When reputation management is people management: Implications for employee voice

This article explores the relationship between internal reputation management, HRM, and employee voice. Drawing on qualitative data from 25 medium-size and large Norwegian organizations, we find that organizations pursue a desired reputation through a single, official corporate voice by discouraging prohibitive employee voice through technocratic control and coercive HRM practices. The emphasis on technocratic control and coercive HRM occurs despite the widely held belief in reputation and branding literatures that employees should be committed corporate ambassadors who enthusiastically promote their organization's desired reputation and deeply believe in the images they convey to internal and external stakeholders. The findings contribute to studies on reputation management by linking internal reputation management, HRM, and employee voice, pointing out “people management” aspects of reputation management and highlighting important organizational and employee-based consequences.