Employer branding

About: Employer branding is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1555 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54897 citations.

An integrated approach to corporate branding

Abstract: The danger of a paper with ‘integrated’ in its title is the automatic assumption it will contain a polemic on the virtues of direct marketing, advertising and public relations working together. Although it is agreed that there are benefits in co-ordinating external communications, this paper is actually concerned with values; with integrating the actions of employees with marketing strategy. The rationale for this is simple and has long been recognised, intellectually, by marketers and their advisors: the reputation of a corporate brand is a result of all forms of interaction with an organisation. Consequently, there is little point in delivering an advertising campaign that bears little relation to the reality of an organisational culture or cannot be supported by the actions of employees. Intellect, unfortunately, has little to do with reality. The world abounds with advertising, and for that matter design and direct marketing, that suggest certain attributes which are all too rarely delivered by the organisation. In contrast, excellent corporate brands marry communications and operations in a credible way, not by employing integrated agencies, but through clearly stated values that unify the way they think and behave. The benefit of this approach is an image of the corporate brand, which recognises our desire for clarity and understanding. As Iris Murdoch says: ‘We see parts of things, we intuit whole things. We seem to know a great deal on the basis of very little … we fear plurality, diffusion, chaos, we want to transform what we cannot dominate or understand into something reassuring and familiar.’1

How to become an employer of choice: transforming employer brand associations into employer first-choice brands

Abstract: Being a first-choice brand is a valuable asset for an organisation, both for remaining competitive and for attracting potential employees. Despite the considerable research available on linking brand associations to employer brand attractiveness, research on how to become an employer of choice is limited. This article addresses the research gap by investigating employer brand associations that predict status as an employer first-choice brand (FCBe), and by determining how these associations are transferred into preference. Research was based on university students’ evaluations of employer brand associations and identification of their FCBe. Results indicate that work content and work culture of employer brand associations are drivers of being an FCBe, with no support found for effects of salary, advancement opportunities, location or organisational reputation. Importantly, employer brand emotions emerged as a full mediator in the model, indicating that for an FCBe, work content and work culture ne...

Corporate reputation and shareholders' intentions: An attitudinal perspective

Abstract: Corporate reputation has become an invaluable asset for every company. The literature on corporate reputation is reviewed and corporate reputation is conceptualised in the context of the theory of planned behaviour. The effect of corporate reputation on intentions among shareholders is discussed and research questions formulated. Data are collected from a sample of shareholders of a publicly listed telephone company. Results indicate that an attitudinal conceptualisation and operationalisation of corporate reputation provides useful results and diagnostics to help companies further enhance their corporate reputation.

Employer Brand Image as Predictor of Employee Satisfaction, Affective Commitment & Turnover

Abstract: Background Employer branding has captured considerable attention in recent times. Academicians and practitioners have reported evidence of organisations expending considerable resources on development of employer brand programme indicating its value (Backhaus & Tikoo 2004). Employer branding as a concept is an extension of relationship marketing principles (Christopher, Payne & Ballantyne 1991, Kotler 1992, Morgan & Hunt 1994), which identify the need to build acquisition and retention strategies across a number of critical stakeholder markets through closer relationships. One of the most basic understandings about brand comes from the definition provided by the American Marketing Association which defines a brand as "a name, term sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller group or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors" (Backhaus & Tikoo 2004). The term employer branding is used for the application of branding principles to human resource management. The concept is being increasingly used for attracting prospective employees while engaging the present employees to the organisation. In a seminal work on employer branding, also one of the earlier definitions on the subject, Ambler and Barrow (1996) defined employer brand in terms of benefits, calling it 'the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company'. Further, employer branding or employer brand management involves internally and externally promoting a clear view of what makes a firm different and desirable as an employer. According to Backhaus and Tikoo (2004), employer branding is essentially a three step process. First, a firm develops a concept of the particular value it offers to prospective and current employees. This value proposition provides the central message that is conveyed by the employer brand. It is of key importance that this value proposition derives from a thorough audit of the characteristics that make the firm a great place to work. Once the value proposition is determined, the second step in employer branding consists of externally marketing this value proposition to attract the targeted applicant population. The third step involves carrying the brand "promise" made to recruits in to the firm and incorporating it as part of the organisational culture. In a sense the last step consists of internally marketing the employer brand. Human Resource consultants Hewitt Associates suggests five steps to developing a strong employer brand: (1) understand your organisation, (2) create a 'compelling brand promise' for employees that mirrors the brand promise for customers, (3) develop standards to measure the fulfilment of brand promise, (4) ruthlessly align all people practices to support and reinforce brand promise, and (5) execute the measure (Berthon et al. 2005). According to Ritson (2002) companies with strong employer brands can potentially reduce the cost of employee acquisition, improve employee relations, increase employee retention and even offer lower salaries for comparable staff to firms with weaker employer brands. The present study focuses on the image audit step of the employer branding process because it is the basis on which other steps develop. Given the key role of image audit step, it should incorporate important stakeholder beliefs about the characteristics of an attractive employer. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relative importance of different aspects of employer brand Review of Literature Despite employer brand gaining considerable popularity in HR practitioner literature (e.g., Frook 2001) empirical research is still relatively inadequate (Cable & Turban 2001). Backhaus & Tikoo (2004) and Davies (2007) echo the same sentiments and feel that the advent of the employer brand as concept has been recent in academic field and its theoretical foundation is gradually being developed even though it is being considered and applied by practitioners for sometime now. …

Global brand strategy

Abstract: This paper introduces a unique framework for equivalent and comparable brand analysis across multiple markets and societies — the Global Brand Proposition Model. The model combines consideration of the strategic planning cycle and the brand environment into an analysis tool that can be applied both globally and locally. It allows global and local analyses to be linked together seamlessly. This in turn enables brand managers to develop global brand strategy that will unlock their brands' full potential across countries, cultures and markets.