In this article, we draw on psychological contract theory to examine the influence of employees’ experiences on their ‘employer of choice’ recommendation and on signalling theory to examine the influence of employer rankings on ‘employer of choice’ recommendation. Using firm-level data representing 387 firms, we used Tobit regression model to assess the effect of employment experience and employer attractiveness rankings on employees’ recommendation of a company as an ‘employer of choice’. We found that employment experience of current and former employees positively influenced employees’ endorsement of their employer. Culture and values, and career opportunities are the most significant variables in generating positive employee recommendation. In addition, appearing in most attractive employer rankings also influenced their recommendation. However, employer rankings lower than the median rank had no effect on whether or not employees recommended their organizations. Being ranked lower than the median did not influence employees’ decisions to endorse their organization because it does not have the same potency for employees as when a firm is ranked higher than the median. Results provide us with a nuanced understanding of the effects of employer attractiveness rankings. Our study has important conceptual and methodological strengths (including the firm-level measure of employment experience and word of mouth) over previous studies in the area of employer branding.
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