Anchored in job demands–resources (JDR) theory and event system theory, this research investigates the impact of employer branding on employee engagement and employee performance in the backdrop of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 caused unprecedented changes in the workplace dynamics of the information technology (IT) firms in India, affecting employee engagement levels. Therefore, the moderating role of COVID-19 event strength is examined on the relationship between employer branding and employee engagement. The proposed hypotheses were examined by performing structural equation modelling on the data gathered from 791 employees of IT firms in India. Data were collected through a self-report survey using a questionnaire instrument consisting of measuring items adapted from the existing literature. The research findings suggest that significant affirmative relationships exist among employer branding, employee engagement and employee performance. Organizational commitment demonstrated a partial mediating effect on the relationship between employer branding and employee engagement. Further, the COVID-19 event strength positively moderated the relationship between employer branding and employee engagement, suggesting that employer branding practices are more crucial in organizations, which were heavily affected by the pandemic. This research offers significant insights for academic and human resource (HR) practitioners regarding the role of employer branding in enhancing employee engagement and employee performance during times of crisis.

Major higher educational institutions exert efforts on social media to establish relationships with students, aspirants, alumni and other stakeholders. These efforts have been increased in the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 as institutions are left only with social media channels as a medium to communicate and build their branding. Therefore, it is important to examine the various Facebook posts that become important for delivering the information and building a positive association with its stakeholders. The current study adopted the content analysis method to examine the various posts of the top 20 Indian universities during June 2020-November, 2020. The results revealed that university type, post category and post format were the important factors to increase the reachability (likes and shares) and engagement (comments and total engagement) of the post with its stakeholders during the above-stated period. Additionally, the posts in the category of events and announcements recorded the highest engagements. The current study also examined that the top relevant comments, content (positive sentiments and negative sentiments), gender, and users were not the factor in increasing engagement. This study provides strategies for universities to increase reachability and engagement concerning content creation and its format on social media platforms.

In recent times, Indian IT companies have been facing high attrition rates, especially with young employees having three to seven years of experience. Therefore, this study develops and tests a dynamic model of brand-endorsed employee engagement (EE) and employee retention (ER). Particularly, the carryover and temporal effects of the relationships and constructs are studied to understand how employee behaviour evolves over time. Using two waves of longitudinal data gathered from young employees ([Formula: see text]) of Indian IT companies, the proposed conceptual model is investigated to test the temporal differences in the relationships between internal employer branding (IEB), organisational commitment, EE and ER. Additionally, the impact of employer internal social media usage on the relationships is also examined as an effective human resources (HR) intervention in the evolution process. The findings show that excluding the organisational commitment to EE relationship, the other two relationships between IEB to organisational commitment and EE to ER become stronger over time. Interestingly, while internal social media usage does not exhibit direct effect on organisational commitment or ER, it is instrumental in influencing IEB perception and EE during subsequent periods. Overall, this study offers directions to HR managers in the services sector on how to effectively use social media to engender engagement in employees and ultimately, enhance their intention to stay.

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Employer branding as a tool is consistently gaining importance to attract and retain talent. Previous studies have observed employer branding process through potential employee’s perspective while others have taken current employees as their sample. It has been well acknowledged that variation exists in perception of potential and existing employees regarding the value propositions that an employer offers. This variation may result in employee disengagement or lower commitment. Considering the importance of the problem, this paper attempts to explore and analyse this phenomenon of variation in employer brand perceptions that exists between potential and existing employees. To achieve this objective, a longitudinal study consisting of 411 employees of top IT companies in India is conducted. Responses from the same sample are collected at two different points; first, when the respondents are final year students (potential employees/applicants) and the second instance is when they are absorbed into the company after induction and training. The results reveal that certain differences (based on instrumental-symbolic framework) are observed in the relative importance of employer brand attributes for the same individuals, i.e. when they are looking for a job and when they are working as an employee. Also, we conclude that though the differences cannot be eliminated totally, however, it can be minimised to a certain level by focusing on certain touchpoints.