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Categorizing Humorous Employer Brand Message in a Small Company’s Online Job Ads

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  • Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen

    (University of Oulu)

  • Saila Saraniemi

    (University of Oulu)

Abstract

This study creates a framework for defining the employer brand message to understand an understudied phenomenon: how small companies use humour in online job ads. The originality of the framework is based on three issues. First: categorizing employer brand content into symbolic attributes: staff, applicant and other stakeholder, and instrumental attributes: company and job. Second: categorizing humour, informal and formal as communication styles. Third: investigating the thematic relatedness of communication style to employer brand content attributes to understand using humour in employer brand message. Illustrative empirical findings indicated that a small company focused more on symbolic attributes rather than instrumental attributes in its employer brand content. Humour was used typically when it was thematically related to symbolic attributes: applicant or staff. Humour was used less when it was thematically related to instrumental attributes: company and job. A framework offers new insights for researchers in the conceptualizing of the employer brand message. For marketing practitioners, it offers a method for evaluating and planning a company’s employer brand message.

Suggested Citation

  • Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen & Saila Saraniemi, 2016. "Categorizing Humorous Employer Brand Message in a Small Company’s Online Job Ads," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 198-218, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:crepre:v:19:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1057_s41299-016-0003-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41299-016-0003-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Jonah Berger & Raghuram Iyengar, 2013. "Communication Channels and Word of Mouth: How the Medium Shapes the Message," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 567-579.
    4. Fournier, Susan & Avery, Jill, 2011. "The uninvited brand," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 193-207, May.
    5. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    6. Kassarjian, Harold H, 1977. "Content Analysis in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(1), pages 8-18, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen, 2023. "The Boundaries of a Small Company’s Human Voice: Insights into Dark Humour in Internet Recruitment Advertising," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 223-241, August.

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