Unbundling employer branding, job satisfaction, organizational identification and employee retention : a sequential mediation analysis

Purpose: This paper aims to extend employer branding research by investigating the role of job satisfaction and organizational identification as predictors of employee retention, and their mediating role between employer branding and employee retention. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional survey is utilized to gather data from 352 employees working in top Indian IT organizations. Hypotheses were tested and analyzed utilizing SPSS PROCESS Macro. Findings: The results reveal that employer branding is positively related to job satisfaction, organizational identification and employee retention. The analysis provides support for the mediating effects on employee retention of employer branding through job satisfaction and organizational identification. In addition, results also provide support for the serial mediation model, where employer branding was found to influence employee retention via job satisfaction and organizational identification in a sequential manner. The findings connote that the enhanced positive identity of satisfied employees suppresses the intention to leave among IT professionals. Practical implications: The findings suggest that an employer branding strategy with a unique set of attributes can provide a competitive advantage to employers in terms of high retention levels. The findings also highlight the fact that the importance of employer branding strategy should not be merely confined to the issue of retention as it can also play a vital role in enhancing job satisfaction and employees' identification level. Hence, managers are required to devise an employer branding strategy with a long-term intent that focuses on gaining a competitive advantage and aiming to improve relationships with employees. Originality/value: The researchers have enriched social identity and social exchange theory as a theoretical paradigm, examining antecedents of employee retention. The study has extended the foregoing direct or simple mediation models by integrating social identity theory and job satisfaction in a sequential mediation model.