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ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Abstract
Using a brand equity perspective, we examine
different forms of social media activities (i.e.,
entertaining, informative and interactive) which are
used to create employer brand and their impact on
intention to apply. Also, we assess whether employer
brand equity dimensions (i.e., employer awareness,
employer brand attraction, perceived job attributes)
act as a mediating variable between social media
activities and intention to apply. A total of 179
respondents evaluated three companies on the three
dimensions of social media activities. Employer brand
equity and intention to apply was measured using a
standard scale drawn from the literature. Data was
analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and
structural equation modelling analysis techniques.
Overall, we found that various forms of social media
activities lead to higher intention to apply, and that
employer awareness and employer attraction
mediates the relationship between social media
activities and intention to apply. Among the three
dimensions of employer brand equity, the dimension
of employer awareness seems to have the largest
impact on the intention to apply and all three types of
social media content generate employer awareness.
Organizations can adopt social media strategies as a
prominent tool to create employer brand equity and
attract the best talent. In addition to traditional media
of employer branding, due to the changing profile of
job seekers, social media platforms should be
considered seriously in promoting the organisation as
an employer. Implications for managers and directions
for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Social media activities, brand equity,
employer brand equity, intention to apply.
Impact of Social Media Activitieson Employer Brand Equity
and Intention to Apply
Varun KatiyarGordhan K. Saini
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Dr. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram: Editor, Professor, and former Dean, Research, NMIMS University.
Dr. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram is currently advising MIT's Asia School of Business. He is a Research Professor at Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, and a practice professor at City University of New York. He is a distinguished academic who
has served as Dean, Director, Advisor and Professor globally including in The University of Texas, International
University of Japan, American University, and Amrita University. Additionally, he has lectured, taught and given
presentations at many universities and conferences all over the world, including Boston University, Jiang Xi University
of Finance, KIMEP, London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, St. Petersburgh State
University, and Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Kalyanaram is a highly-cited scholar, whose research covers management science, education and public policy,
economics and innovation. He serves as a management and policy consultant to many organizations.
Dr. Kalyanaram has been a distinguished scholar at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars,
and the East-European and Russian Research Center. He has served on several policy boards, including the Texas
Strategic Economic Development Commission.
Dr. Kalyanaram got his doctoral degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he has been recognized by
MIT with Harold Lobdell Award. He has also been recognized by several professional organizations for his contributions
to research. Currently, he serves as the President of global MIT South Asian Alumni Association.
Editorial from Dr. Gurumurthy KalyanaramISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 201610 11
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on
Employer Brand Equity and Intention to
Apply
In the last decade, the competition for talent has
become fierce. Organisations attempt to influence job
seekers' application intentions and decisions
favourably through several ways. In a global labour
market, the key to success is attracting and retaining
the best talent, and brands are considered critical in
attracting the best employees (Cappelli, 2001).
Employer branding focuses on creating the image of
organizations as potential employers (Backhaus and
Tikoo, 2004) and organizations deploy various
employer branding tools to generate and maintain
their image in the mind of prospective employees.
Major external employer branding tools used by
organizations include campus reach, case study
competitions, pre placement talks, campus brand
ambassadors and participation in the best employer
surveys (Saini, Rai, & 2013). The recent Chaudhary,
tool in this basket is social media. Social media is
increasingly used in employer branding and for
recruitment purposes, and companies are increasingly
investing resources in the use of social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
(Davison, Maraist, & Bing, 2011; Sivertzen, Nilsen, &
Olafsen, 2013). For example, about 44 percent
recruiters used social and professional networks for
hiring quality talent in 2014 compared to 36 per cent in
the previous year, as per the LinkedIn survey covering
over 4,125 talent acquisition leaders globally (Business
Line, 2014). Also, 73 percent of recruiters plan to
increase their investment in social recruiting in 2014
and about 83 percent of job seekers flock to Facebook
and LinkedIn (Jobvite, 2014).
Social media recruiting being a very recent
phenomenon, there is a dearth of studies in this field
with a few exceptions (i.e., Davison et al., 2011;
Madera, 2012; Walker, Feild, Giles, Bernerth, & Short,
2011). Furthermore, social media as a tool is being
used in multiple types of interfaces between an
employee/potential employee and the organization.
With the expanding use of social media by companies
for employer branding, it is imperative to study the
impact of this media on achieving desired outcomes.
Specifically, in this study, we examine different forms
of social media employer branding activities and their
impact on the intention to apply. Also, we assess
whether employer brand equity acts as a mediating
variable between social media activities and intention
to apply. In other words, we examine how different
types of social media content influence various
dimensions of employer brand equity which
subsequently influence the prospective employee's
intention to apply.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows.
The second section reviews relevant literature on
consumer brand, employer brand, social media
activities and employer brand equity and its
dimensions. The third section includes theoretical
background and hypotheses development including
the conceptual framework. Section four consists of
approach and methodology of the research including
measure, sample and tools of data collection. The fifth
section analyses the data and discusses results. Lastly,
conclusions and managerial implications of the
findings are presented followed by the limitations and
future research areas.
Literature Review
Consumer Brand and Employer Brand
Recent researchers have applied brand equity
research to understand job seekers' application
behaviour (i.e., Collins & Stevens, 2002; DelVeechio,
Jarvis, Klink, & Dineen, 2007; Kim, York, & Lim, 2011;
Lievens & Highhouse, 2003). Literature on brand has
primarily focused on marketing and consumer
behavior and surprisingly very few studies investigate
the effects of brands on other areas of business
(DelVeechio et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2011). Research
shows that the area of human resource management
(HRM) may benefit significantly from a strong brand.
For instance, Hieronimus, Schaefer and Schroder
(2005) suggest that brands can play an important role
in attracting future employees. Kim et al (2011, p. 166)
point out that “to realize the boundary spanning
benefits of strong brands, research on the effects of
brands beyond the marketing domain should be
conducted”.
The Del Vecchio et al. (2007) study identifies the
importance of brands as a key asset that is applicable
well beyond the area of marketing and found that
brands play a major role in job choice. Such results
have important implications as employees are critical
to customer satisfaction (Schultz, 2002) and
organizational performance (Lado & Wilson, 1994).
Overall, organizations get competitive advantage in
recruitment by leveraging their strong brand
(DelVeechio et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2011). Gomez-
Mejia (2001) suggests that like product selection, job
selection also involves a great degree of uncertainty
and risk, and HR represents one of the highest costs in
many organizations (Gomez-Mejia, 2001). Greening
and Turban (2000) consider that HR is a major source
of competitive advantage.
Employer branding is used to explain how companies
market their employee value proposition, like
consumer value proposition, offerings to current and
potential talent pool in the labour market, effectively
communicate with them and promote within and
outside the firm, a clear message of what makes the
company desirable as an employer. One of the main
objectives of employer branding is to attract the best
talent from the available pool. Literature in acquisition
versus retention of a customer demonstrates that
retention is fundamental to corporate and financial
strength of a firm per se (Werner, Thomas, & Kumar,
2005; Tsao, 2013). Broadly, the ratio of investment
required for retention versus acquisition of a customer
is 1:5-7 (Pfeifer, 2004) and we believe that the same
empirical insights are applicable to retention of talent
in a firm. For instance, Hinkin and Tracey (2008) have
found that a large percentage of the total turnover
costs are spent disproportionately on selecting low
complexity jobs, suggesting that managers spend a
great amount of time recruiting qualified entry level
employees.
Employer Branding and Social Media
Employer brand is a tool adopted by companies to
maintain a competitive advantage over the growing
competition in the labour market. The four main
reasons due to which employer branding has received
an increasing amount of attention in the human
resource management field as well as in the marketing
communities are “brand power, HR's search for
credibility, prevailing labour market conditions and
employee engagement” (Jenner & Taylor 2007, p. 7).
Employer branding is likely to generate competitive
advantage in the form of low employee attrition, high
job satisfaction, employee engagement and customer
loyalty (Miles & Mangold, 2004). Firms with better
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply12 13
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on
Employer Brand Equity and Intention to
Apply
In the last decade, the competition for talent has
become fierce. Organisations attempt to influence job
seekers' application intentions and decisions
favourably through several ways. In a global labour
market, the key to success is attracting and retaining
the best talent, and brands are considered critical in
attracting the best employees (Cappelli, 2001).
Employer branding focuses on creating the image of
organizations as potential employers (Backhaus and
Tikoo, 2004) and organizations deploy various
employer branding tools to generate and maintain
their image in the mind of prospective employees.
Major external employer branding tools used by
organizations include campus reach, case study
competitions, pre placement talks, campus brand
ambassadors and participation in the best employer
surveys (Saini, Rai, & 2013). The recent Chaudhary,
tool in this basket is social media. Social media is
increasingly used in employer branding and for
recruitment purposes, and companies are increasingly
investing resources in the use of social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
(Davison, Maraist, & Bing, 2011; Sivertzen, Nilsen, &
Olafsen, 2013). For example, about 44 percent
recruiters used social and professional networks for
hiring quality talent in 2014 compared to 36 per cent in
the previous year, as per the LinkedIn survey covering
over 4,125 talent acquisition leaders globally (Business
Line, 2014). Also, 73 percent of recruiters plan to
increase their investment in social recruiting in 2014
and about 83 percent of job seekers flock to Facebook
and LinkedIn (Jobvite, 2014).
Social media recruiting being a very recent
phenomenon, there is a dearth of studies in this field
with a few exceptions (i.e., Davison et al., 2011;
Madera, 2012; Walker, Feild, Giles, Bernerth, & Short,
2011). Furthermore, social media as a tool is being
used in multiple types of interfaces between an
employee/potential employee and the organization.
With the expanding use of social media by companies
for employer branding, it is imperative to study the
impact of this media on achieving desired outcomes.
Specifically, in this study, we examine different forms
of social media employer branding activities and their
impact on the intention to apply. Also, we assess
whether employer brand equity acts as a mediating
variable between social media activities and intention
to apply. In other words, we examine how different
types of social media content influence various
dimensions of employer brand equity which
subsequently influence the prospective employee's
intention to apply.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows.
The second section reviews relevant literature on
consumer brand, employer brand, social media
activities and employer brand equity and its
dimensions. The third section includes theoretical
background and hypotheses development including
the conceptual framework. Section four consists of
approach and methodology of the research including
measure, sample and tools of data collection. The fifth
section analyses the data and discusses results. Lastly,
conclusions and managerial implications of the
findings are presented followed by the limitations and
future research areas.
Literature Review
Consumer Brand and Employer Brand
Recent researchers have applied brand equity
research to understand job seekers' application
behaviour (i.e., Collins & Stevens, 2002; DelVeechio,
Jarvis, Klink, & Dineen, 2007; Kim, York, & Lim, 2011;
Lievens & Highhouse, 2003). Literature on brand has
primarily focused on marketing and consumer
behavior and surprisingly very few studies investigate
the effects of brands on other areas of business
(DelVeechio et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2011). Research
shows that the area of human resource management
(HRM) may benefit significantly from a strong brand.
For instance, Hieronimus, Schaefer and Schroder
(2005) suggest that brands can play an important role
in attracting future employees. Kim et al (2011, p. 166)
point out that “to realize the boundary spanning
benefits of strong brands, research on the effects of
brands beyond the marketing domain should be
conducted”.
The Del Vecchio et al. (2007) study identifies the
importance of brands as a key asset that is applicable
well beyond the area of marketing and found that
brands play a major role in job choice. Such results
have important implications as employees are critical
to customer satisfaction (Schultz, 2002) and
organizational performance (Lado & Wilson, 1994).
