281 effect of employer branding on job application decisions of fresh graduates in ho chi minh city – a case study on retail enterprises 2023

Researchneccessity

These days, fresh graduate students not only interested in salary but also careabout their training and development programs and experiencesat work,…when theymake a job application decisions According to Ambler and Barrow (1996), employerbranding communicates the benefits of employment to potential candidates. Potentialemployees use employer branding to differentiate between employers and assists theirdecision making Information that potential employees gain about an employer formstheimagetheyattributetothebrandofanorganisation.

Also, in increasingly competitive labour markets, attracting and retaining talenthas been one of the prime concerns of organisations, employer branding is consideredas a significant factor that attracts the human resources that best fits and contributes tothe strategic aims and bottom line of organisations Besides that, when an enterprisedeployments an employer branding that will help the company construct a sustainablebrand image which is considered a competitive advantage for the company However,to create a sustainable strong, genuine and lasting employer brand, employers need tounderstand the range of factors that influence career decision making and the role ofemployer branding in attracting human capital that best fits and contributes to thestrategicaimsofanorganisation.Thus,thispaperaimstoidentifytheemployerbrandingf a c t o r s a f f e c t i n g j o b a p p l i c a t i o n d e c i s i o n s o f f r e s h g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s i n H o ChiMinhCity–acasestudyonretailenterprises.

Researchobjectivesandquestions

Researchobjectives

To research the influence of the employer branding factors on the job applicationdecisionsoffreshgraduatesintoenterprisesintheretailindustryin

- Toidentifythe employerbrandingfactorsthataffect the applicationdecisions ofrecentgraduate studentsinto companiesintheretailindustry.

- Toevaluateandmeasuretheeffectofemployerbrandingfactorsonjobapplic ation decisions ofrecent universitygraduates.

Researchquestions

- How arethesefactorsinfluencing the job application decisionsofnewgraduatesintotheretailenterprises?

Researchscopesandsubjects

Researchscopes

Fresh graduates define as students who have just graduated from university orcollege,orpeoplewhograduatedbuthavinglessthantwoyearsofw o r k i n g experience.

Researchsubjects

This study targets mainly on the employer branding‘s factors that influence jobapplicationd e c i s i o n s o f r e c e n t u n i v e r s i t y graduates T o o b t a i n t h e t a r g e t , t h e a u t h o r conducts a survey data on the fresh university graduates who have less than two yearsofworkingexperienceanddesiretoworkintheretailindustryinHo ChiMinh City.

Researchmethodology

This study conducts both quantitative research methods and qualitative researchmethods In qualitative research methods, the author build questionnaire basing onquestionnaire in relevance previous researches Additionally, in quantitative researchmethods, author uses a non-probability sampling method with an accidental samplingdesign to collect data The respondents receive the questionnaire survey and answer allthe questions based on their experience, using a 1–5 Likert-type scale with an anchor of1for―stronglydisagree‖to5for―stronglyagree‖.

Expectedcontributions

- The research model is constructed basing on the previous research hypothesesand research model about the effect of employer branding on career making-decision.Sotheresultof thisresearchwillcontribute to theconsolidationofpreviousresearch.

Thesisstructure

Thischapterfocusesontheoverviewoftheresearchbysettingr e s e a r c h problems,i dentifythenecessityofresearch,theresearchsubject,theresearchcontributiona n d t h e r e s e a r c h o b j e c t i v e T h e s e t o p i c s p r o v i d e t h e o v e r v i e w o f t h e resear ch content and setting a base for researching theoretical background in the nextchapter.

Chapter two present the concept of employer branding, the factors of employerbranding, the application process, the theoretical models and the previous researches.These theories are the basis for suggesting the research model of the effect of employerbranding on the job application decisions of recent graduate students into retail firms inHoChiMinhCity.

Chapter three provides information about the research methodology including theresearchdesign,samplescollectionandstatistical dataanalysistechnique.

This chapter shows the research result after data analysis using SPSS 20 software.This chapter includes six main points: describe the sample, statistic for nominal scales,descriptives t a t i s t i c f o r o r d i n a l s c a l e s , r e l i a b i l i t y s t a t i s t i c s f o r t h e d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b l e and independent variables, factor loading analysis for independent variables, dependentvariable and coefficients analysis of independent variables and analyze the meaning ofresearchresult.

Chapterfivesummarisestheresearchresultandproposesthegovernanceimplications to improve and advance the employer branding of retail companies toattractmore candidates Besides that, the limitation ofresearch isalsom e n t i o n e d i n thischapter

Conclusion

Thischapterpresentstheneccessityofthisresearch,identifiestheresearchobjectives and questions to clarify the research problem Besides that, this chapter givean overview about the research methods using in this study, which will discuss later inchapter3.Finally, this chapter brieflypresentsthestructureofthisthesis.

Importantconcepts

Branding

―branding‖enteredinmarketingin1922,whichknownasacompound expression(i.e.brandname)meaningatradeorproprietaryname(Stern,2006).AccordingtoWo odsideandWalser(2007),theconcept―brand‖wasknownasanencompassingconcept thatincludes retail firms as well as physical products and services Ass t a t e d by Bastos and Levy (2012), the term ―branding‖ started as a sign, a way of denotingthatanobjectwaswhatitwasandthenbecameaformofnamings o m e t h i n g Ac cordingtoSchneider(2003),abrandwasdefinedas―aname,term,sign,symbol,ordesign, or combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services ofoneseller orgroupofsellers and todifferentiatethemfromthoseofcompetitors‖.

Employerbranding

There is the truth that all employers have a brand, but not all employers engageeffectively in branding efforts to differentiate themselves as employers The purpose ofemployer branding is to show a positive and attractive image to current and potentialemployees Furthermore, employer branding considers as one of many reputationalfactors that adds to competitive advantage There are several definitions of the conceptofemployerbranding.

First of all, in 1996, Ambler and Barrow introduced the term employer brandinginto the lexicon of human resource management The term ―employer branding‖ wasdefined as ―the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits providedby employment and identified with the employing company‖. Moreover, employerbrandingappliedmarketingtechniquestotheprocessofrecruitingandretainingem ployees.Accordingt o T h e C o n f e r e n c e B o a r d ( 2 0 0 1 ) , t h e e m p l o y e r b r a n d consideredas"thecompany'svaluesystem,thepoliciesandthebehaviourthathelp ed the company attract, motivate and retain current or potential employees". Additionally,in Backhaus and Tikoo‘s research (2004), the concept of employer branding suggestedthedifferentiationofafirms‘characteristicsasanemployerfromthoseofitscompet itors.Theemploymentbrandhighlightedtheuniqueaspectsofthefirm‘semployment offerings or environment Moreover, the employer branding described to acorporation‘s image and reputation as an employer and its value proposition to itshuman resources (Barrow and Mosley, 2011).

In 2011, Martin and his colleaguesdefinedthetermemployerbrandas―ageneralizedrecognitionforbeingknownamong stakeholdersforprovidingahighqualityemploymentexperience,adistinctiveorganizational identity which employees value, engage with and feel confident andhappy to promote to others‖ According to Kucherov and Zavyalova (2012) describedtheemployerbrandas―qualitativefeaturesoftheemployingcompany,whichattractedta rget audience with positive image and appropriate set of material and non-materialadvantages distinguishing a company in the labour market‖ Furthermore, the employerbrandingcontainedtheprinciples,practicesandtoolsbywhichane n t e r p r i s e i nfluenced its image, reputation and brand as an employer, among current and potentialemployees(Lane,2016).

Regarding this, Martindale (2010) said that employer branding and HR marketingareconsideredmeaningfulconceptionforrespondingtorecruitmentandretentionis sues in today's firms Additionally, Stuss and Herdan (2017) had mentioned thatemployer branding was a significant part of the long-term corporate strategy so thatfirms would try managing the perceptions and awareness of current human resources orpotential employees Besides that, Urbancová and Hudáková (2017) mentioned thatmarketing and employer branding could bring new opportunities and changes in thesefields As posited by Ritson (2002), the employer branding had serveral benefits tocompaniessuchasreducingcostofemployeeacquisition,improvingemployeerelations,i n c r e a s i n g e m p l o y e e r e t e n t i o n a n d o f f e r i n g l o w e r s a l a r i e s f o r c o m p a r a b l e

Supplier Manufacturer Distributor Retailer Customer staff to firms with weaker employer brands Beside that, Berthon and his colleagues(2005)mentionedthatcorporationshad‗highemployerbrandvalue‘wereperceivedb ypotentialemployeesasmoreattractivethanthosewithloweremployerbrandvalue.

