Core values and their role in attracting future employees: A quantitative study measuring how Swedish employers’ core values matter to students, in the light of external employer branding

Abstract: Studies show that employees are an organisation’s most important asset. Therefore, an employer needs to attract the desired future employees. Currently, core values appear frequently on employers’ websites. Core values could consequently operate as a part of external employer branding to attract candidates. The question remains whether core values matter to future employees when considering working for a specific company. The purpose of this study is to understand if the most frequently occurring core values matter to future employees. The aim is to help companies refine how they work with core values in external employer branding. This study was conducted by examining the most frequently used core values in 150 of the largest private employers in Sweden. Further, a survey investigated how students at Lund University perceived these core values. 71 students participated in the survey. The result showed that the most frequently occurring core values were “Responsibility”, “Customer Focus”, “Innovation”, “Commitment”, “Teamwork”, “Respect”, “Care”, “Simplicity”, and “Passion”. These core values appeared more than 20 times among the 150 examined employers. The students perceived these core values as important as they agreed more than disagreed regarding the importance of the mentioned core values when choosing to work for a specific company. The result also revealed that the students were generally attracted to core values when applying for a job. On the other hand, core values were not an important factor to the students when choosing to work for a specific company. The result suggested that core values matter, to some extent, but without being crucial when future employees consider an employer. Furthermore, the result could help companies evaluate how they can work with their core values. The study contributes by adding value for employers that want to shape their value proposition. Due to this study's size and time limitations, future research and development on the topic would be interesting.