Identifying and Assessing Factors Affecting Employer Branding in the Banking Industry

Abstract

This study aims to identify the factors affecting employer branding and validate a structural model based on methodology combined with an exploratory approach. The present research was a mixed-methods study in terms of its data type. The statistical population included academic experts majoring in human resource management and the expert managers of the human resource branches of Mellat Bank in the qualitative phase and all heads and deputies of Mellat Bank branches in various provinces of Iran in the quantitative phase. Data collection instruments included semi-structured interviews with experts in the first and a 45-item questionnaire distributed among 340 people in the second phases. Qualitative data were analyzed by the content analysis method, while confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling, run in the Amos 26 software, were used for quantitative data analysis. The results of the qualitative phase showed that the factors affecting employer branding included three behavioral, structural, and environmental factors, each of which had sub-factors. Also, the results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measurement model of each of the three mentioned factors was highly fit. Finally, the results of structural equations modeling clarified that the behavioral factor (with a regression coefficient of (0.601) had the most and the structural factor (with a regression coefficient of (.355) had the least impact on employer branding in Mellat Bank. There is no comprehensive classification of the factors affecting the branding of employers, especially in the banking industry. Therefore, in this approach, it is necessary to identify the factors affecting employer branding and measure the effect of each of these factors in the mentioned industry, which is the main aim of this study.