Retailenterprise

Retail businesses acting within distribution channels are becoming bigger andbigger as the result of a process of association and integration in the channel, leading toanincreaseintheirnegotiatingpoweraswell.(Santos-Requejo,L.,&González- Benito,Ó.,2000).AsstatedbyAyersandOdegaardinthebook―Retailsupplychainmanagem ent‖(2019),theterm―retail‖describedasfinalsalestomost lynonbusinesscustomers or consumers Besides the nonbusiness customer, most businesses also madepurchase at retail stores So the there are two main transactions in retail company thatare business-to-customer (B2C) or business-to- business (B2B) The position of retailenterpriseinsupplychain illustratesthroughpicture figure2.1:

In this research, retailer is known as origin equipment manufacture (OEM) sosupplier, manufacturer and distributor are considered as supplier (buy side of supplychain) and customer refers to sell side stream The retailer purchase products fromdistributors or manufacturers, then sell it to customer, the profit of retailer is equal to(―the sale price‖ - ―the purchase price‖) * the quantity of selling products. There aremany types of retailers that specialize in various sales techniques and carter to differentconsumer types such as: department stores, gocery stores and supermarket,warehouseretailers,specialtyoroutletretailers,convenienceretailerandinternetormobileretail er.

There are four main characteristics of the retailer First of all, retailers suppliedvarious kinds of goods so that everyone can choose and buy Next, the retailer boughtgoodsfrommanufactureordistributor inlargequantities,andtheretailerd i v i d e d goods into smaller sizes or consumable sizes Third, retailers hold inventory close byandprovideconveniencetothecustomer.Besidesbringingtheproducttot h e customer,retailers also supplied services to enhance the value of this product Tobecome a successful retailer, the retailer had to do three things well Firstly, the retailcompany must recognize the niche or market segment for their offerings among allavailable market segments to decide the target market with an opportunity for growth.Next, the retailer must design and develop a retail format that is suitable and effectivewiththetargetmarket.

Freshgraduates

Fresh graduates is known as potential employee for the employer Fresh graduateshaving new ideas, knowledge can contribute to the development of the company Thereare several definitions of fresh graduates but no one fixed identity for this concept.AccordingtoCabelleroandWalker(2010),theconcept―graduates‖wasdefinedasformerstud entswhohadreceivedanundergraduateorpostgraduateuniversity orcollege degree In their article, they mentioned that fesh graduates was the person whohad completed an undergradute degree and were entering professional employment forthe first time. Additionally, Borghans and Golsteyn (2012), fresh graduates is collegegraduates whose work experience in the first three years after graduation On the otherhand, fresh graduates is an employer who has been employed for less than two years, isconsideredan entry-levelemployeeinorganizations(AnasandHamzah,2020).

AccordingtoMansorandhiscolleagues(2014),manyenterpriseswereindifficulties recruiting fresh graduates because oftime constraints.T h e s t u d e n t s w h o hadappliedoccupiedwiththeirassignmentaswellastheiractivities.Asare sult,the

Attitude toward Behaviour Behavioural Beliefts

Subjective Norms Normative Beliefs studentscouldnotapplyforthejobvacanciessincethisrequirespreparingthenecessarydocu mentationtobemailedtotheappropriatecompanies.

Theoretical modelsandthepreviousstudies

Thetheoreticalmodels

The theory of reasoned action based on the assumption that human beings usuallybehaved sensibly, and took account of available information and implicitly or explicitlyconsidered the implications of their actions. Fishbein and Ajzen (1977) mentioned thatperson's intention was a function of two determinants: personal and reflecting socialinfluence The personal factor was the individual's positive or negative evaluation ofperformanceb e h a v i o u r t h a t t e r m e d a t t i t u d e t o w a r d t h e b e h a v i o u r T h e b e l i e f s t h a t underlainaperson'sattitudetowardthebehaviorweretermedbehavioralbeliefs.Besides that, people intended to perform a behaviour when they evaluated it positivelyand believed that necessary others thought they have to do it The second determinantwastheperson'sperceptionofthesocialpressuresputonhim toperform orn o t performthebehaviourinquestionthattermedsubjectivenorm.Thesebeliefsunderlyi ng the subjective norm were termed normative beliefs Generally speaking, apersonwhobelievedthatmost referentswith whom hewasmotivated to complythoughthehadtoperformthebehavior wouldperceivesocialpressuretodoso.

Ajzen (1985) developed the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) based on thetheory of reasoned action of Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) Both theories explained that aperson‘sintentiontoperformacertainbehaviorinfluencesactualsubsequentbehaviours. The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985) suggests that there are threeconceptuallyindependentdeterminantsofbehavioralintentions.

The first determinant was the person‘s attitude toward the behaviour, referring tothepositiveornegativeevaluationofperformingthebehaviour.Theseconddeterminantwa sthesubjectivenorm,reflectingtheperson‘sperceptionofsocialpressureregardingtheperfor manceofthebehaviour.Thethirddeterminantwasperceivedbehaviouralcontrol(PBC),whi chreferedtotheperson‘sperceptionofcontrol over performance of the behaviour This reflected past experience as well asanticipated impediments and obstacles Finally, personal or moral norms also guidedintentionsandbehaviours.

Person‘s attitude toward the behaviour

According to Hilton (1962), career decision-making was an imperfect process atbest There were five possible conceptions of the career decision-making process: theattribute-matchingmodel;theneed- reductionmodel;theproblemgainmodel;t h e socialstructuremodelandthecomplexinformat ionprocessingmodel.Thecharacteristicsofthesemodel issummarized in table2.1.

-Thesimplestformofmakingcareerdecision -Implicitedinthispersonality-and-factorapproach,whichemphasized

The individualdifferencesa n d h o w t h e y c o u l d i m p a c t t h e p r o c e s s o f attribute employmentchoice matching -

Thecandidatefirstsearchedandlistedallofhispersonalattribute s. model Then heascertainedtheattributes required forsuccessful adjustmentin eachofs o m e s e t o f e m p l o y m e n t s , a n d h e s e l e c t e d e m p l o y e m e n t requirementsthatbestmatchedhisattributes.

Thea p p r o a c h t o c a r e e r d e v e l o p m e n t a s s o c i a t e d w i t h d y n a m i c reductionmo del personalitytheory, whichgoalwastoreduceneedtension.

- With varying degrees of awareness of their behaviour, the candidatesought out occupations that satisfy their needs Then the candidateappraised his own needs and estimated the need-reducing valueofsomesetofalternatives.

- Thismodelp r o v i d e d a b a s i s f o r c o m p a r i n g t h e a t t r a c t i v e n e s s o f differentones,namelytheirdrive-reducing perspective.

- Thec a n d i d a t e f a c e d m a n y a l t e r n a t i v e s , a n d e a c h o f t h e s e h a d certainlyou tc omes t h a t h a d a p o s i t i v e v a l u e t o h i s / h e r B e s i d e s t h a t , thesealternativeshadacertainprobabilityof happening.

- Themodelemphasizedthatthemobility providedandthelimitsimposed by the many social structures through which an individual'scareercarriedhim.

- The individual faced multitudinous behavioural alternatives and self- limitedcapacity tohandleinformationaboutonesthatlimitedtherationalityofdecision- making.

In the research ―Job choice and Post Decision Dissonance‖ (1975), Lawler andhis colleagues applied an expectancy theory approach to job choice First, the Effort toPerformance expectancy refered to the probability that a person could perform theintended behaviour such as obtaining job Second, Performance to

Application for Jobswith the Highest (E->P)Attractiveness

Select Job that is mostAttractivenessHighest

∑[(P->O)x (V)]. example obtaining high pay, personal growth, etc, from holding the job The theorysuggestedthattheattractivenessofabehaviourwasinfluencedbyboththeattractivenes s of the outcomes and the probability the outcomes would be obtained.According to the theory, Performance to Outcome (P->O) probabilities were multipliedby the Attractiveness or Valence (V) of each outcome and then the products should besummed in order to determine the attractiveness of a behavior This is the math forattractivenessofbehaviour:

Thefinalstepintheexpectancymodel,therefore,combiningtheEtoPexpectancywith theattractivenessofthe behavior Thus,

The prediction of the expectancy theory was that in a choice situation individualswould perform the behaviour which had the highest score when attractiveness and E ->Parecombined.Thejobchoiceprocessillustratedinthefigure2

Source:LawlerIII,E E.,KuleckJr, W.J., Rhode,J.G.,&Sorensen,J.E.(1975)

Theprocessstartedbyapersonlookingforpossibleandavailablejobsinrecruitment sources After finding appropriate vacancies, the individual selected someto apply for based upon the probability that they could obtain and their attractiveness.Then the individual would receive some job offers, then person would choose the firmhaving the most attractive offered Furthermore, in many situations, individuals couldapply for a number of jobs and they did not have to choose between applying for onejob or another This pointwasimportant becauseexpectancy theory wasc o n c e r n e d withhowpeoplechooseamongmutuallyexclusivealternativebehaviour s.

According to Harren (1979), a decision-making model was a description of apsychologicalprocessinwhichoneorganizedinformation,deliberatedamongalternatives, and made a commitment to a course of action In this research, the authorpointedoutfourinterrelatedparameters:Process,Characteristics,Tasksa n d Conditi ons.

The Process was the core of the model that had a four-stage, sequential decision- makingprocessthroughwhichthepersonprogressesinmakingandcarryingoutdecisions At each stage of process, the candidate was worried with diverse concernsand issues and was engaged in different covert and overt behaviours to resolve theseissues.Fourstageofthisprocesswere:awareness,planning,commitment,andimpleme ntation.Thefigure5showedtheprocessofthecareerdecision-making:

- The candidate gave attention to the present self in situation andexpanded one‘s time perspective to include part of the past and thefutureinone‘spsychologicalpresent.

- Many specific aspects of self in situtation were: consideration ofthe consequences (costs and benefits) of one‘s presentcourse ofaction;one‘sdegree ofself-confidenceindecisionmaking…

- Iftheindividualhaddissatisfactionresultsfromthisappraisal of theself-in-situation,h e / s h e w o 4 u l d r e c o g n i z e a n e e d t o e x p l o r e alternativesandtransitionintothenextstage.

- The expanding aspect refered to searching for information or dataabout the Task and about the Self-Concept in relation to te Task.These data were processed by the individual subjectively So theinformation was reacted to in terms of internal criteria, which variedin term of degree of clarity or concreteness, and in terms of thedegreeofconfidencewithwhichthepersonadheredtothesecriteria

- The narrowingprocess mentioned that the individual might not beabletocompletetheprocessandmadethetransitiont o Commitment.Th eindividualneededmoredata(knowledgeofalternatives) or more concrete and confident criteria (knowledge ofone‘svalueprioritiesandtheirrelevancetothealternatives.

Thisa l t e r n a t i n g e x p a n d i n g - n a r r o w i n g p r o c e s s c o n t i n u e s u n t i l t h e individual began to settle upon a specific alternative and made thetransitionintothenextstage.

―trying-out-on- others‖processforfeedback,withgradualprogressionfromreversibilityt oirreversibility.

- Then,theindividualannouncedhis/her‘sintention,firsttointimate others and then to others in one‘s work group and as theevaluatefeedbackwaspositive,theindividual‘sconfidenceincommit mentincreased.Then,theindividualincorporatedandintegrated the commitment with existing aspects of the self- conceptsystem.T h e n h e / s h e d e v e l o p e d p l a n s f o r i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f t h e commitment.Theseplanscontainedspecificactionsteps, contingency plans, and the awareness of a need for, and a search for,detailed information in order to implement the decision Next, theindividualenteredintoa―bolstering‖processinordertoreaffirmthe

- Ifthei n d i v i d u a l d i d n o t c a r r y o u t b o t h a c t i v i t i e s p l a n n i n g a n d bolstering,he/ shewouldrevoketheCommitmentstageandregresstotheprevious stagesoftheProcess.

- The individual was introduced into the newc o n t e x t , t h e n r e a c t e d to it, and finally was become a part of this context This stage hadthreesubaspects:Conformity,AutonomyandInterdependence.

- InConformity,thepersonexperiencedahighneedforsocialapproval and acceptance, and subordinated or inhibited one‘s ownneeds-values-goalsaccordingly.

- In Interdependence, they were adaptively modulated and mergedinto a reciprocal and mutual interaction with others, representing adynamicbalance,orequilibrium,ofselfandcontext.

- If the success and satisfaction outcomes were consistently low, theindividualwouldrevokethedecisionbeingimplementedandwould recyclethroughthe Processasnewalternativeswereconsidered.

Thepreviousresearches

2.2.2.1 Theresearch“Factorsinfluencingthejobsearchandjobselection in students of Generation Y in the Czech Republic in theemployerbrandingcontext”

According to Bejtkovský (2018), the main goal of this research was to discoverthef a c t o r s i n f l u e n c i n g t h e j o b s e a r c h a n d j o b s e l e c t i o n b a s e d o n t h e g e n d e r a n d t h e typeoffacultyoftherespondent.SoBejtkovský(2018)hypothesi zedthattherewere12factorsinfluencingthejobsearchandjobselection:

(3).good relationships in the workplace;

(5).employee benefits (telephone allowance, car, meals, travel, housing, etc.); (6).successfulandwell-knowncorporationon themarket,

(7).environmentally orientated production of corporation;

(9).work with modern equipment and technologies;

Bejtkovský (2018) conducted quantitative research at TBU in Zlín The authorcollecteda to tal of 6 5 5 res po nses fr om studentso f t h e F acu lt y ofH u m a n i t i e s ( F H S ) andFacultyofManagementandEconomics(FaME)andwererepresentativesofG enerationY.Therespondentswereaskedtoanswerthe05- pointLikertscalequestionnaire(from1=stronglyimportanceto5=stronglyirrelevance)a b o u t potentiale m p l o y e r s a n d i t s f r e q u e n c y F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e r e s p o n d e n t s c o u l d h a v e a choice(s)ofthe followingalternatives:

(1).general information about a corporation (core values, targets, vision,…); (2).informationaboutjobpositionandworkingconditions;

(3) references and corporation rating (work atmosphere, careeropportunities,…)

After analysing data, the author found that the mean perception of the factorsinfluencing the job search and job selection for females and males was as the same,except for employer benefits factor Furthermore, the mean perception of the factorsinfluencing the job search and job selection for Generation Y students of the FHS andFaMEwasasthesame,except05factorsonly:

(1).certainty of employment(2).p e r m a n e n t salary/wages,

Additionally, the author also investigated information about potential employers.The most frequent information about potential employers was information about jobpositionandworkingconditions.Thesefactorsfollowed:

(1).references and corporation rating (work atmosphere, career opportunities, ) (2).generalinformationaboutcorporation(corevalues,targets,vision,…),

Firstly,Berthonandhiscolleaguesdefined‗employerattractiveness‘astheenvisioned benefitsthataprospectiveemployeeseesinworkingforaspecificorganisation In other words, the more attractive an employer was perceived to be bypotentialemployees,thestrongerthatparticularorganisation‘semployerbrandeq uity.

Berthon, Ewing and Hah assumed that there were five elements at play in employerbrand development: interest value, social value, economic value, development valueandapplication value.Themeaningofeachvalueshownintable2.3

The extent to which an individual was attracted to an employer thatprovided an exciting work environment, novel work practices and thatmadeu s e o f i t s e m p l o y e e ‘ s c r e a t i v i t y t o p r o d u c e h i g h - q u a l i t y , innovativeproductsandservices.

Thee x t e n t t o w h i c h a n i n d i v i d u a l w a s a t t r a c t e d t o a n e m p l o y e r t h a t providedabove- averagesalary,compensationpackage,jobsecurity andpromotionalopportunities

The extent to which an individual was attracted to an employer thatprovided an opportunity for the employee to apply what they havelearnedandtoteachothers,inanenvironmentthatwasbothcustom er orientatedandhumanitarian.

Berthon and his colleagues collected data by asking final-year final-year(finalsemester) graduate and undergraduate students at a large Australian university.Theychose final-year student as the targeted sample because they are prime candidates foremployeradvertising andrecruitmentcampaigns Respondentswere divide dintotwo groups and answered 32 items relating to employer attractiveness The participant wasasked about ‗ideal employers‘ (i.e organisations the respondents would most like towork for, and why), what factors they considered important when considering potentialemployers, organisations they would least like to work for (and why) and, finally, howthey go about looking for employment (i.e internet, classifieds, recruitment agencies,wordofmouth,networking,etc.).

In the result of this research, Berthon and his colleagues mentioned that their five- factor structure was essentially a refinement and extension of the three dimensionsproposed by Ambler and Barrow

(1996) The Interest value and Social value capturedthe ‗psychological benefits‘; the

Development value and Application value expandedonthe‗functionalbenefits‘;andbothoperationalisationshaveanEconomicdimension

The main goal of this research was to identify and analyze the employer brandingfactorsthatthecurrent,formerandpotentialemployeescaredaboutwhentheyevalu ated their employers Dabirian and his colleagues (2017) automatically collected38,000 reviews of the highest and lowest ranked employers on Glassdoor. Then, theyused IBM Watson to analyze the content of all reviews, computed correlations betweeneachoftheprocessedfilters,andcalculated thefrequencyofeach.

Glassdoor was a website that started collecting anonymous, employment- relateddatafromcurrentandformeremployeesin2008.Inwebsite,Glassdoorinvitedparticip ants to use a five-point Likert scale (1-star to 5-star ratings) to judge a series ofemployment- relatedvariables.Theseincludedanoverallrating,afirm‘scareeropportunities,compensatio nandbenefits,workload,seniormanagement,andt h e firm‘s culture and values Besides that, Glassdoor offered a three-point scale (negative,neutral, or positive) for participants to rate the CEO and the firm‘s 6-month outlook,and askedparticipantsiftheywouldrecommendthefirmtotheirfriends.

After analyzing data, Dabirian and his colleagues found that there were 07 keyemployer branding areas that respondents considered when they assessed corporations.Thesefactorswereintroducedintable2.4.

This factor relating to the social value of work were largely emotional.People care deeply about the enjoyment they gain from a positive workatmosphere;coworkerswhoarefunandcollegial,andwhosharesimilarv a l u e s ; a t e a m a p p r o a c h t o p r o b l e m s o l v i n g ; a n d a p e o p l e - focusedorganizationalculture.

Thisvaluesuggestedthatemployeesdesiretoputtheirknow-howand skillst o m e a n i n g f u l a n d c o n s i d e r a t e u s e E x a m p l e s o f t h i s i n c l u d e teachingopportunitiesandprovidingsuperiorbenefitstocust omers

Thisfactorweremainlyconcernedwithcompensation.Individualsfocused on economic value were not only attentive to pay, but also tobenefitss u c h a s h e a l t h c a r e , p e n s i o n c o n t r i b u t i o n s , j o b s e c u r i t y , a n d otherquantifiableperks.

Thisvaluesuggested t h a t employeesdid n o t leaveorstay atawork placeb e c a u s e o f t h e i r c o m p a n i e s ; r a t h e r , t h e y l e f t o r s t a y e d becauseo f t h e i r b o s s e s T h e i n f l u e n c e o f g o o d a n d b a d s u p e r i o r s a t workwastremendous.Trulypositiveandnegativeexperiencesspill edintoemployees‘leisuretimeandaffectedtheirrelationships with friendsandfamily.

Thisvalueemphasizednotonlytheirdesiretoidentifywiththeorganization, but also their identity as more than just an employee. Aproperwork/lifebalanceallowedpeopletomanagetheirworkinharmony w i t h a l l t h e i r o t h e r i d e n t i t i e s ( e g , p a r e n t , f r i e n d , t r a v e l e r , clubmember)without conflictorstress.

After analyzing, Dabirian and his colleagues found that ‗praise factors‘ (such associal value proposition) attracted people and turn them into loyal employees. Besidesthat, they also pointed to ‗complaint factors‘ (e.g., the management value proposition)that were the main reasons people leave companies This ranking process reveals thatsome value propositions are simply not regarded highly, for instance: developmentvalue washardlymentioned.

AccordingtoSainiandhiscolleagues(2015),theobjectiveofthisresearchexamined the effect of firm-related and job-related attributes on a candidate‘s jobapplication decision by selecting firms from the Best Employer Surveys (BES) lists.The authors hypothesized there were 08 factors that positively affected candidate‘s jobapplication decisions.Therewere:

(8) Firms‘performance (intermsofcoverageandfrequency)inseveral BESs.

Then, the authors collected secondary and primary data of 139 companies whichhad appeared in four major BES (best employer surveys) lists from 2001 to 2012 (thelongest time period for which data is available in an emerging economy—India) andprimary data collected from 2,854 respondents The respondents provided their opinionabout the selected companies in the following areas: company reputation, companyproductsandservices,possibilitiesforpersonaldevelopment,company leadership,work– lifebalance,jobsecurity,salary,companyculture,deliveringofp r o m i s e s , feeling of engagement and familiarity with company as an employer (all independentvariables)andintentiontoapplyandthebestemployertoworkfor(dependentvar iables).Theselectedindependentvariablesarealsoknownasemployerattractiveness.

After analyzing data, the result showed that only the hypothesis 5 (awarenessabout employer‘s product and service) did not influence the candidate‘s job applicantdecisions.Furthermore,theauthorsfoundthatfirmreputation,organizationalfamiliari ty, personal development, compensation, culture, delivering of promises andfeeling of engagement influence the job choice decisions, while the same is not true forleadership, work–life balance and job security Besides that, they found that both firm-level and job-related variables significantly influenced a candidate‘s job applicationdecisions, such as, intention to apply and consideration of the best companies to workfor.

Researchhypothesesandtheresearchmodel

Researchhypotheses

Theorganizationsize w as relevanttothenumberemployees,revenues, n umberof locations, The organization size was the factor that can be seen and distinguishclearly between company A and company B According to Sheard (1970), a largercompany easily attracted candidates in the recruitment market Furthermore, the largerorganizationwaslikelytohaveastrongeremployerbrandthanthes m a l l e r organiza tion (Franca & Pahor, 2012; Lievens et al., 2001; Rynes, Bretz & Gerhart,1991).Ontheotherhand,thesmall- sizedorganizationhadlessinstrumentalinaccomplishing extrinsic rewards like salary (Greenhaus, Sugalski and Crispin, 1978).So the candidate preferred to apply for a large and growing company because thecandidate thought he or she could get assured and better salaries (Franca and Pahor,2012).

Compensationandbenefitsincludedsalary,bonuses,benefitsandincentives.According to Saini and his colleagues (2014), the salary and other monetary benefits(also known as economic value) offered by a corporate significantly and positivelyaffectedanapplicant‘sjob- relateddecisions.Compensationandbenefitsmadeorganizations distinctive between their competitors (Bretz, Ash and Dreher, 1989) andattracted the potential employees (Cable & Judge, 1994; Gerhart & Milkovich, 1990).According to Ash and Bendapudi

(1996),the organization used benefits to attractcandidatesandretainemployees.IntheresearchofTerjesen,V i n n i c o m b e a n dFreeman(2007),theyprovedthatthesalaryfactorscouldattractgenerationYgraduates.Furth ermore,benefitswereconsideredasthemostvisiblefactorsina person‘sdecisionsofworkplaceandhadbeenmentionedasbeinganimportantdeterminanto f e m p l o y e r a t t r a c t i v e n e s s ( W e a t h i n g t o n , 2 0 0 8 ) A c c o r d i n g t o S a i n i a n d his colleagues, the company provided the benefits weighted highly by the candidate inhisorherjobdecisioncriteria,itwouldsignificantlyaffectthejobapplicationdecision- making.

Training and learning had become one of important factors that influence jobapplication decision-making of potential candidates According to Terjesen and hiscolleagues (2007), training and development opportunities were consisted of three offive most important organizational attributes that attracted UK university final yearstudents to apply to a management trainee position Learning and training chances in acompanywouldhelpprospectiveemployeesinhoningtheiremployability.T h e training opportunities was critical for retaining workers irrespective of being young orolder workforce (Rhebergen and Wognum, 1997; Armstrong-Stassen and Templer,2005).AccordingtoCableandGraham(2000),theorganizationcouldattractprospe ctivecandidatesthroughprovidingdevelopmentopportunities.Furthermore,Judgeandhisc olleague(2000)provedthatthedevelopmentpotentialwithinanorganization in connection with employee satisfaction As mentioned by Saari andJudge (2004), the perceivedopportunity for development and promotion had beenassessedasbeing positivelyrelated to employee satisfaction.

Hypothesis 3: Training and development opportunities have a positive effect onjobapplicationdecisionsoffreshgraduates

According to Cable and Graham (2000), corporate reputation included financialperformance,c o m p a n y s i z e , m e d i a e x p o s u r e , a d v e r t i s i n g e x p e n d i t u r e s a n d t y p e o f industry Additionally, employer reputation referred to a job seeker‘s beliefs aboutpublic‘saffectiveevaluationoftheorganization.Andemployerreputationwasinfluenc ed by both employer familiarity and image, but in turn also impacted employerimageandorganizationalattraction(CableandTurban,2001).

Several researches had pointed out that the corporate reputation helped employerattract prospective candidates Company reputation had a considerable effect on themindsofuniversitystudentsfortheirpotentialemployer.Besidesthat,corporatereputatio n, which referred to the status of a firm‘s name relative to competing firms,was one major determinant of an organization‘s ability to recruit fresh graduates (BeltandPaolillo,1982;CableandTurban,2003).

Furthermore,thereweremanystudiesidentifiedtherelationshipbetweenorganization‘ s reputation and intentions to apply for a job As mentioned by Edwards(2010), if an organization had a good reputation, therew o u l d i n c r e a s e i n t h e n u m b e r joba p p l i c a t i o n s o f p r o s p e c t i v e a p p l i c a n t s A c c o r d i n g t o R o p e r a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s (2013), if the fresh graduates had positive perceptions of the organization, it wouldaffect the students‘ intentions to apply for a job in this company They hypothesizedand proved that high corporate reputation had a positive relation with the potentialemployees‘ intention to apply for a job Furthermore, the reputation of a company as anemployer was another important factor which influences the application decisions andhigherr e p u t a t i o n m a d e a n o r g a n i z a t i o n m o r e a t t r a c t i v e t h a n l o w o r n o r e p u t a t i o n (Cable& Turban,2001,2003).

