Why the PR strategy of storytelling improves employee engagement and adds value to CSR: An integrated literature review

•Examines theoretical text on corporate storytelling to ascertain if it can be a valuable public relations (PR) strategy to heighten employee engagement.•Reviews how storytelling may improve internal loyalty to the corporate brand.•Storytelling may ultimately strengthen internal and external reputation.•Appraises storytelling’s worth for an organisation’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This literature review paper examines theoretical text on corporate storytelling to ascertain if it can be a valuable public relations (PR) strategy to heighten employee engagement, and to identify how storytelling may improve internal loyalty to the corporate brand that ultimately strengthens internal and external reputation – validating its worth for an organisation's corporate social responsibility (CSR).The paper includes an integrated literature review of contemporary text and theories on storytelling from academics and industry leaders relating to the benefits of using corporate stories; corporate stories and employee engagement; employee engagement and enhanced internal reputation; the link between internal and external reputation; the benefits of PR strategies to CSR; and the limitations of corporate storytelling. Results from a 2012 Australian corporate survey on the use of storytelling are also integrated into the review. Many theorists endorse corporate storytelling as a valuable medium for engaging with employees and improving internal reputation. However, both contemporary academic and industry analysis appears limited in acknowledgement of a link between internal storytelling and improved CSR.The paper draws a link between using corporate stories to engage more deeply with staff in order to strengthen internal loyalty and effect a stronger external reputation, as organisations seek to heighten their CSR credibility and make employees their reputation champions. This link appears to be given limited attention in current PR academic text.