Managing brand identity: effects on the employees
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the brand identity management process from the employees’ perspective. Specifically, it explores how the different dimensions of brand identity management influence employees’ attitudinal and behavioural responses.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study was carried out to test the proposed model. The sample consisted of 297 employees in the UK financial services sector. Hypothesis testing was conducted using partial least square regression.
Findings
Results indicate that effective brand identity management can increase employees’ identification with their organisations. Specifically, the most influential dimension is the employee-client focus. Results also show that organisational identification is a key variable to explain job satisfaction, word-of-mouth and brand citizenship behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
This study focusses on the UK financial sector. To explore the generalisability of results, replication studies among other sectors and countries would be useful. The cross-sectional nature of the study also limits its causal inference.
Practical implications
This study shows the importance of brand identity management to foster positive employee attitudes and actions that go beyond their job responsibilities. The model developed may help organisations analyse the impact of managerial actions, monitoring the potential effects of changes in brand identity management amongst employees.
Originality/value
Although numerous conceptual frameworks highlight the importance of brand identity management, empirical studies in this area are scarce. The current work extends previous research by empirically analysing the effects of the dimensions of brand identity management from the employees’ perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support of the I+D+I projects (ECO2013-41257-P) from the Government of Spain and the project “GENERES” (Ref: S-09) from the Government of Aragon and the European Social Fund. Isabel Buil would also like to thank the financial support received from the Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada of Zaragoza and the DGA (CONSI+D) (Programa Europa XXI de Estancias de Investigación). Eva Martínez also thanks the financial support of the “Subprograma de estancias de movilidad de profesores e investigadores séniores en centros extranjeros de enseñanza superior e investigación, incluido el Programa Salvador de Madariaga” (Ref: PR2011-0352).
Citation
Bravo, R., Buil, I., de Chernatony, L. and Martínez, E. (2017), "Managing brand identity: effects on the employees", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 2-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-10-2015-0148
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited