The Effect of Leadership Storytelling on Employer Branding for Engineering Organizations: Conceptual Paper

Organizational storytelling is a crucial aspect of employer branding, as it directs the cultures and behavior of an organization, reflecting the employer brand. Leadership has a distinct impact on organizational culture, making leadership storytelling essential. It impacts on employee emotional responses, such as pride, commitment, motivation, and loyalty, which are reflected in employer branding. However, research on the effects of leadership storytelling is underrepresented in the study of narrative techniques leading to employer branding. This paper aims to connect research on employer branding and leadership storytelling by breaking new conceptual ground with an innovative framework. Three main connections are argued: the direct impact of leadership storytelling on employer brand strategies, the storytelling of leadership reflects and directs organizational culture, and the storytelling of leadership impacts organizational identity, serving as a precursor for employer branding. The paper emphasizes that the employer brand reflects character, and leaders should develop stories associated with character and share them with employees and candidates throughout the employment life cycle.