Career Development International

Emerald Article: Attracting Generation Y graduates: Organisational attributes, likelihood to apply and sex differences Siri Terjesen, Susan Vinnicombe, Cheryl Freeman

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To cite this document: Siri Terjesen, Susan Vinnicombe, Cheryl Freeman, (2007),"Attracting Generation Y graduates: Organisational attributes, likelihood to apply and sex differences", Career Development International, Vol. 12 Iss: 6 pp. 504 - 522 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13620430710821994 Downloaded on: 26-03-2012 References: This document contains references to 69 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 5172 times.

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Attracting Generation Y graduates

Organisational attributes, likelihood to apply and sex differences
Siri Terjesen
Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, and

504
Received February 2007 Revised May 2007 Accepted May 2007

Susan Vinnicombe and Cheryl Freeman

Craneld School of Management, Craneld University, UK
Abstract
Purpose Building on person-organisation t and gender self-schema, this research aims to examine UK university nal year students perception of the importance of organisational attributes and their presence in three major graduate employers. This study also seeks to explore which organisational attributes attract Generation Y men and women to apply to a management trainee position. Design/methodology/approach In phase one, 32 repertory grid interviews identify 84 common constructs in undergraduates organisational choice. A short list of 20 organisational attributes was carried forward to the phase two survey of 862 undergraduates in their nal year at 22 UK universities. The respondents rate the attributes in terms of importance and then evaluate three employers in terms of perceived presence of these attributes. The students also provide the likelihood that they would apply. T-tests, correlation and multiple regression are used to test hypotheses. Findings Among university students, the ve most important organisational attributes are: invest heavily in the training and development of their employees care about their employees as individuals clear opportunities for long-term career progression variety in daily work and dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business. Sex differences exist in both the importance of organisational attributes and the perceived extent of their presence in three organisations. In describing an ideal employer, women rate eight attributes as more important than do their male counterparts: really care about their employees as individuals variety in your daily work friendly, informal culture employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common use your degree skills relatively stress-free working environment internationally diverse mix of colleagues require you to work standard working hours only. Compared to women, men rate just one attribute as more important: a very high starting salary. The perception of presence of these important attributes is signicantly linked to likelihood to apply. Practical implications Recruiting rms can better understand how Generation Y men and women graduates perceive the importance of organisational attributes and their presence in rms. Originality/value The paper represents a seminal study relating organisational attributes to likely applicant behaviour across a large number of UK university undergraduates. Keywords Graduates, Recruitment, Employment, Gender, Job applications, United Kingdom Paper type Research paper

Career Development International Vol. 12 No. 6, 2007 pp. 504-522 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1362-0436 DOI 10.1108/13620430710821994

Introduction Attracting applicants is central to recruiting (Barber, 1998; Rynes, 1991) as rms establish a pool of applicants who are both attractive to the organisation and attracted
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2006 Academy of Management Meeting.

to the organisation (Wanous, 1992). In the graduate recruitment market, rms invest large amounts of time and money to attract applications from soon-to-be minted university graduates for management trainee, professional and technical positions (Breaugh, 1992; Rynes and Boudreau, 1986). As women are the fastest growing section of the labour force, recruiters are especially interested in attracting female talent. The graduate recruitment process begins with the organisation communicating values and image through publicity and advertising. Potential graduate applicants then evaluate their understanding of the organisation and make a decision to apply or not to apply (Herriot, 1984). As organisations are extremely selective with candidates, they need to attract a large number of applications at an early stage to ensure a diverse applicant pool. For example, if there are insufcient applications from women, the make-up of new joiners to an organisation will inevitably be male-dominated. Signicant sex differences in new graduate applicant attraction outcomes have been noted (Connerley et al., 2003), and scholars and practitioners have called for further research. In particular, researchers highlight the need for better understanding of the process and dynamics of recruitment decision making (Breaugh, 1992; Breaugh and Starke, 2000) and factors related to applicant attraction (Connerley et al., 2003; Powell and Goulet, 1996; Rynes, 1991), including analysis by sex (Thomas and Wise, 1999). A growing body of research explores recruiters perceptions of applicants (Varma et al., 2006), however, we know little about applicant impressions, particularly of different potential employers. Organisational attributes are a key factor in applicant attraction (Rynes, 1991) and an applicants positive rst impression of an organisation increases the likelihood of post-interview attraction (Turban et al., 1998) and offer acceptance (Powell and Goulet, 1996). Following their meta-analysis of 242 US studies of sex differences and similarities in job attribute preferences, Konrad et al. (2000) call for research on intrinsic reasons, internalisation of gender roles and stereotypes and nationally representative samples. The Konrad et al. (2000) meta-analysis also reveals generational differences in job attribute preferences by gender and sex, suggesting the need for research on the next generation to join the labour force and also on extensions to organisation (rather than job) attributes. Furthermore, graduates initial expectations about future employers inuence career expectations (Scholarios et al., 2003) and their socialisation in rms (Garavan and Morley, 1997). As extant research on applicant attraction is criticised for its atheoretical nature, we answer calls for research at various recruitment stages and the development of new models (Turban and Dougherty, 1992; Wanous and Colella, 1989) and theory-based approaches to recruitment (Breaugh and Starke, 2000), sex and gender (Konrad et al., 2000). We incorporate gender self-schema and person-organisation t perspectives into an analysis of organisational attribute preferences. Our research examines graduate applicants preferences at the beginning of the recruitment process when many make the initial decision to submit an application. We are interested in which organisational attributes attract Generation Y men and women graduates to apply for a job and the perceived presence of these attributes in three popular UK graduate employers: a management consultancy, an investment bank and a media corporation. Corporate recruiters are keen to attract high numbers of both men and women applicants (Barber, 1998) and to understand potential applicants desired organisational attributes and their assessment of these attributes in their organisation, and we hope our research will also be interesting to these stakeholders. To our knowledge, this is the rst study to measure sex differences in desired organisational attributes and their presence in

