The South East Asian Journal of Management The South East Asian Journal of Management

Research Aims: Human resources are critical for success in the digital economy. However, IT human resources are predicted to be scarce and attracting IT talent is difficult for many enterprises. Currently, employer branding and social media advertising are possible solutions to these problems. This research aims to evaluate the influence of EVP and social media use on the intention to apply for an IT job. Design/Methodology/Approach: The quantitative research method is used to verify the research model. The sample includes 240 valid respondents from HCMC, Vietnam. The research model includes six independent variables (5 values of EVP and social media use) affecting the intention to apply for a job through organisational reputation. Some analysis methods used include Descriptive Statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha, EFA, Multiple Regression, and Bootstrap Analysis. Research Findings: The results show that 4/5 of the values (except management value) and social media use have positive impacts on reputation and, in turn, on the intention to apply for a job. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This research clarifies the role of employer branding and social media use in attracting talent to the Vietnamese IT industry. The mediating role of organisational reputation is also confirmed using the bootstrapping method. Managerial Implication in the South East Asian Context: Based on the results, some recommendations have been made to improve the attractiveness of the IT industry in Vietnam and the ASEAN context. Research Limitations & Implications: Limitations of the study include the s mall sample size and lack of other aspects of employer branding. So, increasing the sample size and adding some other factors could be implications for future research directions.


Impact of Employer Value Proposition and Social Media Use on the Intention to Impact of Employer Value Proposition and Social Media Use on the Intention to
Apply for a Job in the IT Industry of Vietnam Apply for a Job in the IT Industry of Vietnam Cover Page Footnote Cover Page Footnote

INTRODUCTION
Today, employer branding is valuable and necessary for any organisation to create desire in candidates' minds, attracting them to apply for a job at the employer's company if they have the opportunity. A good employer brand is not only helpful in attracting new candidates but also useful for improving the engagement of internal employees (Agarwal et al., 2021). However, there is a lack of research on connecting employer branding activities (such as employer value proposition (EVP) marketing) and applicant attitudes (Theurer et al., 2018).
The development of online social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.) has made social media a strategic tool for recruiting due to characteristics including the ability to become viral in the short term, time and cost savings, and ease of communication with candidates (Vietnamworks, 2014). Social media has also become one of the most important means for building a brand community. However, according to Vietnamworks, a popular website for recruiting and finding a job in Vietnam, 79% of Vietnamese entrepreneurs were short of human capital in the first six months of 2019. The figure is much higher for smaller businesses, accounting for 87% of those with 500-1000 employees. As a result, there is substantial competition for talent.
The IT industry has enjoyed strong growth in recent years. The demand for recruitment has rocketed from 12,550 jobs to 62,826 jobs (an increase of 56%) due to the Industry 4.0 era with the appearance and development of foreign investment and new IT start-up companies; the growth of Fintech, which includes Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, Data Science, Big Data and Cyber Security; and the trend of Digital Transformation (Truong, 2019). In this context, the Vietnamese IT industry faces a shortage of IT labour force. However, the supply of IT employee resources is limited. Vietnam has 153 universities with an IT education program, and 50,000 learners graduate each year, but only 30% of them can adapt to the requirements to begin working immediately. As a result, about 350,000 IT positions need to be filled, and the deficiency of the labour force amounts to about 70,000-90,000 people. Numerous foreign IT companies come to Vietnam to invest and outsource because of the Vietnamese market's benefits. Therefore, the requirement for IT recruitment in the Vietnam market is increasing daily due to not only the domestic enterprises but also the external organisations.
Overall, the development of social media and the increase in the number of users bring numerous benefits and drawbacks for employers and recruiters. Facing the huge loss of talent for the economy in general and the labour force shortage in the IT industry in particular, the "war" for talent becomes more intense day by day, and it will be a difficult problem for the recruiters of 3 every IT organisation to solve (Pham, 2017). Consequently, it is vital to identify and understand the factors that affect the intention to choose an IT job through social media for potential employees of Vietnamese organisations.
Moreover, the impact of employer value proposition (EVP, encompassing social value, interest value, application value, development value, economic value, management value, and work/life balance) and social media use (communication) on the intention to apply for a job in the IT industry has not been quantitatively evaluated (Dabirian et al., 2019). In particular, there is a lack of research on this topic in the IT industry of developing countries like Vietnam (Ha & Luan, 2018), so it is necessary to do more research and to find solutions for attracting human resources to the IT industry in Vietnam.
The results of such research could help determine the impact of employer branding and the use of social media on the choice of potential employees, which is very important for IT companies to develop their brand awareness and value propositions. In the strong competition in the IT industry to recruit the best people, this research may have practical significance.
Specific objectives of this research are as follows: (1) to measure the impact of employer branding and the use of social media on the intention to apply for a job, and (2) to offer recommendations for improving the brand image of IT enterprises in Vietnam. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 presents the literature review; Section 3 proposes the research methods; Section 4 reports the analysis results and discussion; Section 5 presents the managerial implications in the South East Asia context; Section 6 summarises the theoretical contribution; and, finally, Section 7 presents the conclusions and limitations.

