Search results

This paper aims to examine relationships between consumer-brand identification (CBI), brand prestige (BP), brand anthropomorphism (BA) and consumers’ active engagement in brand activities on social media in corporate brand settings.

Data collected with an online survey on a sample randomly drawn from an online panel of consumers were used to test the proposed theoretical model.

Anthropomorphism and prestige of corporate brands were found to positively influence consumer-brand identification. Also, CBI positively affects consumers’ active engagement and fully mediates the effect of BP and BA on consumers-brand engagement (CBE) with corporate brands.

Further research in other markets and on a broader set of corporate brands would additionally validate results and enable comparisons of impacts among different brand categories. The data were gathered in one country, so further research in other markets would additionally validate results of this study.

Chief executives responsible for corporate brand management are provided with some insights on how appropriate corporate brand identity management can strengthen CBI and stimulate CBE on social media.

This paper provides some novel insights into the research on consumer-brand identification. It is the first study (to the authors’ knowledge) that empirically supports the positive influence of brand anthropomorphism on CBI in corporate brand settings. It also contributes to the clarification of previously inconsistent results of the influence of BP on CBI. By showing that consumers’ identification with a corporate brand plays a vital role in increasing consumers’ active engagement on social media, the study contributes to the relatively sparse body of research on CBE.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate student corporate brand identification towards three closely‐linked corporate brands: a UK university, a leading UK business school and an overseas collaborative partner institute in Asia.

The paper uses a theory‐building case study within the phenomenological/qualitative research tradition.

The strength of student identification with a corporate brand is predicated on awareness, knowledge and experience of a brand. The data revealed three types of corporate brand identification. This reflected different modes of student affiliation with the three institutional brands. These student relationships were categorised as follows: brand member (a contractual/legal corporate brand relationship); brand supporter (a trusting corporate brand relationship); and brand owner (a proprietorial corporate brand relationship). In explaining the above, the above states are viewed in terms of a corporate brand identification management hierarchy which reflects different approaches to the management of corporate brands. These are categorised as legalisation, realisation and, finally, (brand) actualisation. Senior managers should strive for brand actualisation.

The insights from a single, exploratory, case study might not be generalisable.

The paper conceptualises that a bureaucratic/product approach to corporate brand management is more likely to result in low brand identification (legalisation); that a diplomatic/communications management approach is more likely to result in moderate brand identification (realisation) and, finally, that a custodial/brand values and promise management approach is more likely to result in high brand identification (brand actualisation). These categorisations can have a utility in ascertaining the effectiveness and philosophical underpinnings of corporate brand management.

The paper examines multiple student identification (towards a university, business school and a non degree‐awarding overseas institute).

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of two types of corporate associations – corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) – on consumer brand loyalty in retail banks in India.

A survey on 489 banking consumers was carried out. To achieve research objectives, test hypotheses and analyze data, structural equation modeling was used.

The findings show that CA and CSR associations were found to have positive and indirect influences on consumer brand loyalty through brand identifications. This indicates that the process of corporate association transforming into loyalty is much more complicated, and there are other factors influencing this process, making brand identification necessary for achieving customer brand loyalty.

The results presented in this study have important managerial implications for banking companies in India. The findings demonstrate the importance of CA and CSR associations in the present business scenario and highlight the need to successfully implement them in management policies.

This study contributes to the existing body of literature by highlighting the influence of brand identification on brand loyalty through affective commitment and satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to consider advances in corporate identity scholarship on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the first special edition of corporate identity to appear in the European Journal of Marketing in 1997.

The paper takes the form of a literature review.

