The Behavioral Consequences of Internal Brand Management Among Frontline Employees

Author(s)

Michael T. Bendixen, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Rose du Preez
Russell Abratt, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

ORCID

Michael T. Bendixen0000-0003-0010-3854

Rusell Abratt0000-0002-5385-0936

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Product and Brand Management

ISSN

1061-0421

Publication Date

2017

Abstract/Excerpt

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a comprehensive model for the outcomes of internal brand management (IBM), linking it to brand citizenship behavior (BCB) and intention to stay (IS) through job satisfaction (JS) and brand commitment (BC).

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive literature review is undertaken to develop the proposed model. The sample consists of three separate cases, a financial services firm, a multinational telecommunications company, both based in South Africa, and a regional grocery chain operating in the USA. Useable samples of 154, 96 and 241 were achieved for the three cases, respectively. In all cases, the majority of the respondents were customer contact employees.

Findings

The structural models showed some surprising results, the major one being that brand proselytization is not a component of BCB. Despite using the same instrument, the levers that drive IBM were different in each of the three cases and different from previous studies.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this research indicate that IBM and BCB are contextual. This implies that a universal instrument to measure these constructs has yet to be developed, representing an interesting avenue for future research.

Practical implications

Regarding employees as internal customers and including them in various marketing initiatives and brand-orientated human resource practices (recruitment, induction and training) are key to a successful IBM program.

Originality/value

A comprehensive model for the outcomes of IBM was developed and tested, linking it to BCB and IS through JS and BC. It is the first time that research has been conducted with customer contact employees only.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2016-1325

Volume

26

Issue

3

First Page

251

Last Page

261

NSUWorks Citation

Bendixen, Michael T.; du Preez, Rose; and Abratt, Russell, "The Behavioral Consequences of Internal Brand Management Among Frontline Employees" (2017). HCBE Faculty Articles. 720.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/720