Employer Branding amongst Millennials in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to reveal and enable a deeper understanding and provide a more refined view on the intersections of employer branding, and (dis)identification, through the empirical focus on Millennials, based in the hospitality context. This is investigated by asking two research questions: “how is the employer brand presented to Millennials in Hotels International?” and “how is the employer brand perceived by Millennials in Hotels international?” This has given rise to a new framework that explicitly distinguishes between brand (dis)identification and organizational (dis)identification, and which is our main contribution to academic and corporate practitioners. Furthermore, throughout this study, we challenge the recent hype around Millennials which is mainly a reference to the stereotypical views that seem to abound them. This study is based on qualitative research by using social constructivist theory. The empirical research was carried out in two hotels who belong to the hotel chain Hotels International (pseudonym). In total, we conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with HR and management as well as with Millennials to shed light on our two research questions. Our main findings indicate that there is brand (dis)identification as well as organizational (dis)identification, but that these are not necessarily the same nor congruent. On that basis, we propose a framework that distinguishes between both. Within the framework four types of Millennials were identified – the organizational idealist, the brand advocate, the brand ignorant and the individualist. This study supports the notion of an active employee in the construction of employer brands, which highlights the perception side of our research. Lastly, based on our findings, we argue that the hype on Millennials is just that, a hype.