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three organisations and the likelihood to apply. Most extant research explores job, rather than organisation, attributes (Konrad et al., 2000). We extend earlier work by using repertory grid interviews to ask students to identify important organisational attributes. We then evaluate the importance of these attributes in a study of Generation Y nal year university undergraduate students in the UK. This paper proceeds as follows. First, we review two complementary theories, gender self-schema and person-organisation t, and develop hypotheses. Second, the sample and two phase, qualitative (repertory grid interview) and quantitative (internet survey) methodology is laid out, followed by an explanation of the variables. Third, we present our results regarding organisational attributes, perceptions of organisations, and the relationship to likelihood to apply. We specically examine these ndings in the context of one employer, a management consultancy. Finally, we discuss our ndings, offering implications for the recruiting practice as well as future research. Theoretical background This paper distinguishes between occupational (e.g. job) choice and organisational choice, focusing on the latter. Two theoretical perspectives are reviewed and extended: gender self-schema and person-organisation t. Both theories are concerned with an individuals self-assessment, social categorisation and identication. Gender self-schema Self-schema is an individuals psychological construction of self based on a number of aspects, most commonly gender. Konrad et al. (2000) and Eddleston et al. (2006) describe how gender self-schemas are developed from childhood and are dened as interrelated networks of mental associations representing information about the sexes that inuence information processing (Ruble and Martin, 1998, p. 987). There are two classications of gender self-schema: male gender self-schema (associated with masculinity and career roles) and female gender self-schema (associated with femininity and family roles) (Bem, 1981). Generally, male gender self-schema are based on roles, norms, values and beliefs which are considered appropriate for men. In contrast, female gender self-schema are largely based on roles, norms, values and beliefs held about women. Individuals usually seek gender self-schema which reects their sex (Bem, 1981), although there are individual differences in the extent of incorporation of gender stereotypes and roles in self-schema. An important component of self-schema is how individuals see themselves in relationship to others. Relational theory (Miller, 1976) has been used to describe how women develop a sense of self and personal worth is shaped by a sense of connection to others. Women spend a large proportion of their lives to helping others, and develop important skills such as authenticity, openness, care and compassion. This relational model is in contrast to mainstream male-dominated models, and may emerge from girls relationships with their mothers, in contrast to boys desired autonomy (Chodorow, 1978). Most research on gender self-schema and work preferences focuses on individuals at later stages of their careers. We are unaware of previous studies of organisational attributes at the applicant attraction phase in the UK However, Konrad et al.s (2000) meta-analysis of US studies of job attribute preferences report signicant sex differences consistent with gender roles and stereotypes, particularly the gender stereotype that interpersonal relationships are more important to women. Based on Williams and Best (1990) and Konrad et al. (2000) summarize the masculine roles (and corresponding job attributes) as follows:

