The relationship among employer branding, employee engagement and employee performance

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN VINH LUAN

THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG EMPLOYER BRANDING,

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Ho Chi Minh City, 2021

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN VINH LUAN

THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG EMPLOYER BRANDING,

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

Major: Business Administration

Code: 62 34 01 02

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Supervisor: Professor, Nguyen Minh Ha, Ph.D

Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Ho Chi Minh City, 2021

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

The thesis titled “The relationship among employer branding, employee

engagement and employee performance” has been submitted for the degree of

Doctor of Business Administration.

Except for the references cited in this dissertation, I hereby declare that the

whole or parts of this dissertation have not been published or used to obtain the

degree elsewhere.

No other person's work/research may be used in this thesis that is not

properly cited. This thesis has never been submitted for any degree at any other

university or training institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, …/…/ 2021

Nguyen Vinh Luan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

"The relationship among employer branding, employee engagement

and employee performance" Doctoral Thesis has been completed at Ho Chi Minh

City Open University.

To complete this thesis, I have received guidance, enthusiastic support and

encouragement from teachers, family, colleagues, relatives and friends as follows:

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Graduate Lecturers at Ho Chi

Minh City Open University with their background knowledge provision for my

study activities. In particular, my most sincere thank is dedicated to my scientific

supervisor, Prof. Nguyen Minh Ha, Ph.D for his completely enthusiastic guidance

towards my completion.

I do appreciate my beloved Father, Mother and Family members for their

lifetime support and encouragement.

Concurrently, I would like to thank Board of Directors and employees of

DOMESCO Medical Import-Export Joint Stock Company and those of

IMEXPHARM Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company in creating favorable

conditions towards my study period as well as my brothers and sisters at companies

and organizations with their enthusiastic assistance during my research data

collection process.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my classmates at PhD training

courses at Ho Chi Minh City Open University for their accompanying with this

thesis completion.

Ho Chi Minh City, … ./…/2021

ABSTRACT

The dissertation research on the relationship between employer

branding (comprising 10 factors: Corporate social responsibility, Promotion, Work￾Life Balance Satisfaction, Education, Behavior-based family interference with

work, Travel opportunities, Time-based work interference with family, Teamwork,

Supporting, Strain-based family interference with work), employer attractiveness

(including 5 factors: social value, developmental value, application value, safety

value and economic value), employee engagement (consisting of 3 factors:

dedication, vigor and absorption) and employee performance (made up of 3 factors:

Teamwork, Innovator and Job).

The dissertation uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative

research methods (mixed method) in implementation process. Qualitative research

method is used in developing interview questionnaires through direct exchanges to

get expert opinions and group discussion related to built scale content,

supplementing the scales is complete and appropriate to Vietnamese context.

Quantitative research methods are used in the data analysis process. Quantitative

analysis steps are composed of analyzing scale reliability by Cronbach's alpha

coefficient, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), SEM structural model analysis. This

dissertation uses convenient sampling method (non-probability) with the

participants as employees working in enterprises and organizations in Vietnam, in

which the official sample size is 937 samples.

The results of testing the hypotheses in the detailed research model

are as follows: a) Employer branding has a positive impact on employer

attractiveness; b) Employer branding has a positive impact on employee

engagement; c) Employer branding has no impact on employee performance; d)

Employer attractiveness has a positive impact on employee engagement; e)

Employer attractiveness has a positive impact on employee performance; f)

Employee engagement has no impact on employee performance.

Based on hypothesis testing outcomes in the research model, the

dissertation discusses the results and proposes managerial implications to provide

managers with measures towards the improved quality of employer branding

besides employer attractiveness development so as to better employee engagement

and employee performance.