The notion of, what can be termed, “identity‐based views of the corporation” is introduced. Each of the ten identity based perspectives that inform the above are underpinned by a critically important question which is believed to be of considerable saliency to marketing scholars and policy advisors alike. As a precursor to an exposition of these ten perspectives, the paper discusses five principal schools of thought relating to identity and identification ((the quindrivium) which can be characterised as: corporate identity (the identity of the organisation); communicated corporate identification (identification from the organisation); stakeholder corporate identification (an individual, or stakeholder group's, identification with the organisation); stakeholder cultural identification (an individual, or stakeholder group's, identification to a corporate culture); and envisioned identities and identifications (this is a broad category and relates to how an organisation, or group, envisions how another corporation or group characterises their identity or mode of identification.))

Each of the ten identity‐based views of the corporation outlined here is underpinned by a question of critical importance which aims to be of assistance to senior executives in comprehending and managing identity‐related concerns of the corporation.

The introduction of notions relating to identity based views of the corporation/corporation brands represents, perhaps, a natural denouement for the “schools of thought” approach which has long‐characterised the British School of scholarship vis‐à‐vis corporate identity scholarship since the early 1990s.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the symbolic facet of perceived employer brand image (PEBI) as an antecedent of favourable brand-related identification and employee behaviours, namely, corporate brand identification (CBI) and brand citizenship behaviours (BCB).

A standardized questionnaire was used. Data collection occurred at a maximum care hospital in Germany (N = 366). Structural equation modelling was used in the data analysis.

A direct link between PEBI and BCB was theoretically derived from social exchange theory and could be empirically confirmed. In addition to a direct relationship, a mediated relationship based on social identity theory was outlined. PEBI influences BCB via CBI. The mediated pathway accounts for 70 per cent of the variance.

Understanding the impact of symbolic job offerings on favourable brand-related employee attitudes and behaviours should lead practitioners to focus on increasing employees’ perceptions of the employer’s prestige and sincerity, for example, by strengthening employee target group-oriented communications about corporate social responsibility or increasing out-group salience when communicating organizational achievements.

This paper transfers the concept of organizational attractiveness, organizational identification and favourable employee behaviours to a corporate brand focus. It is the first integration of the symbolic dimension of the instrumental-symbolic framework in an internal branding context.

This article outlines the nature of corporate marketing myopia and details the salient characteristics of a corporate marketing logic. The notion of identity‐based views of the firm is held to be highly meaningful to the comprehension of corporate marketing. In addition, the paper aims to broaden the understanding of the antecedents of corporate marketing by making reference to earlier, integrative endeavours (sensory integration, design integration, communications integration, branding integration and identity integration).

The commentary explains the nature, antecedents, and benefits of an organisation‐wide corporate marketing logic.

A corporate marketing logic characterises those organisations which realise their institutions and corporate brands can be important sources of differentiation. Moreover, it is held that organisations need to be involved in multi‐lateral relationships vis‐à‐vis customers, other stakeholders and with society at large. It is also mindful that an organisational marketing orientation should accord sensitivity to CSR/ethical concerns. A key precept of the corporate marketing logic is that it is institution‐wide ethos which is enacted via an organisation's culture. A long and a short definition of corporate marketing are enumerated.

Perceiving organisational marketing via the prism of identity‐based views of the firm and utilising the new corporate marketing mix (the 8Cs of corporate marketing) affords a practical and pragmatic means by which senior managers can foster and maintain a corporate marketing ethos and culture.

A corporate marketing framework is introduced which is informed by: identity‐based views of the firm perspective and by key corporate‐level constructs.

This study aims to adopt a mixed-methods approach (accounting and business data) to analyse the effects of the financial institution’s governance on both the knowledge of social responsibility and the consumer’s attitudes and behaviours, and testing the moderating role of the brand identification in the banking sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this concept has been neglected in previous studies.

Data were collected from a sample of 600 respondents in two major Tunisian cities. Participants were selected on the basis of a convenience sampling in which the structural equation modelling method was adopted through SMART PLS 3.0 software.

The results showed that good corporate governance has a positive influence on the knowledge of the company's social responsibility, which positively influences its brand image. Therefore, the company's brand image positively influences the customer’s satisfaction, which positively influences the recommending behaviour of the financial institutions in the COVID-19 era. However, the brand identification has no moderating effect.