Overall, organizations get competitive advantage in
recruitment by leveraging their strong brand
(DelVeechio et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2011). Gomez-
Mejia (2001) suggests that like product selection, job
selection also involves a great degree of uncertainty
and risk, and HR represents one of the highest costs in
many organizations (Gomez-Mejia, 2001). Greening
and Turban (2000) consider that HR is a major source
of competitive advantage.
Employer branding is used to explain how companies
market their employee value proposition, like
consumer value proposition, offerings to current and
potential talent pool in the labour market, effectively
communicate with them and promote within and
outside the firm, a clear message of what makes the
company desirable as an employer. One of the main
objectives of employer branding is to attract the best
talent from the available pool. Literature in acquisition
versus retention of a customer demonstrates that
retention is fundamental to corporate and financial
strength of a firm per se (Werner, Thomas, & Kumar,
2005; Tsao, 2013). Broadly, the ratio of investment
required for retention versus acquisition of a customer
is 1:5-7 (Pfeifer, 2004) and we believe that the same
empirical insights are applicable to retention of talent
in a firm. For instance, Hinkin and Tracey (2008) have
found that a large percentage of the total turnover
costs are spent disproportionately on selecting low
complexity jobs, suggesting that managers spend a
great amount of time recruiting qualified entry level
employees.
Employer Branding and Social Media
Employer brand is a tool adopted by companies to
maintain a competitive advantage over the growing
competition in the labour market. The four main
reasons due to which employer branding has received
an increasing amount of attention in the human
resource management field as well as in the marketing
communities are “brand power, HR's search for
credibility, prevailing labour market conditions and
employee engagement” (Jenner & Taylor 2007, p. 7).
Employer branding is likely to generate competitive
advantage in the form of low employee attrition, high
job satisfaction, employee engagement and customer
loyalty (Miles & Mangold, 2004). Firms with better
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply12 13
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
employer brand can afford to pay lower wage rates
than the industry average (Ritson, 2002). Thus,
recently employer branding is considered as a strategic
lever (Moroko & Uncles, 2008), and desirable for an
organization (Barrow & Mosley, 2005).
In the post-2009 era, after a period of recession,
companies are expanding nationally as well as globally.
This requires them to hire a talented workforce. In
addition to recruiting new talent from the volatile
labour market, it is becoming more difficult for
companies to withhold their existing talent due to
changing demographic patterns, lack of skilled
employees in knowledge-based organizations (Ewing,
Pitt, de Bussy, & Berthon, 2002), and high cost of
recruitment, selection and training due to attrition
(Douglas, Hill, & Conger, 2008). Therefore, companies
are revisiting their old model of recruitment and
becoming more sensitive to the newer trends in this
area; employer branding through the internet and
social media is one such new trend.
Social media includes online applications, platforms
and media which aim to facilitate interactions,
collaborations and the sharing of content. Ranging
from social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn,
etc. to Wikis, blogs, podcasts and video sharing sites,
social media has an entire gambit of interfaces to its
name. Seeing the demographics of the young talent
and their use of social networking, companies have
entered into this domain to catch the talent young and
unadulterated. Changes in demographics, including
retirement of baby boomers and a smaller number of
potential employees in the succeeding generations,
will also make it more difficult for companies to find
and attract new workers to fill job vacancies (Collins &
Stevens, 2002).
The World Wide Web has provided new avenues for
information sharing and interaction in an entertaining
manner through social networking sites. With the
penetration of the internet and smart phones,
companies are able to explore newer media to interact
with prospective employees. Job advertisements can
be shared online and candidates' interest in a
particular vacancy can be solicited through social
media with a cost lower than before (Borstorff, Marker,
& Bennett, 2005). Moreover, passive job seekers can
be identified through internet channels (Cappelli,
2001). Use of social media in recruitment, which is
analogous to advertising job vacancies on the internet,
is now considered as an acceptable method of
sourcing employees (Davison et al., 2011) as its
generates benefits like low cost, wider reach, quick
turnaround time with respect to contact and activities.
Evidence shows that the internet facilitates the
recruitment process, both for the job seeker and job
provider (Borstorff et al., 2005; Walker et al., 2011) and
social media can also be used for attracting potential
employees (Davison et al., 2011). Sivertzen et al.
(2013) suggest that it is important to understand the
effect of social media activities on the candidate's
application intention.
There is substantial literature on the effect of brand
equity on products/services purchase decisions (e.g.,
Cobb-Walgren, Ruble, & Donthu, 1995; Changa & Liu,
2009). However, studies examining the impact of
employer brand equity on the intention to apply are
rare. Researchers (e.g., Davison et al., 2011, p. 158)
have clearly pointed out the need to study the
increasing role of the internet/social media on HR
decisions that “...research in this area should be
directed to assist HR practitioners in addressing these
issues when using social networking websites for HR
decisions.” Also, literature is generally silent on the
effectiveness of social media in generating favourable
intention to apply. This study aims to fill the above gaps
in the literature in this particular area.
As a means to establish a better employer brand
among its current and potential employees,
companies are making use of social media tools to
maximizing the benefits of their employer branding
efforts. Moreover, the use of social media is not merely
restricted to employer branding; it is also being used as
a viable recruitment channel. Many companies have
launched their campaigns across all social media to
impact their audience in every possible manner. For
example, Sodexo has designed an entirely different
career website of their own, dedicated only for hiring
and job posting purposes. It has career pages on
Facebook for continuously updating career
opportunities at Sodexo, a YouTube career video
series, a Sodexo career blog, careers pages on Twitter,
LinkedIn and Pinterest (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Social Media Activities by Sodexo
Source: Author creation using multiple sources
Consumer Brand Equity and Employer
Brand Equity
Consumer brand equity
Advertising refers to paid, professionally designed
messages, channelled through various media outlets
used to modify consumers' perceptions (Aaker, 1996).
S ince advert i s ing i s d i rect ly contro l led by
organizations, it can be crafted to create desirable
brand-attribute associations in consumers' minds
(Boulding, Lee, & Staelin, 1994) as well as to foster
positive attitudes toward the brand (Milgrom &
Roberts, 1986; Cobb-Walgren et al . , 1995).
Recruitment advertising, in the form of brochures and
job postings through various media (e.g., newspaper,
magazine, social media, etc.) has traditionally been
used to disseminate information about openings
(Rynes, 1991). It is expected that such advertising has
effects on employer brand equity that is similar to
those observed on consumer brand equity in
marketing.
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply14 15
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
employer brand can afford to pay lower wage rates
than the industry average (Ritson, 2002). Thus,
recently employer branding is considered as a strategic
lever (Moroko & Uncles, 2008), and desirable for an
organization (Barrow & Mosley, 2005).
In the post-2009 era, after a period of recession,
companies are expanding nationally as well as globally.
This requires them to hire a talented workforce. In
addition to recruiting new talent from the volatile
labour market, it is becoming more difficult for
companies to withhold their existing talent due to
changing demographic patterns, lack of skilled
employees in knowledge-based organizations (Ewing,
Pitt, de Bussy, & Berthon, 2002), and high cost of
recruitment, selection and training due to attrition
(Douglas, Hill, & Conger, 2008). Therefore, companies
are revisiting their old model of recruitment and
becoming more sensitive to the newer trends in this
area; employer branding through the internet and
social media is one such new trend.
Social media includes online applications, platforms
and media which aim to facilitate interactions,
collaborations and the sharing of content. Ranging
from social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn,
etc. to Wikis, blogs, podcasts and video sharing sites,
social media has an entire gambit of interfaces to its
name. Seeing the demographics of the young talent
and their use of social networking, companies have
entered into this domain to catch the talent young and
unadulterated. Changes in demographics, including
retirement of baby boomers and a smaller number of
potential employees in the succeeding generations,
will also make it more difficult for companies to find
and attract new workers to fill job vacancies (Collins &
Stevens, 2002).
The World Wide Web has provided new avenues for
information sharing and interaction in an entertaining
manner through social networking sites. With the
penetration of the internet and smart phones,
companies are able to explore newer media to interact
with prospective employees. Job advertisements can
be shared online and candidates' interest in a
particular vacancy can be solicited through social
media with a cost lower than before (Borstorff, Marker,
& Bennett, 2005). Moreover, passive job seekers can
be identified through internet channels (Cappelli,
2001). Use of social media in recruitment, which is
analogous to advertising job vacancies on the internet,
is now considered as an acceptable method of
sourcing employees (Davison et al., 2011) as its
generates benefits like low cost, wider reach, quick
turnaround time with respect to contact and activities.
Evidence shows that the internet facilitates the
recruitment process, both for the job seeker and job
provider (Borstorff et al., 2005; Walker et al., 2011) and
social media can also be used for attracting potential
employees (Davison et al., 2011). Sivertzen et al.
(2013) suggest that it is important to understand the
effect of social media activities on the candidate's
application intention.
There is substantial literature on the effect of brand
equity on products/services purchase decisions (e.g.,
Cobb-Walgren, Ruble, & Donthu, 1995; Changa & Liu,
2009). However, studies examining the impact of
employer brand equity on the intention to apply are
rare. Researchers (e.g., Davison et al., 2011, p. 158)
have clearly pointed out the need to study the
increasing role of the internet/social media on HR
decisions that “...research in this area should be
directed to assist HR practitioners in addressing these
issues when using social networking websites for HR
decisions.” Also, literature is generally silent on the
effectiveness of social media in generating favourable
intention to apply. This study aims to fill the above gaps
in the literature in this particular area.
As a means to establish a better employer brand
among its current and potential employees,
companies are making use of social media tools to
maximizing the benefits of their employer branding
efforts. Moreover, the use of social media is not merely
restricted to employer branding; it is also being used as
a viable recruitment channel. Many companies have
launched their campaigns across all social media to
impact their audience in every possible manner. For
example, Sodexo has designed an entirely different
career website of their own, dedicated only for hiring
and job posting purposes. It has career pages on
Facebook for continuously updating career
opportunities at Sodexo, a YouTube career video
series, a Sodexo career blog, careers pages on Twitter,
LinkedIn and Pinterest (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Social Media Activities by Sodexo
Source: Author creation using multiple sources
Consumer Brand Equity and Employer
Brand Equity
Consumer brand equity
Advertising refers to paid, professionally designed
messages, channelled through various media outlets
used to modify consumers' perceptions (Aaker, 1996).
S ince advert i s ing i s d i rect ly contro l led by
organizations, it can be crafted to create desirable
brand-attribute associations in consumers' minds
(Boulding, Lee, & Staelin, 1994) as well as to foster
positive attitudes toward the brand (Milgrom &
Roberts, 1986; Cobb-Walgren et al . , 1995).
Recruitment advertising, in the form of brochures and
job postings through various media (e.g., newspaper,
magazine, social media, etc.) has traditionally been
used to disseminate information about openings
(Rynes, 1991). It is expected that such advertising has
effects on employer brand equity that is similar to
those observed on consumer brand equity in
marketing.
