Leveraging LinkedIn as a Digital Platform for Employer Branding: Evidence from the UAE Hotel Industry

Abstract

Employees are the fundamental source of a sustainable competitive advantage. Without the high quality of human capital, organisations cannot attain a competitive advantage that can be sustained over time. Employer branding is a strategy that focuses on engaging and attracting the best talent from the job market, which is crucial for sectors known for high employee turnover rates. In recent years, digital platforms and information technology systems have revolutionised employer branding by helping organisations connect with talent in more personal and innovative ways. In this study, we sought to explore and understand the role of LinkedIn in employer branding efforts and evaluate the benefits of using LinkedIn to brand an employer as the first choice for prospective employees. Additionally, the research proposes a LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM) that incorporates LinkedIn strategies. Qualitative data were collated from the recruiting heads of the leading four- and five-star hotels in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. The findings indicate that LinkedIn is widely used to improve an organisation’s employer brand image through various strategies. The results also demonstrate that employing LinkedIn strategies enhances the benefits of employer branding, contributing to actionable insights in the hotel industry to make excellent decisions at pre-recruitment, recruitment and selection stages.

1. Introduction

The hotel industry has faced unprecedented disruption, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused substantial financial and non-financial losses [1,2]. Global employment in tourism and hospitality fell from 330 million to 272 million, with GDP contribution shrinking from 10% to 5.5% in 2020 [3,4]. Although recovery is underway [5], the crisis exposed the industry’s dependence on high-quality human capital (HC). In the hotel industry, competitive advantage rests not only on physical infrastructure but also on the service quality delivered by employees [6,7]. The ability to attract and retain talented staff with strong knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) is, therefore, critical to post-pandemic competitiveness.

Social media platforms have transformed how organisations engage with potential employees, allowing firms to communicate culture, career opportunities, and values directly to targeted audiences [8,9,10]. Among these platforms, LinkedIn has emerged as the leading professional networking site, providing hotels with a unique space to position themselves as attractive employers and highlight their distinctive benefits [11,12]. Compared with Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn enables more professional interactions, content curation, and career-oriented engagement [13,14]. For hospitality organisations, LinkedIn branding not only strengthens visibility in a competitive labour market but also supports the attraction and retention of highly skilled employees with strong KSAOs [15,16]. As such, LinkedIn branding is becoming an integral component of employer branding strategies within the hotel industry [17,18].

According to [14,17], employer branding is how organisations portray and communicate a positive image so that they can attract, select, and retain potential and current talent. As part of human capital management, it helps organisations to attract and retain talent in a competitive labour market through signalling culture, values, development opportunities, and reward systems [19]. Strong employer brands are also connected with multiple organisational outcomes, higher employee retention and improved service quality [15,18]. Social media, as highlighted by [11,20], increases these effects by empowering interactive engagement with prospective employees. In the hotel industry, social media, particularly LinkedIn, provides a professional space for hotels to showcase culture, opportunities, and expertise [21,22,23].

Despite increasing attention to employer branding, significant gaps remain in understanding how digital platforms, particularly LinkedIn, shape employer image in the hospitality industry [24]. Prior studies have largely examined employer branding from a broad organisational perspective, focusing on generic processes or consumer-facing branding, with limited insight into how online strategies are operationalised in hotel settings [25,26]. Moreover, the mechanisms through which employer image is created, communicated, and translated into employee attraction and retention outcomes remain underexplored [13,20]. Early exploratory work on LinkedIn in hotels confirmed its potential but did not specify which strategies or outcomes drive effective employer branding [21], while recent research on X (formerly Twitter) revealed strengths in attraction but weaknesses in selection, calling for deeper investigation of LinkedIn’s role [27]. A recent systematic review also proposed an integrated framework linking sustainability, technology, and employee experience, yet stressed the need for empirical validation across industries and contexts [28]. Addressing this gap requires qualitative inquiry, capable of capturing the lived experiences and strategic practices of hotel HR managers.

To address the specified gap in the literature in greater detail, a systematic review of the available literature on employer branding in the hospitality industry and other related fields should be considered. The latest empirical studies have enriched the knowledge of employer branding in hospitality and in the emerging economies; however, most of the studies have examined the research question through internal, policy-focused, or generalised social media lenses, instead of tackling the question of platform-specific branding on digital platforms. As an example, ref. [29] explored the connections between human resource practices and the branding of Dubai hotels by focusing on Emiratisation and HR practices as a source of employer and destination image. Their further research [30] also examined the effect of Emiratisation on the hospitality industry brand identity. Similarly, ref. [31] have also studied talent management practices in the Dubai public sector and found a disjointed set of systems, which need to be strategically aligned. Outside of the United Arab Emirates, ref. [32] investigated the role of social media narratives by the employees in improving the authenticity and credibility of employer branding, and [33] undertook a qualitative study of how Indian companies have used social-networking sites to promote brand awareness and talent attraction. None of them, however, has specifically been concerned with LinkedIn as a branding tool within the hospitality setting.

