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This study aims to extend current research efforts by examining the dual role of salesperson brand and organizational identification in driving organizational citizenship behaviors, brand advocacy and ultimately brand market performance.

This study uses an online survey to collect data from a cross-sectional sample of salespeople. The measurement model and proposed research hypotheses are tested with SmartPLS.

Study results show that each level of identification has a stronger influence on the type of behaviors relevant to that foci of identification. That is, salesperson organizational identification has a significant and strong effect on organizational citizenship behavior while the influence of salesperson organizational identification on brand advocacy is not significant. Along the same lines, salesperson identification with the brand significantly influences brand advocacy behaviors but not their overall organizational citizenship behaviors. These empirical findings are consistent with assertions in the literature that variables (antecedents or outcomes) associated with identification at a certain level will have a stronger relationship with identification at that level.

Despite existing research efforts on the potential positive outcomes of salesperson identification, there is less empirical evidence regarding the dual role of brand and organizational identification. This research contributes to the current literature by proposing and empirically examining the differential (identity-matching) antecedents and outcomes of salespeople’s dual identification with the organization and the brand. Furthermore, existing research mostly focuses on organizational or sales management outcomes but not brand specifically related outcomes. Theoretically, this research draws on social identity theory to investigate the combined effect of salesperson brand and organizational identification on key brand-related outcomes. Managerially, this study provides empirically-based suggestions for managers interested in harnessing the power of identification.

In the current era of fake news, illusions, manipulations and other artificial attributes of virtuality and reality, authenticity is a virtue that people highly appreciate. This study aims to examine the influence of the personal brand authenticity of top football players on loyalty to the football discipline in general, via the mediation of personal brand identification.

Based on data collected from a convenience sample of 562 respondents from Poland via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method, this study explored, first, the influence of top football players’ personal brand authenticity on consumers’ identification with these football players, and second, how this identification may lead to enhancing loyalty to the football discipline. Finally, it verified how the loyalty effect (attitudinal and behavioral) varies across different categories of spectators.

Personal brand identification with authentic football stars is a focal factor enabling the creation of loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) to the whole discipline. Consumers’ perceptions of the authenticity of the personal brands of football players play a role in increasing identification with these personal brands. This identification is essential in achieving loyalty to football as a sports discipline via football celebrities.

Football players perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, leading to consumer identification with these players, which, in turn, increases consumers’ loyalty to football. Thus, the presence of authentic, skilled players is important for football, but the actual loyalty effect from authenticity can be achieved only by identification. Therefore, football requires exceptional, strong stars who reflect a set of desired personal values. Further research is needed to identify the desired set of values that leads to identification with football stars.

This study presents evidence that the personal brand authenticity of a football star is a driver of loyalty towards football discipline in general if the spectators’ identification with this superstar occurs. Moreover, this study proves that loyalty to football driven by the personal brand authenticity of football stars differs between spectators’ categories.

There is limited research examining social drivers and mediators of online brand community identification in the context of business models development. This study aims to identify them behind the social mechanisms and present essential factors which should be applied in business models to foster value co-creation.

Data were collected from a convenience sample of 712 cases gathered among young European Facebook users via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method.

Customer–other customers’ identification is a pivotal factor in influencing brand community identification.

If companies want to implement online brand communities into business models effectively and co-create brand value, they need deliver brand content useful for customer self-expression and social interaction to enhance consumer-brand identification and customer–customer social bonds which enable to transform the audience into a community. Focusing on the constant reinforcement of online brand community by supporting customer–customer relationships is critical for voluntary value co-creation.

The main contribution of this study to the literature on online brand communities is the presentation and empirical verification of pivotal social mechanisms of online brand community identification considered as a starting point to potential co-creation and capturing value based on the social presence theory.

The present research builds upon the social identity theory and Balaji et al.’s (2016) research model to investigate student–university identification. The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of university identification, namely, university brand knowledge, university brand personality and university identity. Furthermore, consequences of university identification, such as advocacy intentions, suggestion for improvements, university affiliation and strength of attachment, are examined.

