"Internal Substance and External Image Matter": An Empirical Study of HRM Strength and Employer Brand on Service Employees’ Attitudes and Behaviors

Abstract

Turnover intention and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOCB) are common challenges in the workforce management of service enterprises. Most prior relevant studies have focused solely on the impacts of corporate management practices, or only on employees’ perceptions of such practices. Adopting an integrated perspective, this study constructs a cross-level research model to explore the relationships and mechanisms through which human resource management (HRM) strength and employer brand influence service employees’ turnover intention and SOCB. Using a paired questionnaire survey approach, we collected data from 199 HR managers and 1,207 frontline service employees across 199 financial service enterprises. The results show that HRM strength has a significant negative effect on employees’ turnover intention and a significant positive effect on their SOCB, with perceived organizational support (POS) playing a mediating role. Employer brand moderates the relationship between POS and turnover intention, but its moderating effect on the link between POS and SOCB is not supported. This study proposes that focusing on both HRM strength (internal substance) and employer brand (external image) can better improve service employees’ attitudes and behaviors. It expands research on the determinants of service employees’ attitudes and behaviors and provides new insights for service workforce management.