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply14 15
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Aaker (1991, 1996) defined brand equity as the
positive or negative effects that the brand has on
consumers' preferences and purchasing decisions of a
product or service. According to Keller's (1991)
definition, brand equity consists of two independent
factors. The first dimension of brand equity is brand
awareness, which represents the strength of a
consumer's memory record for the brand. Greater
awareness increases consumers' ability to identify a
brand and the likelihood that the brand will be
included in the consideration set (Aaker, 1996; Rossiter
& Percy, 1987). The second dimension of brand equity
is brand associations, defined as the memory nodes
linked to the corresponding brand node in the
consumer's memory, which contain the meaning that
the brand has for consumers (Keller, 1991). Aaker
(1991, 1996) argued that brand associations facilitate
the process of consumer choice and consumers are
more likely to choose those brands for which they hold
strong, positive associations. There are two key
categories of associations – attributes (specific beliefs
about the product, service, or organization) and
attitudes (general feelings toward the product,
service, or organization).
Brands have been identified as a critical means for
making points of differentiation between products
and creating competitive advantage for organizations
(Aaker, 1991). Customer-based brand equity has been
defined as consumers' beliefs about a product that
affect their preferences and purchasing decisions
relative to other unbranded or weakly branded
products with similar attributes (Aaker, 1991, 1996;
Keller, 1993). The concept of employer brand equity is
analogous to consumer brand equity.
Employer brand equity
An organization's efforts to recruit job seekers are
similar in many ways to the organization's efforts to
attract consumers to purchase their products or
services (Cable & Turban, 2001). Specifically, job
seekers and consumers both develop positive or
negative perceptions about companies and jobs based
on their exposure to messages communicated by an
organization (Collins & Stevens, 2002). The marketing
literature on brand equity can be used to understand
how job seekers develop beliefs about organizations as
employers (Cable & Turban, 2001; Collins & Stevens,
2002). Recruitment literature has focused on the
applicant's reactions to different jobs, different
recruitment practices, or a combination of the two.
This line of research has also utilized the marketing
concept of organizational image. Collins and Stevens
(2002) identify two broad dimensions of employer
brand equity: awareness and associations. They
defined awareness as the level of familiarity that job
seekers hold regarding an organization. As with
consumers, awareness of the company will increase
the likelihood that the company will be part of the final
decis ion set when job seekers identify job
opportunities (Collins & Stevens, 2002). Following
brand equity literature, Collins and Kanar (2013) divide
employer brand associations in two categories:
surface brand associations and complex brand
associations. The former refers to attitudes and overall
evaluat ions of employer brand and can be
conceptualised as organisational/employer attraction
while the latter refers to job seekers' beliefs about
specific aspects of the job and work environment of
the organization and can be conceptualised as
perceived job attributes (Collins & Stevens, 2002). We
follow the same conceptualisation of employer brand
equity in this paper.
Hypotheses Development
Social Media Content and its Influence on Attitude
towards Brand
Following literature (Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012;
Kim & Ko, 2012), we classify social media content,
relevant to our study, into three categories:
entertaining content, informative content and
interactive content.
Entertaining content includes posts of pictures,
images and videos and are often related to being
exciting, fun and cool. The entertainment value of a
social networking site is an important reason behind
its growing use (Cheung, Chiu, & Lee, 2011; Dholakia,
Bagozzi, & Pearo, 2004; Lin & Lu 2011; Park, Kee, &
Valenzuela, 2009). Entertainment value drives people
to use, co-create or contribute to brand-related
content online (Muntinga, Moorman, & Smit, 2011). In
terms of an organization's posting, entertaining
content, in the form of videos and other images, is
likely to convey a message more effectively than non-
entertaining content. Entertaining content may be
used to make the viewers aware of the company's
attributes like culture, core values, beliefs and work
environment. Taylor, Lewin and Strutton (2011) show
that entertaining advertisements create a favourable
influence on consumer attitude towards the ad and
the brand, and generate a desire to return to the social
media channel (Raney, Arpan, Pashupati, & Brill,
2003). We argue that candidates will be more likely to
recall entertaining content than non-entertaining
content, leading to better awareness and brand
comprehension which subsequently contribute to
employer brand equity. Thus, we propose:
Hypothesis 1: Entertaining social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Informative content includes posts which are
primarily meant for disseminating information. It may
be in the form of company annual reports, spreading
media news related to the organization, any
announcement related to company, etc. Information
seeking is one of the major reasons for the use of social
networking sites (Lin & Lu, 2011), participation in a
virtual community (Dholakia et al., 2004) and
contribution to Facebook groups (Park et al., 2009).
People consume brand related content for getting
information about the brand (Muntinga et al., 2011).
Literature (Taylor et al., 2011) shows that people
general ly have favourable att itudes toward
informative content on social networks. Thus, it is
likely that visitors on social media will have a positive
attitude towards informative brand posts compared to
non-informative brand posts (Vries et al., 2012).
Similarly, informative content is likely to provide more
information about the company as an employer and
offered job attributes, hence:
Hypothesis 2: Informative social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Interactive content: Interactivity is defined as “the
degree to which two or more communication parties
can act on each other, on the communication medium,
and on the messages and the degree to which such
influences are synchronized” (Liu & Shrum, 2002, p.
54). Interactivity involves two-way communication
(between companies and customers) as well as many-
to-many communication (among consumers
themselves) (Goldfarb & Tucker, 2011; Hoffman &
Novak, 1996). An interactive post invokes a dialogue
between the medium and the viewer, and it can be in
the form of a questionnaire, quiz, contest, voting, etc.
However, the degree of interactivity may differ. For
16 17
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Aaker (1991, 1996) defined brand equity as the
positive or negative effects that the brand has on
consumers' preferences and purchasing decisions of a
product or service. According to Keller's (1991)
definition, brand equity consists of two independent
factors. The first dimension of brand equity is brand
awareness, which represents the strength of a
consumer's memory record for the brand. Greater
awareness increases consumers' ability to identify a
brand and the likelihood that the brand will be
included in the consideration set (Aaker, 1996; Rossiter
& Percy, 1987). The second dimension of brand equity
is brand associations, defined as the memory nodes
linked to the corresponding brand node in the
consumer's memory, which contain the meaning that
the brand has for consumers (Keller, 1991). Aaker
(1991, 1996) argued that brand associations facilitate
the process of consumer choice and consumers are
more likely to choose those brands for which they hold
strong, positive associations. There are two key
categories of associations – attributes (specific beliefs
about the product, service, or organization) and
attitudes (general feelings toward the product,
service, or organization).
Brands have been identified as a critical means for
making points of differentiation between products
and creating competitive advantage for organizations
(Aaker, 1991). Customer-based brand equity has been
defined as consumers' beliefs about a product that
affect their preferences and purchasing decisions
relative to other unbranded or weakly branded
products with similar attributes (Aaker, 1991, 1996;
Keller, 1993). The concept of employer brand equity is
analogous to consumer brand equity.
Employer brand equity
An organization's efforts to recruit job seekers are
similar in many ways to the organization's efforts to
attract consumers to purchase their products or
services (Cable & Turban, 2001). Specifically, job
seekers and consumers both develop positive or
negative perceptions about companies and jobs based
on their exposure to messages communicated by an
organization (Collins & Stevens, 2002). The marketing
literature on brand equity can be used to understand
how job seekers develop beliefs about organizations as
employers (Cable & Turban, 2001; Collins & Stevens,
2002). Recruitment literature has focused on the
applicant's reactions to different jobs, different
recruitment practices, or a combination of the two.
This line of research has also utilized the marketing
concept of organizational image. Collins and Stevens
(2002) identify two broad dimensions of employer
brand equity: awareness and associations. They
defined awareness as the level of familiarity that job
seekers hold regarding an organization. As with
consumers, awareness of the company will increase
the likelihood that the company will be part of the final
decis ion set when job seekers identify job
opportunities (Collins & Stevens, 2002). Following
brand equity literature, Collins and Kanar (2013) divide
employer brand associations in two categories:
surface brand associations and complex brand
associations. The former refers to attitudes and overall
evaluat ions of employer brand and can be
conceptualised as organisational/employer attraction
while the latter refers to job seekers' beliefs about
specific aspects of the job and work environment of
the organization and can be conceptualised as
perceived job attributes (Collins & Stevens, 2002). We
follow the same conceptualisation of employer brand
equity in this paper.
Hypotheses Development
Social Media Content and its Influence on Attitude
towards Brand
Following literature (Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012;
Kim & Ko, 2012), we classify social media content,
relevant to our study, into three categories:
entertaining content, informative content and
interactive content.
Entertaining content includes posts of pictures,
images and videos and are often related to being
exciting, fun and cool. The entertainment value of a
social networking site is an important reason behind
its growing use (Cheung, Chiu, & Lee, 2011; Dholakia,
Bagozzi, & Pearo, 2004; Lin & Lu 2011; Park, Kee, &
Valenzuela, 2009). Entertainment value drives people
to use, co-create or contribute to brand-related
content online (Muntinga, Moorman, & Smit, 2011). In
terms of an organization's posting, entertaining
content, in the form of videos and other images, is
likely to convey a message more effectively than non-
entertaining content. Entertaining content may be
used to make the viewers aware of the company's
attributes like culture, core values, beliefs and work
environment. Taylor, Lewin and Strutton (2011) show
that entertaining advertisements create a favourable
influence on consumer attitude towards the ad and
the brand, and generate a desire to return to the social
media channel (Raney, Arpan, Pashupati, & Brill,
2003). We argue that candidates will be more likely to
recall entertaining content than non-entertaining
content, leading to better awareness and brand
comprehension which subsequently contribute to
employer brand equity. Thus, we propose:
Hypothesis 1: Entertaining social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Informative content includes posts which are
primarily meant for disseminating information. It may
be in the form of company annual reports, spreading
media news related to the organization, any
announcement related to company, etc. Information
seeking is one of the major reasons for the use of social
networking sites (Lin & Lu, 2011), participation in a
virtual community (Dholakia et al., 2004) and
contribution to Facebook groups (Park et al., 2009).
People consume brand related content for getting
information about the brand (Muntinga et al., 2011).
Literature (Taylor et al., 2011) shows that people
general ly have favourable att itudes toward
informative content on social networks. Thus, it is
likely that visitors on social media will have a positive
attitude towards informative brand posts compared to
non-informative brand posts (Vries et al., 2012).
Similarly, informative content is likely to provide more
information about the company as an employer and
offered job attributes, hence:
Hypothesis 2: Informative social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Interactive content: Interactivity is defined as “the
degree to which two or more communication parties
can act on each other, on the communication medium,
and on the messages and the degree to which such
influences are synchronized” (Liu & Shrum, 2002, p.
54). Interactivity involves two-way communication
(between companies and customers) as well as many-
to-many communication (among consumers
themselves) (Goldfarb & Tucker, 2011; Hoffman &
Novak, 1996). An interactive post invokes a dialogue
between the medium and the viewer, and it can be in
the form of a questionnaire, quiz, contest, voting, etc.
However, the degree of interactivity may differ. For
16 17
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
instance, a text post is not interactive, a link to a
website is moderately interactive (Fortin & Dholakia,
2005) while a question/contest is highly interactive in
nature as it attempts to solicit an answer from brand
fans. Overall, research shows that a medium degree of
interactivity of social media content leads to positive
attitude towards a brand (Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Vries
et al., 2012). We hypothesize that:
Hypothesis 3: Interactive social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Employer Brand Equity Dimensions
Employer awareness
Greater awareness means the brand will be included in
the final consideration set of product or service
purchase (Aaker, 1991; Rossiter & Percy, 1987).
Similarly, students searching for jobs are exposed to
the recruitment efforts of several companies and they
have multiple choices for making application
decisions. Thus, student application intentions and
decisions may also be influenced by awareness that
the company exists as an employer (Gatewood,
Gowan, & Lautenschlager, 1993; Turban & Greening,
1997).
