The role of talent management and employee psychological contract on employer branding: a pragmatic conceptual model

Purpose - The purpose of the article is to investigate the role of talent management and employee psychological contract on employer branding and to develop a pragmatic conceptual model while identifying gaps between core concepts. Design/methodology/approach - The archival method was adopted along with systematic review based on Khanet al.’s (2003) five steps of systematic literature review. The systematic review has enclosed published research articles between 1960 and 2022 in fields of human resource management (HRM), brand management and psychology. In total, 260 Articles were initially scrutinized, and 230 were systematically reviewed finally to explore core concepts, identify gaps and model development. Findings - This study explored five gaps among key concepts based on systematic review and linked theories, namely, social exchange theory and signaling theory. A conceptual model has been developed to explore the impact of talent management on employer branding with mediating and moderating role of employee psychological contract. Research limitations/implications - This study is limited to conceptual model development; nevertheless, there is enormous scope for empirically testing the model related to various global contexts in future studies. Originality/value - The developed conceptual model is a vibrant contribution for future investigations of impact of talent management on employer branding with mediating and moderating role of employee psychological contract in diverse global contexts in wining “war for talent.” This study endows a momentous input to whole frame of HRM knowledge because it discourses significant knowledge gaps amongst relationships and effects of identified variables, which has not been formerly revealed.