Building better employer brands through employee social media competence and online social capital

Vignesh Yoganathan,Boris Bartikowski,Victoria‐Sophie Osburg

doi:10.1002/mar.21451

Vignesh Yoganathan, Boris Bartikowski + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21451

Copy DOI

Abstract

AbstractDespite the significant and increasing influence of social media on employees' work lives, there is limited focus on employees' social media competencies from an employer branding or internal marketing perspective. Building on social identity and social exchange theories, this paper links employees' social media competence to an increase in online brand citizenship behaviour and reduction in feelings of psychological contract violation towards their employer's brand. We also examine the distinct mediatory effects of two forms of online social capital—bonding mediates the influence of employee social media competence on online brand citizenship and feelings of psychological contract violation, whilst Bridging only mediates the effect of social media competence on feelings of psychological contract violation. In doing so, we contribute to extant literature in two ways: (1) Address the need for research on social media in relation to employer branding; and (2) highlight the importance of building employee‐to‐employee and employee‐to‐employer relationships by virtual means in the context of employer branding. Therefore, this paper responds to calls for research that advances more responsible approaches to employer branding and internal marketing; that is, approaches that take into account employee competencies (emphasise need for skill development) as well as wellbeing (emphasise need for support).

Highlights

Employee behaviours play an important role in employer branding due to the influence they have on customers and other stakeholders (Morhart et al, 2009; Sirianni et al, 2013)
Our aforementioned empirical efforts contribute to extant literature in three ways: (1) Addressing the need for research on social media in relation to employer branding and internal marketing; (2) Highlighting the importance of building employee‐to‐employee and employee‐to‐ employer relationships by virtual means in the context of employer branding, especially when physical socialising is restricted; and (3) Responding to calls for research advancing more responsible approaches to employer branding and internal marketing; that is, approaches that take into account employee competencies as well as wellbeing
Employees with a higher degree of social media competence can better communicate and leverage social media functionalities to form strong work ties with like‐minded co‐workers, whilst having more to offer to weak work‐ties in terms of knowledge and information for the same reason. These findings extend the contribution of previous research linking intense (De Zúñiga et al, 2012; Steinfield et al, 2008) and sophisticated (Lee at al., 2019) social media usage with social capital formation, and add support to previous studies highlighting that the ability to avoid harmful media usage by employees is beneficial towards their coworker connections and the employer brand's reputation (Miles & Mangold, 2014; Rokka et al, 2014; Walsh et al, 2016)

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Employee behaviours play an important role in employer branding due to the influence they have on customers and other stakeholders (Morhart et al, 2009; Sirianni et al, 2013). This paper examines the role of employee competencies for using social media responsibly in helping them form better networks with co‐workers online (i.e., online social capital), and thereby develop favourable outcomes for the employer brand internally (i.e., psychological contract) and externally (i.e., employee online brand citizenship). Our aforementioned empirical efforts contribute to extant literature in three ways: (1) Addressing the need for research on social media in relation to employer branding and internal marketing; (2) Highlighting the importance of building employee‐to‐employee and employee‐to‐ employer relationships by virtual means in the context of employer branding, especially when physical socialising is restricted; and (3) Responding to calls for research advancing more responsible approaches to employer branding and internal marketing; that is, approaches that take into account employee competencies (emphasise need for skill development) as well as wellbeing (emphasise need for support)

| BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH GAPS

| DESIGN AND MEASURES

| DISCUSSION

Findings

| CONCLUDING REMARKS