Unveiling organizational appeal in Lithuania: A study on employee perceptions of organizational attractiveness as an employer

Measurement of employer’s attractiveness has been given much attention in many countries all over the world, but there was no extensive research performed in Lithuania so far, providing empirical evidence to define the landscape of organizational attractiveness in Lithuanian business sector. The aim of this study (N = 1020 respondents) is to identify which dimensions make organizations attractive as employers in Lithuanian business sector. The article employs a research approach based on a postpositivistic perspective. The relevant literature on organizational attractiveness is critically reviewed, analyzed, compared and generalized. Addressing research aim, a scale to measure organizational attractiveness as an employer was developed and administered in Lithuanian business sector in such a manner. Existing methodologies measuring organizational attractiveness were analyzed composing a list of 67 dimensions. Using content validity, scale comprising 30 dimensions was developed to measure organizational attractiveness of companies in Lithuanian business sector. A telephone interview survey method for data collection was used. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and frequencies) is used to analyze the data of the survey. 30 dimensions of organizational attractiveness were rank-ordered according to their means in descending order from most important to least important drivers of employer’s attractiveness. Specifically, the results suggested that good working atmosphere, adequate salary and interesting job are key to the attractiveness as an employer of business companies in Lithuania as perceived by their employees. The article also discusses the implications of the findings.

In today’s competitive labor market, firms use employer branding strategies to engage their workforce for better performance. However, the current understanding of the role of employer branding in firm-level performance in the context of developing countries is very limited. This study aims to investigate the importance of employee retention and recruitment efficiency to strengthen the relationship between employer branding and firm-level performance. Data are collected from 316 Azerbaijani firms that are tagged by the Glassdoor and reviewed by former employees. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses. The results of the study show that employer branding can enhance firm-level performance through employee retention and recruitment efficiency. However, online employee reviews on the Glassdoor do not moderate the connection between employer branding and employee retention. Current employees feel motivated to continue working with those companies which show excellent employer strategies. Furthermore, a firm’s strategy to attract the best employee pool improves firm-level performance. It is also concluded that employees working in developing countries do not concern about online reviews on their employer, and prefer to continue working despite contrary thoughts.

Acknowledgment
Author acknowledges the financial support provided by Internal Grant Agency (IGA/FaME/2019/008) of FaME through Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic.

The relevance of the research presented in the article is based on the results of studies of the last few decades, which show the increasing involvement of volunteers in various social and cultural areas of activities, but it should be emphasized that the involvement of volunteers could be even higher. However, there are considerable challenges in the area of volunteer work management, especially when analyzing the issues of emotional intelligence education, development of intercultural competence to increase work productivity.
The aim of this paper is to establish the guidelines of integrated management solutions for the increase of work productivity via the development of emotional intelligence and intercultural training of volunteers.
The aim was achieved not only based on the analysis of scientific literature, but also on the results of previous researches carried out by the authors of the article, i.e. a qualitative study interviewing individuals working with volunteers coming to Lithuania from foreign countries (N = 7) and a quantitative study in which the volunteers were surveyed (N = 174).
The paper, as a result, presents guidelines for the development of emotional intelligence and intercultural competence based on the concept of the expanding efforts by organizations that send, receive and coordinate volunteers. Four intersecting pairs of criteria for emotional intelligence and intercultural competence have been identified, the integration of which could serve to increase work productivity of volunteers in foreign countries.
The value of the article is based on the proposed new idea of integrating emotional intelligence and intercultural competence in order to increase work productivity of volunteers; additionally, it presents their development guidelines for organization management specialists. This study is focused on the integration of emotional intelligence and intercultural competence and identification of interrelated components. For this reason, it would be beneficial in the future to elaborate on the mechanism of how volunteers are prepared for foreign missions with the help of activities by the coordinating, sending and receiving organizations.