**4. Methodology**

To test the proposed hypotheses, a survey questionnaire was chosen as a method in a quantitative approach. The questionnaire as a research method was chosen due to its

numerous advantages, such as the simplicity of use and the broad availability of respondents [61]. It is also easy to create and distribute. The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire created in Google Forms, and it consisted of closed-ended questions. All the details of the research were presented to the respondents, at the same time informing them that their answers were anonymous to avoid bias development.

The questionnaire consisted of three parts. The first part comprised questions concerning the respondents' demographics (gender, age, education, position in the company, and the company's core activity). The second part of the questionnaire measured independent variables—employer brand dimensions, while in the third part, the respondents had to answer questions that measured the dependent variable —affective organizational commitment.

#### **4.1 Sampling**

The sampling frame was chosen from the financial portal Finiinfo, which provides financial and operational information for Croatian companies [62]. A random sample of small and medium-sized enterprises was chosen from the data, taking into account their representation in the activity sector [63]. Every company was double-checked to make sure it fits the definition of SME [64]. The questionnaire was distributed in September 2022, to around 900 e-mail addresses, which were provided by the database. Given that all questions in the questionnaire were marked as mandatory, 100% of all completed questionnaires were considered valid. It took around 3 weeks to collect the answers, which resulted in 104 completed questionnaires, representing a response rate of 11.5%. The demographics of the sample, presented in **Table 1**, reveal that out of 104 respondents, 59.6% are women and 40.4% are men. The majority of respondents are aged between 31 and 51 (72.1%) and have a higher education level (73.1%). The respondents hold different positions in the organization and are employed in companies of various business activities, ranging from service industries to production, construction, and trade indicating that the sample is representative of the observed population [63].

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

**Table 1.**

*Characteristics of the respondents.*

### **4.2 Operationalization of the observed variables**

All observed variables, dependent and independent ones, were measured with a five-point Likert-type scale, whereby employees of small and medium-sized enterprises had to express their agreement or disagreement with given statements ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Cronbach's alpha coefficients of all observed variables are above 0.7, which indicate a high internal consistency of the instrument [65]. As a dependent variable, *affective organizational commitment* was measured with items from Allen and Meyer's Organizational Commitment Scale [37]. It is the multiitem scale that measures three different types of organizational commitment: affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. Since this study observes affective organizational commitment, 5 out of 8 questions from the indicated subscale were used in the questionnaire. Certain questions were changed from a negative form to a positive one, mostly to avoid later mistakes when coding the answers [66]. An example of the question included is: *"I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization*". Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient is 0.935.

The dimensions of employer branding, as independent variables, were measured with the "Employee Attractiveness ("EmpAt") Scale" [20]. This multiitem scale consists of 25 items measuring employer attractiveness through 5 dimensions: application value, interest value, social value, economic value, and development value. Each of the dimensions was measured with four items. Examples of the questions included are: "*The organization both values and makes use of my creativity*", or "*How important is it for you to have a good relationship with your colleagues*?". Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the scales are social value (α = 0.892), interest value (α = 0.798), economic value (α = 0.780), application value (α = 0.731), and development value (α = 0.785).


*3.5. Being Respected Impacted Job Performance Positively*

In response to the question about how they reacted to being respected, participants responded that they felt more committed to the organization. Because they felt safer in their workplaces, they could be more creative and productive.

Our COO, Becky, at the time, said, "I got a great role for you. It's a VP role. It's in sales operations. I know it's not sales, but it's operations. It's something different." And she says, "It's going to be a risk for you because you don't know operations. You've done sales. You've done strategy. This is going to round you out as a general manager or COO candidate because now you're going to understand systems tools, supply chain, you know, whatever. I think you can do it."

I think for most of my career I've been in the level one and two, [high respect/low levels of disrespect] which is nice. I was put on the leadership team at my first foray into running a department at a company in the Finance Industry. It was in direct relationship to something I had done. I had redone the compensation plans and saved the company just roughly a quarter of a million dollars annually. And the president of the organization recognized that my decision and my foresight and my work had an impact that went straight to the bottom line. Shortly after that, that he made the recommendation that I be put on the executive committee, I was at 28 years old. I've been in leadership for a long time.