In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, ref. [34] emphasized that internal employer branding and regular communication contributed to an engagement and loyalty of employees in various fields, and it was necessary to transfer the investigation to the external, digitally mediated branding in the post-pandemic recovery. In the United Arab Emirates, qualitative research has primarily focused on conventional HR branding and internal processes [29,30], or digital recruitment through alternative platforms like Twitter [27] has also shown it to be quite attractive but little used in terms of selection. Taken together, these scholarly contributions substantiate the strategic significance of employer branding, but they also show a lack of empirical data concerning the operationalisation of LinkedIn-based employer-branding approaches by HR and recruitment leaders working in hotels. To fill this gap, the current research synthesizes semi-structured interviews and LinkedIn content analysis to create the LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM), which consequently provides a contextual and theoretically informed response to the research in the digital era of hospitality brands. These studies may offer a more subtle insight into successful LinkedIn-based approaches that allow hotels to create specific campaigns that help to recruit the best employees and promote retention in the long-term [18,35].

Research Purpose

The purpose of this research was to investigate LinkedIn strategies for enhancing employer branding in the hotel industry, specifically in four- and five-star hotels. This study also examined the benefits associated with the use of LinkedIn strategies for improving employer branding and proposed a new model of employer branding that integrates LinkedIn strategies based on the research outcomes. Additionally, this research aimed to provide valuable implications for the hotel industry, seeking to attract and retain the right person for the right job, with strong KSAOs, by employing LinkedIn as part of their employer branding strategy. Therefore, the following were the research objectives:

• To explore the LinkedIn strategies used by leading four and five-star hotels to enhance their employer branding.
• To examine the benefits associated with using LinkedIn strategies to improve employer branding for the hotel industry.
• To propose a new model of employer branding that includes LinkedIn strategies based on the findings from the study.

Following this introduction, this paper examines existing literature on employer branding and LinkedIn strategies in the hotel industry. It then discusses the qualitative methodology and case study design used to explore LinkedIn’s role in enhancing employer branding in four- and five-star hotels. Key findings explore specific LinkedIn strategies and their benefits, leading to the introduction of a new LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM). The research concludes with theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and avenues for future research.

In this study, the term hotel industry refers to four- and five-star hotel operations. The term hospitality industry is used only when referring to earlier research that covers the wider service, lodging, travel, and tourism sectors. While both terms are closely related, the discussion here centres on the hotel industry.

2. Literature Review

Organisational brands have been a popular, widely discussed and debated topic in the academic world [36]. It is a term regularly used in marketing, but its meaning can be slightly different depending on the context. It is a set of attributes and characteristics that are mainly linked to a particular product, service or concept. Srivastava et al. [37] conclude that these features include the name, logo, design, packaging, and overall image of a brand. Additionally, it can be seen as the psychological or emotional connection that exists between a business and its customers/users or any other stakeholders, such as the current or potential human capital. This emotional alignment is vital because customers are inclined to have a stronger bond with a product or service when their relationship is based on emotional attitudes and rational judgments for a brand that the organisation offers [38]. Jung & Shegai [39] advocate that a strong brand can support an organisation to differentiate its products or services from rival organisations and build customer loyalty, leading to increased market share and revenue. Also, a brand can signify the identity and reputation of an organisation [40]. It is crucial that the effective management of various elements of a brand, such as its name, design and logo, and brand managers can influence the final product’s value proposition delivered to customers. Eventually, successful brand building can develop additional satisfaction for customers, even when their needs may not be directly related to the product’s core functions [38,41].

Just as branding is essential in building a strong connection with consumers, employer branding plays a vital role in establishing relationships with current and potential employees [42]. As highlighted earlier, employer branding encompasses the unique attributes, values, and workplace culture that differentiate an organisation as an ideal or the first-choice employer [14,17]. By fostering a strong employer brand, companies can attract and engage top talent and retain highly skilled employees, which in turn leads to improved performance and a sustainable competitive advantage in the industry [43]. In the hospitality sector, where delivering exceptional customer service is essential, a strong employer brand plays a decisive role in driving overall organisational success [18]. Recent work by [44] points to the advantages of using LinkedIn to strengthen employer branding, particularly in hotels, a finding also supported by [27]. By making effective use of LinkedIn’s professional features, hotels can highlight their unique value proposition as employers, connect with potential candidates, and ultimately attract and retain skilled employees who enhance organisational performance [45].

2.1. Elements of Employer Branding in the Hotel Industry

Employer branding is a multi-dimensional concept that consists of several key elements contributing to its overall effectiveness in attracting and retaining top talent within the hotel industry. It has been highlighted that attractiveness to potential job applicants, engagement and retention of talent with existing and potential job seekers, and the close connection between a company’s corporate and customer brands are the key elements of employer branding [46]. Attractiveness to outsiders, which includes active and passive job seekers, is crucial as it determines how appealing an organisation is to potential employees, ultimately influencing their decision to pursue a serious career interest within the organisation [47]. Engagement and retention of talent are vital for maintaining a skilled and committed workforce that drives exceptional customer service and overall business success [48]. Other elements include perceived brand-centered human capital management, perceived brand-specific transformational leadership style, perceived internal brand communication, perceived brand-oriented support, and perceived external brand prestige [49]. These elements can play a significant role in developing a robust employer branding strategy that addresses the industry’s current challenges and attracts top talent.

