Hi Nina,

very interesting question. There has been quite a lot of discussion about the intruments of Internal Branding. Still, the model of Burman & Zeplin (2004; 2005) seems to be state of the art. They propose (and prove empirically ...) that brand oriented leadership, brand oriented HR Management and brand oriented communication positively relate to brand commitment and to the so called brand citizenship behavior. But I am pretty sure that you are already aware of their study.

In recent years, there is more talk about the construct of Brand Orientation (understood as a strategic orientation). The BO of a company can be seperated into brand oriented culture and brand oriented behavior. It seems that a brand oriented culture  leads to brand oriented behavior. See the work of Urde (e.g., 1999), Baumgarth and Schmidt et al. (2015) for deeper insights into BO and the BO model.

You are talking about Internal Employer Branding. Maybe the insights about Internal Branding and BO can help you to get a better view on the instruments of IEB as well. But I am not really sure if the definition of more and more constructs (IB, EB, IEB, External Employer Branding, etc.) really add value to corporate branding. Burmann & Piehler wrote a great article about the definitions and differences of employer and internal branding (2013).

Which departments should be involved? Of course, HR and Marketing/Corporate Reputation must play a major role. And, as always, the support of the the C-level is needed to overcome obstacles, get the general support of the middle management and to get the work done.

Hope this helps. Ragards, Holger

Baumgarth, C. (2010): "Living the brand": Brand orientation in the business‐to‐business sector. European Journal of Marketing, 44(5), 653-671.

Burmann, C.; Piehler, R. (2013): http://www.zstv.nomos.de/fileadmin/unternehmung/doc/Aufsatz_DU_13_03.pdf.

Burman, C.; Zeplin, S. (2005): Building brand commitment: A behavioural approach to internal brand Management. Journal of Brand Management (2005) 12, 279–300; doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2540223.

Burman, C.; Zeplin, S. (2004): http://www.lim.uni-bremen.de/files/burmann/publikationen/LiM-AP-07-Innengerichtetes-Markenmanagement.pdf.

Schmidt, H. J.; Baumgarth, C.; Wiedmann, K.-P.; Lückenbach, F. (2015): Strategic orientations and the performance of Social Entrepreneurial Organisations (SEOs): A conceptual model. Social Business, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 131-155.

Nina,

See if the attached article works.

Best Wishes