_sort Archer, Catherine
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper uses the lens of Social Identity Theory (Ashforth & Mael 1989; Tajfel 1982), frompsychology and organisational psychology literature, and the concept of employer branding (Ambler& Barrow 1996; Ewing et al. 2002) from the marketing discipline, to investigate differing perceptionsof employer attractiveness across different generations of potential and current employees. Thispaper presents a case study of a major private hospital in Western Australia which aims tocontribute towards a better understanding of how managers can attract workers with increasinglydisparate expectations of their working life in a highly ?gendered? profession. To date no study haslooked at whether a strong employer brand has the same resonance for different individuals withinand outside an organisation and across different age groups and levels of experience. The currentstudy is important from an industry perspective for two main reasons. Firstly, the shortage of skilledworkers has become a prominent aspect of the Australian economy with calls in the business pressfor better marketing to prospective employees (Moses 2006). The healthcare industry, not only inAustralia but also in many other developed nations, has been particularly badly affected. Secondly,the aging population means that no generation of workers can be ignored in the fight for talent. Thedemand for trained nurses is increasing at the same time as the supply is declining (Creswell 2005).
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:39:16Z
format Conference Paper
id curtin-20.500.11937-21441
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:39:16Z
publishDate 2008
publisher University of Western Australia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-214412017-01-30T12:25:15Z The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital Archer, Catherine Jacquie Hutchinson generations employer brand gender Social identity theory healthcare This paper uses the lens of Social Identity Theory (Ashforth & Mael 1989; Tajfel 1982), frompsychology and organisational psychology literature, and the concept of employer branding (Ambler& Barrow 1996; Ewing et al. 2002) from the marketing discipline, to investigate differing perceptionsof employer attractiveness across different generations of potential and current employees. Thispaper presents a case study of a major private hospital in Western Australia which aims tocontribute towards a better understanding of how managers can attract workers with increasinglydisparate expectations of their working life in a highly ?gendered? profession. To date no study haslooked at whether a strong employer brand has the same resonance for different individuals withinand outside an organisation and across different age groups and levels of experience. The currentstudy is important from an industry perspective for two main reasons. Firstly, the shortage of skilledworkers has become a prominent aspect of the Australian economy with calls in the business pressfor better marketing to prospective employees (Moses 2006). The healthcare industry, not only inAustralia but also in many other developed nations, has been particularly badly affected. Secondly,the aging population means that no generation of workers can be ignored in the fight for talent. Thedemand for trained nurses is increasing at the same time as the supply is declining (Creswell 2005). 2008 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21441 University of Western Australia restricted
spellingShingle generations
employer brand
gender
Social identity theory
healthcare
Archer, Catherine
The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title_full The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title_fullStr The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title_full_unstemmed The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title_short The role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
title_sort role of social identity theory and employer attractiveness in recruiting workers acrossgenerations for healthcare organisations: the case of a major private hospital
topic generations
employer brand
gender
Social identity theory
healthcare
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21441