Recent popular research [50] found that organisational reputation, growth opportunities, monetary elements, and working conditions significantly influenced workplace selection, while employee value perceptions and social elements had no significant effect. This advocates the importance of understanding and efficiently and effectively managing these vital foundations of employer branding to retain and attract high-value talent in the hospitality industry. Another study [29] grouped human capital practices in internal branding and employer branding, focused on hotel and destination brand image enrichment. Their research found the mutually dependent human capital practices for engaging, motivating and retaining workforce, and identified HR practices that play a crucial role in enhancing the destination and hotel brand. By having the foundations of branding an employer and utilising effective and contemporary human capital practices, hospitality organisations can develop efficient employer branding strategies that overcome the industry’s current challenges and attract key players who match with jobs and organisations’ requirements. Furthermore, other researchers [51] support the importance of employees as partners of the employer branding efforts, with personnel acting as brand advocates, members, representatives and influencers, increasing knowledge about the organisation internally as well as externally. Their research provided a different perspective and the critical importance of not only targeting potential employees but also partnering the employer value proposition with current human capital.

Overall, understanding and effectively managing the key elements of employer branding, including attractiveness to outsiders, engagement and retention of talent, and effective human resource practices, can contribute to enhanced hotel and destination brand image and attract and retain top talent in the hotel industry. By incorporating the co-creation of the employer brand with employees, hotel organisations can also enhance the internal and external knowledge of the organisation, ultimately leading to business success.

2.2. Employer Branding Challenges and Opportunities

Having established the key elements of employer branding in the hotel industry, it is crucial to understand the unique challenges and opportunities this sector faces in implementing these strategies. As highlighted earlier, employer branding is the process by which companies convey their values and culture to potential employees and has thus become critical in maintaining a competitive advantage to attract and retain talent [52,53]. Brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty are the key dimensions of consumer-based brand equity in the hospitality industry [54]. However, in the process of employer branding, hospitality managers face challenges such as attracting and retaining quality employees who possess a combination of relevant soft skills, including interpersonal skills, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities [55,56]. Despite being one of the developed sectors in the global economic era and a top employment provider, the hospitality industry still experiences classical challenges of employment and sustainability [57]. The hospitality industry is known for high staff turnover rates, which makes it challenging to maintain a consistent and positive brand image [58,59].

Moreover, given the dual nature and function of the employer brand, there is often a lack of a unified approach by companies in managing their employer brands [60]. Many hotels experience fluctuations in business throughout the year, leading to seasonal employment patterns [61]. This can make it difficult for hotels to retain top talent and maintain a stable employer brand [62]. Also, the hotel industry is highly competitive to attract and retain the best workforce, as hotels need to ensure that their employees possess the right skills and knowledge to deliver top-notch services consistently [63].

2.3. LinkedIn and Employer Branding

LinkedIn is a critical platform for organisations, especially the hospitality industry, seeking to build a robust employer brand. Employer branding pertains to an organisation’s image and its capability to draw, sustain and engage a high-quality workforce [64]. As highlighted earlier and illustrated [9], employer branding embodies the notion utilised to portray an institution’s standing as an employer and the potential benefits employees may accrue from it. For organisations to distinguish themselves from the competition, it becomes crucial that they have the capacity to attract and retain the talents they seek [65,66]. In the contemporary business landscape, organisations effectively merge conventional hiring techniques with social media platforms to publicise their employer brand. Enhancing the employer brand can bolster employee retention, engagement, and satisfaction. By externally advocating its brand, the organisation augments its attractiveness to prospective employees [67].

Indicators suggest that social media has a promising future in employer branding, although further studies are still warranted [68,69]. The utilisation of social media as a distinct communication platform allows messages to be disseminated to a large audience at a swift pace. The way in which employer brands modify their communication style could be key to cultivating the relationships they aspire to establish with their target audiences, such as existing employees and potential candidates [62,70].

As the world’s most extensive professional network, LinkedIn boasts over 1.2 billion users across more than 200 countries and territories [71]. It is designed to facilitate the sharing of work-related information among professionals, including potential employers and colleagues, both current and former [72]. Recent research [21] observed that, notwithstanding the potential of LinkedIn to nurture and strengthen stakeholder relationships, its primary use by companies is for recruitment and employer branding, becoming a prime tool for sourcing high-quality personnel. From an employer branding perspective, this suggests that LinkedIn, as a professional platform, offers organisations a promising channel to establish and maintain their brand image, appeal to potential employees, and efficiently source quality talent [73].

A strong employer brand on LinkedIn sets a business apart from its competitors and helps draw top talent from the industry [74]. On this professional network, companies can offer potential employees a glimpse into their culture and work environment. They can establish their employer brand by crafting company pages that echo their culture and values. Such pages may present the company’s mission and vision, testimonials from employees, and specifics of employee benefits [75]. Furthermore, LinkedIn enables companies to share content relevant to their industry or niche, thus exhibiting their expertise. By distributing valuable insights, tips, and industry knowledge, companies can position themselves as industry leaders, attracting prospective employees eager to work for a knowledgeable and innovative company [21].

It is a potent social media tool that helps to build an employer’s reputation, which is part and parcel of public relations, and aims at forming the perception of a brand [76]. LinkedIn professional networking serves as a major resource for organisations to strengthen their reputation and presence in the industry [77]. It can be used by organisations to publish useful content regularly, react to interactions with the audience, and demonstrate their professionalism [78]. Another benefit of the LinkedIn tool is its ability to showcase news and achievements of the company and its employees, thus allowing the employer to improve brand recognition and create a positive impression [72]. Membership of the various relevant groups and industry-oriented discussions also enables organisations to establish themselves as an expert and a leader, thus increasing their reputation and credibility in the industry [79]. Based on this, LinkedIn offers a powerful platform upon which organisations attempt to control their reputation and build a positive brand image [67].

