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This study aims to examine the internal brand knowledge dissemination process in the banking sector and its effects on employees. Specifically, it focuses on the key roles of employee identification with both the organization and with the customer as antecedents of behaviors supportive of the brand, i.e. employee citizenship behaviors and recommendation behaviors.

An empirical study was carried out in a major Spanish bank. Data gathered from a survey of 315 employees were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

The results showed that employees' perceptions of brand value congruence are key in explaining their identification with both the organization and with the customer. However, the employees' perceptions of the brand's authenticity explained only their recommendations of the bank as a good place to work.

These findings contribute to the advance in the current knowledge of the role of variables such as brand authenticity and employee–customer identification in internal brand management. From a managerial viewpoint, the results provide insights into the importance of employees' perceptions and attitudes when it comes to brand knowledge dissemination.

The purpose of this paper is to present the first known empirically‐tested model of Employee Based Brand Equity (EBBE). In doing so, it seeks to provide insight into how organisations can not only effectively manage the internal brand building‐process but also, more importantly, appreciate the subsequent employee effects and organisational benefits.

Data were collected via an online survey of 371 employees who work in service organisations, sourced from a market research database list.

Strong support was found for nine out of the ten hypothesised relationships, thus providing strong validation for the proposed model.

The employment of surveys can present data collection problems stemming from such things as lack of willingness to participate on behalf of the respondent, loss of validity when using structured questionnaires, and inherent challenges of wording questions properly. However, in acknowledging these limitations, actions, such as the utilisation of a national database of “opt in” survey participants coupled with the good reliability results and the methodical four‐stage survey design process undertaken, it is suggested that every effort was made to negate the limitations.

Knowledge is gained from empirically validating a model of EBBE: it further enriches the application of traditional brand management techniques; provides a framework for brand communication training; increases organisational understanding of how to engender positive employee actions; and increases the accountability of such an internal investment by identifying measurable organisational benefits that accrue as a result of such efforts.

The paper makes three important contributions: expanding the existing brand equity literature to incorporate a third yet equally relevant perspective, that being the employee; the adoption of a multi‐disciplined approach to addressing a marketing issue and, in doing so, extending beyond the connectionist cognitive psychology view of brand equity to incorporate a contextual/organisation cultural element; and reflecting the perceptions of employees, who are currently under‐represented in the internal brand management literature.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of internal brand management (IBM) practices on tourism and hospitality employees' ability to demonstrate brand supportive behaviours. A model, which includes brand knowledge dissemination, role clarity, brand commitment and brand supportive behaviour is proposed. To provide further insight, the study seeks to examine the impact that hierarchical roles have on employees' responses.

A quantitative research methodology was adopted, resulting in the development of a self‐administered online survey instrument. Using a national database of service employees, respondents were invited to participate in the online survey, resulting in the completion of 137 surveys.

While all paths were significant in the overall model, differences were found when comparing front line and management models. Overall, brand commitment played a more significant role in the front line model, whereas role clarity was not shown to be significant in the management model with respect to influencing brand supportive behaviour.

The results suggest that the tourism and hospitality employee market is not homogeneous. IBM has a positive effect on all employees but it is what they choose to do with that information that differs. Managers should endeavour to develop brand‐committed front‐line employees, while the management employees should be encouraged to apply their brand knowledge, thereby “leading by example”.

An IBM strategy should be paramount in the tourism and hospitality industry, given the critical role the employee provides to a guest's overall experience and assessment of the brand. The study empirically validates the effects of IBM, identifying differences in responses based on hierarchical position, which has ramifications for practitioners and academics in developing best practice.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual framework for measuring and managing employee-based brand equity. Drawing upon existing research, the authors argue that internal brand management should be approached from professional and socio-emotional perspectives.

The study establishes a comprehensive conceptual framework by thoroughly reviewing existing literature on employee-based brand equity and internal marketing. It builds upon existing research while adding unique insights to deepen the understanding of the subject.

The proposed conceptual framework highlights the importance of both professional and socio-emotional factors in building and managing employee-based brand equity. The framework emphasises the role of employees’ emotions, values and relationships in shaping their brand-related behaviours and their functional role in delivering brand promises.

This paper offers a theoretical foundation for future research in internal branding. However, the framework is not empirically tested, and further research is needed to validate and refine the framework. Organisations can develop more effective internal branding strategies that enhance brand equity by recognising the importance of both professional and socio-emotional factors in shaping employees’ brand-related behaviours.

Organisations can develop more effective internal branding strategies that enhance brand equity by recognising the importance of both professional and socio-emotional factors in shaping employees’ brand-related behaviours.

