Intentions to Apply for a Job in IT Firms: Impact of Employer Branding and Use of

Social Media – A case of TRG Pakistan Ltd.

Research Project
By
Mirza Ammar Baig (1611158)
Sanya Salman (1611167)
Sarah Munawar (1611168)
Sheldon Sarfaraz (1611170)
Syeda Sobia Rizvi (1611176)
To
Faculty of Business Administration
In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree
of
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
In
Human Resources and Marketing

Dr. Javed Ahmed Qureshi

Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology

SZABIST, Karachi

Dated: 6th December, 2019

 Acknowledgement

First and foremost, we are grateful to Allah Almighty for the good health that was necessary
for the completion of this research. Secondly, we would like to express our deepest gratitude
to our supervisor, Dr. Javed Ahmed Qureshi for his constant support throughout the journey;
his patience, enthusiasm and valuable feedback have been the greatest supportive forces for
us.

Thirdly, we are also grateful to SZABIST faculty members for sharing their research
expertise with us; our most sincere thanks to Ma’am Faiza Sharif, Sir Imran Omer, and Sir
Faraz Mubarak for their help through various phases of the research.

We would also like to thank each other as group members for sharing ideas and executing the
project in the best way possible.

Lastly, we would like to thank our parents and friends for their unceasing support in all
aspects of our lives.
 Abstract

With evolving trends, organizations have started implementing the marketing term of
‘branding’ in the Human Resource department as well, by developing a term named
‘Employer Branding’. The aim of the study is to measure the effectiveness of the dimensions
of employer branding; which are Development, Economic, Application and Interest Value, in
regards to the intensions to apply. The research is to be conducted specifically in Information
Technology firm of Pakistan named TRG Pakistan Ltd since our other hypothesis is to
measure the use of Social Media in relation to the intensions to apply for the job, because IT
firms are more likely to utilize features provided by online platforms to attract personnel and
customers both. Since it is a cause and effect research, thus a quantitative analysis is
conducted, while the tool used is online questionnaire for the survey. The sample would
consist IT employees and computer science students and the sampling technique is based on
Multivariate Sampling which creates a sample size of 300. The analysis is done through the
use of SPSS Software by using Reliability and Validity, Demographic profile analysis,
Descriptive analysis of variables, Correlation among variables and Multiple Regression
analysis.

Keywords: Employer Branding, Social Media and Intentions to apply.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction

The main purpose of an organization is to make profit, and to achieve a competitive

advantage over its rivals. In today’s time, these very organizations are struggling with
inadequacy of man’s capital. The use of social media is very essential in this situation. It is a
massive challenge for employers to attract potential candidates to be hired within the firm. In
order to gain a competitive edge, organizations need capable employees. The use of social
media helps in this cause.

1.2 Background of the study

The present business environment is progressing at a quick pace; hence, it has become
inescapable for any organization to layer itself with a qualified and skilled workforce. This
helps a business in gaining competitive advantage, which becomes a source of survival and
profit for the firm in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Having a strong Human
Resource will help the organization in achieving long-term success as well as financial gains.
It will help in attracting strong and capable candidates to the organization, who will act as an
asset to the firm.

Talking specifically about Information Technology (IT) sector, demand for top tech talent
appears to exceed the number of qualified individuals. Although the industry is considered
highly desirable to work in, a majority of hiring managers report that they are having trouble
hiring (Baumann, 2016).

A shortage of qualified tech professionals and a surge in available, high-paying job vacancies
has created a perfect storm resulting in the current candidate-driven marketplace today where
candidates have more power than employers in job offer negotiations. It also means that they
don’t have to waste their time on job offers that don’t include competitive salaries (Johnson,
2018).
Thus, to make this possible and to be able to attract the right candidate, organizations work
towards strengthening employer branding by showing them how good of an employer they
are, and by mentioning about the perks the employees can get as a result of joining the
organization.