income provider (earnings, benets, security and openings), dominance (leadership, responsibility and power), aggression (power), achievement (opportunities for promotion, challenge, task signicance and accomplishment), autonomy (freedom/autonomy), exhibition (prestige, recognition) and endurance (challenge, not physical work environment). Feminine roles (and corresponding job attributes) are as follows: homemaker (good hours, easy commute, location, not opportunities for travel), afliation (opportunities to make friends, working with people, not solitude), nurturance (opportunities to help others), succorance (good co-workers, good supervisor), deference (not leadership) and abasement (not power) (Konrad et al., 2000). Early research on men and women managers argues that the traditional role for men is income provision, hence men should be more likely to place a higher importance on salary (Lacy et al., 1980). Recent research reports that men are more likely to indicate preferences for attributes which are consistent with male gender self-schema and masculine stereotypes. Attributes such as pay and status represent objective career success (Nicholson, 2000). In their careers, womens satisfaction is linked to the development of interpersonal relationships (Powell and Mainiero, 2003). When compared with their female counterparts, Eddleston et al. (2006) nds that male managers are more likely to prefer status-based career satisers and less likely to prefer socio-emotional career satisers. Furthermore, self-schema better explain women managers preferences: women managers gender self-schema mediate the relationship between sex and socioemotional career satisers, however men managers self-schema do not mediate the relationship to status-based career satisers (Eddleston et al., 2006). Our study differs from this previous work by focusing on organisation, rather than job, attributes and illuminating sex differences. We suspect that women and mens organisational attribute preferences will be strongly linked to gender self-schema. Based on the above discussion, we expect the following: H1. Male students will be more likely than female students to indicate a higher importance for masculine role and stereotype organisation attributes. H2. Female students will be more likely than male students to indicate a higher importance for feminine role and stereotype organisation attributes. As described above, gender self-schema is focused on the individual level. We now probe more deeply at the link to the organisation, and explore theoretical explanations based on person-organisation t. Person-organisation t The application of the person-organisation t theory to recruitment is derived from the attraction-selection-attrition model (Schneider, 1987) which describes how individuals seek organisations which they perceive to have characteristics similar to their own. These ideas were extended to person-organisation t theory which describes the extent of congruence of patterns between individuals values and those of an organisation (Chatman, 1989). The person-organisation t literature is concerned with how individuals select organisations to join and generally focuses on the later stages of the recruitment process. For example, individuals who perceive a closer t to the organisation to which they have been recruited are more likely to adjust quickly and feel most satised (Chatman, 1991). Perceived t is an important early step in the matching model of individuals and organisations in the recruiting process (Wanous, 1992).

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An extensive body of person-organisation t literature explores how individuals are attracted to organisations with attributes aligned to their personal characteristics (Cable and Judge, 1994, 1996; Chatman, 1989, 1991; Tom, 1971). Person-organisation t is robust across a range of contexts, including a study of graduate applicants to an Australian media corporation (Carless, 2005). A recent meta-analysis of 71 studies reveals that characteristics of organisations predict applicant attraction outcomes (Chapman et al., 2005). Thus, individuals who perceive a strong t with an organistaion will be attracted to apply and join that organisation. Coupled with the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), person-organisation t suggests that, graduates preferences for organisation attributes will inuence their intentions to apply. Following this line of thinking, we propose the following: H3. There will be a positive relationship between the perceived attractiveness of the attributes of the organisation and the likelihood to apply. Finally, we are interested in the salience of these ideas in the context of a specic employer, a management consultancy. Data and methodology Data The subjects are Generation Y full-time undergraduates at the top 22 UK universities (identied from the Financial Times 2001 league table of the 100 top UK universities) who were looking for a job, but not yet in possession of an offer. Subjects are also disqualied if they reported that they had been in contact with recruiters from one of the organisations which they were evaluating, as recruiter behaviour can inuence applicants perceptions (Turban and Dougherty, 1992; Turban et al., 1998) and applicants ingratiation can also affect outcomes (Varma et al., 2006). Methodology This study is based on a two-phase, dual qualitative and quantitative approach. In phase one, 32 repertory grid interviews identied the attributes that undergraduates use to differentiate between ten potential employers. In phase two, a short-list of 20 attributes was used in a survey collected from 862 students. Repertory grid interviews (Phase one) In phase one, we utilised the repertory grid technique, a rigorous and systematic cognitive mapping method which helps individuals make sense of their world. Originally developed for use in psychology by Kelly (1955), repertory grid methodology has high reliability and has been used to develop many key contributions in management and strategy (Wright, 2006). The repertory grid interview process elicits respondents perceptions of elements and helps generate conversation and engagement (CPCS, 1993). See Kelly (1955) and Easterby-Smith (1980) for detailed reviews of the repertory grid methodology and Wright (2004) for an application. We conducted repertory grid interviews of approximately 90 minutes each with 32 students. In this study, the elements were nine potential employers and a tenth conceptual ideal employer. The employers were identied from recent studies of the most popular graduate employers in the UK (Universum, 2004). The names of the ten employers were written on ten index cards which were laid face down on a table in