Like for a consumer brand, awareness is a fundamental
dimension of employer brand equity as it is the first
step of existence of any employer brand for an
individual (Collins & Stevens, 2002). A person
searching for a job must be aware of a company before
he/she thinks of applying for it. Brooks, Highhouse,
Russell and Mohr (2004) show that applicants are able
to recall a greater number of associations for firms
they are more familiar with and have a higher intention
to apply to. Job seekers' awareness of an organization
positively impacts applicants' intentions and
behaviours (Gatewood et al., 1993; Turban, 2001). For
instance, Gatewood et al. (1993) found that students
exposed to a few companies in their coursework had
greater intentions of applying in those companies.
Collins (2007) suggests that the knowledge about an
organization deeply impacts the interest or intention
to apply for a job. Additionally, student applicants
were most affected by the awareness of the company.
Thus,
Hypothesis 4: Employer awareness influences an
applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Employer brand associations: employer brand
attraction and perceived job attributes
Once consumers recall a brand from memory or
recognize the product on a store shelf, consumers use
the associations about a brand held in their memory to
make choices between brands (Gardner & Levy, 1955;
Aaker, 1991). Brand associations are composed of
perceived attitudes about the brand and specific
attributes associated with the brand (Keller, 1993).
Perceived attitudes are consumers' overall evaluations
of a brand and may be considered to be consumers'
generalized feelings towards the brand (Wilke, 1986).
Perceived attributes are the specific features to
evaluate the products or services for buying decisions
(Keller, 1993). Similar to consumer brand associations,
employer brand associations influence applicants'
behaviours as they represent an employer's ability to
satisfy potential applicants' needs (Kristof, 1996).
Therefore, job seekers are likely to choose the
company, with which their perceived associations
about that employer brand are strong, favourable, and
unique (Collins & Stevens, 2002).
Hypothesis 5: Employer brand attraction positively
influences an applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Hypothesis 6: Perceived job attributes influence an
applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Marketing literature (Kim & Ko, 2012) shows that the
paths between social media marketing activities and
consumer purchase intention may be mediated by
consumer brand equity. Analogous to this, we propose
that employer brand equity (dimensions) may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply. (Figure 2 shows the
conceptual framework of the study).
Hypothesis 7a: Employer awareness may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Hypothesis 7b: Employer brand attraction may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Hypothesis 7c: Perceived job attributes may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework
Social Media Marketing Employer Brand Equity
Entertaining
Interactive
Informative
Intention toapply
Brand Awareness
Brand Attraction
Perceived JobAttributes
Methodology
Sample and Data Collection
To study social media activities, companies were
chosen based on their presence and activeness on
social media platforms. Research (e.g., Vries et al.,
2012) shows that the total number of likes is a measure
of success of a company's social media marketing
activities. Thus, for this study, we used the number of
likes on their Facebook pages as the main selection
criterion. Companies specially design their Facebook
pages to interact and communicate with potential
talent and the number of likes represents the number
of people following the company page. These people
would be getting daily updates in the form of newsfeed
from the company's Facebook page which includes
information about the company, various forms of
interaction tools (questionnaires, quizzes) with the
applicants, videos and images to pass on information
in an entertaining way.
Another important consideration was whether
companies are currently active recruiters and are likely
to recruit young graduates in the near future too.
Based on these two criteria, Hindustan Unilever, ITC
and Mahindra & Mahindra were chosen and all three
companies had more than 12,000 likes on their
Facebook page. The number respondents evaluating
each company's social media activities were 60, 60 and
59 respectively.
The sample included post graduate students who were
looking for job opportunities and were already a part
of the Facebook page of the selected companies.
Students were asked to respond to a standard
questionnaire which has questions relating to the
three dimensions of social media activities (i.e.,
entertaining, informative and interactive) of selected
companies, three dimensions of employer brand
equity (employer awareness, brand attraction and
18 19
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
instance, a text post is not interactive, a link to a
website is moderately interactive (Fortin & Dholakia,
2005) while a question/contest is highly interactive in
nature as it attempts to solicit an answer from brand
fans. Overall, research shows that a medium degree of
interactivity of social media content leads to positive
attitude towards a brand (Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Vries
et al., 2012). We hypothesize that:
Hypothesis 3: Interactive social media content will
influence: a) employer brand awareness, b) employer
attraction and c) perceived job attributes.
Employer Brand Equity Dimensions
Employer awareness
Greater awareness means the brand will be included in
the final consideration set of product or service
purchase (Aaker, 1991; Rossiter & Percy, 1987).
Similarly, students searching for jobs are exposed to
the recruitment efforts of several companies and they
have multiple choices for making application
decisions. Thus, student application intentions and
decisions may also be influenced by awareness that
the company exists as an employer (Gatewood,
Gowan, & Lautenschlager, 1993; Turban & Greening,
1997).
Like for a consumer brand, awareness is a fundamental
dimension of employer brand equity as it is the first
step of existence of any employer brand for an
individual (Collins & Stevens, 2002). A person
searching for a job must be aware of a company before
he/she thinks of applying for it. Brooks, Highhouse,
Russell and Mohr (2004) show that applicants are able
to recall a greater number of associations for firms
they are more familiar with and have a higher intention
to apply to. Job seekers' awareness of an organization
positively impacts applicants' intentions and
behaviours (Gatewood et al., 1993; Turban, 2001). For
instance, Gatewood et al. (1993) found that students
exposed to a few companies in their coursework had
greater intentions of applying in those companies.
Collins (2007) suggests that the knowledge about an
organization deeply impacts the interest or intention
to apply for a job. Additionally, student applicants
were most affected by the awareness of the company.
Thus,
Hypothesis 4: Employer awareness influences an
applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Employer brand associations: employer brand
attraction and perceived job attributes
Once consumers recall a brand from memory or
recognize the product on a store shelf, consumers use
the associations about a brand held in their memory to
make choices between brands (Gardner & Levy, 1955;
Aaker, 1991). Brand associations are composed of
perceived attitudes about the brand and specific
attributes associated with the brand (Keller, 1993).
Perceived attitudes are consumers' overall evaluations
of a brand and may be considered to be consumers'
generalized feelings towards the brand (Wilke, 1986).
Perceived attributes are the specific features to
evaluate the products or services for buying decisions
(Keller, 1993). Similar to consumer brand associations,
employer brand associations influence applicants'
behaviours as they represent an employer's ability to
satisfy potential applicants' needs (Kristof, 1996).
Therefore, job seekers are likely to choose the
company, with which their perceived associations
about that employer brand are strong, favourable, and
unique (Collins & Stevens, 2002).
Hypothesis 5: Employer brand attraction positively
influences an applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Hypothesis 6: Perceived job attributes influence an
applicant's intention to apply for a job.
Marketing literature (Kim & Ko, 2012) shows that the
paths between social media marketing activities and
consumer purchase intention may be mediated by
consumer brand equity. Analogous to this, we propose
that employer brand equity (dimensions) may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply. (Figure 2 shows the
conceptual framework of the study).
Hypothesis 7a: Employer awareness may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Hypothesis 7b: Employer brand attraction may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Hypothesis 7c: Perceived job attributes may act as a
mediating variable between social media activities and
an applicant's intention to apply.
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework
Social Media Marketing Employer Brand Equity
Entertaining
Interactive
Informative
Intention toapply
Brand Awareness
Brand Attraction
Perceived JobAttributes
Methodology
Sample and Data Collection
To study social media activities, companies were
chosen based on their presence and activeness on
social media platforms. Research (e.g., Vries et al.,
2012) shows that the total number of likes is a measure
of success of a company's social media marketing
activities. Thus, for this study, we used the number of
likes on their Facebook pages as the main selection
criterion. Companies specially design their Facebook
pages to interact and communicate with potential
talent and the number of likes represents the number
of people following the company page. These people
would be getting daily updates in the form of newsfeed
from the company's Facebook page which includes
information about the company, various forms of
interaction tools (questionnaires, quizzes) with the
applicants, videos and images to pass on information
in an entertaining way.
Another important consideration was whether
companies are currently active recruiters and are likely
to recruit young graduates in the near future too.
Based on these two criteria, Hindustan Unilever, ITC
and Mahindra & Mahindra were chosen and all three
companies had more than 12,000 likes on their
Facebook page. The number respondents evaluating
each company's social media activities were 60, 60 and
59 respectively.
The sample included post graduate students who were
looking for job opportunities and were already a part
of the Facebook page of the selected companies.
Students were asked to respond to a standard
questionnaire which has questions relating to the
three dimensions of social media activities (i.e.,
entertaining, informative and interactive) of selected
companies, three dimensions of employer brand
equity (employer awareness, brand attraction and
18 19
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
perceived job attributes) and intention to apply.
We received a total of 179 completed responses. The
mean age of respondents was 29 years and there were
92 (51.4 percent) males and 87 (48.6 percent) female
respondents. The number of friends on Facebook was
captured for each respondent to get an idea about
their level of socialization on social media.
Approximately 44 percent of the respondents had
friends in the range of 901 and 1,200 followed by 29.6
percent respondents having friends between 601 and
900.
Approximate daily time spent on Facebook was also
recorded for every respondent as it can influence the
exposure that the respondent might have for the social
media marketing activities done by the companies.
46.4 percent of the respondents spent time in the
range of 1 to 2 hours daily on Facebook followed by
41.9 percent respondents who spent time between 31
minutes and 1 hour daily on Facebook (See Table 1).
Table 1: Social Media Activities of the Respondents
No. of friends on Facebook No. of respondents Time Spent daily on Facebook No. of respondents (percent) (percent)
<600 14(7.8) <30 minutes 19(10.6)
601-900 53(29.6) 31minutes -1hr 75(41.9)
901-1200 79(44.1) 1-2hrs 83(46.4)
>1200 33(18.4) >2hrs 2(1.1)
With the onset of technology, the use of social media
also plays an important role on the exposure to the
users; hence, this too was captured. 52.5 percent of
the respondents used only hand held devices i.e.
Smartphones and Tablets, for accessing social media
while 26.8 percent of the respondents used all forms
(Desktop, Laptop, Smartphones and Tablet) for using
social media.
Measures
Social media activities: A 12-item scale adapted from
Kim and Ko (2012) was used to measure the three
dimensions of social activities. The questions were
classified into three categories which measured
entertaining, informative and interactive dimensions,
and four items were used for each dimension. This
operationalisation of social media activities is
consistent with recent research studies (Vries et al.,
2012). Typical questions in the questionnaire are “The
contents found on the organization's social media
seem interesting” for entertaining dimension, “It is
convincing to find information provided by the
organization's social media” for informative dimension
and “It is possible to do a two-way interaction through
the organization's social media” for interactive
dimension on a 5-point Likert scale (1= strongly
disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Employer brand equity dimensions: The first
dimension of employer brand equity – employer
awareness, was measured using a three-item scale,
following the literature (Collins, 2007). The second
dimension – employer brand attraction was measured
using a three-item scale (Collins & Stevens, 2002;
Taylor & Bergmann, 1987) and the third dimension -
perceived job attributes, was assessed using an eight-
item measure adapted from Collins (2007). The
perceived job attributes scale had items which
potential applicants might consider while applying for
a job in a company: i.e., average salary that the
company offers, location of job, nature of job, career
advancement opportunities, job security, work
environment in the company, benefits the company
offers and work-life balance.