Social media
Social media are virtual social spaces that users can access through any Internet-based device.
Social media allow individuals in these virtual communities to share, create, discuss and exchange user-generated content (Dabirian et al., 2019). Social media thus constitutes a powerful tool for marketing and advertising, as well as a platform for social commerce.

Social media recruitment
In social media recruitment, recruiters use social media to communicate with talent and attract them to apply for an existing job position (Henderson & Bowley, 2010). Facebook, which is a free social network, is one of the most popular platforms for social commerce in the world. 4 However, LinkedIn, a professional social media platform focusing on recruiting activity, could be considered a good environment for building an organisational brand and recruiting potential candidates.

Employer brand & employer branding
An employer brand is defined as the set of functionalities and economic and psychological benefits offered by an employer and identified with the employing company (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). According to Minchington (2010), the employer brand is the image of the organisation as a "great working place" in the mind of all stakeholders. Employer value proposition (EVP) is correlated with the employer brand. EVP refers to the benefits provided by the organisation for attracting potential candidates. Some characteristics of EVP include uniqueness, relevance, and intensity. EVP is considered the key element to attracting talent and improving employee engagement and retention (Michington, 2010). In previous research (Berthon et al., 2005), EVP has been considered a measure of employer attractiveness.
According to Backhaus and Tikoo (2004), employer branding is grounded in the resource-based view and human resource theory, and it aims at creating a unique and desirable image for the employer to differentiate it from its competitors. Employer branding is the process of constructing an employer identity aimed at internal and potential employees, to set the employer apart from others (Sivertizen, 2013). Based on the employer branding value chain model of Theurer et al. (2018), employer branding may have an impact on potential applicants' mindset about the employer brand, which may lead to their intention to apply and thus contribute to the firm's performance and competitiveness. This research follows the employer branding theory of Dabirian et al. (2019), wherein employer branding can be used effectively to attract talent and to create a competitive advantage for IT companies.

Recruiting activities of IT industry in Vietnam
A human resource report from resources.base.vn in 2018 provided data about more than 14 prestigious websites for recruitment in Vietnam. At the top of the list, VietnamWorks had 4.5 million active users per month. Other listed websites included CareerBuilder, Jobstreet, Vieclam-24h, Tim-viec-nhanh, Ybox.vn, Mywork, CareerLink, TopCV, Itviec, TopDev, and Internship.edu.vn. These websites are not considered social media platforms, but social media users can access these websites through advertising on social media platforms.
In 2018, the Vietnamese Central Statistical Office reported that the number of Vietnamese people aged above 15 years old was approximately 54 million. In the first quarter of 2019, this number increased by more than 300,000. The unemployment in the same period was low, at 2.17%, representing a decrease of 0.03% compared to 2018 (Truong, 2019).
On the other hand, the need for online recruitment in Vietnam increased by 11% compared to 2017 (Vietnamworks, 2019), while the online human resource supply rose only 5%, indicating the potential for increased rivalry in the Vietnamese online recruitment market. As a result, in the first 6 months of 2019, 79% of enterprises did not have enough employees.
In the IT industry, based on an annual report from TopDeveloper.vn (Truong, 2019), 52.2% of IT employees were 20-29 years old, and 53% of IT employees had less than 3 years experience.
Moreover, 75.2% of developers care about compensation packages when applying for a job. In addition, the recruiting requirement in the IT industry increased 56% from 2015 to 2019.

