Ethical branding as a discoursive resource for employee identity work: A case study

In recent years literature studying the use of corporate branding in the control of corporate culture has emerged, but as yet there is scant research on the relationship between branding and employee identity. This study addresses this research gap by analysing the effects of an ethical brand on the identity work of employees. Respondents were found to adopt the discourse of the brand in the construction of their identity projects. The empirical findings reveal that in the case of branding, specific modes of identity work appear to be far more influential than others. In particular it was observed that in the case study the brand informs the three modes of identity work: (1) ‘self-definition by delimitation’ (2) ‘self-definition as morally superior’ and (3) ‘providing a common sense of mission’