Edinburgh Napier University

  An increasing number of organizations are turning to employer branding to attract and recruit potential applicants, as well as engage and retain existing employees. But what we know about the impact of employer brands on current employees and their organizational experience is limited. This study expands both theoretical and practical understandings of the employer brand concept by focusing on the experience of current employees. Through a qualitative case study situated in a global Medical Technology organization, our findings show how existing employees socially construct employer brands through their personal identity motives and identity work, leading to collective organizational identity work. By developing a process model, we found that industry identity can cause organizational members to form divergent views towards their employing organization as a place to work. We explore causes for these differences, and the process by which individuals experience employer brands through their personal, social and collective identity membership.