Employer branding: from the perspective of Human Resource practitioners in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This research explores how human resource practitioners understand the concept of Employer Branding (EB) and factors fostering Employer brand internally in organizations. While reviewing the literature of EB, it has been noted that most of the research has considered the “recruitment” aspect of EB and focused on the perceptions of potential employees. Since there is a difference between the perceptions of current and potential employees regarding their organizational brand, it would be interesting to investigate the human resource practitioners for understanding their beliefs and perceptions of employer branding to identify whether an EB helps the firm in retaining the best among its employees. Using qualitative research methodology, I have conducted in-depth, in-person interviews with 15 Human resource practitioners representing diverse industries. The study's findings were derived from the thematical analysis and indicated that most of the participants were adequately aware of what Employer branding is and that they tend to boost employer branding in several ways. The participants also commonly identified autonomy in their job, Reputation, job orientation, power of communication, participative management, employee enculturation and socialization, two-way communication, role modelling and Decision making authority as internal brand-boosting factors. This study identified several insightful remarks to be further researched in Employer branding.