Intention to apply: Intention to apply was measured
using a three-item scale (Taylor & Bergmann, 1987;
Saini et al., 2013). A sample scale item is “If I were
searching for a job, I would seriously consider an
application to this offer” on a 5-point Likert scale (1=
strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Data Analysis, Results and Discussion: First, we
checked the scale reliability using the Cronbach Alpha
measure. All constructs showed a Cronbach's Alpha
value of more than 0.66, indicating adequate reliability
of the used scales (Table 2).
Table 2: Reliability Analysis of Scales
Construct Scale Cronbach's Alpha
Entertaining 0.837
Social media activities Informative 0.758
Interactive 0.689
Employer awareness 0.664
Employer brand equity Employer brand attraction 0.768
Perceived job attributes 0.826
Intention to apply Intention to apply 0.979
Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and
structural equation model techniques were used to
analyse the data and test the hypotheses. Descriptive
statistics and correlation coefficient between the
variables are shown in Table 3. It can be observed from
Table 3 that all three constructs of social media, i.e.
entertaining (r = 0.623), informative (r = 0.689) and
interactive (r = 0.560), are positively and significantly
related to the intention to apply. Also, the intention to
apply shows a significantly high correlation with all the
three variables of employer brand equity, i.e.
employer awareness, employer attraction and
perceived job attributes. Among them, the highest
correlation is observed with the variable perceived job
attributes (r = 0.767) followed by employer attraction
(r = 0.678) and employer awareness (r = 0.660).
Since we wanted to test multiple relationships
together, structural equation model (SEM) was the
most obvious data analysis technique as other
methods like ordinary least squares (OLS) regression
cannot provide estimates for multiple paths. Thus,
hypotheses were tested using SEM analysis. Table 4
shows the SEM analysis results obtained from Amos
version 20. SEM model fitted well as it can be inferred
from the model fit statistics reported in Table 4. We
created a full structural model based on the major
hypotheses; the same is shown in Figure 2. The
structural model fit was good (chi-square = 173.75, d.f.
= 91, GFI = 0.90; TLI = 0.99; CFI = 0.95; NFI = 0.91;
RMSEA = 0.07 and Standardized RMR = 0.04) (Model
1). Table 4 shows the standardized path coefficients
(SPCs) and associated t-values for all relationships in
the structural model.
20 21
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
perceived job attributes) and intention to apply.
We received a total of 179 completed responses. The
mean age of respondents was 29 years and there were
92 (51.4 percent) males and 87 (48.6 percent) female
respondents. The number of friends on Facebook was
captured for each respondent to get an idea about
their level of socialization on social media.
Approximately 44 percent of the respondents had
friends in the range of 901 and 1,200 followed by 29.6
percent respondents having friends between 601 and
900.
Approximate daily time spent on Facebook was also
recorded for every respondent as it can influence the
exposure that the respondent might have for the social
media marketing activities done by the companies.
46.4 percent of the respondents spent time in the
range of 1 to 2 hours daily on Facebook followed by
41.9 percent respondents who spent time between 31
minutes and 1 hour daily on Facebook (See Table 1).
Table 1: Social Media Activities of the Respondents
No. of friends on Facebook No. of respondents Time Spent daily on Facebook No. of respondents (percent) (percent)
<600 14(7.8) <30 minutes 19(10.6)
601-900 53(29.6) 31minutes -1hr 75(41.9)
901-1200 79(44.1) 1-2hrs 83(46.4)
>1200 33(18.4) >2hrs 2(1.1)
With the onset of technology, the use of social media
also plays an important role on the exposure to the
users; hence, this too was captured. 52.5 percent of
the respondents used only hand held devices i.e.
Smartphones and Tablets, for accessing social media
while 26.8 percent of the respondents used all forms
(Desktop, Laptop, Smartphones and Tablet) for using
social media.
Measures
Social media activities: A 12-item scale adapted from
Kim and Ko (2012) was used to measure the three
dimensions of social activities. The questions were
classified into three categories which measured
entertaining, informative and interactive dimensions,
and four items were used for each dimension. This
operationalisation of social media activities is
consistent with recent research studies (Vries et al.,
2012). Typical questions in the questionnaire are “The
contents found on the organization's social media
seem interesting” for entertaining dimension, “It is
convincing to find information provided by the
organization's social media” for informative dimension
and “It is possible to do a two-way interaction through
the organization's social media” for interactive
dimension on a 5-point Likert scale (1= strongly
disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Employer brand equity dimensions: The first
dimension of employer brand equity – employer
awareness, was measured using a three-item scale,
following the literature (Collins, 2007). The second
dimension – employer brand attraction was measured
using a three-item scale (Collins & Stevens, 2002;
Taylor & Bergmann, 1987) and the third dimension -
perceived job attributes, was assessed using an eight-
item measure adapted from Collins (2007). The
perceived job attributes scale had items which
potential applicants might consider while applying for
a job in a company: i.e., average salary that the
company offers, location of job, nature of job, career
advancement opportunities, job security, work
environment in the company, benefits the company
offers and work-life balance.
Intention to apply: Intention to apply was measured
using a three-item scale (Taylor & Bergmann, 1987;
Saini et al., 2013). A sample scale item is “If I were
searching for a job, I would seriously consider an
application to this offer” on a 5-point Likert scale (1=
strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Data Analysis, Results and Discussion: First, we
checked the scale reliability using the Cronbach Alpha
measure. All constructs showed a Cronbach's Alpha
value of more than 0.66, indicating adequate reliability
of the used scales (Table 2).
Table 2: Reliability Analysis of Scales
Construct Scale Cronbach's Alpha
Entertaining 0.837
Social media activities Informative 0.758
Interactive 0.689
Employer awareness 0.664
Employer brand equity Employer brand attraction 0.768
Perceived job attributes 0.826
Intention to apply Intention to apply 0.979
Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and
structural equation model techniques were used to
analyse the data and test the hypotheses. Descriptive
statistics and correlation coefficient between the
variables are shown in Table 3. It can be observed from
Table 3 that all three constructs of social media, i.e.
entertaining (r = 0.623), informative (r = 0.689) and
interactive (r = 0.560), are positively and significantly
related to the intention to apply. Also, the intention to
apply shows a significantly high correlation with all the
three variables of employer brand equity, i.e.
employer awareness, employer attraction and
perceived job attributes. Among them, the highest
correlation is observed with the variable perceived job
attributes (r = 0.767) followed by employer attraction
(r = 0.678) and employer awareness (r = 0.660).
Since we wanted to test multiple relationships
together, structural equation model (SEM) was the
most obvious data analysis technique as other
methods like ordinary least squares (OLS) regression
cannot provide estimates for multiple paths. Thus,
hypotheses were tested using SEM analysis. Table 4
shows the SEM analysis results obtained from Amos
version 20. SEM model fitted well as it can be inferred
from the model fit statistics reported in Table 4. We
created a full structural model based on the major
hypotheses; the same is shown in Figure 2. The
structural model fit was good (chi-square = 173.75, d.f.
= 91, GFI = 0.90; TLI = 0.99; CFI = 0.95; NFI = 0.91;
RMSEA = 0.07 and Standardized RMR = 0.04) (Model
1). Table 4 shows the standardized path coefficients
(SPCs) and associated t-values for all relationships in
the structural model.
20 21
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Tab
le 3
: Des
crip
tive
Sta
tist
ics
and
Co
rrel
atio
n M
atri
x
M
ean
St
d.
Ente
rtai
nin
g In
form
ativ
e
Inte
ract
ive
A
war
en
ess
A
ttra
ctio
n
Pe
rce
ive
d
Inte
nti
on
Dev
iati
on
job
att
rib
ute
s to
ap
ply
Ente
rtai
nin
g 3
.59
0
.77
1
Info
rmat
ive
3.6
7
0.6
0
0.7
12
(**)
1
Inte
ract
ive
3.6
5
0.5
8
0.6
32
(**)
0
.68
7(*
*)
1
Aw
aren
ess
3.8
2
0.5
5
0.4
91
(**)
0
.57
8(*
*)
0.4
70
(**)
1
Att
ract
ion
4
.06
0
.63
0
.68
4(*
*)
0.6
45
(**)
0
.53
8(*
*)
0.5
20
(**)
1
Perc
eive
d jo
b a
ttri
bu
tes
3.8
7
0.4
9
0.6
24
(**)
0
.68
4(*
*)
0.5
43
(**)
0
.60
8(*
*)
0.7
28
(**)
1
Inte
nti
on
to
ap
ply
3
.99
0
.90
0
.62
3(*
*)
0.6
89
(**)
0
.56
0(*
*)
0.6
60
(**)
0
.67
8(*
*)
0.7
67
(**)
1
No
te: *
* C
orr
elat
ion
is s
ign
ific
ant
at t
he
0.0
1 le
vel (
2-t
aile
d).
Table 4: Results of SEM Model: Structural Model 1 and Model 2
Model 1 Model 2Structural Paths Standardized t-value Standardized t-value Path Path Coefficients Coefficients
Employer awareness Intention to apply 0.452 4.38*** 0.52 4.06***→
Employer attraction Intention to apply 0.242 3.18*** 0.31 1.74*→
Perceived job attributes Intention to apply 0.257 2.62*** 0.01 0.03→
Entertaining Employer awareness 1.39 1.88* 1.33 1.86*→
Entertaining Employer attraction 1.08 4.05*** 1.07 3.50***→
Entertaining Perceived job attributes -0.46 -0.75 -0.85 -0.86→
Informative Employer awareness 2.99 1.70* 3.03 1.87*→
Informative Employer attraction -0.65 -1.46 -0.99 -1.63→
Informative Perceived job attributes 3.01 1.88* 4.31 1.59→
Interactive Employer awareness 2.68 2.03** 2.71 2.25**→
Interactive Employer attraction 0.60 1.76* 0.90 1.93*→
Interactive Perceived job attributes -1.82 -1.44 -2.84 -1.31→
Entertaining Intention to apply 0.12 0.47→
Informative Intention to apply -0.38 -0.95→
Interactive Intention to apply 0.49 1.40→
Model fit statistics
Chi-square 173.755 167.13
d.f. 91 88
GFI 0.90 0.91
TLI 0.93 0.93
CFI 0.95 0.96
NFI 0.91 0.92
RMSEA 0.07 0.07
Standardized RMR 0.05 0.05
Variance Explained (R square)
Intention to apply 0.77 0.73
Employer awareness 0.29 0.28
Employer attraction 0.77 0.73
Perceived job attributes 0.52 0.40
Note: *,** and *** Coefficient significant at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01 level respectively
22 23
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
Tab
le 3
: Des
crip
tive
Sta
tist
ics
and
Co
rrel
atio
n M
atri
x
M
ean
St
d.
Ente
rtai
nin
g In
form
ativ
e
Inte
ract
ive
A
war
en
ess
A
ttra
ctio
n
Pe
rce
ive
d
Inte
nti
on
Dev
iati
on
job
att
rib
ute
s to
ap
ply
Ente
rtai
nin
g 3
.59
0
.77
1
Info
rmat
ive
3.6
7
0.6
0
0.7
12
(**)
1
Inte
ract
ive
3.6
5
0.5
8
0.6
32
(**)
0
.68
7(*
*)
1
Aw
aren
ess
3.8
2
0.5
5
0.4
91
(**)
0
.57
8(*
*)
0.4
70
(**)
1
Att
ract
ion
4
.06
0
.63
0
.68
4(*
*)
0.6
45
(**)
0
.53
8(*
*)
0.5
20
(**)
1
Perc
eive
d jo
b a
ttri
bu
tes
3.8
7
0.4
9
0.6
24
(**)
0
.68
4(*
*)
0.5
43
(**)
0
.60
8(*
*)
0.7
28
(**)
1
Inte
nti
on
to
ap
ply
3
.99
0
.90
0
.62
3(*
*)
0.6
89
(**)
0
.56
0(*
*)
0.6
60
(**)
0
.67
8(*
*)
0.7
67
(**)
1
No
te: *
* C
orr
elat
ion
is s
ign
ific
ant
at t
he
0.0
1 le
vel (
2-t
aile
d).