front of the student. The student randomly selected three cards and turned these face-up in a line, also in view of the researcher. For the purposes of this explanation, let us assume that the student turned over cards with the names of the three most popular employers in the most recent Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters study: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Civil Service (UK Government) and Accenture (Birchall, 2006). The student was then asked to describe how the rst two employers, PWC and the Civil Service, are different from the third, Accenture. To differentiate the organisation, the student described a list of perceived organisational attributes such as higher salary and more creative work. These responses are constructs, and the interviewee was then asked to rate each employer (element) against this attribute (construct). When the student cannot suggest any more attributes, the researcher asked the student to offer new organisational attributes by comparing employer one (PWC) and employer three (Accenture) to employer two (Civil Service), and then employer two (Civil Service) and employer three (Accenture) to employer one (PWC). Once the student cannot identify any more organisational attributes, the three cards were turned face down, reshufed into the pile, and the student drew another three cards and the process was repeated. The term grid describes the interviewers method of recording the conversation. The students were then asked to rate the importance of the attributes identied, on a seven-point scale. Although, an inductive approach to rst identify important organisational attributes related to applicant attraction for the graduating student population has been used previously (Lievens and Highhouse, 2003), we believe that this study pioneered the use of repertory grid analysis for early stage recruitment process research. Furthermore, this multi-university interview and survey method extends previous data which was gathered from a population of students at just one university. We piloted both the repertory grid interview and the survey. Survey (phase two) In phase two, a ten-minute long, internet-based survey was designed based on a short-list of organisational attributes, and administered to 2,351 nal year undergraduates, generating 862 replies (37 per cent response rate). The respondents were 35 per cent female science students, 25 per cent female arts students, 30 per cent male science students, and 10 per cent male arts students. The non-respondents demographics and reasons for not responding were analysed to ensure that there was no cause for concern about related bias in the sample. The students were asked to complete the survey about three months before the period in which they would make selection decisions. Undergraduates were asked to rate three top UK employers who participate in university recruiting: a management consultancy, an investment bank and a media corporation. The three rms are multinationals, each employing over 25,000 worldwide, including at least 2,500 in the UK, and appear on the Universum (2004) list. The rms identities are concealed in this paper due to a research agreement. In the internet-based survey, respondents rated the attributes according to personal importance. The students also provided their perceptions of three major graduate employers against the 20 attributes and the likelihood that they would apply for a job.

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Variables Respondents lled in demographic data including sex, university and degree course. The following were asked with respect to each of the twenty organisational attributes listed in Table I. Importance. Imagine that a graduate employer existed that was ideal for you personally. Please indicate the extent to which you would agree with the following statements: My ideal employer would . . . invest heavily in the training and development of their employees from 1 to 7 where 1 strongly disagree and 7 strongly agree. Perception of three organisations. Based on your current perceptions of (management consultancy, media corporation or investment bank), please tell us to what extent you agree or disagree with the following: The (management consultancy, media corporation or investment bank) offers . . . a very high starting salary from 1 to 7 where 1 strongly disagree and 7 strongly agree. Likelihood to apply. How likely are you to apply to (management consultancy, media corporation or investment bank) from 1 to 7 where 1 very unlikely and 7 very likely.
Organisational attribute Invest heavily in the training and development of their employees Care about their employees as individuals Clear opportunities for long-term career progression Variety in daily work Dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business Friendly, informal culture Opportunity, in the early years, to move around the organisation and work in different areas/role Freedom to work on your own initiative Scope for creativity in your work Employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common A pure meritocracy (rewards and promotions based on performance) Opportunity for international travel Use your degree skills Widely regarded as a highly prestigious employer Very high starting salary Relatively stress-free working environment Opportunity to work (and live) abroad Internationally diverse mix of colleagues Require you to work standard working hours only A small organization
a

Expected preferencea Non-gender-typed intrinsic Masculine stereotype Non-gender-typed intrinsic Feminine stereotype Masculine stereotype Non-gender-typed intrinsic Non-gender-typed intrinsic Feminine stereotype

Mean rating 6.15 6.13 6.11 6.05 5.83 5.62 5.57 5.43 5.41 5.24 5.13 4.98 4.97 4.94 4.92 4.91 4.70 4.51 3.89 3.38

Signicance

a *** a *** a **

a *

Non-gender-typed intrinsic Masculine stereotype Masculine gender role

a ** b *** a ** a *** a ***

Feminine gender role

Table I. Mean ratings of organisational attributes by importance

Notes: Konrad et al.s (2000) sex differences in job attribute preferences; signicant differences: a women rate higher; b men rate higher, * p , 0.05; * * p , 0.01; * * * p , 0.001