Social media and employer advocacy have a direct relationship to attract, hire and retain current and potential skilled talent [80]. They further highlighted that social media and employee advocacy are closely linked to attracting, hiring, and retaining skilled talent. Employee advocacy means giving staff the chance to share company updates and values on their own social media accounts [81]. This practice can strengthen credibility and build trust with wider audiences [82]. On LinkedIn, it is especially powerful because it improves both branding and reputation [83]. Employees’ personal networks extend the hotel’s reach, highlight its culture, and show the human side of the organisation [84,85]. This openness helps potential applicants to trust the company more and for advocacy to work well, hotels must provide empowerment to employees, as personal information sources are preferred over organisational source information [86]. In today’s digital setting, using LinkedIn effectively has become central to employer branding and reputation building [67].

LinkedIn has also changed how recruitment and selection take place. It is often used to find senior managers or applicants with very specialised skills [21]. Studies by [27,73] confirm that many HR professionals see LinkedIn as the most effective social recruitment tool for reaching and identifying suitable candidates. The platform’s features, such as networking, applying for jobs, and showcasing skills, can lead to quicker and better alignment with jobs and are particularly attractive to passive job seekers [87].

Organisations can run detailed searches for suitable job seekers on LinkedIn and then market themselves to engage these potential applicants [88]. Hidayah et al. [87] emphasised the professional platform’s ease of use, its efficacy for networking, talent research, recruitment, and professional focus. Recruiters often review LinkedIn profiles to assess a potential job applicant’s career development, which includes previous and current jobs, job-related skills, professional contacts, and contact details [89].

There are, however, ongoing debates about its reliability, validity, and even legal concerns in talent sourcing [90]. To reduce these risks, researchers recommend using LinkedIn alongside other recruitment methods to improve decision-making. Research [91] also notes its advantage as a cost-efficient recruitment channel. The platform allows employers to set up company pages to grow followers, create showcase pages to target niche audiences, and use groups to interact directly with job seekers. Taken together, LinkedIn offers many practical tools for branding and recruitment. Organisations that stay active and visible on the platform are more likely to attract quality applicants, increase recognition, and maintain an advantage in the labour market.

Based on the gaps identified in the literature review, this research investigated how four- and five-star hotels apply LinkedIn strategies to strengthen their employer branding and assessed the benefits of these strategies for the industry. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative exploratory methodology was employed, as detailed in the next section.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Design and Unit of Analysis

This research team employed a qualitative methodology using an exploratory case study design to explore the LinkedIn strategies employed by four and five-star hotels for their employer branding efforts. The qualitative orientation was chosen because the phenomenon under study, digital employer branding through LinkedIn, is relatively new and under-theorised, requiring an interpretivist lens to understand meanings and managerial sense-making rather than to test pre-existing hypotheses. The study was designed to reach a point of data saturation, which is a critical indicator in qualitative research for when to cease data collection [92]. Consistent with qualitative logic that prioritises depth over breadth [93,94], the focus was on obtaining rich, context-specific insights from information-rich participants rather than statistical generalisation. Eight (8) case study organisations were focused on, and the unit of analysis was the recruitment and selection leader from each case organisation. Each of the selected participants had more than 5 years of experience in the field. Half of the organisations were originally founded in the United Arab Emirates, while the other half were originally founded outside the country but have branches in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. This deliberate variation across local and international brands introduced replication logic, enabling comparison and cross-case convergence to strengthen analytical generalisation.

3.2. Sampling and Data Collection

The exploratory case study method was chosen due to its ability to offer exhaustive and rich data that would inform the research objectives/questions [95]. The researchers decided to employ a purposive sampling technique to select the research participants. The participants were selected based on the case study organisations’ use of LinkedIn for employer branding to provide valuable insights related to the research objectives. A total of eight interviews were conducted; saturation was reached after six interviews, which was supported by a review of organisational documents, but two additional interviews were performed to confirm the thoroughness of the data collection process.

The data collated was in-depth and gathered through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The main benefit of this type of interview was that it allowed researchers to probe deeply into the phenomena under study using the participant’s own words [96]. Document analysis primarily included LinkedIn data and human resources policies and procedures of the case organisations, thereby validating the interview data with cost efficiency and effectiveness [97]. Moreover, the documentary evidence served as a supplementary source of information to enhance the triangulation that increased the credibility and richness of the results and, thus, confirmed that the saturation was achieved at multiple data points. This combination of United Arab Emirates-founded and international hotel cases also introduced replication logic and cross-case convergence, further supporting the adequacy and robustness of the sample.

3.3. Data Analysis and Validation

This study employed thematic analysis techniques to analyse the data, which identifies themes within qualitative data [98]. The popular six steps were followed to finalise the main themes and sub-themes [99]. To ensure the validity, reliability, and credibility of the final themes and sub-themes, the interviewees, two qualitative expert colleagues, and an HR expert from the industry were consulted. These procedures ensured the process of data analysis was well-organised, clear, and, as a result, set the criteria of data trustworthiness, which is explained in the next section.