Hypothesis 4: Corporate reputation has a positive impact on job applicationdecisions offreshgraduates

Thetermwordofmouthwasdefinedastheinteractionbetweenexistingemployees and a social group of friends and relatives (Dowling, 2001) According toEdwards(2010), ap os it ive recommendation a b o u t ane mp lo yer by currentor former employeesreflectedanemployer‘sinternalbrandstrengthastheyhadalivedexperience of promises made and delivered (or not) whereas ―job seekers only seepromises had made in the employment offering communicated as part of the employerbrandingactivity‖.

Many researches showed that the word of mouth influenced the job applicationdecisions of potential candidates As mentioned by Higgins (2001), when candidateslacked detailed objective information about organizations and when the job choicedecision was viewed by applicants as being extremely important and even emotional,theywouldturntotheirsocialcontextforinformation.Furthermore,CollinsandSte vens (2002) founded that a large number of employees working in an organizationincreased the possibility of positivew o r d o f m o u t h w h i c h s i g n i f i c a n t l y c o n t r i b u t e d t o an applicant‘s job decisions, such as, intention to apply When making job choicedecisions, prospectivea p p l i c a n t s w o u l d p r e f e r e n c e i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m s o c i a l i n f l u e n c e or word of mouth communication from credible people or sources such as friends andfamily (Van Hoye and Lievens, 2007, 2009) According to Saini (2019), the word ofmouth endorsement of an organization as an employer of choice by current and formeremployeeswasasignificantindicatorofinternalemployerbrandstrength.

Furthermore, many studies showed that company-independent sources played anessential role in the applicant‘s decision to join an organization According to Fisher,IlgenandHoyer(1979),freshgraduatesbelievedthatinformationobtainedf r o m pe ople outside the organization to be more credible than the same information obtainedfrom organizational representatives And fresh graduates was most likely to accept joboffers when exposed to positive information about the company Besides that, word-of- mouthcommunicationwasindependentofthe organization‘srecruitmentactivities.

AccordingtoVanHoyeandLievens(2007),graduates'perceptionsoforganizational attractiveness was impacted strongly by informational social influence.Andt h e r e s u l t s o f r e c r u i t m e n t a d v e r t i s i n g w e r e a l s o a f f e c t e d b y n e g a t i v e w o r d o f

Organizational size mouth.Furthermore,receivingpositiveemploymentinformationthroughword-of-mouth from strong ties early in the recruitment process was positively associated withperceptions of organizational attractiveness and actual application decisions (Van HoyeandLievens, 2009)

Hypothesis 5: Positive Word of Mouth has positive impact on job applicationdecision-makingoffreshgraduates

Theproposedresearch model

Conclusion

This chapter summaries the important concepts related to the research topic,andtheoreticalmodelsuchastheTheoryofPlannedBehaviour(TBA),Theoryo f ReasonedAction (TRA) and many career decision-making models Besides that, thischapter discusses relevant previous studies to determine employer branding factorsaffecting job application decision-making Then, the author builds research hypothesesand research model This study has five hypotheses about employer branding factorsthatinfluencingjobapplicationdecision-makingoffreshgraduates.

Processofresearch

-Qualitative research to explore, adjust and supplement the model of employerbranding‘s factors affecting job application decision-making of Ho Chi Minh City freshgraduates.

-Quantitative research to test both the model and the research hypotheses.Theresearchprocessisconductedasfollows:

-Step 2: Identify theoretical model from theoretical basis and relevant previousresearches.

-Step 3: Qualitative research through reference and analysis relevant previousresearches to modify suggested theoretical model to suitable for research objective andscope

-Step 6: Quantitative research through questionnaire survey The author buildresearch model and scale basing on the result of qualitative research to build andconduct preliminary questionnaire survey to give a formal questionnaire Then, theresult of the official survey is analyzed by SPSS software to propose report for theresearchprocess.

Qualitativeresearch

Qualitativeresearch methods

The author builds observed variables through reference, synthesis and analysis oftheories and related previous studies However, these original observed variables arenotsuitableforresearchsubjectandscope,sotheauthoradjustandsupplementt hese observed variables to make it fit for research subject and scope: fresh graduates whowanttoapplyforretailfirm.

Thus the author conducts the qualitative research to construct the research modelabout employer branding factors influencing the job application decision- making offreshgraduates.Thequalitativeresearchisconductedthrough2steps:

- Step1:F in di ng pr ev io uss tu di es aboute ff ect ofe m p l o y e r branding f a c t o r s o njob application decision-making Then the author synthesizes survey questions, andselect the most appropriate questions for the research objective The author adjusts andsupplement these questions to make it fit for research condition and scope After that,thea u t h o r buildst h e researchmodela bout―Employerbrandingfactorsa ffectingj o b applic ation decision-making of Ho Chi Minh City fresh graduates‖ that includes 23observed variables to measure 05 factors: (1) Organizational Size; (2) Compensationand Benefits; (3) Training and Development; (4) Corporate Reputation; (5) Word ofMouth (Thebasis for building research questions is shown in appendix 1).Afterbuildingtheresearchscale,theauthorwilldesignthequestionnaire.

Part 1: The question is design to collect personal information and classify theparticipants

Part 2: The questions is design to collect the evaluation of fresh graduates abouttheeffectofemployerbrandingonjobapplicationdecision-making.

The author uses the completed questionnaire to conduct preliminary survey about10 people to check the clarity of the questionnaire and the information collected. Afterbeingadjusted,theofficialquestionnaireissenttosurvey.Thisstudyneedsmini mum

130samples,soauthor‘stargetistocollectmorethan200samplestoobtainappropriate survey results These results are used for quantitative research (The surveyquestionnaireisshowninAppendix2).

Thequalitativeresearchresult

The result of preliminary survey of 10 respondents shows that the Job ApplicationDecision-Making of Ho Chi Minh City Fresh graduates is expressed through thesefollowing components:

(1) Organizational Size, (2) Compensation and Benefits, (3)Training and Development, (4) Corporate Reputation, (5) Word of Mouth The JobApplicationDecision-Makingscalesincludestheseobservedvariables:

15 Iwantt o w or k for af i r m thatI haveheard a lotof g o o d t hi ng s a b o u t this firm

- Additionally,the scalesofJob ApplicationDecision-making component

Quantitativeresearch

Scale

CB3:W h e n ap pl yi ng fo r a jo b, I am interested inth eq uan ti ty ofa n n u a l pai dd ay leavesthatthecompanyofferstotheemployee.

CB4:W h e n ap pl yi ng f o r a j o b , I a m interested i n bo nus esan d i n c e n t i v es t ha t th e companyprovidefortheemployee

CR2:IwanttoapplyforacompanythathasagoodreputationamongstfriendsCR3:I p r e f e r t o m ake a a p p l y fora com pa ny whichis r e wa r d a s ― B e s t p l a ce t o work‖ CR4: I want to work for a firm that I have heard a lot of good things about this firmCR5: I prefer to work for a company considered socially responsible organization.CR6:Iprefertoapplyforanorganizationconsideredinnovativeemp loyer–applyingnewworkpracticesandideas

WOM2: E-wom provides me with detailed information about the company and job.WOM3:Readingthereviewsoftheorganization‘scurrentorformeremployeesca ninfluencemyjobapplicationdecision-making.

WOM4: Iwill applyfora companywhich referredbysomebodyItrust.

WOM6:Theonlinereview,commentabouttheexperienceattheworkplacewhic hisposted insocialmediaiscredible.

AD1:Thesefactorsaffectmyjob application decision-making

Researchsampledesign

Thesamplesizedependsonanalyticalmethods,thisstudy usesExploratoryFactor Analysis and regression analysis For the exploratory factor analysis model,according to Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black (1998), the sample size is determinedbasedon: (1)theminimumofsamplesis5timesthetotalnumberofo b s e r v e d variables, and (2) the number of scales included in the analysis of the model In thisstudy, the author has 26 observed variables, so the minimum sample of this research is130.

The author uses non-probability sampling techniques with a convenient samplingmethods to collect survey data The respondent of this study is fresh graduates living inHo Chi Minh City and want to working in retail firm The survey questionnaire is sentandconductedonline.Theauthorreceivestheresponsesthrough emailaddress.

Questionnairedesign

Questionnaireisatechniqueusedtocollectdata,whichincludesthesetofquestionsandansw ersarrangedinacertainsequence,Thistechniqueisacommunication mean between the research and respondents in all type of interviewmethods.Theofficialquestionnairincludes 2parts:

- Part1:Thequestionsrelatedtoinformationdetailofrespondentsucha s : Gender;Gra duationStatus,Qualifications,andRecruitmentPostingSourcestocategoricalstatistics.

