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Attracting and retaining employees is a pivotal issue for building a firm`s competitive advantage (Hadi & Ahmed, 2018). Hence firms in their search for growth and survival must compete to attract and retain employees, which are considered the most effective arm in any organization’s armory (Tlaiss, Martin & Hofaidhllaoui, 2017). A highly appeasing labor force and retention of employees are the main goals for organizations and employers (Collins, 2009).
The talent war makes the task of attracting and retaining skilled employees more difficult, in which both practitioners and academics are still searching for the ideal methods to reach the required fit between employees and firms (Al Badawy, Fahmy & Magdy, 2017), knowing that many researchers consider talented employees as an important asset which may lead to a sustainable competitive advantage (HR Digest, 2017).
Many studies indicated that firms must not disregard the importance of attracting and retaining talented employees, stating that knowledge and employees’ skills are considered the main strength of organizational performance (Minchington, 2010; Prinsloo, 2008). Many researchers also agreed that good talented human resources management direct a firm`s efforts to achieve growth strategies, in other words achieving organizational sustainability and economic growth (Boshard & Louw, 2010; Ingham, 2006; Prinsloo, 2008).
In the meantime, firms are concentrating on their intellectual assets, rather than on their tangible physical assets, hence devoting a high level of importance to employees’ experiences, knowledge and skills as the main source for creating value to organizations (Hadi et. al., 2018). This affirms that employee recruitment and retention is one of the major interests for any organization (Arachchige & Robertson, 2013).
In response to the talent war, a new concept known as employer branding emerged as a proposed solution for attracting and retaining skilled employees. Although branding is a marketing concept, employer branding can be defined as the process of applying branding to human resources management, by which firms build a strong brand as a means of competitive advantage, which enables them to attract, engage and retain talented employees (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). In other words, employer branding is an invented concept that links brand marketing management and human resource management, with the intent to retain the firm's pool of candidates (Gaddam, 2008).
The employer branding model consists of five main processes that must be performed by the employer. Research is the first process concerned with understanding the employer’s image in the mind of potential employees, and thus determining the action plans needed to adjust this positioning. Employer Value Proposition (EVP) as the second process, states that an organization`s offer to current and potential employees must provide a reason for them to work for a certain company, in other words, EVP is related to an organization`s competitive advantage. Communication strategy, which is known as the third process, guarantees effective communication for EVP by emphasizing an employer’s highly attractive factors. Communication Solutions, which concentrate on using the right expressions and images to communicate EVP to current and potential employees, is considered to be the fourth process. Finally, the last process is action, which deals with implementing and monitoring all the steps mentioned previously by studying the effects of employer branding on employer attractiveness, employee engagement and retention (Vijayalakshmi & Uthayasuriyan, 2015).
Many questions related to employer branding still need answers, hence a literature gap exists, which clarifies the necessity for future research in this field (Hadi et. al., 2018). This study aims to enrich the literature by shedding light on the relationship between employer branding on the one side, and employer attractiveness, employee engagement and retention on the other side.