Abstract:
We explore branded identities within an organizational context. More specifically, we explore the notion that people are increasingly encouraged to bring more of ‘themselves’ into the workplace. Our aim is to unpack the brand experience by investigating employee representations of the self, organization and brand, from a social constructionist /interpretive / narrative perspective. Data is in the form of participant-generated visual and spoken texts. Employee portraits of the brand are framed as reflections or mirrors of the self. Our initial findings confirm that which has already been established; namely that employees may either accommodate or resist, to varying degrees, identification with the organizational brand. However, we add to this view by also detecting instances whereby the brand actually constitutes the self beyond the professional realm. Moreover, our findings confirm the contested, paradoxical and complex nature of the internal brand experience.