The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework of employee engagement and employer branding of downsized organisations. It examines the association of certain enablers such as resonant leadership, internal corporate communication, knowledge sharing, continuous learning, intrapreneurship, and perceived communication satisfaction, with employee engagement. Further, it investigates the association of employee engagement with employer branding.
A sample of 220 middle managers of IT/ITES companies from select states of India was empirically tested to examine the proposed relationships. These managers were from the MNCs that have downsized since the 2008-09 economic recession. The hypothesised relationship was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS 21 software package.
Results indicate that internal corporate communication, knowledge sharing, continuous learning, intrapreneurship, and perceived communication satisfaction are positively associated with employee engagement. Employee engagement is also positively associated with employer branding. However, resonant leadership style is negatively associated with employee engagement.
This study makes a unique contribution to the literature of survivor syndrome by providing a theoretical framework of employee engagement in downsized firms, and subsequently rebuilding organisations as strong employer brands. This study further establishes reliability and validity of the variables used in the conceptual framework. This study would guide future managers to decide an alternative measure to downsizing.
Longitudinal research can be carried out to check the cause and effect relationships between the variables. Large samples can be used to generalise the findings in the Indian IT/ITES sector. A comparative study can be done between public and private organisations.