Table 4: Results of SEM Model: Structural Model 1 and Model 2
Model 1 Model 2Structural Paths Standardized t-value Standardized t-value Path Path Coefficients Coefficients
Employer awareness Intention to apply 0.452 4.38*** 0.52 4.06***→
Employer attraction Intention to apply 0.242 3.18*** 0.31 1.74*→
Perceived job attributes Intention to apply 0.257 2.62*** 0.01 0.03→
Entertaining Employer awareness 1.39 1.88* 1.33 1.86*→
Entertaining Employer attraction 1.08 4.05*** 1.07 3.50***→
Entertaining Perceived job attributes -0.46 -0.75 -0.85 -0.86→
Informative Employer awareness 2.99 1.70* 3.03 1.87*→
Informative Employer attraction -0.65 -1.46 -0.99 -1.63→
Informative Perceived job attributes 3.01 1.88* 4.31 1.59→
Interactive Employer awareness 2.68 2.03** 2.71 2.25**→
Interactive Employer attraction 0.60 1.76* 0.90 1.93*→
Interactive Perceived job attributes -1.82 -1.44 -2.84 -1.31→
Entertaining Intention to apply 0.12 0.47→
Informative Intention to apply -0.38 -0.95→
Interactive Intention to apply 0.49 1.40→
Model fit statistics
Chi-square 173.755 167.13
d.f. 91 88
GFI 0.90 0.91
TLI 0.93 0.93
CFI 0.95 0.96
NFI 0.91 0.92
RMSEA 0.07 0.07
Standardized RMR 0.05 0.05
Variance Explained (R square)
Intention to apply 0.77 0.73
Employer awareness 0.29 0.28
Employer attraction 0.77 0.73
Perceived job attributes 0.52 0.40
Note: *,** and *** Coefficient significant at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01 level respectively
22 23
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
The results suggest that paths between various types
of social media activities and employer brand equity
are statistically significant (i.e., Entertaining →
Employer awareness (H1a); Entertaining → Employer
attraction (H1b); Informative → Employer awareness
(H2a); Informative → Perceived job attributes (H2c);
Interactive → Employer awareness (H3a); Interactive
→ Employer attraction (H3b)), supporting respective
hypotheses. Data shows no support for H1c, H2b and
H3c. The relationship between employer brand equity
dimensions (i.e., employer awareness, employer
attraction and perceived job attributes) and intention
to apply was statistically significant at 0.01 level which
supports H4, H5 and H6; and SPCs for these three
dimensions are 0.452, 0.242 and 0.257 respectively.
Covariates age, gender, time spent on social media and
number of friends on social media were not significant
so they were removed from the final model. We
hypothesized that employer brand equity variables
(i.e., employer awareness, employer attraction and
perceived job attributes) mediate the relationship
between social media activities (i.e., entertaining,
informative and interactive) and intention to apply
(i.e., H7a, H7b and H7c). To test our hypotheses, first
we estimated a rival model including a direct link
between social media activities and intention to apply.
In this model, social media activities were considered
independent variables while intention to apply was
taken as a dependent variable. The model fitted well
(chi-square = 101.25, d.f. = 34, p < 0.01, GFI = 0.92, TLI =
0.93, CFI = 0.95, NFI = 0.90). The relationship between
social media activities and intention to apply
(Entertaining: SPC=0.40, t-value=3.04, P-value < 0.01;
Informative: SPC=0.30, t-value=2.07, P-value < 0.05;
Interactive: SPC=0.09, t-value=2.13, P-value < 0.05)
were significant.
Later, to check the mediation effect, we connected
social media activities directly to intention to apply
and run Model 2. Model fitted statistics were chi-
square = 167.13, d.f. = 88, p < 0.01, GFI = 0.91, TLI =
0.93, CFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.92 (Model 2). Table 4 shows
that all three coefficients are insignificant (i.e.,
Entertaining → Intention to apply, Informative →
Intention to apply, Interactive → Intention to apply)
suggesting a mediating role of employer brand equity
variables. However, Model 2 results suggest that only
two variables - employer awareness (SPC=0.52) and
employer attraction (SPC=0.31) - are significant
(supporting H7a and H7b) while perceived job
attributes is insignificant (not supporting H7c). Other
results are similar to the results obtained in Model 1
except that the SPC of Informative → Perceived job
attributes becomes insignificant. This is not surprising
given that perceived job attributes does not influence
the intention to apply in this Model. Thus, we found
that employer awareness and employer attraction
mediates the relationship between social media
activities and intention to apply. Between these two
dimensions, employer awareness seems to have the
largest impact on the intention to apply (SPC = 0.52).
Also, it can be inferred from the significant coefficients
of both the Models that all types of social media
content (i.e., entertaining, informative, and
interactive) generates employer awareness and
informative content exerts the largest influence
followed by interactive content. This suggests that an
employer can use any form of social media content to
create employer awareness.
In general, our findings are analogous to marketing
literature related to the effect of social media on
consumer purchase decisions (Kim & Ko, 2012; Vries et
al., 2012). We extend this argument in the HRM field
that social media activities significantly affect a
candidate's intention to apply directly and through the
employer brand equity variables indirectly. With the
changing profile of job seekers (in particular, high
familiarity with new technology and activeness on
social media) and advent of technology, the potential
talent is easily accessible to employers and employers
can position themselves as a good employer in the
mind of job seekers through the use of social media in
an entertaining, informative and interactive manner.
Simultaneously, on the social media platform,
applicants can interact with their dream employer and
get necessary information to clarify their doubts
regarding the job attributes in particular and company
in general. To an employer, a social media platform also
provides an opportunity of engaging in two-way
communication with the prospective employees
which is otherwise not possible in traditional media
vehicles.
As seen from the results, all types of social media
content affects the level of awareness about the
employer; therefore, it makes sense to use social
media activities for this; higher employer awareness is
likely to influence application behaviour positively.
These results are similar to studies by Collins (2007)
and Sivertzen et al. (2013). We believe that the
concept of brand equity is equally important in the
HRM field as it enables the recruiter to attract a large
talent pool and brings several other benefits.
Conclusions, Implications, Limitations and
Future Research
In today's scenario of war for talent, employer
branding has become an important strategy for many
organizations to attract the best talent. This research
analysed the role of social media activities in employer
branding initiatives and recruitment. We conclude that
organizations can adopt social media strategies as a
prominent tool to create employer brand equity and
attract the best talent. In addition to traditional media
of employer branding, due to the changing profile of
job seekers, social media platforms should be
considered seriously in promoting the organisation as
an employer.
This study has the following important implications on
organisations: First, since the use of the internet and
social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace
and LinkedIn for recruitment and selection is
increasing (Davison et al., 2011), organisations need to
seriously assess the basket of recruitment tools and
modify their HR practices according to the changing
patterns. A systematic assessment of cost-benefit
analysis of each method should be carried out. Second,
organisations would continue to use a variety of
methods for recruitment; therefore, it's important to
examine the relative effectiveness of each method.
Resource allocation in each recruitment method must
be justified on the basis of effectiveness parameters.
Also, relative effectiveness of each social networking
site should be examined before designing a
comprehensive policy on the organisation's use of
social media because evidence shows that social
networking sites differ in terms of clientele (Atal, 2007;
Levy, 2007). Third, considering the generational
differences and multiple segments in the labour
market, appropriateness of traditional versus
internet/social media methods as a tool of recruitment
24 25
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
The results suggest that paths between various types
of social media activities and employer brand equity
are statistically significant (i.e., Entertaining →
Employer awareness (H1a); Entertaining → Employer
attraction (H1b); Informative → Employer awareness
(H2a); Informative → Perceived job attributes (H2c);
Interactive → Employer awareness (H3a); Interactive
→ Employer attraction (H3b)), supporting respective
hypotheses. Data shows no support for H1c, H2b and
H3c. The relationship between employer brand equity
dimensions (i.e., employer awareness, employer
attraction and perceived job attributes) and intention
to apply was statistically significant at 0.01 level which
supports H4, H5 and H6; and SPCs for these three
dimensions are 0.452, 0.242 and 0.257 respectively.
Covariates age, gender, time spent on social media and
number of friends on social media were not significant
so they were removed from the final model. We
hypothesized that employer brand equity variables
(i.e., employer awareness, employer attraction and
perceived job attributes) mediate the relationship
between social media activities (i.e., entertaining,
informative and interactive) and intention to apply
(i.e., H7a, H7b and H7c). To test our hypotheses, first
we estimated a rival model including a direct link
between social media activities and intention to apply.
In this model, social media activities were considered
independent variables while intention to apply was
taken as a dependent variable. The model fitted well
(chi-square = 101.25, d.f. = 34, p < 0.01, GFI = 0.92, TLI =
0.93, CFI = 0.95, NFI = 0.90). The relationship between
social media activities and intention to apply
(Entertaining: SPC=0.40, t-value=3.04, P-value < 0.01;
Informative: SPC=0.30, t-value=2.07, P-value < 0.05;
Interactive: SPC=0.09, t-value=2.13, P-value < 0.05)
were significant.
Later, to check the mediation effect, we connected
social media activities directly to intention to apply
and run Model 2. Model fitted statistics were chi-
square = 167.13, d.f. = 88, p < 0.01, GFI = 0.91, TLI =
0.93, CFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.92 (Model 2). Table 4 shows
that all three coefficients are insignificant (i.e.,
Entertaining → Intention to apply, Informative →
Intention to apply, Interactive → Intention to apply)
suggesting a mediating role of employer brand equity
variables. However, Model 2 results suggest that only
two variables - employer awareness (SPC=0.52) and
employer attraction (SPC=0.31) - are significant
(supporting H7a and H7b) while perceived job
attributes is insignificant (not supporting H7c). Other
results are similar to the results obtained in Model 1
except that the SPC of Informative → Perceived job
attributes becomes insignificant. This is not surprising
given that perceived job attributes does not influence
the intention to apply in this Model. Thus, we found
that employer awareness and employer attraction
mediates the relationship between social media
activities and intention to apply. Between these two
dimensions, employer awareness seems to have the
largest impact on the intention to apply (SPC = 0.52).
Also, it can be inferred from the significant coefficients
of both the Models that all types of social media
content (i.e., entertaining, informative, and
interactive) generates employer awareness and
informative content exerts the largest influence
followed by interactive content. This suggests that an
employer can use any form of social media content to
create employer awareness.
In general, our findings are analogous to marketing
literature related to the effect of social media on
consumer purchase decisions (Kim & Ko, 2012; Vries et
al., 2012). We extend this argument in the HRM field
that social media activities significantly affect a
candidate's intention to apply directly and through the
employer brand equity variables indirectly. With the
changing profile of job seekers (in particular, high
familiarity with new technology and activeness on
social media) and advent of technology, the potential
talent is easily accessible to employers and employers
can position themselves as a good employer in the
mind of job seekers through the use of social media in
an entertaining, informative and interactive manner.
