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Employee Engagement and Internal Branding: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

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Abstract

This study examines the link between employee engagement and internal branding. It seeks to understand which antecedent factors healthcare professionals consider important for employee engagement and what kinds of implications this engagement-related information may have for internal branding. The study reviews the literature on employee engagement and internal branding and presents a conceptualisation of the linkage between the two concepts. The empirical portion content analyses more than 1200 answers to open questions to examine employee engagement in the case organisation, a large private healthcare organisation in Finland. The findings suggest the following eight antecedent factors to be particularly important for healthcare professionals’ employee engagement: organisational culture, reward, working environment, training, HR practices, reputation and values, communication, and physical environment. Based on the empirical and theoretical analyses, it can be said that the antecedent factors of employee engagement and elements of internal branding can be considered two sides of the same coin.

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Acknowledgements

The authors from University of Turku wish to thank Development Program of Knowledge-Intensive Economy (ASKO), The Regional Council of Satakunta and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for funding this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pori Unit, Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku, PL 170, 28101, Pori, Finland

    Kati Suomi, Mervi Vähätalo & Tomi J. Kallio

  2. Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Saila Saraniemi

  3. The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Helsinki, Finland

    Terhi Tevameri

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  1. Kati Suomi
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  2. Saila Saraniemi
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  3. Mervi Vähätalo
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Correspondence to Kati Suomi.

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Suomi, K., Saraniemi, S., Vähätalo, M. et al. Employee Engagement and Internal Branding: Two Sides of the Same Coin?. Corp Reputation Rev 24, 48–63 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41299-019-00090-0

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