Do Social Responsibility and Social Media Dance together in Building Employer Reputation? Yes

Abstract

This study theorizes that firms engaging in socially responsible activities are more likely to be perceived as a more attractive employer, and that this positive relationship may be amplified if firms have proficiency in leveraging social media platforms. This potential amplifier role may be explained through the greater social visibility enabled by social media. The proposed theory is tested using the structural equation modeling technique and the partial least squares method of estimation employing a secondary dataset on a sample composed of 100 large Spanish firms included in the Actualidad Economica’s Great Place to Work 2015. The empirical analysis supports our theory. This paper contributes to Information Systems research by theorizing and empirically demonstrating that social media capability creates business value by maximizing the positive impact of firm’s implementation of corporate social responsibility activities on the building of firm’s employer reputation.