Simultaneously, on the social media platform,
applicants can interact with their dream employer and
get necessary information to clarify their doubts
regarding the job attributes in particular and company
in general. To an employer, a social media platform also
provides an opportunity of engaging in two-way
communication with the prospective employees
which is otherwise not possible in traditional media
vehicles.
As seen from the results, all types of social media
content affects the level of awareness about the
employer; therefore, it makes sense to use social
media activities for this; higher employer awareness is
likely to influence application behaviour positively.
These results are similar to studies by Collins (2007)
and Sivertzen et al. (2013). We believe that the
concept of brand equity is equally important in the
HRM field as it enables the recruiter to attract a large
talent pool and brings several other benefits.
Conclusions, Implications, Limitations and
Future Research
In today's scenario of war for talent, employer
branding has become an important strategy for many
organizations to attract the best talent. This research
analysed the role of social media activities in employer
branding initiatives and recruitment. We conclude that
organizations can adopt social media strategies as a
prominent tool to create employer brand equity and
attract the best talent. In addition to traditional media
of employer branding, due to the changing profile of
job seekers, social media platforms should be
considered seriously in promoting the organisation as
an employer.
This study has the following important implications on
organisations: First, since the use of the internet and
social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace
and LinkedIn for recruitment and selection is
increasing (Davison et al., 2011), organisations need to
seriously assess the basket of recruitment tools and
modify their HR practices according to the changing
patterns. A systematic assessment of cost-benefit
analysis of each method should be carried out. Second,
organisations would continue to use a variety of
methods for recruitment; therefore, it's important to
examine the relative effectiveness of each method.
Resource allocation in each recruitment method must
be justified on the basis of effectiveness parameters.
Also, relative effectiveness of each social networking
site should be examined before designing a
comprehensive policy on the organisation's use of
social media because evidence shows that social
networking sites differ in terms of clientele (Atal, 2007;
Levy, 2007). Third, considering the generational
differences and multiple segments in the labour
market, appropriateness of traditional versus
internet/social media methods as a tool of recruitment
24 25
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
should be examined. Some earlier studies indicate that
Generation Y may have a different perception towards
use of the internet/social media in recruitment than
the older generation (Peluchette & Karl, 2009). Fourth,
an organisation can use social media activities to
create employer brand equity; however, it must be
noted that social media users can also erode the
organisation's reputation as an employer or otherwise
by sharing a single negative experience with other
members of social media (Davison et al., 2011). Thus,
specialised resources/employees should be dedicated
for monitoring the effect of social media activities on
organisations in general and recruitment in particular
on a real-time basis. As of now, a majority of
organisations do not have a formal policy for social
media sites (Deloitte, 2009; SHRM, 2008) and 82
percent of recruiters are not fully skilled to handle
social media recruiting (Jobvite, 2014). Fifth, employer
awareness and employer attraction moderate the
relationship between social media activities and
intention to apply while the same is not true for
perceived job attributes. Thus, organisations should
focus on creating employer awareness and attraction
by the use of social media, if their objective is to attract
a large pool of talent through their recruitment drive.
Sixth, designing a social media campaign would
require good knowledge of promotion strategy,
branding, media planning and execution; therefore,
HR managers can capitalise on the marketing talent
available within and outside the firm.
The paper offers important implications for HR
practitioners. At the same time, researchers can help
practicing managers by probing deeply into some of
the following questions. What is the perception of
prospective employees towards the accuracy of
information provided through social media? Whether
the use of social media/internet leads to better quality
talent than traditional media? Whether total benefits
such as speed and low cost outweigh the cost of using
these methods (e.g., investment of resources and
hiring of a bad applicant)? What is the perception of
potential applicants about the fairness of social media
as a recruitment method? We believe it is important to
answer these questions before making use of social
media in recruitment in a full-fledged manner. Also,
the use and benefits of social media activities may not
be constant across sectors (FMCG, services,
manufacturing, etc.) and markets (i.e., business to
consumer and business to business), so it may be
interesting to examine whether companies operating
in a particular market and industry should use social
media more heavily than others.
This study provides important insights about the role
of social media activities in generating employer brand
equity and candidate's application behaviour.
However, few limitations should be noted before
generalizing the results. In this study, we focussed on
non-working candidates who were searching for jobs.
However, employees working in an organization and
looking to change their job also form a part of the
talent pool and hence, it is important to capture their
views on social media activities done by the
companies. Second, we did not carry out company-
level analysis as firm-wise sample was inadequate to
provide robust statistical results, so further studies
providing firm level and industry level insights are
encouraged.
References
• Aaker, D. A. (1996). Building strong brands. New York: The Free Press.
• Aaker, D.A. (1991). Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York: The Free
Press.
• Aaker, D.A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2000). Brand leadership. The Free Press: London.
• A t a l , M . ( 2 0 0 7 ) . M y S p a c e , F a c e b o o k : A t a l e o f t w o c u l t u r e s . R e t r i e v e d f r o m
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2007/id2007072_502208.htm.
• Backhaus, K., & Tikoo, S. (2004). Conceptualizing and researching employer branding. Career Development
International, 9(5). 501-17.
• Barrow, S., & Mosley, R. (2005). The employer brand. John Wiley and Sons Ltd, London.
• Borstorff, P.C., Marker, M.B., & Bennett, D.S. (2005). Online recruitment: attitudes and behaviors of job
seekers. Journal of Strategic E-Commerce, 5(2), 1-24.
• Boulding, W., Lee, E., & Staelin, R. (1994). Mastering the mix: Do advertising, Employer Brand Equity and
Recruitment promotion, and salesforce activities lead to differentiation? Journal of Marketing Research, 31,
159-172.
• Brooks, M. E., Highhouse, S., Russell, S. S., & Mohr, D. C. (2003). Familiarity, ambivalence, and firm reputation:
Is corporate fame a double-edged sword? Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (5), 904–914.
• Brooks, M.E., Highhouse , S., Russell, S.S., & Mohr, D.C. (2004). Familiarity, ambivalence, and firm reputation: Is
corporate fame a double-edged sword? Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 904–914.
• Business Line (2014). LinkedIn survey: Recruitment via social networking sites on rise. Retrieved from
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/smartbuy/social-media/linkedin-survey-recruitment-via-
social-networking-sites-on-rise/article6655018.ece (2 December, 2014).
• Cable, D.M., & Turban, D. B. (2001). Establishing the dimensions, sources, and values of job seekers' employer
knowledge during recruitment. In G. R. Ferris (Eds.), Research in Personnel and Human Resource
Management. New York: Elsevier Science.
• Cappelli, P. (1999). The new deal at work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
• Chang, H.H., & Liu, Y.M. (2009). The impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions in the
service industries. The Service Industries Journal, 29(12), 1687–1706.
• Chapman, D., Uggerslev, K.L., Carroll, S.A., Piasentin, K.A., & Jones, D.A. (2005). Applicant attraction to
organizations and job choice: A meta-analytic review of the correlates of recruiting outcomes. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 90(5), 928-944.
• Cheung, C.M.K., Chiu, P.Y., & Lee, M.K.O. (2011). Online social networks: why do students use Facebook?.
Computers in Human Behavior, 27(4), 1337–1343.
• Cobb-Walgren, C.J., Ruble, C.A., & Donthu, N. (1995). Brand equity, brand preference, and purchase intent.
Journal of Advertising, 24(3), 25-40.
• Collins, C.J. & Kanar, A.M. (2013) Employer brand equity and recruitment research. In Cable, D.M., & Yu, K.Y.T.
26 27
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
should be examined. Some earlier studies indicate that
Generation Y may have a different perception towards
use of the internet/social media in recruitment than
the older generation (Peluchette & Karl, 2009). Fourth,
an organisation can use social media activities to
create employer brand equity; however, it must be
noted that social media users can also erode the
organisation's reputation as an employer or otherwise
by sharing a single negative experience with other
members of social media (Davison et al., 2011). Thus,
specialised resources/employees should be dedicated
for monitoring the effect of social media activities on
organisations in general and recruitment in particular
on a real-time basis. As of now, a majority of
organisations do not have a formal policy for social
media sites (Deloitte, 2009; SHRM, 2008) and 82
percent of recruiters are not fully skilled to handle
social media recruiting (Jobvite, 2014). Fifth, employer
awareness and employer attraction moderate the
relationship between social media activities and
intention to apply while the same is not true for
perceived job attributes. Thus, organisations should
focus on creating employer awareness and attraction
by the use of social media, if their objective is to attract
a large pool of talent through their recruitment drive.
Sixth, designing a social media campaign would
require good knowledge of promotion strategy,
branding, media planning and execution; therefore,
HR managers can capitalise on the marketing talent
available within and outside the firm.
The paper offers important implications for HR
practitioners. At the same time, researchers can help
practicing managers by probing deeply into some of
the following questions. What is the perception of
prospective employees towards the accuracy of
information provided through social media? Whether
the use of social media/internet leads to better quality
talent than traditional media? Whether total benefits
such as speed and low cost outweigh the cost of using
these methods (e.g., investment of resources and
hiring of a bad applicant)? What is the perception of
potential applicants about the fairness of social media
as a recruitment method? We believe it is important to
answer these questions before making use of social
media in recruitment in a full-fledged manner. Also,
the use and benefits of social media activities may not
be constant across sectors (FMCG, services,
manufacturing, etc.) and markets (i.e., business to
consumer and business to business), so it may be
interesting to examine whether companies operating
in a particular market and industry should use social
media more heavily than others.
This study provides important insights about the role
of social media activities in generating employer brand
equity and candidate's application behaviour.
However, few limitations should be noted before
generalizing the results. In this study, we focussed on
non-working candidates who were searching for jobs.
However, employees working in an organization and
looking to change their job also form a part of the
talent pool and hence, it is important to capture their
views on social media activities done by the
companies. Second, we did not carry out company-
level analysis as firm-wise sample was inadequate to
provide robust statistical results, so further studies
providing firm level and industry level insights are
encouraged.
References
• Aaker, D. A. (1996). Building strong brands. New York: The Free Press.
• Aaker, D.A. (1991). Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York: The Free
Press.
• Aaker, D.A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2000). Brand leadership. The Free Press: London.
• A t a l , M . ( 2 0 0 7 ) . M y S p a c e , F a c e b o o k : A t a l e o f t w o c u l t u r e s . R e t r i e v e d f r o m
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2007/id2007072_502208.htm.
• Backhaus, K., & Tikoo, S. (2004). Conceptualizing and researching employer branding. Career Development
International, 9(5). 501-17.
• Barrow, S., & Mosley, R. (2005). The employer brand. John Wiley and Sons Ltd, London.
• Borstorff, P.C., Marker, M.B., & Bennett, D.S. (2005). Online recruitment: attitudes and behaviors of job
seekers. Journal of Strategic E-Commerce, 5(2), 1-24.
• Boulding, W., Lee, E., & Staelin, R. (1994). Mastering the mix: Do advertising, Employer Brand Equity and
Recruitment promotion, and salesforce activities lead to differentiation? Journal of Marketing Research, 31,
159-172.
• Brooks, M. E., Highhouse, S., Russell, S. S., & Mohr, D. C. (2003). Familiarity, ambivalence, and firm reputation:
Is corporate fame a double-edged sword? Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (5), 904–914.
• Brooks, M.E., Highhouse , S., Russell, S.S., & Mohr, D.C. (2004). Familiarity, ambivalence, and firm reputation: Is
corporate fame a double-edged sword? Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 904–914.