This study presents a novel approach to internal brand management, introducing a unique, dual-perspective model. This enriches the current body of literature and provides fresh insights for academics and practitioners in the field of marketing and brand management.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Internal branding efforts are essential in improving employee performance in services marketing. Drawing on reformulation of attitude theory, this paper aims to contribute to the internal branding literature by positing that while internal brand knowledge (IBK) is essential for transforming brand vision into brand reality, it is not brand knowledge per se but its integration with other brand- and customer-related aspects that drive superior employee performance. In particular, this paper develops a cognitive-affective-behaviour model of internal branding proposing that IBK results in higher levels of employee brand identification (EBI); this sense of identification then motivates employees to engage in both employee-related and brand- and customer-focussed behaviours (i.e. brand citizenship behaviour [BCB] and customer-oriented behaviour [COB]), which in turn foster employee performance.

The hypotheses were empirically tested using a sample of 697 from services industry in Vietnam.

The findings indicate a sequential mediation model in that employee brand knowledge affects employee performance (both objective and subjective measures) through EBI, BCB and COB. Employee brand knowledge results in higher levels of EBI; this sense of identification then motivates employees to engage in employee-related brand and customer-focussed behaviours (BCB and COB), which in turn foster employee performance.

Firms should understand that IBK may not directly result in high levels of service performance, and instead should embrace the culture of self-driven positive brand-connection attitudes that motivate employees to engage in BCB and COB that are consistent with their sense of self.

This study makes a unique contribution to the internal branding literature by unravelling a pathway that integrates employees’ self-related psychological mechanism (EBI) and employee-related brand and customer-focussed behaviours (BCB and COB) through which employee brand knowledge is converted into employee performance.

This research aims at evaluating and discussing developments and key challenges for the hospitality industry in an emerging global context and the impact of these changes on human resource development and management.

This paper uses qualitative primary research through semi‐structured interviews conducted with select hospitality practitioners in India, supplemented by secondary research and triangulated with inputs from an HR round table of experts from the field of hospitality.

It has become imperative for hospitality organisations to consider the implications of the global context in which they operate and respond appropriately to meet the change‐induced challenges. This can be done by ramping up the quality and the quantity of manpower employed through training and development interventions and by adopting suitable employee engagement and motivation initiatives.

Researchers, practitioners and educationists in the hospitality industry will find the implications of this study useful.

This paper amalgamates industry viewpoints with the perspective of academia, providing a holistic picture of the impact of the global changes on talent management and development in the hospitality industry. It further endeavours to prescribe a panacea to provide a long‐term solution to the HR issues faced by this sector.

Several high street retail banks are extending their brands into digital banking through fully digital, app-only neobanks, which have been described as traditionally-driven neobanks (TDNBs). These TDNBs are considered a form of brand extension, representing the increased complexity of branding banks and financial institutions. This study explicitly addresses the branding strategies employed by TDNBs.

This study has adopted a case study research design, using a multi-stage data collection strategy. Initially, interviews were conducted with bank managers, followed by interviews with customers. Later, user-generated content was extracted through verified reviews from the app store. Subsequently, these three strands of data were thematically analysed and triangulated, in order to gain a holistic understanding of the branding strategies used by TDNBs.

Three key themes emerged regarding the branding strategies of the TDNBs: aligning with the parent brand, reinforcing the digital experience, and enhancing the brand image.

This study contributed to the growing body of research on marketing, branding, and digital transformation of bank services. As more traditional banks are exploring opportunities to pivot and explore other fintech options, this study offers significant insights that will help in managing brand experience and promotion across customer journeys in the banking sector.

This study contributes to the growing body of research on marketing, branding, and digital transformation of bank services. Even as more traditional banks explore opportunities to pivot as well as other fintech options, this study offers significant insights to help manage brand experience and promotion across customer journeys in the banking sector.

While previous studies on banking and financial services have concentrated on traditional retail and high street banks, there is a need for a greater understanding of the brand positioning of digital banks, especially those created by traditional banks.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether COVID-19 had an impact on the brand equity of the Top 100 global brands in the Americas, European and Asian regions over the three years of assessment (2020–2022).

A secondary data method (document scanning) was used to gather the study’s data from Brand Finance’s Global 500 annual reports from 2019 to 2022. The data for this study was analysed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. The data were subjected to a descriptive test and one-way analysis of variance.

The findings showed that most of the Top 100 global brands from the Americas, Europe and Asia experienced little or no impact due to COVID-19. Thus, no significant differences were found to exist among the Top 100 global regional brands due to COVID-19 in the years 2020 and 2021. However, there is a significant difference in 2022 due to its small effect size.

The findings of this paper contribute to brand equity literature and global branding literature in the context of COVID-19. This paper innovatively frames brand equity and provides guidelines to help brands sustain their financial-based brand equity during a worldwide crisis.