Analysis The goal of phase one was to identify the students most common constructs regarding the ten potential employers. The 32 interviews produced 545 constructs. One of the authors and a second researcher coded all of the constructs, seeking common meanings. Working separately, the researchers developed a list of 84 common constructs, with 99 per cent inter-rater reliability. The constructs importance was based on frequency (number of mentions across 32 interviews) and importance indicated. As it was not practical to include all 84 constructs in phase two, a short-list of 20 constructs, or organisational attributes, was then created using a combination of those that were ranked highest by the sample overall and separately by men and women. A provisional analysis was made, based on these data, of the importance of the attributes to the men and women. We weighted the data to reect the UK university population by sex and degree course. To test our hypotheses, we used SPSS and a two-tailed test at 95 per cent signicance level. Results Organisational attributes We begin with our rst set of hypotheses that based on gender self-schema, men and women students will have different ratings of organisational attributes. We identify nine signicant differences. Men rate only one attribute as signicantly higher than women do in importance: a very high starting salary. In contrast, the women indicate signicantly higher preference for eight attributes. These attributes are, in order of signicance: really care about their employees as individuals variety in daily work internationally diverse mix of colleagues require standard working hours only friendly, informal culture use your degree skills relatively stress-free working environment and employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common. Taken together, these results conrm H1 and H2. All ndings are reported in Table I. Perception of three organisations T-tests reveal differences between the graduate mean ratings of the three organisations on nearly all of the attributes, signicant at p , 0.01 and p , 0.05 levels (Table II). This conrms that students are able to differentiate between employers, even at this relatively early stage of the job search process. For example, students perceive the media corporation to offer more scope for creativity at work (5.44) and a relatively stress-free working environment (3.74) than the management consultancy (4.56, 3.06) or the investment bank (3.94, 2.51) (all p , 0.01). Organisational attractiveness and likelihood to apply We then test our H3, that there will be a positive relationship between the attractiveness of organisational attributes and likelihood to apply. Previous studies identify a positive relationship between organisational attributes and initial attraction (Turban et al., 1998) and job acceptance (Powell and Goulet, 1996). We extend this work by examining applicants self-reported likelihood to apply using a correlation analysis due to the scaled nature of the data. Correlation tests for the total attractiveness scores with likelihood of application for each of the three organisations reveal a positive and

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Organisational attribute

Invest heavily in the training and development of their employees Care about their employees as individuals Clear opportunities for long term career progression Variety in daily work Dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business Friendly, informal culture Opportunity, in the early years, to move around the organisation and work in different areas/roles Freedom to work on your own initiatives Scope for creativity in your work Employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common A pure meritocracy Opportunity for international travel Use your degree skills 5.83 4.41 5.61 4.91 4.91 5.28 5.48 4.32
** ** ** ** ** **

Table II. Mean ratings and differences in perceptions of management consultancy, media corporation and investment bank (t-tests) Media corporation mean rating Investment bank mean rating Management consultancy vs media corporation Management consultancy vs investment bank Media corporation vs investment bank 4.73 4.50 4.08
* ** **

Management consultancy mean rating

5.46

**

**

**

5.84 4.20

4.73 4.59

5.51 3.51

** **

** **

** **

5.13 4.68 4.56 4.21 5.04 5.39 4.16 5.15 3.95 5.44 4.03 4.68 4.11 3.95 5.16
** ** ** **

4.82 4.84 5.44 3.94

**

4.79 4.30
**

**

** ** **

** **

** **

** **

**

(continued)

Organisational attribute

Management consultancy mean rating

Media corporation mean rating

Investment bank mean rating

Management consultancy vs media corporation

Management consultancy vs investment bank

Media corporation vs investment bank

6.12 5.78
** ** * ** ** *

5.69 3.83 3.74 4.90 5.32 3.14 1.61 2.70 1.91

** ** * **

6.07 5.95 2.51 5.29 5.42

** **

** **

** **

3.06 5.22 5.39 2.81 1.80

Widely regarded as a highly prestigious employer Very high starting salary Relatively stress-free working environment Opportunity to work (and live) abroad Provide an internationally diverse mix of colleagues Require you to work standard working hours only A small organization
** **

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01

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Table II.