Related research
Some related studies are summarised in the following table.    This study characterises the employer branding implementation and the employer's perspective on it. By conducting ten semi-structured, in-depth interviews, the authors examine how employer branding practices have been applied and used in practice. The results suggest that some stages of branding can be identified as general. Furthermore, practical insights are provided about the company's roles and the relationship with the current state of art.

Research model
After analysing the previous studies, the research model of Sivertzen et al. (2013) was selected for use in this research because it emphasised both employer attractiveness and the employer's use of social media as determinants of organisational reputation, which impact the intention to apply for a job. However, the results of previous studies are not consistent, especially for various industries (Theurer et al., 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to conduct such a study in the context of the IT industry in Vietnam.
Employer attractiveness in Sivertzen et al. (2013) has been measured using the EmpAt scale, which was developed by Berthon et al. (2005) and can be grouped into five dimensions: interest value, social value, economic value, development value, and application value. However, these scales need to be revised to be more suitable for the IT industry. According to Dabirian et al. (2019), there are eight EVPs in the IT industry, including social value, interest value, application value, development value, economic value, management value, work/life balance, and brand image. Of these, brand image is similar to the organisation's reputation, so it is excluded from the list of EVPs for this study.
Differing from the previous studies, in the IT industry context, a candidate's long-term viewpoint should be considered when searching for information about IT companies through various job-related social media. According to qualitative research, it is difficult for a candidate to find information related to the internal business environment (work/life balance, application value). Thus, there are only five aspects of EVPs to be considered in the proposed research 7 model, including social value, interest value, development value, economic value, and management value.
In summary, based on the original framework of Sivertzen et al. (2013), with consideration of other EVPs of the IT industry suggested by Dabirian et al. (2019), a proposed research model can be established. Independent factors include social value, interest value, economic value, development value, management value, and social media use. The mediating factor is the organisation's reputation, and the dependent factor is the intention to apply for a job. The proposed research model is summarised in the following figure. f. Social media use: the effective use of social media as a communication channel for advertising, sharing, and connecting with applicants (Sivertzen et al., 2013).
g. Organisational reputation: the brand image or good information about the organisational brand in terms of social perception (Rampl, 2014 h. Intention to apply for a job: the intention of an applicant to apply for a job immediately or recommend that others apply if there is a vacancy (Sivertzen et al., 2013).

Hypotheses
Relationship marketing is formed by trust, teamwork, fairness, networking and recognition. In which employer branding is the "nucleus" for establishing the base of an employee-oriented enterprise with a positive reputation from the inside out (Küçükkancabaş et al., 2009;Martin et al., 2011). Also, there is a positive relation between EVPs and the firm's social performance (Turban & Greening, 1997). Thus, employer attractiveness has a strong relationship with corporate reputation. According to Berthon et al. (2005), employer attractiveness can be measured by five main aspects of EVPs (social, interest, economic, development, and application value). According to Sivertzen et al. (2013), social value, interest value, economic value, and development value have positive impacts on corporate reputation. Moreover, Dabirian et al. (2019) showed that the management value of an IT enterprise has a relationship with the organisational reputation. Therefore, the following hypotheses can be stated: H1. Social value has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
H2. Interest value has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
H3. Economic value has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
H4. Development value has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
H5. Management value has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
Social media has become a strategic tool for marketing and recruiting for many companies.
Social media can cause either damage or improve the reputation of an enterprise (Sivertzen et al., 2013). Also, based on a study by Collins (2007) H6. Social media use has a positive impact on the reputation of the IT organisation.
A good organisational reputation brings several benefits to the organisation and leads candidates to apply for available positions. Therefore, the intention to apply for a job depends on organisational reputation and employer brand message (Sutherland et al., 2002;Theurer et al., 2018). Sivertzen (2013) found a positive relationship between corporate reputation and the 9 intention to apply for a job. According to Edwards (2010), the probability of talented candidates applying for a job increases when an organisation has a good reputation. Therefore, hypothesis 7 can be stated as follows: H7. The reputation of the IT organisation has a positive impact on the intention to apply for a job.
Moreover, EVPs and social media use can have an indirect impact on the intention to apply for an IT job through the mediating role of organisational reputation. Based on Sivertzen (2013), some EVPs have an indirect impact on the intention to apply for a job. Therefore, hypothesis 8 can be stated as follows: H8. The mediating role of organisational reputation on the relationship of independent variables and the intention to apply for a job is indirect and positive.

RESEARCH METHOD
The research process included 5 stages as follows: a. Stage 1: The problem was identified and determined.

Descriptive statistics of sample
The final questionnaire was distributed at various universities in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and also shared online through social media, including LinkedIn and IT communities on Of the 240 valid samples (

Reliability test using Cronbach's Alpha
Cronbach's Alpha of the component scales is shown in the following tables. All coefficients are satisfied (>0.6), and item-total correlation > 0.3. Thus, all variables are reliable and can be used for further analysis (Hair et al., 2014).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
After analysing the scale's reliability, the first step of EFA is to conduct factor analysis based on 23 observed independent variables. The results show that the KMO coefficient is 0.767 (> 0.5), Barlett's value is 2360.589, and the significant level (Sig) is 0.000 (< 0.05), which means the indicators of the same factor are closely associated. The total variance explained is 67.051% > 50%, which can explain 66.467% of the variation in the data set by six factors. Moreover, the Eigenvalue is 1.280, which is higher than 1 and thus meets the factor analysis criterion (Hair et al., 2014).
As can be seen in the EFA results, observed variables satisfy the following conditions: Similarly, EFA can be run for mediating variables and dependent variables. According to the results, the coefficient of KMO is 0.780, which is higher than 0.5, and Bartlett's test result is valued at 356.714 with a significance level of 0.000 (< 0.05), so this analysis is appropriate for further analysis. The results can be summarised as follows: the eigenvalue value is 2.631 (> 1), and the total variance is 65.772% (> 50%). Thus, the observed variables meet the convergence value requirement, and all the loading factors are higher than 0.5.

Correlation and Regression Analysis
Based on the results regarding EFA, there are eight representative factors formed from the mean of the observed variables that can be used for correlation analysis and regression analysis.  Management SEAM © (2022) Vol. 16 No. 2 13 correlation between the Reputation of organisation and Intention to apply for a job is statistically significant. Thus, these variables can be used for the regression analysis. Testing hypotheses of the model: The results of hypothesis testing show that the relationship between independent and dependent variables is meaningful at the 95% confidence level (except H5). Testing the mediating role of organisational reputation using bootstrap analysis: To test the mediating role of organisational reputation between independent variables and the intention to apply for a job, bootstrap analysis is used. The results of the bootstrap analysis (at 5000 times, confidence level 95%) are summarised in the following table. Based on the above results, organisational reputation is confirmed to have a mediating role between the independent variables (except management value) and the dependent variable (intention to apply for a job). Therefore, hypothesis H8 is confirmed.

Discussions
According to the results of the regression analysis, five factors are confirmed to directly affect the reputation of an IT organisation, including social value, interest value, economic value, development value, and social media use. Then, the reputation of an IT organisation directly impacts the intention to apply for a job (beta=0.734), which confirms the strong effect of reputation on candidates' choice in the IT industry.
Moreover, organisational reputation is found to play a mediating role and strengthen the impact of EVPs and social media use on the intention to apply for a job in the IT industry. This result is different from the previous study by Sivertzen et al. (2013), in which most of these independent variables seem to have no significant indirect effects on the intention to apply for a job through reputation. The difference could be explained in the context of the two studiesthe previous one in the Norwegian engineering industry and this one in the Vietnamese IT industry. Because of the technology orientation of IT companies, social media use and EVP marketing are found to have significant indirect effects on a firm's reputation on the intention of applicants to apply.
Based on the regression coefficient, social value has the most significant impact on IT organisations' reputation, while social media has the lowest impact (beta=0.409 and beta=0.186, respectively). Development value has a direct effect on the reputation of an IT organisation with a coefficient of 0.343. Moreover, interest value has a coefficient of 0.228, and economic value has a coefficient of 0.224. Therefore, EVPs seem to be more important than social media in building the reputation of an IT organisation.
The use of social media has a direct effect on the reputation of the organisation. Thus, IT companies should take advantage of professional social media to build up their brand, share their internal values, and attract more talent. In addition, using social media skillfully will help IT companies advertise their EVPs, which in turn will indirectly influence these IT organisations' reputations (Davison et al., 2011;Pham & Huynh, 2017). Unlike the results of Sivertzen et al. (2013), in this research, social value is the strongest determinant of the organisation's reputation. This could be explained by the differences between the two cultures under study (European and Asian) and between the developmental levels of the two countries. In Vietnam, a representative of Asian culture, social value is an outstanding feature of an IT job. Based on the survey data, Grab and VNG are the two IT brands that respondents chose as their favourite brands. Recently, Grab and VNG used the office image, the working space, and the facility at the company to attract candidates. The main point is that these qualities of social value touch the heart of applicants. According to the in-depth interviews, most IT employees' basic requirement is a creative working space where they can focus on their tasks and projects. Furthermore, several institutions are sharing their images of a good working environment and posting cultural stories on social media to attract talents.
Therefore, effectively utilising social media to share images and video is one way to improve the employer's brand strategy.
Economic value refers to the compensation and benefits package. During the in-depth interviews, all the respondents mentioned economic value as their top priority. However, not every employer provides salary information but instead simply defines the range of income as "negotiable." Moreover, for a particular position, each person's salary may differ based on how much they request in the interview, and the employees in the company must not share their salary with others. On the other hand, benefits are among the key factors that affect job choice and company loyalty for an IT-oriented candidate. These benefits include insurance, day-off policies, and work-from-home policies (especially during the Covid-19 period). Consequently, employers can focus on their benefits package to improve their employer branding strategy.
Social media use has numerous benefits and offers cost savings to recruiters. However, the feedback and review of a company are mostly provided by Internet users, and the enterprise cannot control this interaction. Talentbrand (2020) showed that employers often use Facebook and LinkedIn to advertise job vacancies and job listings. However, this approach often does not bring many contributions to the employer brand strategy. Instead, using social networks to communicate with candidates and share valuable content is more natural for the online community. As an example, Microsoft uses Twitter to share videos about their employees and working culture.
According to the analysis results, management value has no significant impact on organisational reputation, in contrast to the study of Dabirian et al. (2019). The reason for this could be related to respondents' difficulty evaluating the manager and management system of an IT company, especially if they have not worked for the company before, since information about the management system of a company is not shared widely through any communication channel.
Moreover, based on the qualitative study, management value is not assumed to be an important factor in the context of the IT industry (appendix A). concerns related to building a good reputation, especially for multinational organisations (Ibrahim, 2016). A good organisational reputation is a sure way for the IT company to attract talents. Some best practices include protecting the environment, creating good conditions for employees, supporting social projects, and sharing good stories or comments of customers and employees through social media.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS IN THE SOUTH EAST ASIAN CONTEXT
For IT companies in the South East Asian countries, EVPs should be developed and shared through regionally popular social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, and Line. In the development of the ASEAN economic community, IT human resources could be shared between countries in the region. Therefore, increasing the use of social media with English support will help to develop social capital and to connect with and attract IT talents (Pham & Huynh, 2017).
Combining traditional marketing and social media marketing can be a good way to build reputation, increase the awareness of applicants about a company's EVPs, and turn a brand name into a brand of choice.

THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
This research clarifies the role of EVPs and social media use in attracting talents to the IT industry.
Four employer value propositions (social value, development value, interest value, and economic value) have influences on a firm reputation stronger than the influence of social media use. This result differs from those of previous studies in other industries (Purusottama & Ardianto, 2019;Rampl, 2014). This means that to attract good applicants, IT companies should pay more attention to developing their long-term benefits, such as working environment, open culture, career development, learning opportunities, and so on.
Based on the bootstrap analysis, the mediating role of organisational reputation is also confirmed.
Some previous studies (Sivertzen et al., 2013;Ha & Luan, 2018) did not find the importance of firm reputation to be a mediating factor of the influence between independent factors (EVPs and social media use) and the intention to apply for a job. In this research, organisational reputation is found to be an important mediating factor. Therefore, the firm reputation of IT companies is critical in strengthening the impact of employer branding and social media use on the intention to apply for an IT job.

CONCLUSION
Through a survey of 240 respondents in Ho Chi Minh City, the proposed research model was tested. The results confirm six of the hypotheses. Four EVPs (social value, development value, interest value, economic value) and the use of social media were found to have positive impacts on the reputation of IT organisations. Then, reputation has a positive impact on the intention to apply for a job.
Based on the analysis results, some recommendations for IT companies in Vietnam and in the ASEAN area to increase their organisational reputation and attract good candidates can be suggested, including (1) communicating EVPs to their potential candidates, especially focusing on social value (working environment), development value (long-term career path), interest value (job characteristic), and economic value (payoff); (2) actively using career-oriented social media for advertising and to make contact with various groups of users for supporting recruiting activities; and (3) paying attention to efforts to improve current employees' satisfaction and corporate social responsibility for building a good reputation through viral marketing.
However, the research has some limitations, including: (1) the small sample size and (2) the evaluation of only the indirect impact of EVPs on the intention to apply for a job through the reputation of the organisation. Thus, some directions for future research include: (1) increasing the sample size and the scope to various other areas in ASEAN countries and (2) considering other independent factors relating to employer branding and evaluating both the direct and indirect impacts on the intention to apply for an IT job.

Appendix B -Final Questionnaire
Code Adjusted Measurement Scale Sources SV Social Value Sivertzen et al., 2013;Hur, 2012 SV1 The working environment is bright and clean, which helps me focus on my work SV2 Spaces for working and entertainment help me to be creative at work SV3 The workplace is equipped with modern facilities SV4 Co-workers always engage in positive exchange with and offer feedback to colleagues SV5 The organisational culture is always respectful toward both old and new employees IV Interest Value Sivertzen et al., 2013 IV1 The job is always innovative (not a routine job) IV2 Tasks are related to new technologies that help employees enjoy their work IV3 The job is consistent with my personal orientation and personal preferences EC Economic Value Collins, 2007;Berthon et al., 2005 EV1 The salary is higher than the expected salary for the position EV2 The policy of promotion is based on the performance of each person EV3 The bonus policy is based on individual performance EV4 Various beneficial policies exist (insurance, vacation, work from home, etc.) DV Development Value Sivertzen et al., 2013;Collins, 2007 DV1 There are challenging tasks that help me to feel better about myself DV2 There is a clear promotion roadmap for each job DV3 Working here enables me to expand my relationship with talented people DV4 The work requires me to learn continuously to build a better career MV Management Value Bellou et al., 2015 MV1 Suitable advice is provided to employees by the manager MV2 The effort of employees is recognized by their managers MV3 The management system is a meritocracy SMU Social Media Use Sivertzen et al., 2013 SMU1 I found job advertisements through social media SMU2 The job description and related information are posted on social media SMU3 Detailed posts about company and its achievements are attractive to me SMU4 I can communicate directly with the company via social media SMU5 I found reviews of other people about the company via social media REP Reputation of Organisation Sivertzen et al., 2013;Rampl, 2014