3.4. Trustworthiness and Rigor

Credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability, as suggested by a team of researchers [100], were used to set the level of trustworthiness. Prolonged working with the data, key interpretations checked by the members, and peer debriefing of the emerging structure of themes supported the expression of credibility [101,102]. The reliability was increased by keeping the audit trail that recorded coding choices and thematic refinements during the analysis [92,99]. The aspect of confirmability was enhanced through maintaining records of reflexes notes and conducting group discussions to uncover assumptions and other ways the data can be interpreted, thereby reducing individual researcher subjectivity [103,104]. The transferability was realised by thick description of participants and contextual information that allowed assessing the applicability of findings to other contexts [105,106]. Intercoder dialogue and agreement checks were conducted in the process of theme refinement to secure analytic consistency [107,108]. All these processes support the methodological rigor, transparency, and replicability of the study.

4. Results

4.1. LinkedIn Strategies for Employer Branding

The exploration of the LinkedIn strategies commonly used by leading four and five-star hotels to improve their employer branding was the primary objective of this research. The semi-structured interviews and document analysis yielded a plethora of data, which were categorised into one main theme and six sub-themes.

Figure 1 summarises this structure by showing the overarching theme-LinkedIn employer branding, and the six related sub-themes identified in the analysis. To ground these themes in participants’ voices, Table 1 provides representative quotes for each sub-theme.

Figure 1. LinkedIn employer branding: main theme and sub-themes.

Table 1. Sub-Themes in LinkedIn Employer Branding and Illustrative Quotes.

Sub-Theme	Illustrative Quotes
Organisational Culture Videos	“We regularly post short culture videos team huddles, service moments, and behind the-scenes clips to show what it feels like to work here.” (Participant A) “Showcasing our ‘day in the life’ reels on LinkedIn have helped candidates picture themselves in the role.” (Participant D) “Our culture videos highlight respect for guests and colleagues, which attracts people who share those values.” (Participant G) “Video snippets from staff celebrations and training days get the most engagement and reflect our workplace vibe.” (Participant H) “Our bosses sometimes use only a few seconds in video messages or words of thanks; this content adds to an increased feeling of personal interaction on our page” (Participant C)
Work–Life Balance	“We talk openly about shift planning and days-off fairness; those posts get a lot of positive reactions.” (Participant B) “LinkedIn updates on flexible scheduling and wellness days helped us position the hotel as people-first.” (Participant F) “Sharing managers’ tips on balancing peak seasons with rest shows we take work–life balance seriously.” (Participant C) “Posting wellness days, yoga classes, or even walks with the team on LinkedIn can be used to show that the well-being of the staff is of utmost priority in this organisation.” (Participant E)
Career Growth Opportunities	“We highlight internal mobility trainee to supervisor stories so applicants can see a growth path.” (Participant C) “Posting about our cross-training and Marriott Academy courses attracts ambitious candidates.” (Participant E) “Monthly ‘career journeys’ posts from staff make progression tangible for applicants.” (Participant G) “We promote mentorship pairings on LinkedIn, which signals long-term development.” (Participant A) “At times, we issue notifications regarding relocation of team members to sister properties abroad, hence depicting positive career paths.” (Participant H)
Total Rewards	“We summarise benefits in simple carousels meals, transport, insurance, bonuses so candidates know the full package.” (Participant A) “Our ‘rewards spotlight’ posts explain service-charge distribution transparently.” (Participant B) “Clarity on housing allowance and incentives reduces back-and-forth during hiring.” (Participant F) “We put emphasis on perks like free meals, transportation and health coverage such that the applicants know what they are getting.” (Participant G)
Success Stories	“Employee spotlights like ‘Front Office Star of the Month’ consistently boost applications.” (Participant D) “We share guest commendations and team awards to show performance is recognised.” (Participant H) “Stories of colleagues who led a tough event and nailed it resonate well with applicants.” (Participant B) “Posting alumni who returned in higher roles strengthens our brand credibility.” (Participant E)
Equal Opportunity	“We post about fair hiring skills over background, and it widens our applicant pool.” (Participant G) “Highlighting diverse teams and inclusive facilities signals that everyone can belong here.” (Participant F) “We state clearly that promotions are based on performance metrics, not nationality.” (Participant D) “On Women Day and Inclusion Week we post so that we can show our efforts to be equal opportunities providers.” (Participant B)

The evidence in Table 1 shows that hotels are using LinkedIn strategically to portray an authentic and attractive employer identity through six interconnected content strategies. Organisational-culture videos and “day-in-the-life” reels emerged as powerful storytelling tools that humanise the brand by displaying everyday service moments, teamwork, and celebrations, allowing prospective applicants to visualise the work environment and sense of belonging. Posts about work–life balance addressed an industry challenge by highlighting flexibility, wellness initiatives, and fairness in scheduling, reinforcing a people-centred image that appeals to modern job seekers. Similarly, content on career-growth opportunities, such as internal mobility stories, training updates, and international transfers, demonstrated clear pathways for advancement, encouraging applicants to view these hotels as long-term employers rather than short-term workplaces.