1.3 TRG Pakistan Ltd. – Introduction

TRG was incorporated in Pakistan as a Public Limited Company on 2nd December, 2002.
The Resource Group (TRG) Pakistan is the country’s largest provider of BPO services with 4
locations in Karachi and Lahore – Pakistan’s largest cities and financial centres. It became
the first IT enabled services company of Pakistan. It is amongst the top 30 public companies
in Pakistan and has performed the largest equity raising at Karachi Stock Exchange in the
past decade.

1.3.1 Vision

They have a clear vision of becoming the global leader in providing business process
outsourcing services.

1.3.2 Mission

TRG is working towards increasing efficiency by providing business process outsourcing

services by setting a price and quality standard. They aim at achieving long term success by
attracting the most suitable candidates that will help the industry and the corporation grow.

1.3.3 Organizational Structure

From top to bottom

Country Manager: Nadeem Elahi

The divided managers such as the HR Manager or Operation Manager report to the Country
Manager. Then the Senior Managers report to the Directors. The mangers are accountable to
the Senior Managers. The hierarchy goes by including the Systematic managers who are
accountable to the Managers and then includes the Lead Supervisors that have Supervisors,
Team Leaders and Bottom Layers employees.

1.4 Problem Statement

Since the world is moving towards digitalization, IT is gaining fame in the professional
market of Pakistan. Organizations are moving towards digitalization, where they aim towards
digitalizing every task, activity or process for greater efficiency. In order to achieve that, IT
experts or professionals are needed to help organizations gain competitive advantage, unlock
productivity gains and deliver excellent customer service. IT professionals are in greater
demand due to these reasons, so it is extremely important to attract the candidates that add
value to the organization. Hence, potential employees are attracted by Employer branding.
The concept of Employer Branding has recently evolved in Pakistan, and this strategy is
being used by many firms in the country to attract the right type of employee for their
organizations. The employees look forward to working in a reputable organization thus,
corporate reputation matters a lot while applying for a job. Moreover, social media has taken
over other mediums of communication thus, organizations focus on communicating with
their target audiences (customers, potential employees) about their offerings and job
openings.

1.5 Research Questions

Q) What is influence of potential employees’ perceptions of dimensions of employer

branding (economic value, development value, interest value and application value) on their
intention to apply for a job at TRG?

Q) What is the influence of the use of social media on potential employees’ intention to apply
for a job at TRG?
1.6 Research Objectives

This study is developed with the research objectives mentioned below:

● To identify the relationship between potential employees’ perceptions of economic

value, development vale, interest value and application value with their intention to
apply for a job in TRG Pakistan.
● To identify the relationship between potential employees’ use of social media and
their intention to apply for a job in TRG Pakistan.

1.7 Research Limitations

 This study covers only an IT firm located in Karachi, due to limited time duration
 Due to time constraints, the data has been collected through questionnaires only,
which has allowed us to gather information about what employees agree/disagree
with, but we have not been able to obtain in-depth reasoning for their answers.
 Only questionnaires have been used as a source of data collection.
 Some respondents might not have responded to questions properly. Hence, the results
might have been affected.

1.8 Research Justification

1.9 Research Limitations

● This study covers only an IT firm located in Karachi, due to limited time duration
● Due to time constraints, the data has been collected through questionnaires only,
which has allowed us to gather information about what employees agree/disagree
with, but we have not been able to obtain in-depth reasoning for their answers.
● Only questionnaires have been used as a source of data collection.
● Some respondents might not have responded to questions properly. Hence, the results
might have been affected.
1.10 Research Scope

This study analyzes how different dimensions of employer branding and use of social media
can affect a potential employee’s intention to apply for a job; the research has taken into
account an IT firm located in Karachi.

1.11 Assumptions

The responses collected from our candidates are considered as a general response, and it is
assumed that the rest of the candidates, from other IT firms, have also given the same
response. The political, economic and environmental factors of Karachi have remained
constant throughout the study.

1.12 Definition of Key Terms

1.12.1 Branding

A brand is any name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these, that identifies
the products or services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiate them from those of
competitors (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011).

