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.
Although employee engagement is essential to hotel performance, few studies have identified context-specific manifestations of employee engagement in the boutique hotel business. Drawing on the ...service-dominant logic and dual processing theory, this study investigated the experiential and rational factors driving employee engagement in hotel brand value co-creation. Data collected from 570 employees working in boutique hotels in Vietnam showed that under the influence of organizational tenure, internal brand communication and external social media brand communication facilitate the employee perceived service climate, which, in turn, triggers employee engagement in brand value co-creation. The study provides beneficial implications for employee management in boutique hotels.
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance front-line employee brand enactment within an interpersonal service setting. Insights from equity ...theory and the person – environment paradigm are drawn upon to develop a theoretical model describing the impact of IMO on employee – organization fit, employee – supervisor fit and employee – job fit and the consequences of IMO on employee brand knowledge and brand identification. Second, the role of various types of fit and brand knowledge/identification for front-line employee brand enactment is confirmed.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws from service employees in a high-contact customer setting.
Findings
Results uncover two mechanisms for successful internal branding: increasing employee fit with the service environment and enhancing employee brand knowledge.
Practical implications
The study contributes to practice in that the findings outline a realistic understanding of how managerial actions facilitate employees’ alignment with the firm’s brand promise within the realm of the broader organizational context in which service delivery takes place.
Originality/value
The present study contributes in the extant literature as it enables a more holistic view of the drivers of brand-congruent behaviors among front-line employees. Moreover, it has a significant contribution for future researchers as it lays the ground to further examine how employees’ perceptions of internal marketing strategies shape their fit levels with different aspects of their working environment which also affect the internal branding efforts of service organizations.
This paper examines the rhetorical strategies of mobilising and inspiring a domestic audience for national identity re/construction in order to reinforce the Nigerian brand. Data for the study are ...composed of some branding strategies packaged and broadcast mainly on radio and television by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Information and Communications in its rebranding campaign in 2009 which was targeted at the domestic citizens' value re-orientation. The study adopts Fairclough's dialectical-relational approach which centres on "dialectical reasoning" – a way of reasoning from critique of discourse to what should be done to change existing reality, by way of explanation of relations between discourse and other components (social, cultural and political) of reality. It then applies the tenets of the theory to analyse the rhetorical strategies in the rebranding campaign, as the domestic citizens' agency is considered instrumental in bolstering the Nigerian brand. The study demonstrates that the branding strategies analysed largely invoke history, collective memory, values, traditions, and aspirations which could appeal to the domestic citizens' nationalistic sensibilities and imaginaries to evolve an enduring Nigerian brand which is domestic-driven.
As a value-led entity, the nonprofit depends on its staff for the delivery of the brand value outsides and thus promoting the brand inside is crucial to the development of the nonprofits. Using a ...sample of 290 full-time staff working in 270 nonprofits in China, two related studies were conducted. Study 1 aimed to develop and validate a new scale for internal branding in the nonprofit context, while Study 2 aimed to investigate the linking mechanism between internal branding and brand performance with the mediating roles (including chain mediation) of the person–organization fit (POF) and intent to stay with the brand (IntSB). As predicted, the results revealed that: (1) the nonprofit internal branding (NIB) scale is a three-dimensional construct that is composed of brand-centered training, internal brand communication, and brand-oriented leadership, (2) internal branding positively predicts POF, IntSB, and brand performance, and (3) POF and IntSB sequentially mediate the internal branding–brand performance relationship. The implications of our findings for internal branding in the nonprofit context are discussed.
Brand knowledge is a critical factor for employee ‘living the brand’. However, literature of employee brand knowledge remains underexplored. Drawing from information processing theory and the ...motivation and job design perspective, this study investigates the role of brand knowledge and employee organizational tenure in the development of an internal brand and specifically its impact on employee brand citizenship behaviour. We collect data from a sample of 257 employees in branded service providers in hospitality sector in Vietnam. The results indicate the influence of brand leadership and internal branding on employee brand citizenship behaviour through brand knowledge of service employees. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relationship-mediated theory of internal marketing, and further explain the role of leaders as knowledge facilitators when building a brand ethos among employees. Further, the service tenure of the employees was found to moderate the relationships between the antecedents and brand knowledge, demonstrating that the impact of these internal brand building activities dissipates over time; highlighting the challenge organizations face in sustaining brand citizenship behaviour among employees.
品牌知识是员工 “活在品牌中” 的关键因素. 然而, 关于员工品牌知识的文献研究还不够深入. 本研究从信息处理理论, 动机和工作设计的角度, 研究了品牌知识和员工组织任期在内部品牌发展中的作用, 特别是其对员工品牌公民行为的影响. 我们收集了257名越南酒店业品牌服务供应商员工的数据. 结果表明, 品牌领导和内部品牌通过服务员工的品牌知识对员工的品牌公民行为产生影响. 这些发现有助于我们理解内部营销的关系中介理论, 并进一步解释了领导者作为知识推动者在员工中建立品牌精神时所扮演的角色. 此外, 研究发现员工的服务任期调节了前因与品牌知识之间的关系, 表明这些内部品牌建设活动的影响会随着时间的推移而消散; 突显企业在维持员工品牌公民行为方面面临的挑战.
Purpose
This paper aims to study the effect of internal branding on brand supporting behaviour (in-role and extra-role) of bank employees in Egypt. It proposes a model which examines the relationship ...between internal branding and employees’ brand supporting behavior, mediated by employees’ role clarity, affective commitment and continuance commitment, to provide insights into the way in which employees can become brand champions.
Design/methodology/approach
A single cross-sectional descriptive research was employed. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 400 frontline bank employees. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the scales, and structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results showed that internal branding did not have a direct significant impact on employees’ in-role and extra-role behaviour. However, that impact only took place through employees’ role clarity and their affective commitment.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that banks can differentiate their offers and build powerful corporate brands through their employees’ brand supporting behaviour. Therefore, bank managers need to consider internal branding within the context of a corporate marketing orientation. Moreover, enhancing employees’ role clarity and affective commitment will ensure sustainable brand supporting behaviour.
Originality/value
This research is the first quantitative study to examine the impact of role clarity and continuance commitment as possible mediators to the proposed relationship. It further adds up to the internal branding literature, which is mostly qualitative or conceptual and thus suffers from limited conclusive evidence in terms of internal branding benefits and practical implications.
The present paper investigates the effect of internal branding on organizational citizenship behavior with respect to the mediating role of organizational identity and job attachment in Iran’s ...startups. The population of the descriptive-survey study included 460 employees of start-up Internet companies in Iran and the sample size was 210 people. The sampling method used is simple random and standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Data analysis performed by using structural equation modeling with partial least squares approach and also using SMART PLS2 software. According to the research results, internal branding has a significant effect on organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, internal brand communication and transformational leadership has led to organizational identification and transformational leadership has led to job attachment. Organizational identification also affects job attachment. On the other hand, organizational identification has affected the organizational citizenship behavior towards customers and job attachment has affected the organizational citizenship behavior towards customers and the organization.
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