- Part 2: The questions related to the employer branding factors that affecting jobapplicationdecision- makingofHoChiMinhCityfreshgraduates.Thispartcontains

(5 levels): 1 – Totally disagree; 2 – Disagree; 3 – No ideas; 4 –Agree;5–TotallyAgree.

Researchdatacollection

The author collects data through online survey fresh graduates living in Ho ChiMinhCity.Thesample iscollectedthrough n o n - p r o b a b i l i t y samplingtechniques,the author reaches sample with a convenient sampling The author chooses this techniquebecause it helps the author save time, costs, andhuman resources for the survey.Besides that, the respondent can easily reach the questionnaire and the response type ishigh

Dataprocessingandanalysis

The author checks the validity of collected responses A response is considered asvaliditywhenrespondentcompletelyfillsininformationandanswersquestions.Besides that, the answers, especially in part 2 about factors affecting job applicationdecision- making,arenotoverlaptoomuch.

Besides that, the author also encrypts and inputs data into SPSS 20.0 – analysissoftware–toanalyseinthefollowingstage

Theauthorconductsdescriptivestatisticsaboutgender,graduationstatus,qualification s and recruitment posting sources to understand clearly about the researchsample.

The author applies Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficients and Explored Factor Analysis(EFA)to evaluate the reliability and value of scale Through testing the reliablity ofscale, the author will screen and remove observed variables not reaching the standardreliability (garabage variables) In many researches, the standard Cronbach‘s Alpha hasbeen studied by many researchers[Nunnally; 1978];[ P e t e r s o n ; 1 9 9 4 ] s u g g e s t e d t h a t the Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficient equal to or greater than 0.6 is acceptable, in case theconcept being studied is new or new to respondents in the research context However,according toNunnally (1994), theCronbach‘s Alpha coefficient does not indicatewhichvariablesshouldbediscardedorkept.Therefore,besidestheCronbach‘ sAlpha coefficient many people use item-total correlation coefficient, which variables has thiscoefficientlessthan0.3willberemoved.

AfterremovingvariablesthatdonotguaranteethereliabilityinC r o n b a c h ‘ s Alpha analysis, the author uses factor analysis technique to minimize and group thevariables to consider the convergence level of observed variables by each componentandthe discriminant value offactors. Whenanalysingfactors,theauthorshould noticethesepoints:

- KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) coefficient considers the appropriateness of factoranalysis The larger KMO coefficient, from 0.5 to 1.0, is a sufficient condition forfactoranalysis

- Bartlett‘s test of sphericity: if this test has statistically significant, sig is equal toorlessthan0.5,observedvariablesarecorrelatedwitheachotherinpopulation.

- Factor Loading Coefficient is a correlation coefficient between variables andfactors According to Hair and his colleagues, when people choose Factor Loadingcoefficient in EFA, they should consider about research sample size In this research,the author collects 200 samples, so the factor loading coefficient is 0.40 This variableshas the factor loading coefficient greater than 0.40 shows that there is a closely relationbetweenvariablesandfactor.Andtheobservedvariableswithfactorl o a d i n g coeffic ientlessthan0.40willberemoved.

- In factor analysis using Principal Component Analysis method with Varimaxrotation, the author accepts the factor that has Eigenvalue values greater than

1 TheEigenvalue represents the amount of variation explained by factor The factor havingEigenvalue less than 1 will not have the effect of summarizing information better thanan originial variables, because after standarizing each original variables has a varianceof 1 The scales is accepted when the total variance extracted greater than50% (Hairandhiscolleagues,1998).

- Step 1: Testing correlations between the independent variables and dependentvariablesthroughcorrelationscoefficientmatrix.Theauthoronlycanconductregr ession analysis when there is a correlations between independent variables anddependentvariables.AccordingtoJohnandBenetMartinez(2000),whenthecorrelations coefficient is less than 0.85, the discriminant value between variables canbe possible ensured Therefore, if this coefficient is greater than 0.85, the author shouldconsidertheroleoftheindependentvariables,becauseofmulticollinearity(oneindepend ent variablescanbeexplainedbyanother)

- Step2:Buildingandtestingtheregressionmodel.Theauthorwillselectvariables to input in regression model, use the R Square (R 2 ) coefficient to evaluate thefit of the model However, the R Square (R 2 ) coefficient has disadvantage that thiscoefficient will increase when the author adds other independent variables into model.Because it is not clear evident that the more independent variables the model has, thebetter it fits the data set So, the Adjusted R Square (Adjusted R 2 ) coefficient is chosento replace

R 2 coefficient in evaluating the fit of model because Adjust

Testing the fit of model to choose optimal model by applying ANOVA analysismethod to test the hypothesis R 2 : there is no linear relation between dependent variableand the set of independent variables If the F statistical coefficient has small Sig value(lessthan0.5),hypothesisH0isrejected,theauthorconcludethattheseto f independent variables in the model can explain the variation of dependent variable Sothe modelisbuilt tofitwiththedata,theauthorcanusethis model

- Step 3: Testing the violations ofr e g r e s s i o n a s s u m p t i o n s T h e r e g r e s s i o n m o d e l is consider suitable for the research population when this model does not violate theassumptions.So,afterbuildingtheregressionequation,theauthormusttestthe followingassumptionviolations:thelinearrelationshipbetweentheindependentvariables and dependent variable, the distribution of dependent variable‘s residual,Heteroskedasticity,theindependenceoferrors(thereisnocorrelationsbetweenresi duals), multicollinearity (there is no correlation between independent variables).With: +TheauthorusesStandardizedResidualScatterplottotestingthelinearrelationshipass umption.ThischartshowsthecorrelationbetweenStandardizedResidualandStandardizedP ridictedValue.

+The author uses Histogram plot or Normal P-P Plot to test the standardizedresidualassumption

+The author applies Scatterplot or Spearman‘s rho to test Heteroskedasticity (theerrorofdependenthasconstantvariance).

+The author applies Durbin-Watson (the statisitc d analysis orS c a t t e r p l o t t o checkthe correlationbetween residuals.

+The author uses Tolerance coefficient (the acceptability of the variables) or VIFcoefficient ( Variance Inflation Factor) to identify and check themulticollinearity.According to Hoang Trong and Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc (2005), if the VIF coefficientisgreaterthan10,t h e modelhasmulticollinearity.

Identifying the coefficient of regression equation, which are partial regressioncoefficients(βk)k)thatmeasurethemeanchangeofdependentvariablewheninde pendentvariable(Xk)changesoneunitwhileotherindependentvariablesremain unchanged However, the magnitude of βk)k depends on the measurementunits of independent variables, so it makes no sense to compare them directly.Therefore, people use theS t a n d a r d i z e d B e t a C o e f f i c i e n t s o f i n d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b l e s to compare the regression coefficients with each other and identify the significance(explainationdegree)ofindependentvariablesfordependentvariable.

ANOVA test:the author applies this technique to test the difference about themean values (the weighted average score of the percentage of respondents‘ opinions onthe Likert scale) This analysis shows the difference or not between the opinions ofrespondentsclassifiedintodifferentcriteriasuchas:age,graduationstatus,qualifications,

(α is considered as the significance value of testing, α = 0.05) If the Sig value

≥0.05: the author can conclude that there is not enough statistical evidence to reject thehypothesis H0 If the Sig value > 0.05, the author can conclude that there is enoughstatisticalevidencetorejectthehypothesisH0

Conclusion

In this chapter, we will discuss about information related to research methodologysuch as: the research process, qualitative and quantitative research methods,researchsample,questionnaire,researchdatacollection anddataprocessingandanalysis

Describing data

According to table 4.1, the research collects a totally of 226 samples We cancleary see that an overwhelming majority of respondents if Female, which account for157 responses (69.5%), while ―Male‖ samples appear 69 times amounted to 30.5%.Additionally, an overwhelming majority of respondents have University qualification,consisted of 93.8%, while it is the opposite trend for ―College‖ qualifications, about6.2% Besides that, a vast majority of respondents are final year students preparing forgraduation, about 162 responses (71.7%) The second position belongs to people whojusthavegraduated,about11.9%(27responses).Besidesthat,thepercentageofgraduatesha vinglessthan02yearsofworkingexperienceis 10.2%(23times).Whereas 6.2% of respondents are graduated and have less than 01 years of workingexperience(14answers).

Furthermore,aboutrecruitmentpostingsources,184responseslookfortherecruitment through recruitment websites such as Vietnamworks, Ybox,…, While it isthe opposite trend for newspapers and magazine, which is only 3.6 percent of responses(27 responses). The number of responses which searching recruitments in Corporatefanpage, website and Job groups on Facebook stand at the second and third position, at183 responses (24.4%) and 149 responses (19.8%) respectively 110 responses (14.6%)say that they find a job through their friends and relatives, whereas 43 (5.7%) answersto find a job through the introduction of The University Associations, Groups andStudentA f f a i r s D e p a r t m e n t s F u r t h e r m o r e ,

4 9 r e s p o n s e s f i n d e m p l o y m e n t t h r o u g h participating in Career fairs, and 6% of responses (6 responses) find recruitment postsbyothersources.

