Human-Centered and Value-Based Employer Branding: an Implementable Model to Enhance Gen Z Retention in the Creative Fashion Industry

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-862-2_12How to use a DOI?

Keywords

employer branding; Gen Z; employee retention; creative fashion; participatory branding; work values

Abstract

This study aims to develop an implementable employer branding model tailored to the characteristics of Generation Z (Gen Z) within Indonesia’s creative fashion industry. Employing a qualitative exploratory approach and utilizing NVivo 15 for thematic data analysis, the research involved in-depth interviews with HR managers and Gen Z employees from three fashion companies. The study identifies five essential pillars for an effective employer branding strategy: (1) employer authenticity, (2) integration of spiritual and social values, (3) participatory narrative involvement from Gen Z, (4) emotionally engaging digital communication platforms, and (5) meaningful work experience. The resulting model advances employer branding theory by incorporating co-narrative branding and value-based representation, reflecting the changing expectations of the younger workforce. Moreover, it offers strategic implications for reducing the high turnover intention commonly observed among Gen Z by enhancing organizational identification, emotional connection, and trust. This value-driven and human-centered employer branding framework serves as both a theoretical enrichment and a practical guide for fashion-based organizations to foster sustained engagement, loyalty, and advocacy among Gen Z employees. The model makes notable contributions across four dimensions: theoretically by bridging generational identity and branding literature; methodologically by applying qualitative analysis supported by NVivo; practically by outlining concrete branding actions; and strategically by equipping HR and communication professionals with a roadmap to improve employer-employee alignment.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lina Marlina
AU  - Tatiek E. Permana
AU  - Rizzky Rustiadi
AU  - Yana Sonjaya
AU  - Ruli Mochammad Chaerudin
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/10/27
TI  - Human-Centered and Value-Based Employer Branding: an Implementable Model to Enhance Gen Z Retention in the Creative Fashion Industry
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business, Accounting, Banking, and Economics (ICBABE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 152
EP  - 166
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-862-2_12
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-862-2_12
ID  - Marlina2025
ER  -