Purpose The latest research in the field of employer branding highlights a mix of marketing principles and recruitment practices, based on the concept that, just as customers have perceptions of an organisation’s brand, then so do other stakeholders including employees. However, the emphasis has been on organisations, which predominantly operate in developed countries typically with Westernised-individualistic cultures. This paper aims to investigate employer branding for service organisations’ image and attraction as an employer in a non-Western culture. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the perceptions of human resources’ professionals and practitioners on the role of employer branding in employer attractiveness and talent management, within Mauritian banking sector. The data collection for this qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with senior managers from Mauritian banking organisations, including multinational enterprises, small business unit banks and Mauritian banks. Findings Analysis of the findings showed that organisations, and banks in this case, are increasingly competing to attract highly skilled personnel in various professional areas; therefore, those organisations that attract the best talent will have a distinct edge in the marketplace. Furthermore, findings from the semi-structured interviews with senior managers suggest that employer branding remains at the embryonic stage within the Mauritian banking sector; therefore, a clear need exists for a more developed strategy. Research limitations/implications The outcomes of this study call for re-engineering with regards to managerial collaboration in organisations for the successful design and implementation of the employer branding strategy. The empirical findings from the Mauritian banking sector show that the strategic position occupied by the human resource function is still at an embryonic stage as regards with the competitiveness of banks as service organisations. Practical implications The study presents a need for the development and maintenance of long-term collaborative and trust-based relationships between the human resource and marketing functions. Originality/value The insights provided through this study addresses the dearth of academic research on employer branding on the African continent while providing invaluable information from a human resource professional perspective.

Purpose Under Saudi Vision 2030, there is a forthcoming raise of support to small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the current 20 per cent of GDP to 35 per cent; thus, SMEs’ access to finance is becoming easier. At the same time, the cosmetics retail industry is expected to rapidly grow further in the next few years, on account of the already mounting demand and easy availability of cosmetics through online channels. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of beauty Instagram influencers in advertising as a tool to increase competitiveness for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory research design was used and in-depth interviews were conducted to get a better understanding of female Saudi young adults’ perceptions with regards to trust towards Instagram influencers, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and advertising. Findings SMEs can benefit greatly from eWOM in their quest for competitiveness. Therefore, when a beauty influencer on Instagram advertises a product to SMEs followers this leads to increased awareness and purchase intention. The findings indicated that the participants are quite sceptical when receiving reviews or promotion from beauty influencers on social media, as they rarely regard them as authentic. Moreover participants seem to trust influential beauty Instagrammers when they had a positive experience with the influencer before. Trust, honesty and authenticity were important factors that increase the impact of eWOM. Originality/value This paper offers an in-depth understanding of the use of Instagram advertising and eWOM in a rapidly developing industry and explores these as key communication pathways for modern SMEs in their effort to achieve resilience and competitiveness.

Purpose This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review and a set of propositions to identify the antecedent of women managers’ resilience and develops a conceptual framework for resilience. Findings The results indicate that in addition to personal resilience traits, interactive engagement with the work environment, career adaptability and positive human resource management (HRM) interventions are the main antecedents of women managers’ resilience. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to theory by providing a new perspective on the study of resilience as a process at the organisational level and as a trait at personal level. It contributes to the women employee-centric resilience discussion in HRM literature and explores the relationship between resilience and women managers’ career progression. This is a developmental study, and despite the strengths of the undertaken approach, there are a number of limitations due to the lack of empirical evidence. Therefore, future research activities should focus on validating the framework and determining any potential boundaries of this resilience framework. Practical implications The study reveals a number of practical implications leading to a recommended resilience toolkit for HR managers of organisations to develop and promote resilience in their women managers and aspiring managers. Social implications The social implications of this study include the social relationships within the work-setting, better employee engagement and interaction with the work environment and flexible career progression pathways. Originality/value The paper is based on rich conceptual and theoretical discussion that identifies the key antecedents of women managers’ resilience. The study also conceptually establishes the moderating relationship between women managers’ resilience and work stress and burnout.

Extant relevant literature suggests that nonmarket elements such as social ties are important strategic options that may help organisations enhance their competitiveness relative to other competitors when bidding for important supply jobs. However, our current understanding of their effects on organisational outcomes, especially in public supplier selection decisions in emerging economies, is far from complete. Using a sample of 342 experienced senior management team (SMT) members and senior level staff in 40 public sector organisations in Nigeria, this study examined the relative importance of business and political ties as sources of advantage and strategic intelligence for prospective vendors and contractors during strategic supplier selection decisions. Our findings show that both business and political ties are significant predictors of supplier selection outcomes, and their relative importance in the selection outcome is indistinguishable and key to strategic decision making. Overall, our result suggests that both business and political ties can be utilised as sources of important resources by supplier firms.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical work climates (EWCs) and supplier selection decisions (SSDs), and the moderating roles of party politics and personal values on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach A total of 600 senior-level personnel from 40 Nigerian public organizations were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses developed for the study after assessing construct reliability and validity. Findings Results show that both high and low levels of external political pressures significantly reduce the perception that organizational SSDs are ruled based and pro-social in nature. Furthermore, regardless of the level of perception of instrumental personal values by employees, instrumental ethical climates significantly determine SSDs; principled/cosmopolitan climate and benevolent/cosmopolitan climate only become significant perceptible determinants when there is less room for the accommodation of personal goals during SSD processes. Research limitations/implications This study only examined the relationship between ethical climate perceptions and SSDs without controlling for the effects of some important possible intervening variables on this relationship. Therefore, the study encouraged future researcher to enhance the generalizability of the findings by incorporate relevant control variables in the model, as well as examining other decision phases in the public buying process. Originality/value This study is original to the extent that only a few studies in the literature are devoted to perceptions of EWCs in African organizations, and no previous studies have examined this phenomenon in relation to SSDs in Nigerian public firms.

A growing phenomenon in the Internet is the rising exploitation of sophisticated security means (e.g. cryptography, digital signatures etc.) toward the development of novel commerce services for providing electronic transactions, collaborating with business partners or serving customers, regardless of geographical and time limitations. This paper discusses, presents and elaborates on the various factors that affect the adaption of Internet banking services in Greece. In particular, it deals with the factors that have been developed within the framework of providing e-banking services over an insecure shared medium like the Internet and affect the Internet Banking customer acceptance. A factor analysis is performed based on the gathered results provided by customer-questionnaires of ALPHA Bank branch in Greece in order to quantify the various parameters that affect the use of an Internet Banking System. The findings of the analysis show that despite the fact that Internet Banking in Greece is steadily increasing its penetration, factors like security, ease of use and perceived usefulness of a system play a major role on the final decision of the customer to adopt an Internet Banking System.

A growing phenomenon in the Internet is the rising exploitation of sophisticated security means (e.g. cryptography, digital signatures etc.) toward the development of novel commerce services for providing electronic transactions, collaborating with business partners or serving customers, regardless of geographical and time limitations. This paper discusses, presents and elaborates on the various factors that affect the adaption of Internet banking services in Greece. In particular, it deals with the factors that have been developed within the framework of providing e-banking services over an insecure shared medium like the Internet and affect the Internet Banking customer acceptance. A factor analysis is performed based on the gathered results provided by customer-questionnaires of ALPHA Bank branch in Greece in order to quantify the various parameters that affect the use of an Internet Banking System. The findings of the analysis show that despite the fact that Internet Banking in Greece is steadily increasing its penetration, factors like security, ease of use and perceived usefulness of a system play a major role on the final decision of the customer to adopt an Internet Banking System.