These sub-themes only served to emphasise the employer-brand story. The total-rewards posts explained benefits and incentives using clear and easy to understand images thus increasing the level of trust and reducing the information lapse during the hiring process. Employee success stories on achievement, rewards, and returns on alumni were reaffirming and credentialing, whereas equal-opportunity posts discussing diversity and the promotion based on merit expanded the interest of applicants and strengthened the idea of justice. Altogether, these LinkedIn actions are not just the actions of promotion, but they are the illustrations of organisational principles of authenticity, care, growth, recognition, and inclusion. The identified trend proves that hotels are not just using LinkedIn to promote employment opportunities, but to reflect their image and value proposition in a way that proactively defines how potential workers interpret the organisations identity and fit.

Document Analysis—LinkedIn Strategies for Employer Branding

Complementing the semi-structured interviews, a document analysis of LinkedIn content was conducted, including posts, promotional videos, job advertisements, and other related materials from the hotels. The analysis corroborated the themes and sub-themes identified during the interviews. Content related to organisational culture, work–life balance, career growth opportunities, total rewards, success stories, and equal opportunities was frequently observed across all the hotels’ LinkedIn profiles, providing further validation of the strategies used for employer branding.

4.2. Benefits of LinkedIn Strategies for Employer Branding

The second research objective aimed at examining the benefits associated with using LinkedIn strategies to improve employer branding for the hotel industry. The main theme identified was ‘Employer Branding via LinkedIn–Benefits,’ which encompassed several sub-themes: Quality of Engagement, Quality of Job Applicants, Quantity of Job Applications, Realistic Job Preview, Passive Job Applicants, and Employee Retention. The relationships between these themes are shown in Figure 2. Also, Table 2 provides supportive quotes for each sub-theme.

Figure 2. Benefits of employer branding via LinkedIn for recruitment and selection.

Table 2. Sub-Themes in LinkedIn Benefits and Illustrative Quotes.

Sub-Theme	Illustrative Quotes
Quality of Engagement	“Our LinkedIn posts trigger thoughtful questions from candidates, which helps us judge interest and fit early.” (Participant A) “Two-way conversations in comments and DMs tell us who genuinely understands our service standards.” (Participant D) “Shortlist interviews often reference content they saw on our page those candidates tend to be better prepared.” (Participant F) “It has been noted that those candidates who comment or like our posts tend to be more active and closer to our values.” (Participant G)
Quality of Job Applicants	“After we polished our employer branding on LinkedIn, the shortlist quality improved stronger experience and certifications.” (Participant B) “We now see fewer mismatches; candidates arrive with clearer role expectations.” (Participant E) “Most finalists discovered us via LinkedIn and matched the person–organisation fit better.” (Participant H) “The pool of job applicants now seems to be more relevant, with the highest number of applicants already meeting the basic requirements even before they apply.” (Participant D)
Quantity of Job Applications	“Each hiring campaign on LinkedIn gives us a spike in applications within days.” (Participant C) “Our reach is wider; more applicants across cities apply when a post gains traction.” (Participant G) “Reposts by employees multiply visibility and drive additional applications.” (Participant A) “Applicants recruited via LinkedIn tend to have a better idea about the job and better fit the service standards.” (Participant D) “In reference to LinkedIn, we have noticed that candidates presented through LinkedIn are more professional at the interview and have better communication skills.” (Participant F)
Realistic Job Preview	“Day-in-the-life videos set accurate expectations about shifts and guest interaction.” (Participant D) “We show peak-season realities and teamwork candidates appreciate the honesty.” (Participant B) “Clear previews reduce surprises after joining and speed up onboarding.” (Participant F) “We share short videos of our day-to-day routines so that the applicants can know what to expect.” (Participant G)
Passive Job Applicants	“We receive direct messages from people not actively looking but open to the right role.” (Participant E) “Employees’ networks surface passive candidates who already follow our brand.” (Participant H) “Content bookmarks and saves often turn into applications weeks later.” (Participant C) “Often we get the CVs of people who are not job-seekers, but like our posts.” (Participant F)
Employee Retention	“New hires who engaged with our LinkedIn content tend to stay longer they knew the culture beforehand.” (Participant G) “Better expectation-setting lowered early attrition in frontline roles.” (Participant A) “Alignment with values we highlight online translates into stronger commitment.” (Participant D) “Employees who come on board after liking our LinkedIn page tend to adapt faster and stay longer and demonstrate a higher appreciation of our culture, values and other related factors.” (Participant B)

The findings in Table 2 show that LinkedIn activities have strengthened several recruitment and retention outcomes across the participating hotels. The posts and direct interactions improved the quality of engagement as the recruiters could evaluate the interest and fit of the candidates in infancy. With employer-branding content becoming better, it became possible to have more and better-quality candidates, including more definitive expectations, profiles, and expanded geographic coverage. The visibility also increased by employee posts which helped hotels to attract both active and passive candidates who were already aware of the culture and service characteristics of the organisation.

At the same time, LinkedIn content was functioning as an informal, but still realistic job preview, with the short videos and updates on its functioning providing the applicants with a realistic image of the requirements in the job and the job collaboration. This openness helped to eliminate misaligned expectations and helped to ease the onboarding process and minimize turnover. Overall, the evidence suggests that LinkedIn serves not only as a sourcing instrument but also as a form of sustained engagement that helps improve the quality of the applicants, broaden the range of talent, but also retain the talent in the long term due to genuine communication and value alignment.

