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Examining How Employer Brand Perceptions Differ for Potential and Existing Employees in the Indian IT Sector: A Longitudinal Study

Employer branding as a tool is consistently gaining importance to attract and retain talent. Previous studies have observed employer branding process through potential employee’s perspective while others have taken current employees as their sample. It has been well acknowledged that variation exists in perception of potential and existing employees regarding the value propositions that an employer offers. This variation may result in employee disengagement or lower commitment. Considering the importance of the problem, this paper attempts to explore and analyse this phenomenon of variation in employer brand perceptions that exists between potential and existing employees. To achieve this objective, a longitudinal study consisting of 411 employees of top IT companies in India is conducted. Responses from the same sample are collected at two different points; first, when the respondents are final year students (potential employees/applicants) and the second instance is when they are absorbed into the company after induction and training. The results reveal that certain differences (based on instrumental-symbolic framework) are observed in the relative importance of employer brand attributes for the same individuals, i.e. when they are looking for a job and when they are working as an employee. Also, we conclude that though the differences cannot be eliminated totally, however, it can be minimised to a certain level by focusing on certain touchpoints.