Purpose Drawing on the social identity theory (SIT), this study investigates the relationship between internal branding (IB), organizational identity (OI) and brand performance while considering OI ...as the linking apparatus of internal branding and brand performance. It also explores the moderating role of co-worker support in the relationship between OI and brand performance. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 919 frontline employees working in private banks in India was collected by using multi-stage sampling. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to examine the hypothesized relations. PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test mediation and moderation effects. Findings The results reveal that all IB dimensions (internal brand communication, brand-oriented transformational leadership and brand-oriented HR activities) directly affect OI and indirectly affect brand performance. Additionally, no moderating effect of co-worker support is found. Research limitations/implications The current study contributes to the existing literature by portraying IB as identity strengthening phenomenon and brand performance as identity-congruent behavior. It also reveals how social context influences brand performance and assists them in socially categorizing themselves. Originality/value The present study portrays a complete understanding of the dynamics between internal branding, organizational identity, and brand performance. The study also emphasizes the empirical examination of the potential mediation effect of organizational identity and the moderation effect of co-worker support.
With corporate social responsibility (CSR) becoming increasingly important, this research forms a nexus for strategic CSR and internal brand knowledge through the conceptual development and empirical ...validation of a model. The research methodology is based on an online survey administered via a temporal data collection approach (i.e. two-wave). The findings substantiate that internal branding constructs that characterise the employees internal CSR experienced. The internal CSR experience is also shaped by individual factors, such as employee awareness of CSR, perception of the sincerity of the CSR brand and subjective knowledge of CSR. The findings demonstrate the precedential effect of the internal branding constructs on employee performance outcomes (CSR involvement, organisational attachment and organisational citizenship behaviours). The integrity of the model is substantiated by partial least squares (PLS) testing. The study provides scholars and practitioners with empirical evidence of CSR as an internal branding tool to improve brand alignment and employee performance.
Recently, internal branding has gained relevance in the marketing literature because researchers recognize that corporate brand management not only implicates external actions but also an internal ...approach that involves employees. Despite the growing interest, there is no consensus among authors about antecedents, dimensions, and outcomes of internal branding. In this sense, this paper aims to explore the conceptualization of internal branding and to offer opportunities for future research. The study is a systematic literature review that uses a specific database. The contributions of each article were extracted, organized, and processed following systematic procedures. This review defines internal branding as a cross-functional process that involves both marketing and human resource departments. It focuses on managing the brand internally through brand-centered human resource management, internal brand communications, and brand leadership, with the aim of achieving brand outcomes among employees (brand understanding, brand identification, brand commitment, brand loyalty, brand citizenship behaviors) so they can build brand equity in front of external stakeholders. Although a lack of consensus had been established, the literature evidenced similarities that gave rise to the conceptualization proposed in this study. Nevertheless, the discussion about internal branding is still open because there are several issues to investigate in this field.
There has been a rejuvenated interest from researchers and scholars regarding the various ways in which organizations can enhance their overall brand performance. Enterprise brand orientation are ...said to be the main factors that aid in improving brand performance along with internal branding and the customer value co-creation. To assess this relationship, the present study undertook an inquiry to investigate the impact of enterprise brand orientation on brand performance. Moreover, the mediating roles of customer value co-creation and internal branding were also studied. Data was obtained from 358 Chinese consumers of various household, electronic, and textile goods through a self-administered survey. A SEM technique was applied using Smart-PLS to examine the data. The findings suggested that enterprise brand orientation had a significant effect on brand performance. Moreover, it was also observed that internal branding and customer value co-creation also had a predicting role in brand performance. In addition to this, customer value co-creation and internal branding were seen to be strongly mediating the relationships between enterprise brand orientation and brand performance. The study also checked the moderating role of enterprise innovative capabilities on the effect on enterprise brand orientation and brand performance. The theoretical implication entailed the value addition made by the current study in expanding the knowledge on the predictors of enterprise brand equity. The practical implication outlined the steps that could be taken by organizations to improve brand performance through enterprise brand orientation; internal branding and customer value co-creation so that customer satisfaction and enterprise brand performance could be enhanced.
