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The corporate branding concept places an emphasis on employees' attitudes and behaviours. This has given rise to internal branding and employer branding, which argue for a closer alignment between the employees' values and those of the corporate brand. However, few studies have attempted to provide a platform by which the two concepts could be synergised to achieve a strong, consistent corporate brand. This paper therefore seeks to explore and demonstrate how the three concepts of branding are interrelated through a new framework.

Three bodies of literature (corporate branding, internal branding, and employer branding) were selected for review and examination in terms of their implications for the proposed framework that conceptualises the relationships between the three areas.

The review of the literature highlights the importance of employer branding and internal branding, and its potential to support the corporate brand‐building initiatives, whilst maintaining their distinctiveness in the literature. It also sheds light in terms of the inter‐relationships among the three concepts of branding.

The analysis of the literature reveals a degree of synergy and integration between employer branding and internal branding. It also facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the implications of the two concepts for branding and integrated corporate brand management.

In the past 25 years, employer and internal branding have grown significantly. Prior reviews tended to focus on either one of these domains. This study aims to map the intellectual structure of research on both employer branding and internal branding, thereby identifying impactful authors and journals, current and evolving themes and avenues for future research.

Using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software packages, a bibliometric analysis of 739 articles was conducted using various methods such as citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, cluster analysis, keyword analysis and three-field plot. The Scopus results were further validated using 297 articles produced by the Web of Science data set. It ensured the robustness of the results and generalizability of the findings across bibliometric data sets.

The findings first report the impactful articles, authors and institutions of employer and internal branding research, along with popular keywords used in this area. Next, the analysis reveals four major clusters and seven subthemes (i.e. employer brand and job seekers, employer brand and employees, employer brand and international human resource management (HRM), third-party employer branding, internal branding – conceptualization/review, internal branding – antecedents and consequences, internal brand management). Early research focused more on “corporate brandings,” whereas current research deals more with “employer branding: antecedents and consequences,” “employer branding conceptualization/review,” and “internal branding” and its subthemes. The employer and internal branding clusters have evolved largely independent from each other. This study offers future research directions and practical implications per cluster.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of both employer and internal branding research.

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of internal communication and its connections to engagement and employer brands. The authors wanted to test the relationship between the three variables and explore if employees' perception of employer brands is affected by internal communication satisfaction and engagement. Creating a desirable employer brand can have significant benefits for organizations, such as higher employee satisfaction, employee engagement and retention. It is crucial to have a clear grasp of how the determinants of these relationships affect each other.

A total of 1,805 employees participated in a large communication survey that measured internal communication satisfaction, employee engagement and perception of employer brand (operationalized as employer attractiveness). To test the relationship between variables, the authors used multiple regression analysis.

The results show internal communication satisfaction and employee engagement as significant predictors of employer brand. All of the internal communication satisfaction dimensions and two out of three employee engagement dimensions have been identified as determinants of at least two employer attractiveness dimensions.

Limitations include using a cross-sectional dataset, which reduces the possibility of determining causality, using self-reports and a common source bias.

The authors added to the body of knowledge by analyzing the effects of workplace attitudes on attitudes toward the organization. The authors found that both internal communication satisfaction and employee engagement significantly shape the perception of employer brands.

Although internal communication is perceived as one of the crucial elements for favorable internal evaluation of an employer brand (EB), the importance of internal communication for EB advocacy has been insufficiently theoretically problematized and related empirical evidence is almost non-existent. In this paper, the relationship between employees' satisfaction with internal communication and their perceptions of their employers' attractiveness is explored.

A questionnaire-based field research study was conducted on a sample of 3,457 Croatian employees. The Internal Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (ICSQ) (Tkalac Verčič et al., 2009) and the Employer Attractiveness (EmpAt) Scale (Berthon et al., 2005) were used for assessing internal communication satisfaction (ICS) and employer attractiveness (EA).

Findings reveal that respondents' overall satisfaction with internal communication in their organizations is significantly positively related with the overall attractiveness they assign to their employers, that all explored ICS dimensions are significant for the overall EA, and that each ICS dimension is significant for at least one EA dimension. The most relevant ICS dimensions for EA are “satisfaction with feedback” and “satisfaction with communication climate”.

A conducted large sample study is among the first quantitative empirical studies that proved that employees who are satisfied with internal communication are likely to see their employers as attractive. Moreover, findings point toward internal communication endeavors which add more value to developing an attractive internal EB.

The purpose of this paper is to build a comprehensive conceptual framework of internal branding, to demarcate this field from employer branding and to develop an updated definition of internal branding that incorporates the findings of the literature review and emerging views in branding.

This research conducts a systematic review of the internal branding and employer branding literature following previously established procedures.

The major findings of this research are that internal branding comprises five key components within a supportive corporate culture, namely, brand ideologies, brand leadership, brand-centred human resource management (HRM), internal brand communication and internal brand communities; and that internal branding is related yet distinct from employer branding in its discipline, focus, components, outcomes and the role of the brand. The paper concludes with a comprehensive definition of internal branding derived from the conceptual framework and recent trends in branding, in addition to directed suggestions for future research in the field.

This research highlights areas for future research within internal branding, including the need for further research on internal brand communities and how brands can “internally brand” brand partners.

The research highlights the company-wide and brand partner-wide effort required in internal branding, in addition to the necessity of a supportive corporate culture.

This is the first review of internal branding and employer branding that aims to differentiate between the constructs and build a conceptual framework of internal branding, by drawing from the fields of HRM, marketing, branding and general management.