Page i

CONTENT

CONTENT..................................................................................................................i

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................v

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................1

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENTS ..........................................................................1

1.1.1 Practical reasons.........................................................................................1

1.1.2 Literature review ........................................................................................4

1.1.3 From previous studies................................................................................6

1.1.4 Problem statements ....................................................................................9

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................13

1.3 RESEARCH SCOPE AND RESEARCH PARTICIPANT ......................14

1.3.1 Research Scope ........................................................................................14

1.3.2 Research Participant.................................................................................14

1.3.3 Time of survey .........................................................................................14

1.4 NEW FINDINGS...........................................................................................14

1.5 STUDY SIGNIFICANCE.............................................................................15

1.6 THESIS STRUCTURE.................................................................................17

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................19

2.1 CONCEPTS ...................................................................................................19

2.1.1 Employer Branding ..................................................................................19

2.1.2 Employer Attractiveness..........................................................................22

2.1.3 Employee Engagement ............................................................................24

2.1.4 Employee Performance ............................................................................25

2.2 MAIN THEORIES........................................................................................27

2.2.1 Social exchange theory ............................................................................28

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2.2.2 Person – Organization Fit Theory............................................................36

2.2.3 Theory of Employer Branding ................................................................. 46

2.2.4 Theory of Employee Engagement............................................................ 50

2.2.5 Theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory.........................53

2.2.6 Reviewing previous studies .....................................................................58

2.2.7 The research gap ....................................................................................119

2.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS AND STUDY MODEL.............................120

2.3.1 Impact of employer branding on employer attractiveness.....................120

2.3.2 Impact of employer branding on employee engagement.......................129

2.3.3 Impact of employer branding on employee performance ......................133

2.3.4 Impact of employer attractiveness on employee engagement ...............136

2.3.5 Impact of employer attractiveness on employee performance ..............150

2.3.6 Impact of employee engagement on employee performance ................163

2.4 PROPOSED RESEARCH MODEL..........................................................166

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................166

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................169

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................169

3.2 SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION...............................................171

3.2.1 Sampling ................................................................................................171

3.2.2 Data collection .......................................................................................172

3.3 SCALE MEASUREMENTS ......................................................................175

3.3.1 From literature........................................................................................180

3.3.2 Opinions of the expert interviews and groups discussions....................180

3.3.3 The complete scale.................................................................................186

3.3.4 Scale measurements...............................................................................189

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE.............................................................207

3.4.1 Descriptive statistics...............................................................................209

3.4.2 Internal consistency reliability ...............................................................209

3.4.3 Convergent validity................................................................................210

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3.4.4 Discriminant Validity......................................................................211

3.4.5 Multi-collinear assessment..................................................................... 211

3.4.6 Path coefficients of the structure model........................................................ 211

3.4.7 Determination coefficient (R² value) .....................................................212

3.4.8 Impact coefficient f²...............................................................................213

3.4.9 Blindfolding and predict relevance Q²...................................................213

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3 .............................................................................214

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ANALYSIS ................................................................216

4.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS...................................................................216

4.1.1 Demographic ..........................................................................................216

4.1.2 Scale descriptive.....................................................................................220

4.2 SCALE VALIDITY ASSESSMENT.........................................................242

4.2.1 Cronbach Alpha .....................................................................................242

4.2.2 Explore Factor Analysis (EFA)..............................................................262

4.3 MEASUREMENT MODEL VALIDITY ASSESSMENT......................275

4.3.1 Employer Branding ................................................................................275

4.3.2 Employer Attractiveness........................................................................279

4.3.3 Employee Engagement ..........................................................................282

4.3.4 Employee Performance ..........................................................................284

4.4 STRUCTURAL MODEL ASSESSMENT................................................287

4.4.1 Multi-collinear assessment.....................................................................287

4.4.2 Determination coefficient (R² value) .....................................................288

4.4.3 Impact coefficient f²...............................................................................288

4.4.4 Blindfolding and predict relevance Q²...................................................289

4.4.5 Path coefficients of the structure model & Hypothesis Testing ............290

4.5 RESULT DISCUSSION .............................................................................293

4.5.1 Discussion the results of the research Scale...........................................293

4.5.2 Discussion research model and hypothesis............................................304

Page iv

SUMMARY CHAPTER 4....................................................................................321

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & POLICY IMPLICATIONS........................ 322

5.1 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 322

5.2 NEW FINDINGS.........................................................................................323

5.3 MANAGERIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS...........................................327

5.4 LIMITATION & FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................332

5.4.1 Limitation...............................................................................................332

5.4.2 Future research.......................................................................................333

REFERENCES......................................................................................................335

LIST OF THE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE THESIS..............................386

