The Employer Brand Illusion: LinkedIn vs Workplace Reality

This research investigates the measurable divergence between the employer brand narratives projected by Indian companies on LinkedIn and the workplace realities experienced by their employees. A sequential mixed methods design was employed, comprising quantitative content analysis of 2,847 LinkedIn posts from ten leading Indian companies across the Information Technology and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods sectors, an employee survey (n = 387), and semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 18). An Employer Brand Gap (EBG) metric was computed by contrasting Brand Promise Intensity scores derived from LinkedIn content with actual employee experience ratings across five dimensions: Culture and Values, Career Growth, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance, and Compensation and Benefits. Findings confirm a statistically significant overall EBG (t = 14.82, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.82), with the most pronounced discrepancies in the DEI and Wellbeing dimensions. The IT sector exhibited a substantially larger gap than FMCG (IT EBG = 0.96 vs. FMCG EBG = 0.45). Mediation analysis established that psychological contract breach significantly mediates the relationship between the EBG and voluntary attrition intention (indirect effect = 0.21, 95% CI [0.14, 0.29]). The study contributes the Authentic Employer Branding Framework (AEBF) as a practical tool for HR practitioners seeking to align brand communication with verifiable workplace outcomes