• Business Line (2014). LinkedIn survey: Recruitment via social networking sites on rise. Retrieved from
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/smartbuy/social-media/linkedin-survey-recruitment-via-
social-networking-sites-on-rise/article6655018.ece (2 December, 2014).
• Cable, D.M., & Turban, D. B. (2001). Establishing the dimensions, sources, and values of job seekers' employer
knowledge during recruitment. In G. R. Ferris (Eds.), Research in Personnel and Human Resource
Management. New York: Elsevier Science.
• Cappelli, P. (1999). The new deal at work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
• Chang, H.H., & Liu, Y.M. (2009). The impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions in the
service industries. The Service Industries Journal, 29(12), 1687–1706.
• Chapman, D., Uggerslev, K.L., Carroll, S.A., Piasentin, K.A., & Jones, D.A. (2005). Applicant attraction to
organizations and job choice: A meta-analytic review of the correlates of recruiting outcomes. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 90(5), 928-944.
• Cheung, C.M.K., Chiu, P.Y., & Lee, M.K.O. (2011). Online social networks: why do students use Facebook?.
Computers in Human Behavior, 27(4), 1337–1343.
• Cobb-Walgren, C.J., Ruble, C.A., & Donthu, N. (1995). Brand equity, brand preference, and purchase intent.
Journal of Advertising, 24(3), 25-40.
• Collins, C.J. & Kanar, A.M. (2013) Employer brand equity and recruitment research. In Cable, D.M., & Yu, K.Y.T.
26 27
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
(Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Recruitment. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
• Collins, C.J. (2007). The interactive effects of recruitment practices and product awareness on job seekers'
employer knowledge and application behaviours. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1) 180-190.
• Collins, C.J., & Stevens, C.K. (2002). The relationship between early recruitment-related activities and the
application decisions of new labor-market entrants: A brand-equity approach to recruitment. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 87(60), 1121–1133.
• Coyle, J.R., & Thorson, E. (2001). The effects of progressive levels of interactivity and vividness in web
marketing sites. Journal of Advertising, 30(3), 65–77.
• Davison, H.K., Maraist, C., & Bing, M.N. (2011). Friend or foe? The promise and pitfalls of using social
networking sites for HR decisions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), 153-159.
• Deloitte. (2009). Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace: Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics &
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28 29
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
(Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Recruitment. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
• Collins, C.J. (2007). The interactive effects of recruitment practices and product awareness on job seekers'
employer knowledge and application behaviours. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1) 180-190.
• Collins, C.J., & Stevens, C.K. (2002). The relationship between early recruitment-related activities and the
application decisions of new labor-market entrants: A brand-equity approach to recruitment. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 87(60), 1121–1133.
• Coyle, J.R., & Thorson, E. (2001). The effects of progressive levels of interactivity and vividness in web
marketing sites. Journal of Advertising, 30(3), 65–77.
• Davison, H.K., Maraist, C., & Bing, M.N. (2011). Friend or foe? The promise and pitfalls of using social
networking sites for HR decisions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), 153-159.
• Deloitte. (2009). Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace: Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics &
workplace survey results. Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/
us_2009_ethics_workplace_survey_220509.pdf.
• DelVecchio, D., Jarvis, C.B., Klink, R.R., & Dineen, B.R. (2007). Leveraging brand equity to attract human capital.
Marketing Letters, 18(3), 149-164.
• Dholakia, U. M., Bagozzi, R.P., & Pearo, L.K. (2004). A social influence model of consumer participation in
network- and small- group-based virtual communities. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21(3),
241–263.
• Douglas, A. R. Hill., L.A., & Conger, J. A. (2008). Winning the race for talent in emerging markets. Harvard
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28 29
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
• Saini, G. K., Rai, P., & Chaudhary, M. K. (2013). What do best employer surveys reveal about employer branding
and intention to apply. Journal of Brand Management, 21, 2, 95–111.
• Schultz, D.E. (2002). Study internal marketing for better impact: New forum researches what motivates
workers. Marketing News, 36(21), 8–9.
• SHRM Staffing Research (2008). Online technologies and their impact on recruitment strategies. Retrieved
from www.shrm.org.
• Sivertzen, A.M., Nilsen, E.R., Olafsen, A.H. (2013). Employer branding: Employer attractiveness and the use
of social media. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(7), 473 – 483.
• Taylor, D.G., Lewin, J.E., & Strutton, D. (2011). Friends, fans, and followers: Do ads work on social networks?
Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 258–275.
• Taylor, M.S., & Bergmann, T. J. (1987). Organizational recruitment activities and applicants' reactions at
different stages of the recruitment process. Personnel Psychology, 40(2), 261–285.
• Tsao, H. Y. (2013). Budget allocation for customer acquisition and retention while balancing market share
growth and customer equity. Marketing Letters, 24(1), 1-11.
• Turban, D. B., & Greening, D. W. (1997). Corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness to
prospective employees. Academy of Management Journal, 40(3), 658–672.
• Turban, D.B. (2001). Organizational attractiveness as an employer on college campuses: An examination of the
applicant population. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(2), 293-312.
• Vries, L.D., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, S.H. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: an investigation
of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 83–91.
• Walker, H.J., Feild, H.S., Giles, W.F., Bernerth, J.B., & Short, J.C. (2011). So what do you think of the
organization? A contextual priming explanation for recruitment web site characteristics as antecedents of job
seekers' organizational image perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114(2),
165-178.
Varun Katiyar has a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management & Labour Relations (Batch 2015)
from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and is currently working with Wipro Ltd in OD team of Group
HR. In the past, he has worked with Infosys Ltd. for about 2.5 years. He has keen interest in the field of
Employer Branding and HR Analytics. Mr. Katiyar can be contacted at [email protected].
Gordhan K. Saini is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Management & Labour Studies at the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His areas of interest include marketing strategy, employer
branding, pricing and social marketing. He has published research papers in national and international
journals including Journal of Brand Management, International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Marketing and Journal of Indian Business Research. He has co-authored chapters in two edited volumes
including India Development Report 2011, and has one book to his credit. Dr. Saini can be contacted at
[email protected] or [email protected].
• Peluchette, J., & Karl, K. (2009). Examining students' intended image on Facebook: What were they thinking?!
Journal of Education for Business, 85(1), 30–37.
• Pfeifer, P. E. (2004). The optimal ratio of acquisition and retention costs. Journal of Targeting, Measurement
and Analysis for Marketing, 13(2), 179-188.
• Raney, A.A., Arpan, L.M., Pashupati, K. & Brill, D.A. (2003). At the movies, on the web: an investigation of the
effects of entertaining and interactive web content on site and brand evaluations. Journal of Interactive
Marketing, 17(4), 38–53.
• Ritson, M. (2002). Marketing and HR collaborate to harness employer brand power. Marketing, 24(10), 24.
• Rossiter, J. R., & Percy, L. (1987). Advertising and promotion management. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company.
• Rynes, S. L. (1991). Recruitment, job choice, and post-hire consequences. In Dunnette, M.D., & Hough, L.M.
(Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed.), 2, 399-444. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting
Psychologists Press.
• Werner, R., Tomas, J. S., & Kumar, V. (2005). Balancing acquisition and retention resources to maximize
customer profitability. Journal of Marketing, 69(1), 63-79.
• Wilkie, W. (1986). Consumer behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
30 31
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
ISSN: 0971-1023 | NMIMS Management ReviewVolume XXVIII January-February 2016
Impact of Social Media Activities on EmployerBrand Equity and Intention to Apply
• Saini, G. K., Rai, P., & Chaudhary, M. K. (2013). What do best employer surveys reveal about employer branding
and intention to apply. Journal of Brand Management, 21, 2, 95–111.
• Schultz, D.E. (2002). Study internal marketing for better impact: New forum researches what motivates
workers. Marketing News, 36(21), 8–9.
• SHRM Staffing Research (2008). Online technologies and their impact on recruitment strategies. Retrieved
from www.shrm.org.
• Sivertzen, A.M., Nilsen, E.R., Olafsen, A.H. (2013). Employer branding: Employer attractiveness and the use
of social media. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(7), 473 – 483.
• Taylor, D.G., Lewin, J.E., & Strutton, D. (2011). Friends, fans, and followers: Do ads work on social networks?
Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 258–275.
• Taylor, M.S., & Bergmann, T. J. (1987). Organizational recruitment activities and applicants' reactions at
different stages of the recruitment process. Personnel Psychology, 40(2), 261–285.
• Tsao, H. Y. (2013). Budget allocation for customer acquisition and retention while balancing market share
growth and customer equity. Marketing Letters, 24(1), 1-11.
• Turban, D. B., & Greening, D. W. (1997). Corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness to
prospective employees. Academy of Management Journal, 40(3), 658–672.
• Turban, D.B. (2001). Organizational attractiveness as an employer on college campuses: An examination of the
applicant population. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(2), 293-312.
• Vries, L.D., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, S.H. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: an investigation
of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 83–91.
• Walker, H.J., Feild, H.S., Giles, W.F., Bernerth, J.B., & Short, J.C. (2011). So what do you think of the
organization? A contextual priming explanation for recruitment web site characteristics as antecedents of job
seekers' organizational image perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114(2),
165-178.
Varun Katiyar has a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management & Labour Relations (Batch 2015)
from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and is currently working with Wipro Ltd in OD team of Group
HR. In the past, he has worked with Infosys Ltd. for about 2.5 years. He has keen interest in the field of
Employer Branding and HR Analytics. Mr. Katiyar can be contacted at [email protected].
Gordhan K. Saini is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Management & Labour Studies at the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His areas of interest include marketing strategy, employer
branding, pricing and social marketing. He has published research papers in national and international
journals including Journal of Brand Management, International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Marketing and Journal of Indian Business Research. He has co-authored chapters in two edited volumes
including India Development Report 2011, and has one book to his credit. Dr. Saini can be contacted at
[email protected] or [email protected].
• Peluchette, J., & Karl, K. (2009). Examining students' intended image on Facebook: What were they thinking?!
Journal of Education for Business, 85(1), 30–37.
• Pfeifer, P. E. (2004). The optimal ratio of acquisition and retention costs. Journal of Targeting, Measurement
and Analysis for Marketing, 13(2), 179-188.
• Raney, A.A., Arpan, L.M., Pashupati, K. & Brill, D.A. (2003). At the movies, on the web: an investigation of the
effects of entertaining and interactive web content on site and brand evaluations. Journal of Interactive
Marketing, 17(4), 38–53.
• Ritson, M. (2002). Marketing and HR collaborate to harness employer brand power. Marketing, 24(10), 24.
• Rossiter, J. R., & Percy, L. (1987). Advertising and promotion management. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company.
• Rynes, S. L. (1991). Recruitment, job choice, and post-hire consequences. In Dunnette, M.D., & Hough, L.M.
(Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed.), 2, 399-444. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting
Psychologists Press.
• Werner, R., Tomas, J. S., & Kumar, V. (2005). Balancing acquisition and retention resources to maximize
customer profitability. Journal of Marketing, 69(1), 63-79.
• Wilkie, W. (1986). Consumer behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
30 31
Changes
cities of India, and therefore street
Contents
mall farmers. Majority of the
farmers (82%) borrow less than
Rs 5 lakhs, and 18% borrow
between Rs 5 – 10 lakhs on a
per annum basis. Most farmers
(65.79%) ar
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
** p < .01 + Reliability coefficie
References
Table 23: The Results of Mann-Whitney U Test for DOWJONES Index Daily ReturnsDr. Rosy Kalra
Mr. Piyuesh Pandey