The importance of sector‐stereotypical images in relation to job pursuit intentions

• Author: Mathieu Peiffer,Roland Pepermans,Marc Jegers,Mohammad Mahdi Habibpour
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21304
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018

RESEARCH NOTE

The importance of sector-stereotypical images

in relation to job pursuit intentions

Mathieu Peiffer | Mohammad Mahdi Habibpour | Marc Jegers |

Roland Pepermans

Work & Organizational Psychology, Vrije

Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium

Correspondence

Mathieu Peiffer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,

2 Pleinlaan, Brussels 1050 Belgium.

Email: mathieu.peiffer@vub.be

Funding information

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

This study broadens the concept of employer image and

demonstrates the relevance of applicants’sector image

when looking for employment in either nonprofit or for-

profit organizations. We apply the Stereotype Content

Model to conceptualize image through perceived compe-

tence and warmth and use multilevel analyses on data

from final-year Master’s students. Results show the

importance of the sector-stereotypical image and are par-

tially in line with our hypotheses. Job pursuit intentions

for specific organizations are predicted by both the orga-

nizations’as well as the respective sectors’perceived

warmth and competence. Pursuit intentions for the for-

profit sector are predicted only by the image of that sec-

tor. However, the intention to pursue employment in the

nonprofit sector is predicted by both its competence and

warmth as well as by the perceived warmth of its organi-

zations. These findings are discussed in view of a trickle-

down effect and compared to previous findings on sector

image among consumers.

KEYWORDS

job pursuit intentions, organizations’ownership status,

sector image, stereotype content model

1|INTRODUCTION

Cable and Turban (2001) suggest that job applicants, when considering an organization, rely on a

specific employer image. Their theoretical framework has increasingly been applied in the empirical

literature (Lievens & Slaughter, 2016), and a positive link has frequently been established between

an organization’s image and its attractiveness (Turban, Forret, & Hendrickson, 1998). In other

Received: 13 October 2017 Revised: 19 January 2018 Accepted: 24 January 2018

DOI: 10.1002/nml.21304

Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 2018;28:553–564.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nml © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 553