Business and Applied Management Journal
Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026)

Employee Branding and Owner Personal Branding as Drivers of Customer Engagement: Evidence from Digital Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Hadi Suriono (Universitas Asahan)
Riy Dewantoro (Universitas Asahan)



Article Info

Publish Date
11 Jul 2026

Abstract

The integration of employee branding and owner personal branding to enhance customer engagement among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) utilizing digital platforms is crucial to examine. This study analyzes the partial and simultaneous effects of employee branding and owner personal branding on customer engagement. A descriptive-quantitative survey design was employed. The population comprised 15,178 SME actors across 12 sub-districts; proportionate stratified random sampling using the Slovin formula (e = 10%) yielded 99 respondents. Data were collected via a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression. Employee branding has a significant positive effect on customer engagement (β₁ = 0.589; t = 6.203; p < 0.001), as does owner personal branding (β₂ = 0.358; t = 3.693; p < 0.001). The integrated model explains 85.0% of the variance in customer engagement (R² = 0.850; F = 274.817; p < 0.001). These findings contribute to the employer branding literature in the SME-digital context and offer practical guidance for SME practitioners in designing integrated branding strategies that combine employee brand commitment with authentic owner communication on social media platforms.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

bamj

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Economics, Econometrics & Finance Education Environmental Science Social Sciences

Description

Business and Applied Management Journal is Peer-reviewed refereed journal aiming at engaging academicians as well as practitioners. Focus on the areas of economics, finance, banking, capital markets, takaful and law. The aim of the Journal is to foster academic research by publishing original ...