**1. Introduction**

Today's business world is characterized by fierce competition among organizations that are in search of the most talented employees [1]. This is a consequence of numerous demographic changes (population aging, migration, etc.), as well as the

development of new trends in which the importance of work-life balance is strongly emphasized. Additionally, in today's globalized world with many possibilities for remote work, employees can switch between careers and job positions within different companies across the globe. At the same time, many industries are going through extremely rapid technological changes that require new technical and professional skills [2]. As a result, 7 out of 10 organizations struggle with finding and hiring competent and qualified employees [3]. For this reason, many organizations systematically create, integrate, and proactively implement programs for attracting and retaining talented employees [4].

This new approach to managing talent through internal and external promotional activities is defined as employer branding [5]. Building a successful employer brand combines elements of human resources management and marketing and is increasingly considered an effective organizational strategy that can differentiate a company from its competition [6]. Given that it focuses on the uniqueness and exceptionality of the work environment, it has recently become an important strategy for building the company's reputation and image as a credible and reliable employer [7]. A successfully built employer brand brings multiple benefits to the company. Employer branding activities positively affect the intention of potential candidates to apply for a job position [6], but also increase the motivation and retention of existing employees within the organization [7]. Additional benefits of employer branding include: building a positive image of the company in the eyes of customers, strengthening the financial performance of the organization, establishing a competitive advantage in the market, and creating a favorable organizational culture and work climate [8], which ultimately results in greater employee engagement and commitment [9].

This is particularly important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which play a major role in creating new jobs [10]. However, SMEs today operate in a challenging environment, while simultaneously facing limited financial and human resources that can sometimes constrain them from successfully managing all their business operations, including talent management. That can lead to putting higher pressure on the employees who may work in conditions of overtime work, high expectations, and unattainable plans, which can have a negative impact on their job satisfaction and loyalty [10]. For that reason, creating a favorable place to work for their employees has become a focus of many SMEs, who try to differentiate themselves from other companies and become the desirable employer, that is the "employer of choice" [1]. The main focus of the employer branding process is to design a healthy workplace by identifying and including the elements that are important to the company's current and future employees [7], so as to fulfill their needs and encourage their commitment to the organization. This way employees will stay longer within the company and be motivated to perform at their best, which will reflect on the organizational success as well [9].

Considering the above, the main goal of this study is to realize what elements of the employer brand influence organizational commitment in small and medium-sized enterprises, with a focus on affective organizational commitment (AOC). Affective organizational commitment is considered the most effective approach to measuring loyalty to an organization [11] and is often categorized as the "core essence", that is, as a permanent, irreplaceable, and central component of organizational commitment [12]. Previous research that has studied employer branding and organizational commitment has focused on large organizations, most of which already have wellestablished processes and procedures at the level of the human resources department with the intention of providing a stimulating work environment to their employees

### *The Influence of Employer Brand Dimensions on the Affective Organizational Commitment… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112133*

[13–17]. Due to the differences between large, small, and medium-sized enterprises, the conclusions of the mentioned studies cannot be directly applied to small and medium-sized enterprises [18]. SMEs are characterized by an informal structure that lacks systemic processes on the organizational level [19], which can affect the comprehensive management of human resources. Thus, the aim of this research is to deepen the conceptualization of previous studies made on employer branding and organizational commitment and to expand the theoretical framework for SMEs operating in developing countries, by understanding which elements of employer brand influence affective organizational commitment for employees working in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The research follows the establishment of employer brand dimensions defined by Berthon, Ewing, and Hah, who observed employer branding through the concept of "employer attractiveness" and defined five elements that form "the best employer": (1) *interest value*, which focuses on the exciting and creative work environment, (2) *social value*, whose focus is on collegial connections and team spirit, (3) *economic value,* which places importance on salary and other compensational packages, (4) *development value,* that puts imperative on work recognition, self-esteem, and career development, and (5) *application value,* that appreciates the possibility of knowledge transfer, in the work settings that are customer oriented and humanitarian [20]. By examining the mentioned dimensions, this research aims to shed light on the elements that are important for employees for developing an affective organizational commitment in SMEs. It is estimated that in emerging markets, SMEs generate 7 out of 10 jobs [21], but despite the fact that SMEs employ the majority of workers, little attention and research have been devoted to investigating the impact of employer brand dimensions on affective organizational commitment [22], especially in the European context. Thus, this research aims to fill the identified gap.

The paper is systematized as follows: the introduction is followed by a literature review that briefly presents the concepts of employer branding and affective organizational commitment. The third section focuses on the development of hypotheses, while the fourth section specifies the research methodology. The fifth section presents the empirical analysis and the results of hypotheses testing, which is followed by a discussion of the results together with the limitations and recommendations for future research. In the end, a conclusion systematizes the key findings of the research and describes the theoretical and practical contributions.