A quantitative research design was used, collecting data from students in private and government universities in Jordan. Structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 2.0 is employed to test the proposed research hypotheses.

The results revealed that all the antecedents and consequences suggested in the research model have positive significant relationships with university identification in the Jordanian higher education sector.

University identification has been less precisely conceptualized and empirically tested in the higher education context in developing countries. The results improve our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of university identification for students in higher education. In addition, the constructs of university identification and strength of attachment are incorporated in the research conceptual model and have not been tested before.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of brand identification between internal branding and brand citizenship behavior as well as brand loyalty, and the roles of working generation and organizational tenure as moderators of the relationship between internal branding and brand identification.

This research used a survey method and a structured questionnaire to collect data from salespeople working in the cement and construction materials industry. The hypothesized relationships were tested and analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression and a bootstrapping procedure.

Brand identification partially mediates the link between internal branding and brand citizenship behavior and fully mediates that between internal branding and brand loyalty. Also, the influences of internal branding on brand identification are varied among generational cohorts and employees with different tenure.

The current research took place among customer-interface employees, which can be extended to back-end or supporting workers, in order to better reflect the overall effect of internal branding efforts.

Organizations need to undertake internal branding to induce a shared understanding among employees about brand insights, and to foster their perception of belongingness in order to motivate desired brand behaviors. Furthermore, managers may improve internal branding mechanisms by taking generational differences and duration of employment into consideration, since these factors impinge on the effects of internal branding.

This study contributes to internal branding research by addressing the contingent influences of employees’ differences on the success of internal branding efforts.

Despite growing academic interest in social identification (e.g. customer brand identification) and social exchange (e.g. commitment/loyalty), little remains known regarding the theoretical interface of these concepts in hospitality sector. Building on this research gap, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a model that explores the effects of brand identification, satisfaction, commitment and trust on customer loyalty toward four and five-star hotels. The authors also explore the mediating role of commitment, satisfaction and trust in the association of brand identification and loyalty.

To investigate the objectives of this study, the authors deployed a convenience sample of 345 consumers from four- and five-star hotels in the emerging markets context. Data analysis consisted of confirmatory factor analysis as well as structural equation modeling.

The findings of this study indicate that customer brand identification, trust, commitment and satisfaction exert a positive impact on loyalty. Brand identification also exerts a favorable impact on customer trust, commitment and satisfaction. Specifically, satisfaction was found to exert the largest effect on commitment, trust and loyalty.

The findings may have limited applicability in contexts other than four- and five-star hotels in the emerging market context. Theoretically, this study adds insight into the dynamics characterizing focal social identification and social exchange-based theoretical relationships as observed in the hospitality sector.

The authors adopt an under-explored hybrid social identity/social exchange theoretical perspective to identify the nature and strength of associations among a set of relational, social identity/exchange-based constructs and discuss their key implications for academicians and hospitality managers.

A brand community consists of relationships between a brand and consumers; community members’ identification with the brand community is a central characteristic of the community. This study aims to provide a comprehensive conceptual framework to investigate how and why such identification-based relationships yield firm- and member-level benefits to participants in the brand community.

This cross-sectional study analyzes data collected through a questionnaire survey of members from the brand community of VW-Golf Club members in Taiwan. The researchers attended the annual meeting of club members and handed out questionnaires directly to the members. The degree centrality of each member was calculated using UCINET 6 for Windows, a social network analysis software application. This study adopts the partial least squares program to evaluate the measurement properties and structural relationships specified in the research model.

The findings suggest that when customers’ identification with a brand community becomes salient, they strengthen their emotional attachment to the brand and improve their centrality in the network. Consequently, emotional attachment can serve as a guiding principle in decision-making and thus strengthen brand equity and assessment of brand extensions. Central members will also gain greater benefits, including collaborative opportunities and influence, through their advantageous position in the network.