APPENDIX A: THE EXPERTS AND GROUP LIST........................................ A-1

APPENDIX B: THE INTERVIEW PROTOCOL SAMPLE.............................. A-4

APPENDIX C: THE ORGINAL SCALE ......................................................... A-33

APPENDIX D: THE EXPERT 1 INTERVIEW RECORD .............................. A-45

APPENDIX E: THE EXPERT 2 INTERVIEW RECORD .............................. A-68

APPENDIX F: THE EXPERT 3 INTERVIEW RECORD .............................. A-89

APPENDIX G: THE EXPERT 4 INTERVIEW RECORD ............................ A-111

APPENDIX H: THE GROUP 1 INTERVIEW RECORD.............................. A-133

APPENDIX I: THE GROUP 2 INTERVIEW RECORD.............................. A-155

APPENDIX J:THE SCALE AFTER QUANLITATVE RESEARCH.............. A-178

APPENDIX K: THE SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE......................................... A-193

APPENDIX L: THE SURVEYED COMPANY LIST ................................... A-209

Page v

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Summary of studies related to Employer Branding and Employer

Attractiveness........................................................................................................... 63

Table 2.2 Summary of studies related to Employer Branding and Employee

Engagement .......................................................................................................77

Table 2.3 Summary of studies related to Employer Branding and Employee

Performance .......................................................................................................87

Table 2.4 Summary of studies related to Employer Attractiveness and Employee

Engagement .......................................................................................................95

Table 2.5 Summary of studies related to Employer Attractiveness and Employee

Performance .................................................................................................... 102

Table 2.6 Summary of studies related to Employee Engagement and Employee

Performance .................................................................................................... 113

Table 2.7 Summary of Hypothesis......................................................................... 165

Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics Results.................................................................. 177

Table 3.2 Summary of expert opinions and group discussion results.................... 186

Table 3.3 Summary of qualitative method results ................................................. 188

Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics Results.................................................................. 216

Table 4.2 Cronbach Alpha of CSR ........................................................................ 242

Table 4.3 Scale validity result of CSR................................................................... 242

Table 4.4 Cronbach Alpha of WLSA..................................................................... 243

Table 4.5 Scale validity result of WLSA ............................................................... 243

Table 4.6 Cronbach Alpha of PRO ........................................................................ 244

Table 4.7 Scale validity result of PRO................................................................... 244

Table 4.8 Cronbach Alpha of PRO ........................................................................ 245

Table 4.9 Scale validity result of EDU .................................................................. 245

Table 4.10 Cronbach Alpha of WLBE................................................................... 246

Table 4.11 Scale validity result of WLBE ............................................................. 246

Table 4.12 Cronbach Alpha of TRA...................................................................... 247

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Table 4.13 Scale validity result of TRA ................................................................ 247

Table 4.14 Cronbach Alpha of WLTI.................................................................... 248

Table 4.15 Scale validity result of WLTI............................................................... 248

Table 4.16 Cronbach Alpha of GRO ..................................................................... 249

Table 4.17 Scale validity result of GRO ................................................................ 249

Table 4.18 Cronbach Alpha of SUP....................................................................... 250

Table 4.19 Scale validity result of SUP ................................................................. 250

Table 4.20 Cronbach Alpha of WLST................................................................... 251

Table 4.21 Scale validity result of WLST.............................................................. 251

Table 4.22 Cronbach Alpha of SOC ...................................................................... 252

Table 4.23 Scale validity result of SOC................................................................. 252

Table 4.24 Cronbach Alpha of DEV...................................................................... 253

Table 4.25 Scale validity result of DEV ................................................................ 253

Table 4.26 Cronbach Alpha of APP....................................................................... 254

Table 4.27 Scale validity result of APP ................................................................. 254

Table 4.28 Cronbach Alpha of SAF....................................................................... 255

Table 4.29 Scale validity result of SAF ................................................................. 255

Table 4.30 Cronbach Alpha of ECO...................................................................... 256

