Employer brand management as boundary‐work: a grounded theory analysis of employer brand managers' narrative accounts

• Date: 01 November 2015
• Published date: 01 November 2015
• Author: Gabriela Edlinger
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12077

Employer brand management as boundary-work:

a grounded theory analysis of employer brand

managers’ narrative accounts

Gabriela Edlinger, Research Group EBKOM, Department of Organization and

Learning, University of Innsbruck School of Management

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 25, no 4, 2015, pages 443–457

This article aims a spotlight at the relatively new and increasingly significant organisational role of

employer brand managers. Based on a grounded theory analysis of employer brand managers’ descriptions

of their work, practices of creating, controlling, promoting, protecting and policing an ideal employer brand

are identified as core dimensions of their narrative accounts. The specific contents of these activities present

employer brand managers’ work as an ongoing process of demarcation with regard to who is allowed to

contribute to the employer brand’s contents, along with what information and which interpretations and

practices are to be considered a valid, legitimate part of the employer brand. Based on these findings, the

theoretical perspective of boundary-work is applied to further explore organisational contexts of employer

brand management, as well as to discuss its political characteristics and their implications.

Contact: Dr Gabriela Edlinger, Research Group EBKOM, Department of Organization and

Learning, University of Innsbruck School of Management, Universitätsstraße 15, Innsbruck

6020, Austria. Email: gabriela.edlinger@uibk.ac.at

Keywords: employer brand management; organisational sociology research; personnel depart-

ments – employees; social aspects; administration of HR programmes; personnel management

– research

INTRODUCTION

Attracting and retaining qualified staff as key tasks of HRM in post-industrialised working

environments (Orlitzky,2007) have gained importance due to an increasingly tight labour

market for (high-)qualified workers (Dögl and Holtbrügge, 2014). Recruitment strategies

of organisations have become more competitive (Baum and Kabst, 2013) and diverse (Parry and

Thyson, 2008), also in reaction to changes in employees’ expectations of attractive employers

(Broadbridge et al., 2009). As a result of these societal and economic frameworks, employer

branding, which aims at creating a unique value proposition to potential and existing employees

(Martin et al., 2011), has become a vital management task (Bratton and Gold, 2012). Many,

particularly large companies, have assigned this task to designated employer brand managers

(EBMs), who usually operate within the HRM department. While many aspects of the effects and

effectiveness of employer branding have been subject to scientific studies (Edwards, 2010), the

role of the individuals who are in charge of this work has not yet been explored empirically. This

article contributes to HRM research by aiming a spotlight on EBMs as key actors in organisations’

necessary efforts to attract and retain qualified human resources.

Conceptions of employer branding work

EBMs are responsible for making the company visible and attractive to potential employees

(Edwards, 2010). This is a crucial task that concerns various areas of management beyond

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doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12077

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 25 NO 4, 2015 443

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Edlinger, G. (2015) ‘Employer brand management as boundary-work: a grounded theory analysis of employer

brand managers’ narrative accounts’. Human Resource Management Journal 25: 4, 443–457.