Journal of Human Resource Management

Journal of Human Resource Management

Employer Brand Hate: A Grounded Theory Conceptualization Based on Situational Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Shoja 1
Mohsen Nazari 2
Elham Ebrahimi 3
Faraz Sadegh Vaziri 4
1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Business Management, College of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Prof., Department of Management, Faculty of Business Management, College of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
3 Associate Prof., Department of Management, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.
4 Associate Prof., Department of Management, Faculty Management, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jhrs.2026.592146.2614
Abstract
Background & Purpose: Employer branding research has emphasized positive relationships, while negative relationships with employer brands remain underexplored. Experiences of employees and job seekers may extend beyond job dissatisfaction and develop into a hostile relationship with the employer brand. This study aimed to conceptualize Employer Brand Hate (EBH), clarify its boundaries, and explain its formation contexts and modes of expression.
Methodology: This qualitative study used grounded theory and Clarke’s situational analysis within an interpretive paradigm. Data were collected through narrative-oriented interviews with 38 employees, former employees, and job seekers whose experiences extended beyond job dissatisfaction. Participants were recruited through purposive, theoretical, and snowball sampling. Analysis involved initial and focused coding, memos, situational maps, and a positional map.
Findings: EBH develops when harmful, unjust, deceptive, or value-incongruent experiences are interpreted as signs of the employer brand’s underlying nature. The individual’s psychological relationship with the employer brand then changes, and emotional, moral, and identity-based bonds may become hostile, rejecting, or severed. Although EBH overlaps with job dissatisfaction, organizational cynicism, psychological contract breach, distrust, and organizational disidentification, it cannot be reduced to them. Its expression varies with employment status, perceived costs, and opportunities for private or public response. It may remain hidden through silence, self-censorship, psychological distancing, and minimal performance, or become visible through negative storytelling, warnings to job seekers, negative word-of-mouth, and anti-brand behavior.
Conclusion: Employer Brand Hate is a dynamic and context-dependent transformation in an individual’s psychological relationship with the employer brand, through which negative experiences develop into a stable judgment about the brand’s underlying nature. This conceptualization clarifies the boundaries of the phenomenon in relation to job dissatisfaction and adjacent constructs and shows that continued formal employment does not necessarily indicate the preservation of a psychological relationship with the employer brand. The findings can provide a basis for scale development and for identifying gaps between employer brand promises and employees’ actual experiences.
Keywords
Employer brand
Employer brand hate
Situational analysis
Grounded theory
Negative brand relationships.
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Journal of Human Resource Management
Volume 16, Issue 2
Summer 2026
Pages 36-62

  • Receive Date 16 July 2026
  • Revise Date 23 July 2026
  • Accept Date 23 July 2026