Employer Branding and Reputation From A Strategic Human Resource Management Perspective

Müberra Yüksel

doi:10.5171/2015.794545

Abstract

Although reputation management literature has been dominated by marketing and communications-led perspectives, there is anagreementthat corporate reputation and good governance are often built from the internal towards external stakeholders. Lately, balancing the usage of social media as opposed to conventional media has demanded both human resources managementand public relations to become more strategic in addressing the role of brand communication via social media to gain competitiveness and business value. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of brand management for engaging employees, while building the reputation of the company. Most research on reputation management and branding focus either on social expectations and trust of external stakeholders and emphasis on internal stakeholders, particularly employees, is quite recent. “Employer branding” has been the application of branding principles for competitive advantage in strategic human resource management. Internal marketing of employer brands need to support external marketing so that organizational reputation is persistent. Employee commitment here refers to the degree to which an employee has positive associations and perceptions towards the organization, its brand values, brand personality and reputation. The researcherhas drawn upon prior research to develop anintegrated model that aims at linking strategic human resources management (SHRM), branding and corporate reputation. By using structured interviews of managers from various companies in different sectors, comparing and contrasting challenges and implications may pave the way for an integrated understanding of employees as the ultimate brand ambassadors/ advocates.

Highlights

Reputation management literature has been dominated by marketing and communications-led perspectives, there is anagreementthat corporate reputation and good governance are often built from the internal towards external stakeholders
There is an agreement that organizational reputation, good governance with organizational trust are built from the inside-out(Martinet. al., 2011a; Martin, 2007 &2008; Mosley, 2007; Berens et al, 2004).In this study, we will draw on previous research from reputation, branding and human resource management to develop a conceptual model of strategic human resource management (SHRM) with respect to branding and the role of social media, e.g., twitter and facebook
--- John Maxwell Based upon the empirical insights on both brand management and reputation management that may be derived from the three growing sectors that use social media intensively, there are both similarities and differences in the perspectives of these selected sectors: financial services, hi-tech industries including its retail, airline companies

Summary

Introduction

Reputation management literature has been dominated by marketing and communications-led perspectives, there is anagreementthat corporate reputation and good governance are often built from the internal towards external stakeholders. Since demarcation lines between different target groups, stakeholders and sectors have been blurred; SHRM has to take into account corporate diplomacy in communication and branding topics that will influence reputation. In this vein, there is an agreement that organizational reputation, good governance with organizational trust are built from the inside-out(Martinet. Relationship marketing based on social capital (e.g., trust, teamwork, fairness, networking and identification) which often stem out of value-based talent management and corporate or employer branding are prerequisites for building the foundations for employee-oriented organization with good reputation from inside out (Martin et al 2011; Küçükkancabaş et al, 2009). An authentic employer brand, which is being truly "an employer of choice" lives inside and it reflects to the minds of the candidates as the employees make it and live by its values, since employer brand is what the employees experience and tell the employer and stakeholders about their workplace rather than the other way around (Martin, 2008; Davis & Eisele, 2007)

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion