Employer attractiveness of family businesses in the IT sector

Summary of the study

The success of a company depends largely on attracting qualified employees. However, when it comes to the employer branding of family businesses, there are no clear insights into which specific characteristics are particularly attractive to potential employees. This study focuses on family businesses in the IT sector to investigate the extent to which communicating family involvement could be beneficial for these companies. To answer this research question, an online survey was conducted in which participants were divided into two groups: One group received information about the ownership structure, the other did not.

The analysis of the results shows that family businesses tend to be associated with greater job security, but also with fewer development opportunities. In addition, certain personality traits of applicants influence the perception of an organization's attractiveness. Interestingly, direct communication of the ownership structure had no significant influence on attractiveness as an employer. The different weighting of job security and development opportunities cannot be clearly explained by applicants' personality traits either. The study results are limited by a relatively small sample size. Furthermore, it should be noted that applicants would receive more comprehensive and detailed company information in the real application situation. The representativeness and generalizability of the survey results must therefore be questioned.
The findings have practical implications for family businesses: As there is a positive correlation between perceived job security, opportunities for further development and attractiveness, it could be worthwhile to specifically promote and communicate these aspects in order to increase their appeal.

The original value of this work lies in the attempt to provide companies, especially family businesses, with a deeper understanding of how the communication of the ownership relationship influences potential applicants.

Key findings of this study

• Perception of family businesses: Family businesses tend to be associated with greater job security by potential applicants. At the same time, however, they are also associated with fewer development opportunities, especially in the IT/STEM sector.
• Influence of personality traits: The perceived attractiveness of an employer is influenced by certain personality traits of applicants. In particular, people with a high openness to experience and high extraversion tend to evaluate potential employers more critically and rate them as less attractive.
• No significant effect of owner communication: Explicit communication of the family ownership structure had no significant influence on the attractiveness of the employer. The relationship between personality traits and attractiveness was also not moderated by the communication of the ownership structure.
• Importance of job security and development opportunities: There is a positive correlation between perceived job security, opportunities for further development and the attractiveness of a company as an employer.
• Limitations of the study: The generalizability of the results is limited by a relatively small sample size (N=186) and the assumption of the participants that it is a family business (even without explicit communication). In addition, more detailed information would be available to applicants in reality.