Branding has been linked to marketing in most cases. This is also known as external
branding, where companies try to build a unique image to develop connections and gain loyal
customers. However, in today’s time, the importance of strengthening a company’s internal
brand has become equally important. A healthy brand creates a company culture where
employees live and breathe the brand to bring it to life for their customers (Potvin, 2016).
According to this definition, building a good culture for your employees will not only attract
more employees, but, consequently, will also lead to customer satisfaction.

1.12.2 Employer Branding

Tim, Ambler and Simon first coined employer branding in 1990, as a way of forming
strategies within Human Resource to attract and retain employees. Employer branding has
broadened both in research and in the number of organizations applying it. More recently, it
is also stated that employer branding displays the reputation of the organization as an
employer, and is basically the perception potential employees hold about an organization as
an employer. It can also be said that, employer branding is the development of an
organization’s image and reputation as a prospective employer, and would affect its ability to
retain employees. You can do this by showcasing your organization’s unique cultural
differentiators, and then working to amplify them so you can position yourself as a top place
to work (Lybrand, 2018). In a competitive market, it is quite essential to be able to attract the
best candidate for your organization and then to retain that employee. Employer branding
helps you in attracting employees that would add value to the business and makes hiring and
recruitment less costly.

1.12.3 Social Media

Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share
content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time (Hudson, 2019).

The concept of traditional marketing has been fading away, since the usage of internet has
increased. Therefore, this has influenced organizations to do their branding through social
media, since it is not only a cheaper way to advertise, but it also allows you to cater to a huge
number of audiences in one go.
2 Literature Review
2.2 Summary of Scholarly Work
2.2.1 Employer Branding

When it comes to the implication of the word brand, it has always been referred to market the
company to their customers in terms of their products or services; however, word has then
started being implied in the field of Human Resource Management to implement it for
employees, making the term ‘Employer Branding’; as further mentioned by (Heilmann,
Saarenketo, & Liikkanen, 2013) employer branding is the way to portray the organization to
be the ‘First Class Employer’. According to (Sharif, 2017) the concept is considered to be
Employer Branding “up-to-the-minute” and it conquers the challenge of the “shortage of
talent”. However, the implication of employer branding is not practiced much in Pakistan,
even though it direly needs to cater the match between job and the employee (Aslam, 2015).

Employer Branding in terms of recruitment can be considered to be a “package of

psychological, economic and functional benefits” (Wilden, Gudergan, & Lings, 2010).
Relating the concept of Employer Branding to Marketing (Ambler & Barrow, 1996) stated
that the benefits of Employer Brand offer employees parallel those that a conventional
(product) brand offers to consumers: developmental and/or useful activities (functional),
material or monetary rewards (economic), feelings such as belonging, direction and purpose
(psychological).

(Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005) gave a view point of employer branding as a combination of
five factors. Factor 1, labelled Interest Value, assesses the extent to which an individual is
attracted to an employer that provides an exciting work environment, novel work practices
and that makes use of its employee’s creativity to produce high-quality products and services.
Factor 2, labelled Social Value, assesses the extent to which an individual is attracted to an
employer that provides a working environment that is fun, happy, provides good collegial
relationships, and a team atmosphere. Factor 3, labelled Economic Value, assesses the extent
to which an individual is attracted to an employer that provides above-average salary,
compensation package, job security and promotional opportunities. Factor 4, labelled
Development Value, assesses the extent to which an individual is attracted to an employer
that provides recognition, self-worth and confidence, coupled with a career-enhancing
experience and a spring-board to future employment. Lastly, Factor 5, labelled Application
Value, assesses the extent to which an individual is attracted to an employer that provides an
opportunity for the employee to apply what they have learned and to teach others, in an
environment that is both customer oriented and humanitarian.

