Publications

Online recruitment has become ubiquitous, just as many scholars predicted it would in early research and theory related to online employer branding. Studies from the early 2000s provide evidence of branding patterns that organizations used to signal their legitimacy as an employer, yet the landscape of online recruitment and the predominant values of the current workforce have transformed since these initial investigations. As such, this study sought to develop an updated understanding of strategic employer branding by examining the websites of employers of choice. Among a sample of 59 organizations awarded for embodying the values of modern job seekers (work-life balance, job satisfaction, supportive of women, and financial growth), a content analysis of the text communicated on their About Us and Careers corporate webpages was performed. Though isomorphic patterns of communication emerged both among and between pages, there was simultaneous evidence that organizations strive to highlight their unique characteristics as well. These findings are discussed through the lenses of institutional theory and the attraction-selection attrition model, and further outline their implications for other organizations seeking competitive advantage through employer branding. Finally, researchers are called upon to continue to explore the systematic communication of employer brands and how these brands are managed.

Traditionally, work-life balance researchers have aligned their studies with the scarcity hypothesis by focusing on work and family roles, the conflict that occurs between them, and how this conflict drains employee resources. More recently, studies have started to move into expansionist theories that look at a variety of roles that characterize “life” more broadly, under the assumption that roles can enrich one another. The current study examines the relationships between work, family, and personal role centrality and enrichment in dual-earner couples. The quantitative evidence supports the expansion hypothesis in finding that employees who prioritize multiple roles perceive higher levels of resources like social support, skills, affect, and capital, than those that do not. Further, mediation analyses found that these resources positively impact employees’ perceptions of career satisfaction, life satisfaction, and balance, with social support and positive affect being the most consistent and strongest mediators, respectively. 

Community-oriented policing (COP) is a policing philosophy that focuses on the co-production of public safety by police officers and the community members they serve. This paper utilized the extreme context presented by the COVID−19 pandemic to test the theoretical assumptions on which COP is based. The data presented in this paper were collected from 32 community police officers (CPOs) from a Canadian police service who attended six focus group sessions during the fourth wave of the pandemic (July to November 2021). We summarize key findings and insights from these focus groups and provide insights relating to the underlying mechanisms essential to the delivery of effective COP programs. Future studies should continue to examine COP in diverse contexts to understand its benefits and challenges fully.