The focus of this paper is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for the relationship between internal employer brand image and talent retention. An extensive and semi-systematic literature ...review identified a number of antecedents and consequences that have been empirically tested in various cutting-edge research studies that were conducted around the world. The existing literature is reviewed using a topical approach, and 66 research studies, most recent from various repositories, were carefully chosen and reviewed based on the criteria. Such studies have been discerned and synthesized in order to establish a complete and accurate understanding of the phenomenon. Finally, a comprehensive and relatively rich conceptual framework has been proposed for future empirical explanations in various social settings
prospective research.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the manner in which market orientation types facilitate the development of brand management processes (strategic brand management and internal ...branding), and brand performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model is assessed using data collected from brand executives. Existing scales are used to measure all the focal constructs. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using the Smart-PLS 3.0 software is used to check for the psychometric properties of the scales and to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results of this study indicate that proactive and reactive market orientation influence the internal branding and strategic brand management. The mediating role of strategic brand management in the relationship between proactive market orientation (PMO) and brand performance is significant. Similarly, internal branding mediates the relationship between PMO and brand performance. Also, strategic brand management and internal branding mediate the relationship between responsive market orientation (RMO) and brand performance. Results also indicate that market turbulence negatively moderates the relationship between strategic brand management and brand performance.
Research limitations/implications
Building on literature from brand management, organizational capabilities and market orientation, this study explicates the role of PMO and RMO in influencing different strategic brand management and internal branding, and subsequently, brand performance. The perspective used in this study provides an insight into how organizations can develop and manage brands from a process perspective.
Practical implications
To develop the brand management capability, organizations may benefit from cultivating processes that seek to meet the latent customer needs through explorative and proactive information seeking, and at the same time, pursing processes that focus on capturing the existing customer and competitor trends in the market.
Social implications
This study hopefully helps marketers realize that brand management function needs to move toward being more dynamic in nature.
Originality/value
This study borrows from the existing research on market orientation, branding and brand management to argue that organizations are required to not only maximize the brand returns in the existing market but also to adapt to the changes in the future.
Challenged by demanding contextual conditions, public sector organizations struggle to succeed in internal branding. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of value congruence in ...internal communication and positive organizational practices on employees' brand perceptions. The study examines the impact of PSM on these variables. The results of a survey demonstrate the importance of value congruence and positive organizational practices for facilitating employees' brand identification, brand pride, and brand commitment. The findings show that PSM directly impacts employees' opinions about value congruence and positive organizational practices, and indirectly influences their affective responses to the organizational brand.
This study develops an empirical model to test the effect of internal branding and brand-oriented leadership on employees’ service recovery performance and turnover intention, with a particular ...emphasis on psychological contract as a mediator. Using a quantitative approach, questionnaire responses were collected from frontline employees of four- and five-star hotels in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Statistical analyses were performed using the SmartPLS software. The results of the statistical analyses showed internal branding and brand-oriented leadership positively influence psychological contracts. Moreover, the results suggest that hotels need to establish effective internal branding mechanisms to relay their brand messages through internal communication, training, briefings, and meetings. It was observed that, in general, a psychological contract guarantees a partial complementary mediation between internal branding and brand-oriented leadership on service recovery performance and turnover intention.
In this article I present brand-centred control as a new form of normative control and examine the ways in which it affects employees. To do so, I draw on the results of a qualitative case study of a ...consumer products company with a strong corporate culture and brand, and examine internal branding as an extension of culture management. The key insights of the case study show that brand-centred control – unlike traditional normative control that typically works inside the company – also engages an external audience (customers, fans, and the wider public) as an additional source of normative control. As employees internalise the brand image of this external audience, they turn into brand representatives even in absence of face-to-face interactions with others and in their private lives. Brand-centred control thus blurs the boundaries between work and employees’ private lives in unprecedented ways. I discuss the ways in which employees respond to and resist brand-centred control and point to further research on brand-centred control as a significant new form of normative control.
Purpose This study aims to quantitatively consolidate the research conducted over the past four decades on how internal branding activities drive employee commitment. It summarizes several ...operationalizations of internal branding and tests the moderating effect of employee’s personal characteristics and job characteristics on the relationship between internal branding and employee commitment. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses meta-analysis as the research methodology. The analysis includes a sample of 65 studies (from 62 published works), yielding 226 effect sizes (coded into 82 composite effect sizes) over an aggregated sample of 21,706 respondents. Findings This study finds that brand communication, brand-centered human resource management (HRM), training and development, organizational support and culture, brand-centered leadership and an excellent reward system are the key operationalizations of internal branding. Furthermore, employee’s personal (education, age and gender) and job (tenure, work status and level of customer orientation) characteristics significantly moderate the internal branding–employee commitment relationship. Research limitations/implications Limited empirical literature on some of the internal branding operationalizations such as brand-centered HRM and rewards has curbed the scope of moderator analysis. Practical implications This paper proposes some effective ways of implementing internal branding strategies and provides support for boundary conditions that brand managers should consider to strengthen the impact of internal branding activities on employee commitment. Originality/value As per the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the few quantitative consolidations of four decades of research on the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.
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