Linking Employer Attractiveness to HR and Organizational Performance: Insights from an Extensive Swedish Study based on Prospective Employees

Abstract: The ability to attract talents has become increasingly important in the modern organization. However, the specific relationship between employer attractiveness, HR and organizational performance metrics has yet to be fully explored in the existing literature. This study aims to explore this gap by utilizing a proprietary dataset containing the preferred workplace of 9,763 Swedish students. Through OLS regressions we find a significant positive relationship between employer attractiveness and several HR and organizational performance metrics, with the impact varying depending on the academic backgrounds and skillsets of the individuals who prefer the organization. This study makes three noteworthy contributions to the field. Firstly, this is, to our knowledge, the first extensive study that uses the opinions of prospect employees as a measure of employer attractiveness to investigate its relationship to HR and organizational performance. Secondly, it identifies significant differences in the correlation between employer attractiveness and HR and organizational performance based on the academic backgrounds of survey respondents. Finally, the study addresses existing literature's call for more evidence on the relationship between recruitment and organizational performance using larger datasets.