From branding to voice: how employees co-create the employer brand

Naman Dubey, Muhammad Vasil, Murugan Pattusamy and Tulika Srivastava

International Journal of Manpower, 2026, vol. 47, issue 4, 636-654

Abstract: PurposeThe study aims to examine how employer branding influences employees' brand advocacy and voice behavior under the boundary conditions of psychological ownership and met expectations. The study positions employer branding as a central enabler of employee-driven brand co-creation, where employees do not merely consume organizational identity but actively shape, disseminate and safeguard it.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses survey data collected from 397 employees in the United Kingdom via prolific and tests the proposed relationships using hierarchical linear regression and Hayes' PROCESS macro (Models 4 and 21) in SPSS.FindingsThe results suggest that employer branding encourages employees to advocate for the organization, and this advocacy becomes a pathway through which they voice for organizational improvements. Employer branding initiatives are more effective in driving brand advocacy for people with low psychological ownership. Moreover, when employees perceive that the organization fulfills their expectations, they are more willing to turn their advocacy into voice behavior.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the need for organizations to communicate employer branding initiatives internally, target branding initiatives toward employees with lower psychological ownership and fulfill employee expectations.Originality/valueThe study integrates social identity, psychological ownership and met expectations theories to explain how employer branding translates into co-creation behaviors that build a strong employer brand. It contributes to the employer branding literature by positioning current employees as active co-creators rather than passive recipients.

Keywords: Employer branding; Brand co-creation; Brand advocacy; Voice behavior; Psychological ownership; met expectations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijmpps:ijm-10-2025-0843

DOI: 10.1108/IJM-10-2025-0843

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