ABSTRACT
Despite the interest shown in employer branding by organizations, there has been little research by HR academics into the underlying theory, what it actually means in practice and the effectiveness of employer branding (Edwards, 2005, 2008; Martin, 2007). So in this chapter we build on our earlier attempts to shed
some light on these issues (see, for example, Martin & Hetrick, 2006, forthcoming) by bringing together literature from HRM, marketing and organizational communications to show how employer branding might work in theory and practice. This theory also has some normative value for practitioners by defining the core variables and links between them in the employer branding process. We do so, first, by developing a three-stage process and content theory (Langley, 1999) of how things happen in employer branding to discuss the design, employee evaluation and outcomes of employer brands, and the key contextual influences on these stages. Second, we briefly set out some of the available evidence on employer branding to address the questions: does it work in practice and can it work in different contexts? To anticipate our conclusions:
1. Our model highlights the complex interactions among culture (organizational and national), strategic choices and identity as key drivers of employer brand images and the hoped for outcomes of employer branding.