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signicant relationship (all p , 0.001). The correlations for the management consultancy, media corporation and the investment bank are 0.440, 0.332 and 0.436, respectively. These ndings conrm H3. Regression: likelihood to apply We use multiple regression to examine the relationship between likelihood to submit an application to the management consultancy (dependent variable) and perceptions of organisational attractiveness (independent variables). The analysis is conducted for both the total sample and the men and women respondents separately. Table III reports those attributes that are signicant in predicting likelihood to apply to the management consultancy, together with associated betas indicating the size and direction of effect. All of the organisational attributes reported are statistically signicant ( p , 0.001), however the R 2 is low. This may be due to the reduction of the 84 common constructs identied in phase one to a short-list of 20 for the phase two survey. It is interesting that the attributes explain more of the likelihood to apply for men students (R 2 0.333) than for women students (R 2 0.240). Table III also reveals that the most important predictor of likelihood to apply to the management consultancy, for the sample as a whole, is employs people with whom you feel you will have things in common. In descending order of importance, the other key attributes for the population of men and women students are offer the opportunity for international travel really care about their employees as people friendly, informal culture a very high starting salary use your degree skills scope for creativity in your work and a dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business. Two attributes are negatively related to applicants preference: an internationally diverse mix of colleagues and require you to work standard working hours only. Interestingly, in the case of the former, students indicate a preference for employers that will provide them with the opportunity for international travel (0.127), e.g. to go
Total Women Men stand. coeff. stand. coeff. stand. coeff. 0.199 0.110 0.127 2 0.104 0.096 0.112 0.098 0.073 2 0.079 0.088 0.173 0.136 0.178 0.261 0.128 0.130 0.148

514

Organisational attribute Employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common Friendly, informal culture Offer the opportunity for international travel Internationally diverse mix of colleagues Use your degree skills Really care about their employees as individuals Offer a very high starting salary Dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business Require you to work standard working hours only Scope for creativity in your work Widely regarded as a highly prestigious employer Opportunity, in the early years, to move around the organisation and work in different areas/roles R2

0.108 0.108

Table III. Relationship between attractiveness and likelihood to apply to management consultancy: summary of multiple regression results

0.089 0.274 0.240 20.123 0.333

Note: All attributes reported are statistically signicant at p , 0.001

out and see the world, but not to an internationally diverse mix of colleagues, e.g. being surrounded by foreigners (2 0.104). The results provide further evidence of differences between men and women respondents in relation to their assessments of the attractiveness and likelihood to apply to the management consultancy. Secondly, the results suggest that women who rate the management consultancy highly on the following attributes, in descending order of importance, are most likely to apply: employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common friendly, informal culture really care about their employees as individuals and dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business. Seven attributes are signicant for the men, providing further evidence of differences between the sexes in their assessments of the management consulting rms attractiveness and of the effect of graduates assessments on their likelihood to apply. For men, the positive attributes, in descending order of importance, are opportunity for international travel employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common very high starting salary really care about their employees as individuals use your degree skills and widely regarded as a prestigious employer. Interestingly, for men, the opportunity, in the early years, to move around the organisation and work in different areas/roles is negatively related to organisational attractiveness. Discussion We begin by reecting on the 20 most sought organisation attributes (Table I). Konrad et al.s (2000) meta-analysis identied 39 commonly-identied job attributes from 242 previous studies. While many attributes are also identied in our sample, we note the absence of students mention of benets (e.g. medical, life insurance), job security, physical work environment, solitude, easy commute, geographical location and feedback. This provides some at least anecdotal evidence that, compared with previous generations, Generation Y are looking for slightly different qualities in their employers. We extend earlier research by analysing likelihood to apply to three organisations by women and men undergraduates, and explore the relationship to organisational attractiveness. Our ndings corroborate the importance of certain organisational attributes for applicant attraction (Rynes, 1991; Wanous, 1992) and with regard to sex and gender. Organisational attractiveness is operationalised as the product of the importance of organisational attributes and the perceived extent of their presence in a particular organisation. Differences in likelihood to apply to an organisation may be due to sex differences in either of those components. This study nds sex differences exist in both the importance of organisational attributes and the perceived extent of their presence in three organisations that recruit heavily from the graduate market. In line with earlier work on gender self-schema, our results suggest that men place greater importance on a high starting salary. We had expected the male students to identify with this masculine gender role. However, we had also expected men students to identify more with the masculine stereotype for the following three attributes: clear opportunities for long-term career progression opportunity, in the early years, to move around the organisation and work in different roles and widely regarded as a prestigious employer. In fact, none of these attributes revealed differences that were signicantly more signicant for men. This suggests that Generation Y men and women are more similar than different with regards to these traditionally masculine stereotypes.

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We found that women indicate a greater preference for feminine organisational attributes. Based on the Konrad et al. (2000) meta-analysis, we suspected women students to more strongly identify with the feminine stereotypes of friendly, informal culture and employ people with whom you feel you will have things in common and the feminine gender role require you to work standard hours only. Indeed, all were true and signicant. Interestingly, the non-gender typed intrinsic attributes variety in your daily work and use your degree skills were also more true and signicant for the women in our sample. We did not have any expectations about three other attributes: care about their employees as individuals relatively stress-free working environment and internationally diverse mix of colleagues however all were found to be signicantly more important for women. Taken together, our ndings suggest organisational attributes explain more of Generation Y womens preferences than those of their male counterparts. It may be that women, even at the career entry stage, adapt behaviours which are more associated with traditionally masculine gender roles and stereotypes. Limitations We recognise several limitations in our study. The sample is non-random and many surveys are incomplete, however the non-respondents demographics and reasons for not responding were analysed to ensure that there was no cause for concern about related bias in the sample. The initial list of 84 constructs was culled to 20, which may have limited the impact of organisational attributes on likelihood to apply. Although recent studies highlight the need for applicant quality (GPA in Connerley et al., 2003), we do not measure quality as we made two assumptions: (1) as the three rms regularly recruit from the top 22 universities, there was a good base of quality applicants among those sampled; and (2) a rm which attracts a large number of applications can then select the most qualied applicants. Although we control for labour market differences by gathering survey data during a two-month period, there may be other factors, apart from organisational attractiveness, that inuence initial job application behaviour such as the level of difculty, effort or specic timing of a particular organisations application processes. We acknowledge the concern that perceptions are not an appropriate proxy for actual applicants preferences (Ryan and Ployhart, 2000), however our student sample are future applicants and our study is scoped to focus on those at the applicant attraction stage. Although our study focuses on applicants intention to apply, our results might be extended to suggest actual behaviour. Ajzens (1991) theory of reasoned action suggests a strong relationship between intention and later actions, although this weakens over time (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Given the time frame of our study and the recruiting market, these students are reporting intentions within approximately three months of their real-decision timeline. Conclusions and implications This study of graduating university students perceptions of organisational attributes and reported likelihood of application offers several key contributions for academics and practitioners. First, we add to the emerging body of early applicant impressions of organisations (Cable and Graham, 2000; Gatewood et al., 1993; Highhouse et al., 1999)

by identifying the organisational attributes used by UK undergraduates to differentiate among potential employers at the job application stage. Building on gender self-schema, we distinguish sex differences with regard to attributes on two levels: importance of ascribed benets and the attributes favoured more highly by women can be related to female gender self-schemas emphasis on relationship-based organisational characteristics and career satisers. The study nds that men and women respondents held different perceptions of three potential employers. Finally, as expected by person-organisation t theory, desirability of perceived organisational attributes is linked to likelihood to apply. Taken together, our repertory grid interviews with Generation Y students produce a list of desired organisational attributes which vary from earlier work in the eld (Posner, 1981). These ndings are not surprising given that most Generation Y students (born 1977-1994) were not even born when Posners (1981) and other studies of labour force perceptions were published. Our samples ve most preferred attributes are invest heavily in the training and development of their employees care about their employees as individuals clear opportunities for long-term career progression variety in daily work and dynamic, forward-looking approach to their business. These ndings answer Konrad et al. (2000) and others calls for a focus on intrinsic reasons and extend work by Heslin (2005) who identied the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Prior studies indicate that Generation Y workers, when compared to their generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts, are more adaptable, condent, able to multi-task and technologically savvy (NAS Recruitment, 2006). Generation Y employees plan to move around and want to work faster and harder than their colleagues and want to be climbing the corporate ladder by their sixth month on the job (NAS Recruitment, 2006, p. 6). The implications of the importance of this generations preference for organisational attributes cannot be understated as, in the not too distant future, Generation Y will replace retiring Baby Boomers. Implications for recruiting professionals include the need to become familiar with the organisational attributes desired by Generation Y graduates. Following scholarly work on the importance of realistic job presentation (Wanous, 1992; Wanous and Colella, 1989), it is important that recruiters should only advertise those attributes which are true for the organisation. Firms that emphasise unrealistic attributes will quickly be found out by the new graduate recruits who depart for other organisations which they perceive to have these attributes. New recruits who do not sense a strong t with the organisation are more likely to leave (Chatman, 1991) and the churning of graduate employees constitutes a great cost to the rm in terms of lost time, morale and possibly customer trust and goodwill. Furthermore, it takes time for new employees to become productive, impacting rm performance (Watson Wyatt, 2006). Private UK employers seek applicants from the over 125,000 degree graduates each year. One of the main implications of the study to practice is that a segmented approach is needed if the male and female Generation Y undergraduate population are to be assessed effectively. There is little evidence of sex segmentation activity in the existing recruitment marketplace. Regardless of the popular view that the values of young men and women are increasingly converging and possibly contrary to the professed view of young women themselves, women undergraduates value, to a greater extent than men, organisational characteristics that reect gender self-schemas. This presents both a considerable challenge and a great opportunity