ReliabilityAnalysis

According to table 4.2, the result of Cronbach‘s Alpha analysis of these factorshas the reliability from 0.749 to 0.873, which is larger than the standard reliabilitycoefficient (0.6) In addition, thecorrelation coefficient ofall component scalesi s larger than the minimum standard (0.3), and the removal of any component scales doesnotincreasethereliability.

After analyzing the reliability of scales, 26 scales representing for 5 independentvariables(OrganizationalSize,CompensationandBenefits,Traininga n d De velopment,C o r p o r a t e R e p u t a t i o n a n d W o r d o f M o u t h ) a n d 1 d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b l e (Jobapplicationdecisions)isremainedtoconductExplored FactorAnalysis.

ExploredFactorAnalysis

ExploredFactorAnalysisforIndependent Variables

Table4.3 KMOandBartlett's Testfor Independent Variables

Bartlett'sTestofSphericity Approx.Chi-Square 1735.298 df 136

A close look at table 4.3reveals that the model has a KMO coefficient at 0.889,greater than the standard KMO coefficient (0.5), and sig of Bartlett's test 0.000 lessthan0.05(theobservedvariablescorrelatewitheachotherinoverall).Thus,thehypothesisH0i srejectedTherefore,weconcludethatthesurveydatahavetheconditions toconductexploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA)andcanusethoseresults.

A close look at table 4.4 reveals that the exploratory factor analysis model hasfour(04)componentshavinganEigenvaluesfactorgreaterthan1,andthesecomponentsc an exp la in63.66 0%>5 0% B esidesthat,afterapplyingthe―Varimax‖rotationm e t h o d , t o t a l 1 7 o b s e r v e d v a r i a b l e s h a v e h a v e f a c t o r l o a d i n g c o e f f i c i e n t s greater than 0.4 So these observed variables are suitable for the following analysis –regressionanalysis.

ExploredFactorAnalysisforDependentVariable

Table4.5.KMO andBartlett's Testfor DependentVariable

Bartlett'sTestofSphericity Approx.Chi-Square 183.347 df 3

A close look at table 4.5 reveals that the model has a KMO coefficient at 0.665,which is larger than the standard KMO coefficient, and passes Bartlett's test at thesignificance level of 0.000 Therefore, the exploratory factor analysis for the researchmodelisappropriate

TotalInitial Eigenvalues 2.046 Cumulative%of Eigenvalues 68.203

A close look at table4 6 r e v e a l s t h a t t h e e x p l o r a t o r y f a c t o r a n a l y s i s m o d e l h a s one componentshaving an Eigenvalues factor greater than 1, andt h e s e c o m p o n e n t s canexplain68.203%>50%.Besidesthat,afterapplyingthe―Varimax‖rot ationmethod, 3 observed scales have factor loading coefficients greater than 0.4. Therefore,thisisthefinalresultthatisgoing tocompute andanalyse inthenext section.

Wordof Mouth WOM Word of Mouth

1Word of Mouth 2Word of Mouth 3Word of Mouth

4WordofMouth5 WordofMouth6 JobApplicationDecisions AD JobApplicationDecisions1Job

CorrelationsAnalysis

Before analysis regression, we analyse the correlations between variables to testtherelationshipbetweenindependentvariablesanddependentvariable,andthemulticolli nearity between independent variables We use Pearson‘s test to analyse thecorrelationsbetweenthesevariables:(1)OrganizationalSize;

(2)TrainingandDevelopment; (3) Corporate Reputation; (4) Word of Mouth and dependent variable:JobApplicationDecisionsoffreshgraduates.

Source:ExcerptfromSPSSanalysisoftheauthor The symbol ** indicates that this pair of variables have a linear correlation at the99%confidencelevel(correspondingtosignificancelevel1%=0.01)

According to table 4.8, the dependent variable (Job Application Decisions) has alinear correlation with all independent variables The Pearson correlation coefficientbetween ―Job Application Decisions‖ variable and ―Word of Mouth‖ variable ishighest,at0.586,whileitisoppositefor―OrganizationalSize‖variable,at0.430.Besides that, sig of all independent variables is smaller than the standard sig (0.05) Sothese variables are suitable for regression analysis model to research job applicationdecisionsoffreshgraduatestudents

Thus,withtheresultsoftheanalysisofthecorrelationscoefficientm a t r i x betweenth evariablesinthemodel,theindependentvariablesandthedependentvariableareeligibletoperfor mthenextstepofregressionanalysis.Thegeneralanalysismodelhastheform:

JAD=ꞵ 0 +ꞵ 1 *OS+ ꞵ 2 *TD+ꞵ 3 *CR+ꞵ 4 *WoM

RegressionAnalysis

Analysisthefitofmodel

Table4.9.ModelSummary Model R RSquare AdjustedR

The result in table 4.9shows that the adjusted R square of the model = 0 454. Sotheindependentvariablesonlyexplain45.4%ofthevariationofthed e p e n d e n t variabl e The remaining that is 54.6% explain by out-of-model variables and randomerror. Therefore, this linear regression model is appropriate to 45.4% and suitable forgiving managementimplicationduetotheerror(54.6%).

Model SumofSquares df MeanSquare F Sig.

According to table 4.10, the F value of model = 47.771; sig of model = 0.000

0 05 S o t hi s r e s u l t accep t t h e hy po th esis H0 : T h e r e is n odifference ab o u t qualificationsinjobapplicationdecision-making.

Thedifferenceinjobapplication decisionsbygraduationstatus

on Status TestVariables LeveneStatistic df1 df2 Sig.

The result oft a b l e 4 1 9 s h o w s t h a t G r a d u a t i o n S t a t u s a n d Q u a l i f i c a t i o n s b o t h have the significant value > 0.05 (at 0.734 and

0.386 respectively) Sot h i s r e s u l t provesthatthereisahomogeneityandstatisticalsignificanceofvariancesofGradua tion StatusandQualificationsvariable.

Theresultoftable4.20showsthatthesignificancelevelofthegroupsofGraduationStatu s,Qualificationsaregreaterthan0.05(at0.873and0.757respectively).Therefore,thereisnostatisti callysignificantdifferenceinj o b applicationdecision-makingaccordingto graduationstatusand qualifications.

Conclusion

Thischapteranalyzedandevaluatedthedegreeofinfluenceoffactorsi n proposed research model on job application decision-making of fresh graduates.Theproposedresearchmodel had five employer branding factors: OrganizationalSize,CompensationandBenefits,Training andDevelopment, CorporateReputation andWord of Mouth In the reliability test, the result for the Cronbach‘s Alpha of thesefactors ranged from 0.749 until 0.873, representing high reliability TheCorporateReputation factor had the highest Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficient, at 0.873 while theOrganizational Size had the lowest coefficient, at 0.749 In Explored FactorAnalysis(EFA), the author applied the factor loading coefficient at 0.4 to check the correlationsbetween observed variables and components In this research, the author removed theCompensationandBenefitsfactor.

After analysing, the research result shows that there are four (04) out of five(05)factorsthatimpactonjobapplicationdecisionswhichareOrganizationalS i z e , Traini ngandDevelopment,CorporateReputationandWordofMouth.

Summarizetheresearchresult

Job application decision-making is affected by four factors: organizational size,training and development, corporate reputation and word of mouth Furthermore,

Wordof Mouth is the factor that has the most significant impact on job application decisions,at 31.7%, while organizational size has the least influence on job application decisions,about 12.3% Corporate Reputation and Training and Development factors stand at thesecond and third position, consists of 26.5% and 14.0% on job application decisions offreshgraduatesrespectively.

According to the research result, there are four out of five hypotheses that aresupportedandaccepted,exceptforthehypothesis2

Hypothesis1(Organizationalsizehasapositiveeffectonjobapplicationdecision- making of fresh graduates) is supported and accepted This result is alignedwithmany previousstudies and appropriatewith researchsubjects becauserecentgraduatesareeasilyattractedtothecompanyhavingalargersize.

Furthermore,hypothesis3(Traininganddevelopmentopportunitieshaveapositive effect on job application decisions of fresh graduates) is supported or accepted.Thisresultisalignedwithpreviousstudiesandappropriatewithresearchs c o p e be cause fresh graduates prefer to apply for a company in which they can have bettertraining and development opportunities, or company which invest heavily in traininganddevelopment programs for theiremployess.

Additionally, hypothesis 4 (Corporate reputation has a positive impact on jobapplication decisions of fresh graduates) is supported or accepted This result is alignedwithm a n y p r e v i o u s a n d t h i s h y p o t h e s i s i s t r u e b e c a u s e f r e s h g r a d u a t e s d o n o t h a v e many experiences in deciding on a job application, so they easily attracted by thecompanythat hasahigherreputationintheircommunity.

