Influence of return on investment and labor market conditions on job seekers’ preferences of employment attributes in the Indian context

Previous research has treated job seekers’ preference of employment attributes as invariant across labor market conditions. In contrast, drawing on human capital theory and labor market theory, we propose that employment attributes preferred by job seekers vary as a function of expected return on investment (high versus low return on investment) and job environment (job scarcity versus abundance). Using secondary data, we classified premier Indian business schools into one of four quadrants. We then collected primary data from 1010 job seekers about their preferences to examine, heretofore, unexamined research questions. Results reveal that return on investment (ROI) influenced job seekers’ preferences of employment attributes, such as career growth, learning opportunities and job security while job environment impacted job seekers’ preference for compensation. In addition, results indicate that the effect of job environment varies according to ROI, such that the impact of job environment varied more in high versus low ROI condition. We discuss implications for theory and practice and offer suggestions for future research.