This study makes four main contributions to the brand community literature. First, this is the first empirical study to simultaneously examine the relationships among community identification (customer to community), emotional attachment to the brand (customer to brand) and network centrality (customer to customer). Second, the empirical framework depicts dual value-creation routes that explain how identification-based relationships can yield firm- and member-level benefits. With respect to firm-level benefits, this is the first empirical study to examine the brand equity and assessment of brand extension in the brand community research. Third, this study applies the rarely adopted UCINET 6 software to scrutinize the network data from the brand community. Finally, this paper examines three actions that organizations can leverage to enhance consumer identification with a brand community.

The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of customer brand engagement (CBE) by proposing and empirically testing a model of antecedents and consequences of CBE for user-initiated online brand communities (OBCs).

The model is tested using a sample of 584 participants in two relevant OBCs created and managed by brand fans. Specifically, data were collected from two communities in the photography products category: Nikonistas and Canonistas.

The results indicate that community and brand identification positively and significantly influence CBE. Furthermore, the supporting role of OBCs’ moderators facilitates CBE and moderates the influence of community identification on CBE. Regarding the outcomes of CBE, the results show that higher levels of engagement are positively, directly and significantly associated with favorable intentions towards the brand and the community. These effects are then mediated by brand affective commitment.

The study has been conducted in two Spanish OBCs of two specific high-involvement products category: it is cross-sectional and focuses on a limited number of antecedents and consequences.

Evidence from this research supports and emphasizes the potential that these platforms have for brand management such that firms’ resources could be best allocated on those elements that lead to superior CBE.

The study endorses the role of CBE in fostering brand and community-related favorable outcomes in the context of user-initiated OBCs. It shed lights on the potential that these online platforms have for brands and on the role that brand management should play in digital contexts that are outside the direct control of the company.

This paper focuses on the role of personality congruence, between salespeople’s own personality and the personality of the brand they represent, in driving salesperson identification with the brand and its subsequent effects on important sales force outcomes, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, task self-efficacy and both behavioral and outcome performance.

Data was collected via an online survey from a cross-sectional sample of salespeople. In all, 246 completed the survey. SmartPLS was used to estimate the measurement model and test the hypothesized path relationships using a (partial least squares) structural model.

Results indicated support for all proposed hypotheses in our model. In conclusion, we demonstrate, that the congruency of the salesperson personality with his or her perceived brand personality has a significant impact on the brand identification by the salesperson. This identification has important sales force outcomes, including affecting intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, task self-efficacy and both behavioral and outcome performance. This supports the notion of social identity theory as an important theoretical framework for understanding how the salesperson relates to and delivers the brand message.

Previous research has investigated the drivers and implications of customers’ identification with brands and employees’ identification with their organizations. However, less research attention has focused on salesperson identification with the brand. Given the uniqueness of the boundary-spanning role and the importance of the salesperson to the marketing communication of the brand image, investigation of the drivers of salesperson brand identification becomes particularly important.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which a cause-brand alliance (CBA) leads to improved attitude toward cause-brand alliance, which in turn leads to improved brand identification.

The approach uses a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design to examine the interaction effect of the brand ally, the non-profit ally, and the perception of cause controversy on a customer’s attitude toward the CBA, which in turn affects identification with the brand ally.

On average, customers’ perception of cause controversy influences attitude toward the CBA and subsequently the level of identification with the brand ally. When a non-profit organization is connected to a controversial issue, managerial options for building a successful CBA are more limited than when the non-profit is noncontroversial.

We contribute to consumer learning theory in the context of CBA research by identifying an important boundary condition – perceived cause controversy. Perceived cause controversy impedes the customer’s learning about partners in CBA. Moreover, fit and cue consistency are separate constructs.

CBAs help build customer brand identification. Brand managers must include the customer’s perceived cause controversy, the ally’s unique information, and the customer’s attitude toward the nonprofit in the decision calculus. Brands have an opportunity to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and build identification by helping a less well-established nonprofit to build positive customer attitudes. If the non-profit is linked to controversy, this opportunity is constrained.

A boundary condition-perceived cause controversy influences how the partners in a CBA differentially influence the customer’s attitude toward the CBA and, ultimately, brand identification.