HR professionals have identified the power of information sharing for employer branding that could be obtained through the rapid growth of social media usage. The growing interest in and power of social media seem to be important for companies that want to make themselves known as interesting employers and to recruit prospective employees, using techniques that are more common to job seekers and recruiters. This study aims to explore the immediate future of employer branding through social media, as envisioned by academics and HR practitioners.

To look into the future of employer branding, we use the Delphi technique for forecasting, planning, issue identification, and framework development (Bobeva & Day, 2002). Two groups of respondents participated in this three-part study: 11 academics and 20 HR professionals. They were selected because of their research into the integration of HRM and IT from the e-HRM Global mailing list. The panelists participated in the research via electronic communication. The data were collected in three rounds from November 2010 to April 2011.

Research has revealed differences in the opinions of academics and HR professionals on the impact of social media on employer branding. The academics see its general effect as the targeting of audience for recruitment, marketing/company brand, and ways of communication/HR competencies. The practitioners see the image of the employer, visibility of the company, and organization responsiveness. The study presents other findings within the boundaries of employer branding value proposition, internal and external marketing, and the role of HR professionals. According to the academics, HR professionals in the future will need to possess knowledge about marketing and communication studies and web-based applications/develop new skills. They think that social media will impact the image of HR in organizations. On the other hand, HR professionals think that the future of their activities will depend on their awareness of recruitment trends, HR innovative thinking, and HR networking skills. Although the object of their activity will remain recruitment, HR professionals will have to be continuously updated on what is new in the social media in terms of recruitment.

This study presents the results of the Delphi technique, which is itself considered an original research method and not widely accepted in the tough “publish or perish” world. The value of the research is its forecast about the future developments of employer branding through social media, as envisioned by academics and HR practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the differences in employer branding between the companies that participate and those that do not participate in employer ranking.

Quantitative data were collected through a survey from 188 companies operating on the Russian labour market. Descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the collected data.

The findings revealed specific profiles of the companies that participated and did not participate in employer ranking. Companies differed in their employer branding orientation, internal branding, employer branding strategy, employer branding programmes and employer branding communications tasks. At the same time, brand orientation did not differ between participants and non-participants of employer ranking.

This study integrates the employer brand equity theory and the signalling theory to better explain the differences between participants and non-participants of employer ranking.

This study aims to expand the emerging body of literature on employer branding from the current employee perspective. It proposes that effective integrated communication helps an organization fulfill its employer value proposition or employment value proposition (EVP). A firm that fulfills its brand promise in terms of EVP will derive employee-based brand equity (EBBE) benefits. Integrated communication is effective when employees experience coordination and consistency in brand communication. This influences their perception of psychological contract fulfillment (in terms of EVP attributes), which results in positive employee behavior in the form of EBBE benefits.

The study draws insights from the signaling theory and psychological contract literature which is based on the social exchange theory. The literature on integrated communication, employer branding and internal branding was reviewed to propose the relationships between the variables of interest. Data was collected using a questionnaire survey on 520 employees from the information technology (IT)-business process management industry in India, which is a customer-oriented industry known for its exemplary employer practices.

The findings suggest that integrated communication effectiveness impacts the perceived fulfillment of EVP attributes and EBBE. Again, the fulfillment of the relational value dimension of EVP attributes partially mediates the relationship between integrated communication effectiveness and EBBE.

This study is one of the first to explore employees’ perception of integrated communication effectiveness and fulfillment in terms of EVP attributes as antecedents to EBBE.

The purpose of this study is to examine what kind of motives and practices company has for employer branding in power industry. The objective is to find out the benefits of employer branding and how it is targeted towards potential and current employees. In addition, the aim is to examine whether companies see employer branding as a process and what kind of processes they have for employer branding.

The theoretical perspective of this study is based on literature review, which provides a better understanding of employer branding. The empirical part is a qualitative case study of two large, international companies in the field of power industry. The data was gathered with interviews.

The main motives for employer branding are better employer image, more efficient recruitment and improved job satisfaction. Employer branding efforts are focused according to target group. Recruitment and educational co‐operation are the main objects of employer branding towards potential employees, whereas training and development are an essential part of employer branding towards current employees. This article also discovers that there is some kind of process aspect in the background of employer branding.

Companies invest in employer branding in order to get good applicants, retain employees and create the image of a great employer. Power industry is an internationally remarkable field of business. Energy and the solutions of power technology are always needed and there exist a major need for new experts in power industry. As limitations, this study includes only two power industry companies and the data is qualitative. Therefore, the results cannot be generalized in larger scale.

The competition of talented workforce will increase because of the decrease in working‐age population. Employer branding will become more prominent in the future when companies strive to gain competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to expand and test Backhaus and Tikoo’s (2004) employer branding (EB) conceptual framework from the perspective of internal EB in a sport event sponsorship context.

This study developed a set of hypotheses, which were tested in the context of a business-to-business multinational organization’s sport event sponsorship project. Empirical data were collected from 716 employees of the case company after the sponsorship project was complete.

The results support all the hypotheses and reveal that a sport event sponsorship project can act as a means to achieving EB goals in the investigated context.

The sample of the study was limited to the existing personnel of one case company. The study measures the effects at a single point in time, thus the findings should be validated with longitudinal research design.

The results propose that companies can benefit from integrating sport sponsorship with internal EB. Practitioners are advised to create sponsorship projects that involve current employees effectively.

The study adds to the literature by being among the first empirical studies to have tested the effects of EB among current employees via a sponsorship project.