I was reporting to a senior VP, and I had a conversation about how we could restructure the work that we were doing so that it could probably earn higher income and he loved the idea. He called a meeting of the executive team and asked me if I "would write a proposal explaining what it would look like." And I did. When it was time to present it at the meeting he said, "Come with me because I'm not going to be able to talk about it the way that you can." So, I got invited to this executive meeting with all executives at the table and I got to pitch this idea for a new revenue stream for the organization.

And after I was finished, I remember the Chief Financial Officer saying, "I really appreciate the way your brain went into thinking about this." I felt like what I said mattered, I was valued, and my input valued. I think that's being respectful. They were respecting my years of experience, but also my mindset in terms of being able to be creative and at the same time to think about growth for the organization.


*3.5. Coating Abrasion Study*

Figure 8 presents the abrasion resistance of the ACPU, ACPU/SiO2, and ACPU/SiO2-T coatings, before and after 36 aging cycles.

As seen in Figure 8, adding 2 wt % nano-SiO2 to the paint formulation increased significantly the abrasion resistance of coating from 130 to 240 lite/mil. When added 2 wt % T 384 and 1 wt % T 292, the abrasion resistance of coating slightly decreased from 240 to 235 lite/mil. After 36 aging cycles, the abrasion resistance of the neat coating reduced strongly (down to 38.46%), from 130 to 80 lite/mil. However, the abrasion resistance of coating containing 2 wt % nano-SiO2 reduced slightly from 240 to 220 lite/mil (8.33%). Whereas in the case of ACPU/SiO2-T coating, reduction was only 2.12% (235 to 230 lite/mil) after aging test.

**Figure 8.** Values of abrasion resistance for coatings, before and after 36 cycles of aging.

As can be seen in Figure 8, addition of nano-SiO2, UV absorber T384, and light stabilizer HALS T292 into coating matrix significantly improved the weathering durability of the coating. As a complement data, Figure 9 presents the UV-Vis spectra of aqueous solution containing nano-SiO2 (0.5 wt % dispersion), ACPU, ACPU/SiO2, and ACPU/SiO2-T coatings.

**Figure 9.** Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra of the various coating samples and the aqueous solution of nano-SiO2.

As shown in Figure 9, the absorption of UV radiation was much lower (less effective) for the ACPU coating, as compared to the ACPU/SiO2-T coating. In particular, the UV absorption of ACPU/SiO2-T coating was the strongest among these coating samples. As expected, due to the UV absorption of nano-SiO2, the polymer coating was protected under UV irradiation. Thus, the nanocomposite coating containing 2 wt % SiO2 exhibited a smaller value in chemical change, leading lower loss in weight, higher gloss, and better abrasion resistance than that of the ACPU coating.

These findings are consistent with the data reported by Yari et al. [18] for the photo-protective effect of nano-SiO2 on acrylic melamine coating. Moreover, nano-SiO2 could also react with isocyanate groups [28] to form a tight organic-inorganic hybrid structure, which contributes to preventing the invasion of external environmental factors [29], leading the coating to reduce its degradation effectively. By the presence of 2 wt % T 384 and 1 wt % T 292, the polymer coating is double-protected by the combination of T 384 (as UV absorber) and T 292 (as free radical cleaner). In our previous paper [3], we discussed their photo-protection mechanism. Consequently, ACPU/SiO2-T coating exhibited an excellent weathering resistance after 36 testing cycles.

The obtained data indicate that incorporation of nanoparticles into the acrylic polyurethane coating (with the presence of photostabilizers) enhances its weathering resistance.

#### **4. Conclusions**

The synergistic effects of nano-SiO2 and organic light stabilizers on enhancing the weathering resistance of acrylic polyurethane coating have been investigated and discussed.

The main findings of this study are:

220 lite/mil (8.33%). In the case of ACPU/SiO2-T coating its reduction was only 2.12% (from 235 to 230 lite/mil) after aging test.

These enhancements could be explained by two possible reasons: (i) UV absorption of nanofillers (nano-SiO2), could photo-protect the polymer coating, and (ii) a tight organic-inorganic hybrid structure was formed under curing reactions. Besides, addition of organic light stabilizer into paint formulation has provided excellent weathering resistance for the nanocomposite coating. These findings indicated the promising application of this nanocomposite coating as a multi-functional durable material.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization and writing—the original draft: T.V.N.; Experimentals and data analysis: T.H.N.; Writing—review and editing: T.A.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was financially supported by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED, Grant # 104.02-2018.19).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.