The Employer Brand through a Brand Lens: A Critical Review of Literature

The employer brand is vital to human resources management in attracting and retaining talent. Whilst the employer brand straddles the functional domains of human resources and brand management, it’s nature and function as a brand construct within strategic brand management is under-researched and fragmented in literature. In practice, ineffective application of brand building theory and practice to the employer brand impedes talent attraction and retention and detracts from the overall brand’s coherence and strength. The study set out to explore the employer brand’s purpose, nature and function as a brand construct in context of strategic brand building and organisational leadership thereof. The integrative or critical literature review methodology includes 118 literature sources and unfolds over four documented phases of research. Thematic content analysis yields four themes, shedding light on the employer brand as an extension of the corporate brand, the role of strategically aligned leadership in creation and management thereof, the importance of employer brand positioning and congruent branding to all brand stakeholders. Findings are drawn together in a proposed employer brand perspective framework, enriched with practices to guide human resources management and cross-functional leadership in creating and managing effective, aligned employer brands.