Laddering technique
The laddering technique was originally developed to determine the image of
products and brands. It is based on the central notion of the means-end theory, as
developed by Reynolds and Gutman (1988), which explains human behaviour as
a series of "meant-end" actions. People act purposely "applying means" to
achieve "ends" such as earning money, getting external respect, etc. Ends are
classified hierarchically from abstract attributes to functional consequences. The
values which are important to employees are ascertained by asking the question
"What is important to you?" The question is repeated until a chain of meanings
is built up which leads through levels of increasing abstraction from the concrete
attribute, via its consequences, to the underlying values. Van Rekom (1993)
transformed the technique to the area of corporate identity. The laddering
method (Van Rekom, 1993) is useful in that it helps to explain what is important
to employees. The method includes open interviews whereby employees are
asked to describe what they do (i.e. their job description), how they do it (i.e. their
work activities), why they work in this way (i.e. behaviour) and why they
consider this type of behaviour to be important.