Exploring the Effects of Social Media Usage and Employer Branding on Employee Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Internal Communication

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between social media usage, employer branding, internal communication, and employee loyalty within the educational institutions in Quetta, Pakistan. Drawing on pre-existing theories like communication visibility theory, signaling theory, and social exchange theory, the study proposes that social media usage and employer branding influence employee loyalty both directly and indirectly through the mediation of internal communication. This study used quantitative, cross-sectional design, and the data for the study was collected through an online questionnaire. The sample size was 242, including academic, administrative, and technical employees of private and public educational institutions within the city, using a non-probability convenience and snowball sampling approach. The proposed model was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings showed that social media usage and employer branding had a positive relationship with employee loyalty. In addition to that social media usage and employer branding had a positive indirect relationship with employee loyalty through the mediation of internal communication. The mediation analysis indicated that internal communication partially mediates the relationship of social media usage and employer branding with employee loyalty. The model explained 22.2% of variance for internal communication and 27.4% variance for employee loyalty. The study contributes by presenting internal communication as a mediating mechanism through which digital communication practices and employer branding signals are associated with employee loyalty in an under-examined educational context of a developing city. Particularly, the findings suggest that educational institutions should align workplace social media, employer branding practices, and internal communication to support and enhance employee loyalty.