Table 4.31 Scale validity result of ECO ................................................................ 256

Table 4.32 Cronbach Alpha of DED...................................................................... 257

Table 4.33 Scale validity result of DED ................................................................ 257

Table 4.34 Cronbach Alpha of VIG....................................................................... 258

Table 4.35 Scale validity result of VIG ................................................................. 258

Table 4.36 Cronbach Alpha of ABS ...................................................................... 259

Table 4.37 Scale validity result of ABS................................................................. 259

Table 4.38 Cronbach Alpha of TEA ...................................................................... 260

Table 4.39 Scale validity result of TEA................................................................. 260

Table 4.40 Cronbach Alpha of INO....................................................................... 261

Table 4.41 Scale validity result of INO ................................................................. 261

Page vii

Table 4.42 Cronbach Alpha of JOB....................................................................... 262

Table 4.43 Scale validity result of JOB.................................................................. 262

Table 4.44 KMO and Bartlett’s test of Employer Branding .................................. 262

Table 4.45 Total variance explained of Employer Branding................................. 263

Table 4.46 Rotated component matrix of Employer Branding.............................. 265

Table 4.47 KMO and Bartlett’s test of Employer Attractiveness.......................... 267

Table 4.48 Total variance explained of Employer Attractiveness......................... 268

Table 4.49 Rotated component matrix of Employer attractiveness....................... 269

Table 4.50 KMO and Bartlett’s test of Employee Engagement ............................ 270

Table 4.51 Total variance explained of Employee Engagement ........................... 271

Table 4.52 Rotated component matrix of Employee Engagement ........................ 272

Table 4.53 KMO and Bartlett’s test of Employee Performance ............................ 273

Table 4.54 Total variance explained of Employee Performance ........................... 273

Table 4.55 Rotated component matrix of Employee Performance........................ 274

Table 4.56 Outer loading and the internal consistency reliability of Employer

Branding.......................................................................................................... 276

Table 4.57 HTMT of Employer Branding ............................................................. 278

Table 4.58 HTMT Ratio of Employer Branding.................................................... 278

Table 4.59 Outer loading and the internal consistency reliability of Employer

Attractiveness.................................................................................................. 280

Table 4.60 HTMT of Employer Attractiveness..................................................... 281

Table 4.61 HTMT Ratio of Employer Attractiveness............................................ 281

Table 4.62 Outer loading and the internal consistency reliability of Employee

Engagement .................................................................................................... 283

Table 4.63 HTMT of Employee Engagement........................................................ 284

Table 4.64 HTMT Ratio of Employee Engagement.............................................. 284

Table 4.65 Outer loading and the internal consistency reliability of Employee

Performance .................................................................................................... 285

Table 4.66 HTMT of Employee Performance ....................................................... 286

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Table 4.67 HTMT Ratio of Employee Performance.............................................. 286

Table 4.68 VIF value in research model ................................................................ 287

Table 4.69 Determination coefficient R2

adjusted ................................................. 288

Table 4.70 Impact coefficient f²............................................................................. 289

Table 4.71 Q2 value................................................................................................ 290

Table 4.72 Hypothesis testing result ...................................................................... 291

Table 4.73 The Employer Branding scale.............................................................. 294

Table 4.74 Items of the interesting value ............................................................... 298

Table 4.75 The Employer Attractiveness scale...................................................... 299

Table 4.76 Employee Engagement scale ............................................................... 301

Table 4.77 The Employee Performance scale........................................................ 303

Page ix

LIST OFFIGURES

Figure 2.1 Various Conceptualizations of Person – Organization Fit ................... 38

Figure 2.2 Theory of planned behavior.................................................................. 54

Figure 2.3 Relations among three factors in social cognitive theory .....................56

Figure 2.4 The theory framework of research model .............................................58

Figure 2.5 Antecedents and consequences of EB and EA................................... 119

Figure 2.6 Detailed Proposal research model ...................................................... 166

Figure 3.1 Research procedure ............................................................................ 170

Figure 3.2 General research process.................................................................... 171

Figure 4.1 The PLS-SEM research model (Standardize) .................................... 292