2.2.2 Dimensions of Employer Branding and Intention to Apply for a Job

The study conducted by (Aslam, 2015) confirmed that there is a positive relationship
between employer branding and intention to apply for a job. Also, (Sivertzen, Nilsen, &
Olafsen, 2013) further researched on employer branding by measuring its dimensions against
corporate reputation and intention to apply for a job. According to this research, a significant
positive relation was found between application value and corporate reputation, between
interest value and corporate reputation, and between development value and corporate
reputation. However, no relations were found between the dimensions of social or economic
values and corporate reputation. Yet, another study claimed that when monetary rewards are
given in accordance to the performance, it does help attract and retain employees (Aguinis,
Joo, & Gottfredson, 2013). In fact, a new research by LinkedIn has shown that potential
employees, while applying, scan the compensation and benefits at first; thus, it has been
advised by the author to include salary ranges in ads (Maurer, 2018). Adding on, another
study by (Ahmad & Daud, 2016) found that there is a significant relationship between
development and turnover intention. Development gives career-enhancing experiences that
act as a commencement of future employment. This suggests that, among the dimensions of
employer attractiveness, economic value, development value, interest value and application
value carry greater significance, and that people expect to have growth opportunities at
workplaces. Since prior research has mostly focused on corporate reputation (through
employer branding) and intention to apply for a job, we want to make the model more
specific and test whether the psychological and functional benefits (i.e. development value,
interest value, economic and social value) offered by a job can have a positive impact on a
job seeker’s intention to apply, specifically within the IT Industry of Pakistan. Thus we
propose:
H1: Potential employees’ perceptions of dimensions of employer attractiveness (i.e. interest
value, economic value, application value and development value) have a positive and
significant relation/effect with their intention to apply for a job.

2.2.3 Use of Social Media

The use of social media has become quite common in the field of Human Resource. It has
been researched by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that, in 2008,
44% of the organizations used social networking websites for HR, and 19% plan to use these
in the future (Davinson, Maraist, & Bing, 2011).

Furthermore, a study by (Collins & Stevens, 2002) suggested that firms which are able to
create publicity about themselves may receive the greatest return for their investment in other
early recruitment activities. It is possible that publicity, because it is perceived as coming
from a source other than the company (e.g. a newspaper or periodical reporter), provides
legitimacy to other forms of recruitment.

Since the communication has changed over existing period of time by coming on online
social platforms, companies have started using these social media stages to promote
themselves. The Human Resource has as well started focusing on recruiting process through
social media, because of the tradition of information sharing on it. Companies now use
Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to attract, offer job openings and contact potential
employees (Elena, 2011).

There have been statistics that prove that Social Media has been an important tool for
recruiting for employers and for applying for employees. It has been revealed through a study
that around 73% of people of age ranging from 18 to 34 have got their recent jobs through
social media (Admin, 2016). Additionally, it has been published that Employers believe that
by the year 2020, the skill for Social Media Marketing in Human Resource would be an
ultimate need and the priority of Data Analysis will be prioritized after it (David, 2017).
Starbucks has revealed that their hiring and recruiting process is based on Social Media
platforms which help the whole hiring process to be cost effective (Drum, 2010).
2.2.4 Social Media and Intention to Apply for a Job

The results of the study by (Sivertzen, Nilsen, & Olafsen, 2013) supported the notion that the
use of social media is positively linked to corporate reputation and there is a positive link
between corporate reputation and intention to apply for a job. (Sivertzen, Nilsen, & Olafsen,
2013)also stated that there is no interaction effect of social media between corporate
reputation and intention to apply for a job. Moreover, through a study of banking sector in
Pakistan, (Aslam, 2015) found that there is a direct impact of the use of social media on
intention to apply for a job. The study further concluded interaction term was not found
between employer branding and intention to apply. This confirmed results from previous
study, which also identified no moderation of social media between employer branding and
intention to apply (Tavleen & Kaur, 2013). Since most studies have concluded that social
media does not work well as an interaction, we intend to test whether it has a direct impact
on intention to apply for a job, specifically within the IT Industry of Pakistan. We have
therefore altered the model to encompass social media as an independent variable, and
investigate whether social media has a direct impact on job application intention within the
IT Industry.