Finally,hypothesis5(PositiveWordofMouthhaspositiveimpactonjobapplication decision-making of fresh graduates) is supported or accepted This result isalignedwithmanypreviousandthishypothesisistrueinrealitybecausefreshgraduates do not have many experiences in job-application decisions So they prefersreadingwordof mouth oforganizationwhenapplyingforajob.

Implications

According to the result, the author suggests many implications that help retailcompanyimprovestheiremployerbranding.

Firstly, the result shows that word of mouth has the most significant impact So Ipropose that retail companies build page or website that employers can share or uploadactivities that employees experience at work or benefits or presents that employeesreceiveonaspecialoccasion(Tet,Birthday,InternationalWomen‘sD a y ) Add itionally, when building the company‘s page, the department taking responsibilityshouldincreaseinteractionswithcandidatesthroughupdatingrecruitmentpos ts,answering questions or creating activities Besides that, the company should encouragecurrentemployeestomakepositivecontent orWOMinformationaboutthecompany.

Additionally,corporatereputationhasthesecondeffectonjobapplicationdecisions.So Isuggestthatretailcompaniesshouldparticipate,sponsors o c i a l activities to build the company‘s image– the company has social responsibilities.Besidesthat,retailcompaniesshouldsponsorstudent‘scompetitionsorClu b‘sactivities in university such as CMO, Doanh Nhan Tap Su, Say to Succeed, becausethis is a direct way that attracts fresh graduate‘s attention and encourages them to findoutinformationaboutthecompany.Furthermore,companiesshouldincreasethenumber of communication activities on social media such as the company‘s page orwebsite.

Regardingt r a i n i n g a n d d e v e l o p m e n t , I t h i n k r e t a i l c o m p a n i e s h a v e t o o r g a n i z e thecompetitiontoattractcandidatessuchasManagementTraineeorinternshipprog ramtoattractfinalyearstudents.Also,retailcompaniescanintroducetheirtraining and development opportunities on communication channels such as sharing ofcurrent employee about career path progression in 03 years or what employee has beenlearningatthecompany).

Regarding organizational size, in my opinion, retail enterprises can post images,contentorvideoonthecompany‘spageorwebsitetointroduce,illustratet hesizeofthe company, working environment and office infrastructure In addition, the companycan organize the company‘s tour that allows students to visit and study, for example,AeonStoreTour.

Limitationsandorientationsforfurtherstudies

However, this research also has limitations - it is obvious that the number ofrespondents was notso large.Therespondentswereonly (1)freshgraduates;

First, the sampling size is too small, approximately 226 responses, so it can notrepresent the overall sample (fresh graduates aged 22 to 24) So in the followingresearch, we should expand the sample size consider the differences in result betweenthetwosamplesizeorneither.

Second, the research scope of this research is fresh graduates that are final yearstudent preparing for graduation, or recent graduate, or graduate having less than 02years ofworking experience So they concernf o u r o f f i v e f a c t o r s i n t h e p r o p o s e d model when they make a job application decision Therefore, in the following research,the author can change the research scope into university student or employee having02-05 years of working experience or employee having more than 05 years of workingexperience.

So the author can examine that there are differences in factors of employerbrandingaffectingjob applicationdecisionsamongdistinctiveresearchscope.

Third, in this research, the author examines the factors of employer brandingaffectingjobapplicationdecisionsinfirmsintheretailindustry.Therefore,t h e adj usted R square coefficient = 0.454, so the model only has the research significance.In the following research, the author can narrow down the research scope, such aschoosing a specific company (AEON, Coopmart, Mega Market,…) to advance thesignificanceofthemodel(implicatingorforecasting).

Final, in the next research, the author can expand or narrow down the number ofscales to measure and evaluate the impact of employer branding on job applicationdecisions.

Conclusion

Thisresearchhasgainedtheresearchobjectivesandsolvedther e s e a r c h questions.Thisresearchhasfoundoutthatfouremployerbrandingfactorsareinfluencing the job application decision-making of fresh graduates Furthermore, theauthor analyzed the effect of each factor on job application decisions, and word ofmouthisthefactorthathasthemostsignificantimpact,approximately31.7%.Additionally,the author has suggested many implications helping retail firms improveand advance the employer branding However, this research has many limitations suchasthesamplingsize,researchscope,orresearchscales.

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OS3 I consider the officeinfrastructure when I choose acompanytoapply

CB1 WhenIapplyforjob,Iconsi derabout thestarting salary

&Freeman,C.(2007) CB2 When applying for a job,

CB3 When applying for a job,

Iaminterestedinthequantity of annual paid dayleavest h a t t h e c o m p a n y offerstotheemployee.

L V., Guzman, F., and incentives that thecompanyprovideforthe employee

TD1 Iprefertoapplyforacompan ythatcreatesopportunities foremployeestolearnand developnewskills

TD2 Iprefertoapplyforanorganiz ation that has equalandgoodpromotionop portunitiesf o r a l l employees.

TD3 Iprefertoapplyforacompan yhavingaheavyinvesmenti nthetraininganddevelopm entoftheir employees

CR1 The corporate having agoodreputationattracts me

CR2 I want to apply for acompanyt h a t h a s a g o o d reputationamongst friends

Good reputation of thecompanyamongst friends.

CR4 I want to work for a firmthat I have heard a lot ofgoodthingsabout thisfirm

Roper,S.,deCarvalho, L.V.,Guzman,F.,Sivert zen,A.M.,Nilsen,E R.,& Olafsen,A.H.(2013).

CR5 Iprefertoworkforacompany considered socially responsible organization.

CR6 Iprefertoapplyforanorganiz ationconsideredinnovativeemp loyer–applyingnewwork practicesand ideas

WOM1 I usually look for reviews,informationaboutt hecompanythatIapplyforin socialmedia.

I have seen advertising forjobs at this organisation insocialmedia Roper,S., deCarvalho,

Theorganisationsprofileins ocialmediagavemedetailedinf ormationabout theirjobopportunities WOM3 Reading the reviews of theorganization‘scurrentor formeremployeescaninfluencem yjob application decision- making.

(2015) WOM4 Iwillapplyforacompany which referred bysomebodyItrust.

WOM5 Iprefertoapplyfortheorgani zation where a lot ofalumnifrommyuniversity gotoworkfor

A lot of alumni from thisuniversity go to work forthisorganization

WOM6 Theonlinereview,comment abouttheexperienceatthe workplacewhichisposted

The online review/comment iscredible

AD1 Thesefactorsaffectmyjob application decision- making

,C.L.(1998) AD2 Employer branding is oneofimportantfactorthataff ectsm y j o b a p p l i c a t i o n decision-making.

AD3 Id e c i d e t o a p p l y f o r a company that hasemployerbranding.

My name is Trieu Doan Ngan Dao, I come from the Banking University of HoChi Minh City (BUH) I am doing my Bachelor Thesis with the title“EFFECT OFEMPLOYER BRANDING ON JOB APPLICATION DECISIONS OF FRESHGRADUATES IN HO CHI MINH CITY – A CASE STUDY OF ENTERPRISESINTHERETAILINDUSTRY”

I commit thatyourinformation andanswerswill bekept confidentialand usedforresearchpurposesonly.Lookingforwardtoreceivingyourhelp.

 Recruitmentwebsites: Vietnamworks,CareerBuilder, Linkedin,Ybox,etc.

Pleaseindicateyourlevelofagreementwitheachofthefollowingstatements,circling toapplyto. employeestolearnand developnewskills

Whenapplying forajob, Iaminterestedinthe quantity o fannualpaiddayleavesthatthecompany offerstothe employee.

CR5 I prefer to work for a companyconsidered socially responsibleorganization 1 2 3 4 5

Ip r e f e r t o a p p l y f o r a n o r g a n i z a t i o n c o n s i d e r e d i n n o v a t i v e CR6 employer–applyingnewworkpracticesand ideas wordofmouth influenceyourjobapplicationdecision-making?

WOM6 Theonlinereview,commentaboutthe experienceatthe workplacewhichispostedinsocial mediaiscredible 1 2 3 4 5

APPENDIX3 RESEARCHRESULT Explored Factor Analysis (EFA) for independent variablesExploredFactor Analysisf o r Independentvariables–

Kaiser-Meyer-OlkinMeasureof SamplingAdequacy .917 Bartlett'sTestofSphericity Approx.Chi-Square 2582.477 df 253

TotalInitial Eigenvalues 9.217 1.888 1.346 1.131 1.062 Cumulative% of Eigenvalues 40.076 48.286 54.140 59.058 63.676

Kaiser-Meyer-OlkinMeasureof SamplingAdequacy .904 Bartlett'sTestofSphericity Approx.Chi-Square 2132.345 df 190