Mid Sweden University

Background: It is difficult for organisations to attract and retain the employees they need, especially in the public sector. To recruit and maintain necessary competences, employers must be attractive. One way to affect attractiveness is to work with employer branding, which is a concept closely related to employer attractiveness. Employer attractiveness is defined as “the envisioned benefits that a potential employee sees in working for a specific organisation.”   

A theoretical framework from the perspective of employer branding includes employers’ activities to influence how current and potential employees perceive the organisation from three branding dimensions: economic, psychological and functional.

Several international studies on managing employer branding focus on private sector organisations while studies on the public sector, and studies from Sweden are few. 

To meet the gap concerning public sector organisations the present paper focuses on the phenomenon of employer attractiveness in public sector organisations in Sweden.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe previous research including the phenomenon of employer attractiveness in Swedish public sector organisations, and based on the result, propose future research on the phenomenon. 

Method: This paper is founded on a systematic literature search (Scopus, ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection and PsycArticles) of the search terms: Employer Attractiveness, Employer Branding (and associated terms) combined with the search terms Sweden, Scandinavia and Nordic. 

Findings: The literature review resulted in a few studies (9) on public sector organisations in Sweden to some extent addressing employer attractiveness. Some settings of Swedish studies of employer attractiveness include regions, municipalities, and hospitals. One main target group for research is nurses. Some studies also include other target groups like assistant nurses, and some studies include management in addition to the target group.

The purposes´ of the studies often include employees’ perceptions of e.g. attractive work, good work environment, excellent work environment, working conditions and work satisfaction. Some studies include different aspects of, and difficulties in, retaining employees (e.g. senior and newly graduated workers, older workers, discontent workers). 

Some theoretical frameworks and concepts applied in earlier research are trust and psychological sense of community, new public management (NPM) and dignity at work, inner work life theory and self-determination theory.

Previous research on public sector organisations in Sweden does not seem to use the term employer branding, although a couple of studies describe activities implemented to retain employees (mentoring programs and organisational learning programs). 

Future research: Based on the results from the literature review it would be interesting to further investigate the phenomenon of employer attractiveness in Swedish public sector organisations. Additionally, a phenomenological approach could contribute to obtaining a deeper understanding of the perceived experience of employer attractiveness.

The proposed research is expected to provide insights into the phenomenon of employer attractiveness in public sector organisations in Sweden and contribute to the body of literature which takes a strategic approach to the management of employer branding. 

Furthermore, the findings aim to contribute to practical knowledge of maintaining competences required in public sector organisations in Sweden