What Draws Potential Applicants Towards an Organization? The Importance of Employer Brand Process Attributes and Applicants' Job Search Metacognitive Activities

ABSTRACT What motivates potential applicants to apply to an organization and speak favorably about it are key recruitment questions. To answer these, prior studies have primarily focused on the content of the employer brand, i.e., instrumental attributes (e.g., salary, promotion, job security) and symbolic attributes (e.g., employer warmth, competence) as drivers of applicant attraction. However, this perspective overlooks the fundamental process‐ based characteristics of the employer brand, which form the crux of employer branding and HRM system strength theory. The process attributes refer to branding‐related aspects of the employer brand, i.e., ensuring the organization's distinctiveness against competitors, consistency across multiple images/touchpoints, and shared understanding of the employer image. Accordingly, this study investigates the role and added value of employer brand process attributes (distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus) versus content (instrumental and symbolic attributes) in understanding potential applicants' attraction (job pursuit and word‐of‐mouth intentions). Additionally, we examine whether the impact of the three process attributes is stronger for those applicants who engage in higher job search metacognitive activities, further exploring applicants' motivations from a job search angle. A two‐time survey of 191 US job applicants showed that organizations that are distinctive and consistent as an employer elicit higher job pursuit and word‐of‐mouth intentions. Moreover, process attributes explain significant incremental value beyond content attributes. Limited moderation effects emerged, with consistency particularly relevant for applicants with high metacognitive activities.