Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Leadership
Committee Chair
Dr. Casey Maugh Funderburk
Committee Chair School
Leadership
Committee Member 2
Dr. Amin Alizadeh
Committee Member 2 School
Leadership
Committee Member 3
Dr. Jonathan Beedle
Committee Member 3 School
Leadership
Committee Member 4
Dr. H. Quincy Brown
Committee Member 4 School
Leadership
Abstract
In today’s sociopolitical climate, popular protest has become a powerful force shaping how organizations are judged and how people decide where to work. This qualitative study took place during a period of heightened sociopolitical activity and public unrest in the United States, when organizational responses to contested issues were especially visible and consequential. This study explored how popular protest affects corporate reputation (CR) and, in turn, influences employee recruitment and retention. Drawing on stakeholder theory (ST), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate social advocacy (CSA), the study situated popular protest as an external pressure that exposes alignment or misalignment in values between organizations and their stakeholders. When companies take a public stance on divisive issues such as racial justice, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) rights, or environmental policy, their response to popular protest can reinforce or weaken legitimacy, shaping how current and potential employees perceive authenticity, trustworthiness, and fit.
Using semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, this study captured narratives from employees, former employees, and applicants who experienced or responded to popular protest directed at an organization within the past ten years. Triangulation through social media discourse provided additional context for how reputational shifts unfold. The study highlights the barriers and enablers influencing whether individuals choose to apply, stay, or leave when reputational shift happens. Specifically, this study found that corporate protest responses functioned as signals of organizational values. Participants interpreted silence, defensiveness, advocacy, or transparency as indicators of underlying moral commitments and leadership priorities. Reputational trust emerged as a threshold for employment consideration; when corporate responses were perceived as inconsistent or misaligned with personal values, participants described hesitation, withdrawal, or disengagement. In contrast, when responses demonstrated coherence between rhetoric and action, commitment was reinforced and organizational attachment deepened. Finally, participants described translating reputational judgments into concrete employment behaviors, including altered application decisions, conditional retention, and broader career reassessment. Overall, the findings demonstrated that the relationship between popular protest and talent outcomes was influenced by individual interpretation with protest functioning as a moral inflection point activating sensemaking, values alignment assessments, and trust evaluations within contemporary labor markets.
Copyright
Heather Miller, 2026
Recommended Citation
Miller, Heather, "Popular Protest and Corporate Reputation: Exploring the Impact on Recruitment and Retention" (2026). Dissertations. 2466.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2466