4.3. LinkedIn Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM)

The proposed model in Figure 3, titled ‘LinkedIn Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM)’ frames the employer-branding process by integrating LinkedIn strategies at the pre-recruitment, recruitment, and selection stages.

Figure 3. LinkedIn Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM).

The proposed model illustrates the complete employer-branding process by embedding LinkedIn strategies across the pre-recruitment, recruitment, and selection stages. At the pre-recruitment stage, the model integrates six LinkedIn content strategies, organisational culture videos, work–life posts, career growth visibility, total rewards transparency, success stories and recognition, and equal opportunity signals. These strategies collectively express the employer value proposition and generate key attraction outcomes, including higher engagement quality, stronger applicant fit, increased application quantity, realistic job previews (RJP), and reach to passive candidates.

The model introduces an early-fit mechanism that explains how these outcomes transition into the recruitment and selection phases. Candidates exposed to authentic LinkedIn content engage in self-selection, arrive better prepared, and demonstrate clearer expectations and closer person-organisation (P-O) fit, leading to more informed selection decisions. Employee advocacy, represented by staff reposts and network engagement, functions as a reach-amplification moderator that enhances both engagement and application volume. The downstream post-hire outcomes, faster onboarding, lower early attrition, and higher retention, highlight the sustained effect of digital employer branding.

Unlike prior generic employer-branding frameworks, the LIEBM is platform-specific and empirically derived from HR leaders’ experiences in four- and five-star hotels. It contributes a novel linkage between LinkedIn content strategies and measurable organisational outcomes, offering both a conceptual advancement and a practical tool for hotel organisations to plan, monitor, and evaluate their digital employer-branding activities. In doing so, it builds upon the already existing employer-branding models by offering a platform-specific solution that connects the online branding behaviours with tangible recruitment and retention payoffs, which makes it easily differentiated from what is already being implemented in the literature.

5. Discussion

This research primarily explored and examined the LinkedIn strategies commonly used by leading four and five-star hotels to improve their employer branding within the hotel industry. A number of findings have emerged through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Several LinkedIn strategies were identified, focusing on storytelling, employee experience, transparency, and inclusion. These strategies triggered employer branding by improving the quality of engagement, attracting high-quality job applicants, providing a realistic job preview, attracting passive job applicants, and contributing to employee retention. The proposed LIEBM outlines a process of integrating LinkedIn strategies throughout the employer branding journey, from pre-recruitment to selection, ultimately leading to selection and post-hire outcomes. Overall, this research highlights the importance of LinkedIn as a powerful professional platform for enhancing employer branding efforts in the hotel industry, attracting and retaining key players, and guiding organisational success.

Six mutually reinforcing strategies, organisational-culture videos, work–life posts, career-growth visibility, total-rewards transparency, success stories, and equal-opportunity signals, collectively articulate the employer value proposition. These results empirically substantiate earlier discussions in the literature that emphasised the significance of cultural storytelling and transparent communication in strengthening an organisation’s brand image [40,67,75]. While prior studies such as [29,30] recognised the importance of showcasing values and HR practices for destination image and brand credibility, this study operationalises those abstract concepts into a concrete set of LinkedIn-based practices. The hotels’ emphasis on authenticity, recognition, and fairness demonstrates how employer branding evolves from internal HR messaging to interactive, externally visible engagement, extending the arguments of [20,49] regarding brand equity and talent appeal. Thus, this research contributes new evidence of how LinkedIn enables hotel organisations to convert traditional branding attributes into dynamic, experience-based narratives. Collectively, these practices demonstrate how employer branding on LinkedIn transforms passive visibility into active talent engagement.

The results also demonstrate that hotels leveraging LinkedIn achieved measurable outcomes such as improved applicant fit, stronger realistic job previews, and better retention rates. These findings complement previous evidence that social media visibility and interactivity enhance recruitment efficiency and employee commitment [21,27,67]. Specifically, [21,67] argued that online employer presence can raise applicant quality and organisational reputation, yet few studies had empirically validated this within hospitality. By linking these benefits to tangible HR outcomes, the present study reinforces the idea that LinkedIn functions not merely as a promotional medium but as a continuous engagement ecosystem, a notion earlier proposed in theory by [26,50]. The evidence from four- and five-star hotels thus demonstrates that effective LinkedIn utilisation can bridge the attraction-selection-retention gap long identified as a weakness in the hotel’s talent pipeline. These results collectively align with, yet extend, prior empirical work on social media-based employer branding.

When comparing this study’s results with existing literature on LinkedIn strategies for employer branding, several observations become clear. Previous studies have generally focused on the role of LinkedIn in the broader context of social media platforms for employer branding [9,33]. Unlike this broader approach, current research specifically focuses on the hotel industry’s practice of LinkedIn for enhancing employer branding. In the context of the main strategies identified, such as organisational work–life balance, culture videos, and career growth opportunities, these align with previous research emphasising the role of such elements in employer branding [9,64]. However, our research goes a step further by operationalising these elements into a cohesive model (LIEBM), designed to guide four and five-star hotels in their LinkedIn-based employer branding efforts. This specificity could account for any perceived differences between our study and earlier research. Another point of context may be the proposed notion of ‘equal opportunity practices’ as a LinkedIn strategy, which has been less explored in existing employer branding literature [47], but emerged as a strong theme in our study.

