Analysing the Impact of Internal Branding on Employee Engagement in the Permanent Recruitment Industry within the Social Exchange Framework

Abstract

Although it is widely perceived that the attraction and retention of staff is the greatest aspect of strategy implementation, O’Reilly and Pfeffer (2000) argue that it is important for brands to create internal cultures and systems that permit employees to use their talents. King and Grace (2008) conclude that a key factor in determining customer experience of a brand is reliant on employees own internal experiences with the organisation. This draws attention to the need and importance of internal branding within organisations and its relationship to developing engaged employees. Therefore, the problem of this study was to determine if there is a correlation between internal branding programs and employee engagement at the anonymous recruitment agency. This empirical research was conducted in the social world and took the form of an iterative inductive approach as the author sought to generate theory related to internal branding and its impact on employee engagement after having analysed the findings in the field of study. Mixed method research which was both qualitative and quantitative was employed and more specifically the triangulation classification as the qualitative data was used to validate the findings from the quantitative data. The research instruments took the form of focus group interviews and self- completion questionnaires. The results from this study showed that internal branding and employee engagement are areas that require attention within the studied property. It was uncovered that open feedback systems should be implemented for the employers to stay in tune with employees in order to assist them in achieving a “work- life” balance which is the greatest pain area. Ultimately the social exchange theory must be used simultaneously by the mutually dependant themes of internal branding and employee engagement to alleviate low levels of employee engagement attributed to the poor internal branding programs. This study highlights the importance of leadership teams paying particular attention to the state of their brand internally as determined by staff engagement without only looking to measure their external brand performance.