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to organisations wishing to increase their representation of women. Employers may wish to consider gender roles and stereotyping and sex in a broader sense. Our study suggests a number of future research directions. First, while it is critical to study the earliest phases of the graduate recruitment process, our work could be extended to later career stages to examine men and womens perceptions of desirable organisational attributes. Further studies could explore mens and womens changing perceptions of the attributes of their employer and how this inuences their likelihood of seeking alternate employment. For example, are women more attached to organisations with their preferred attributes and are men more likely to join another organisation that offers a higher starting salary? Further research of a longitudinal nature could examine how Generation Y graduates organisational attribute preferences change over time, for example given additional work experience and family responsibilities (Corrigall and Konrad, 2006). Finally, this study focuses on graduates perceptions of large multinational employers. As an increasing number of Generation Y university students are enrolling in entrepreneurship classes (Katz, 2003), and considering entrepreneurial careers (Mainiero et al., 2007), future research might explore students perceptions of these possibilities.
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Williams, J.E. and Best, D.L. (1990), Sex and Psyche: Gender and Self Viewed Cross-Culturally, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Wright, R.P. (2004), Mapping cognitions to better understand attitudinal and behavioral responses in appraisal research, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 25, pp. 339-74. Wright, R.P. (2006), Rigor and relevance using repertory grid technique in strategy research, in Ketchen, D.J. and Bergh, D.D. (Eds), Research Methodology in Strategy and Management,Vol. 3, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 295-348. Further reading Bem, S.L. (1974), The measurement of psychological androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 42, pp. 155-62. Hall, D.T. and Moss, J.E. (1998), The new protean career contract: helping organizations and employees adapt, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 22-38. Her Majestys (HM) Treasury (2001), Productivity in the UK: Progress Towards a Productive Economy, The Stationery Ofce, London. Jackson, L.A. (2006), Its cheaper to keep em, Black Enterprise, Vol. 36 No. 7, p. 72. Kepner-Tregoe (1999), Avoiding the brain drain: what companies are doing to lock in their talent, White paper, available at: www.kepner-tregoe.com/PDFs/Avoiding_Brain_ exec_KL457a.pdf Lauver, K.J. and Kristof-Brown, A.L. (2001), Distinguishing between employees perceptions of person-job and person-organization t, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 59, pp. 454-70. Liden, R.C. and Parsons, C.K. (1986), A eld study of job applicant interview perceptions, alternative opportunities, and demographic characteristics, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 109-22. Lievens, F., van Dam, K. and Anderson, N. (2002), Recent trends and challenges in personnel selection, Personnel Review, Vol. 31 Nos 5/6, pp. 580-601. Moncrief, W.C., Babakus, E., Cravens, D.W. and Johnston, M.W. (2000), Examining gender differences in eld sales organizations, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp. 245-57. PersonnelZone (2006), Direct archive, PersonnelZone, May. Rynes, S.L. and Lawler, J. (1983), A policy-capturing investigation of the role of expectancies in decisions to pursue job alternatives, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 68 No. 4, pp. 620-31. Rynes, S.L., Bretz, R.D. Jr and Gerhard, B. (1991), The importance of recruitment in job choice: a different way of looking, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 44, pp. 487-521. Sturges, J. (1999), What it means to succeed: personal conceptions of career success held by male and female managers at different ages, British Journal of Management, Vol. 10, pp. 239-52. Wanous, J.P., Stumpf, S.A. and Bedrosian, H. (1979), Job survival of new employees, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 32, pp. 651-62. About the authors Siri Terjesen is a Senior Lecturer at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business at Queensland University of Technology. Concurrently, she is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, Germany. She has published in journals including Strategic Management Journal, Small Business Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice and Venture Capital and is co-author (with Anne Huff, Steve Floyd and

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Hugh Sherman) of Strategic Management (Wiley, 2008). She is on the boards of Corporate Research Board, NPRC and Silicon Capital. Siri Terjesen is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: siriterjesen@yahoo.com Susan Vinnicombes particular research interests are womens leadership styles, the issues involved in women developing their managerial careers and gender diversity on corporate boards. Her research centre is unique in the UK with its focus on women leaders and the annual Female FTSE 100 Index is regarded as the UKs premier research resource on women directors. She publishes in a range of journals including International Human Resource Management Journal, Corporate Governance: An International Review, Women in Management Review and British Journal of Management and is on the editorial board of four management journals. She has written eight books and is currently working on The Global Challenge of Diversity (with J. Bank) and International Women on Boards (with D. Bilimoria, R. Burke, M. Husen and V. Singh). Susan was awarded an OBE for her Services to Diversity in the Queens New Years Honour List in 2005. E-mail: s.m.vinnicombe@craneld.ac.uk Cheryl Freeman was formerly a DBA student at Craneld School of Management.

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