H2: Potential employees’ use of social media has a positive and significant relation/effect
with their intention to apply for a job.
2.2.5 Theoretical Framework
3 Methodology
3.2 Research Design

We have employed a quantitative research methodology to conduct this research, where the
data collected has been transformed into usable statistics. Using this approach, data can be
gathered and analyzed in a quick and efficient manner. Regoli, (2019) states that, because
quantitative research involves surveys, experiments and real-time data gathering, the delays
in collection of materials (which are to examined) are minimum. This approach is also
beneficial, because it enables us to statistically apply the information to the rest of the
population group (Regoli, 2019).

Furthermore, we have used a causal study to test whether our independent variables (i.e.
dimensions of employer branding: economic value, application value, interest value and
development value) and use of social media can cause a change in our dependent variable
(i.e. intention to apply for a job).

3.3 Population and Sample

All employees working in the IT firm under study, and the computer science students from
various universities make up our entire population. The sample size (n) is decided using
“multivariate sampling” proposed by (Roscoe, 1975) in his “rules of thumb for determining
sample size”. According to the technique, the survey was intended to be conducted with 300
participants. However, since the target audience was highly specific, we narrowed down the
sample size to 162 participants, taking into account the time and resource constraints.

3.4 Sampling Technique

We collected information from members of the sample using convenience sampling. This is
because the IT firm selected was based on availability and convenience. A major benefit of
convenience sampling has been the quickness and efficiency with which data can be
collected (Sekaran & Roger, 2016).
3.5 Data Collection Procedure

Surveys: We have conducted a survey of employees working in the IT firm and fresh IT
graduates. In order to gather information from IT employees, we have asked them to either
fill the questionnaires within office hours, or to provide us their email IDs, where the link of
the questionnaire can be emailed to them. This has been dependent on the convenience and
availability of the employees.

3.6 Reliability and Validity

We have intended to check the reliability of our research framework using Cronbach’s Alpha
in SPSS 22. The validity of our model can be supported by data triangulation; we have
collected variable-related information from various renowned journal articles, and we
intended to support our model through further data collection via surveys.

3.7 Variables and Hypotheses

3.7.1 Independent Variables:

1. Dimensions of Employer Branding: Development Value, Interest Value, Application

Value
2. Potential employees’ use of social media

3.7.2 Dependent Variables:

1. Intention to apply for a job

3.7.3 Hypotheses:

H1: Potential employees’ perception of the three dimensions of employer attractiveness (i.e.
interest value, application value and development value) has a positive relation with their
intention to apply for a job.
H2: Potential employees’ use of social media has a positive relation with their intention to
apply for a job.

H3: High corporate reputation has a positive relationship with employees’ intentions to apply
for a job.

3.8 Ethical Considerations

This project is under the supervision of our university research instructor and our program
managers, who have approved the way it has been carried out. Each questionnaire starts with
a message, which ensures that participation is voluntary and that all information collected, as
part of the research, is be used for the relevant purposes only. We have not collected
participants’ personal information (as part of their social media profiles), and have not
manipulate any information provided to us by the organization under study.

3.9 Plan of Analysis

● The primary endpoint is the intention to apply for a job, measured against dimensions
of employer branding, use of social media and corporate reputation.
● The first step towards analyzing the data is the reliability analysis. Through pilot
testing (i.e. selecting about 30 respondents), we have calculated the Cronbach’s Alpha
for the framework; this ensures that the data is testable.
● Next, the data is analyzed using “descriptive statistics”, where the mean and the
standard deviation of the data is computed to check whether all variables are
positively contributing towards the model.
● The overall significance of the model is further tested, and the correlation between
independent variables (i.e. employer branding: development value, interest value and
application value) and the dependent variable is checked against “p < = 0.05” as
critical value. The correlation value is also used to check the direction and strength of
relationship between variables.
● Also, for further analysis, we use linear regression to check the overall significance
and the predictive power of our model.
3.10 Software Used

● SPSS 22
● MS Excel
● Google Forms