Previous research on employer branding in hotels and related sectors has provided valuable but partial perspectives on how organisations communicate and sustain their employer identity. Researchers [109] benchmarked hotels’ online employer-brand presence across Facebook, LinkedIn and career websites, revealing low channel consistency and minimal digital engagement, while other scholars [110] developed an Ethics and Sustainability in Hospitality Employer Branding Model centred on responsible and ethical HRM practices. More recently, ref. [111] proposed an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) framework based on hotel corporate and career websites, identifying value categories but remaining limited to static website content. Similarly, ref. [24] explored employer-branding and HRM synergies in small and medium-sized hotels through the lens of “talk” and “walk,” yet their focus remained on internal HRM alignment rather than digital-platform execution. Beyond the hospitality domain, ref. [67,72,112], examined LinkedIn’s potential for employability, brand perception and SME visibility, but these models remain exploratory and lack a platform-specific, process-based model for hotels. The LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM) introduced in this study extends these streams of inquiry by providing a platform-specific, empirically grounded, and process-based framework that connects LinkedIn content strategies to attraction, selection and post-hire outcomes. By doing so, the study will be taken out of phase of making a descriptive assessment of the employer-branding channels to a dynamic cognition of how digital engagement mechanisms can be transformed into quantifiable human-resource results, which will advance both theories and practice within hotel employer branding. Generally, the discussion highlights that LinkedIn is not only a communication means to be used as a tool but also a data-driven, experience-based branding platform to improve the alignment between employers and employees. Collectively, these results form part of the discussion of the strategic purpose of LinkedIn in employer branding, hence creating a solid ground on which future theoretical and empirical conclusions will be expressed.

6. Implications

6.1. Theoretical Implications

The findings of this research have several implications. Theoretically, the study advances employer branding by specifying how LinkedIn operates in the hotel context. The LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM) maps the pathway from six LinkedIn content strategies to attraction outcomes and, via an early-fit mechanism, to stronger selection quality and post-hire effects. It also identifies employee advocacy (staff reposts) as a reach-amplifying moderator within this process. These contributions move beyond generic social media claims by explaining why LinkedIn content yields higher engagement quality, better-matched applicants, larger applicant pools, realistic job previews, and improved onboarding and early retention in four- and five-star hotels. As such, LIEBM offers a concise, testable lens that future studies can examine and extend across hospitality settings.

6.2. Practical Implications

In the context of practical implications, the results highlight the importance of integrating LinkedIn as a strategic social media platform for employer branding in the hotel sector. Hotel organisations can benefit in a very competitive labour market by promoting their organisational culture, work–life balance initiatives, career growth opportunities, and total rewards packages on the LinkedIn platform to engage and attract high-quality job applicants. The highlight on sharing success stories and promoting equal opportunity practices further improves the hotel’s employer brand and fosters trust and loyalty among employees and potential job candidates. By implementing the LinkedIn strategies explored in this research, hotel organisations can certainly improve their visibility, reputation, and competitive advantage in the labour market, leading to a highly skilled and committed workforce and overall business success. Although these implications highlight the key contributions of the current study, it is imperative to note that some salient limitations that define the future research trends are important to note and guide future research directions.

7. Limitations and Future Work

While this research offers valuable insights into LinkedIn strategies for employer branding, there are a few limitations to consider. In this research, the four- and five-star hotels were studied. Since it is qualitative, there is a possibility that the findings might not be transferable to other hospitality sectors or even in other organisational settings due to their limited generalisability. Moreover, the depth of the research was achieved through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. Although data saturation was reached, the range of diversity of perspectives and experiences may still be somewhat limited. Despite these limitations, the study findings contribute significantly to the contemporary understanding of employer branding strategies on LinkedIn.

Building on the research findings and limitations, several avenues for future research can certainly be explored. Firstly, conducting a larger-scale study with a more diverse sample of hotel organisations, including different sectors and organisational sizes, would provide a broader perspective on the effectiveness of LinkedIn strategies for employer branding. Additionally, longitudinal research could investigate the long-term impact of LinkedIn strategies on employee retention and organisational performance within the hotel industry. Future studies could also adopt a mixed methods approach to quantitatively validate and extend the LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM) across a broader sample of hotels. Moreover, future research could examine these strategies from employees’ perspectives to provide a more balanced and holistic understanding of employer-branding effectiveness. More exploration of the role of employee advocacy on LinkedIn and its effect on employer branding and talent attraction would also be valuable. Finally, comparative studies across different social media tools such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and different industries or geographic regions could shed light on the contextual factors that shape the effectiveness of LinkedIn strategies for employer branding.

8. Conclusions

Overall, the current research explored how four- and five-star hotels can employ LinkedIn to strengthen employer branding and recruit the top talent. Based on the qualitative observations of human resources professionals and the existing evidence, the study presented the LinkedIn-Integrated Employer Branding Model (LIEBM). This framework identifies six different LinkedIn strategies, such as organisational culture, work–life balance, career development, total rewards, success stories, and equal opportunity, which are mutually reinforcing to increase attraction, selection, and retention performance. Placing the existing employer-branding frameworks into the context of the hotel industry, the study is a significant contribution to theoretical literature and, at the same time, provides practitioners with a systematic evidence-based model of strategically using LinkedIn. Finally, the results also point to the growing influence of LinkedIn as a business tool that determines modern talent management and long-term organisational success.