Managers of financial institutions are advised to pay particular attention to good corporate governance, as it is mandatory for these companies to assume social responsibility and make it known to clients. Therefore, it is obvious to create a good image in the mind of the consumers to satisfy them to recommend the company in question. It is interesting to mobilise the period of health crisis (COVID-19) to create a favourable attitude among the customers because they are sensitive when evaluating and ranking financial institutions according to the relationships that exist especially during this period.

In fact, there are many studies that dealt with the banking sector. Some of them dealt with the sector through the institutional accounting section while others dealt with the sector through the commercial and marketing section. Therefore, the first contribution of this research is to test a mixed model made up of accounting and commercial data. This model is among the first to determine the effects of the financial institution's governance on the knowledge of social responsibility and on the consumer’s attitude and behaviour to test the moderating role of brand identification in the banking sector. The second contribution is to test this model in a period of health crisis (COVID-19). The third contribution is the use of a mixed sample of data collected from two regions. Then, the fourth contribution is the addition of tests for the verification, robustness and validation of the results obtained. Finally, the fifth contribution is the addition of control variables to test their effects on the research model.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the corporate marketing literature by examining how an individual's identification with a company influences their willingness to invest in the company's shares.

A set of hypotheses was developed, based on theory, and survey data were obtained from 440 individuals in order to test the hypotheses. The data pertained to the individuals' recent decisions to invest in particular companies' shares, and to the degree of their identification with the companies' identities. The analysis method was PLS path modelling.

First, an individual's identification with a company was found to have a positive effect on their determination to invest in the company's shares rather than in other companies' shares that have approximately similar expected financial returns/risks. Second, company identification was found to elicit preparedness to invest in the company's shares with lower financial returns expected from the shares than from other shares. Both influences were partly mediated by the individual's willingness to give support to a company with which they identify.

The study pertains to company identification of individual investors; institutional (and professional) investors are beyond the scope of the paper. Also, the sample focuses on investors in a single country (Finland), and the data may involve some self‐reporting and retrospection biases.

Considering corporate marketing in the stock markets, individuals who identify with the company are identified as worthwhile targets when the company seeks to attract new investors.

The paper provides theoretical grounding for and empirical evidence of the positive influence of company identification on individuals' willingness to invest in companies' shares. It is a novel finding for corporate marketing literature that individuals express their identification with a corporate brand also through investing in its shares.

This study aims to identify the influence of perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) on consumer brand commitment in ridesharing services.

PCSR is a second-order construct reflecting three dimensions – economic, environment and ethics. A total of 423 useable responses were collected through an online survey. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling was used via AMOS 22.0.

Findings reveal that PCSR has a significant influence on consumer brand trust and brand identification. However, no direct relationship is observed between PCSR and brand commitment. The effect of PCSR and brand commitment is significantly mediated by brand trust and brand identification.

The investment of resources in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities has many advantages because it increases trust and identification towards the brand. Ridesharing business firms are growing in size, so they should harness CSR activities by investing money into them that benefits society.

Sharing economy services have the potential to assist the global and local economy towards environmental friendliness. Yet, there is a lack of research on how the sharing economy model works the social responsibility aspects of the model and its impact on consumer response. This study assesses the dimensions of PCSR and its influence on brand commitment via a brand trust and brand identification towards ridesharing services.

The purpose of this paper is to identify how employees’ perceived congruity of their employers’ corporate brand with their own actual and ideal self may affect their brand identification (BI), brand pride (BP) and brand citizenship behavior (BCB).

This cross-sectional paper involved 283 employees in Germany who completed an online survey.

Congruity of the brand with employees’ actual self and with their ideal self has similar effects on employees’ BI. However, effects differ with respect to the other outcome variables. BP is only affected by congruity of the brand with the ideal self, whereas BCB is only affected by congruity of the brand with the actual self. Brand identity is positively related to BP and BCB; BP also affects BCB.

Future studies could include different sources for evaluation of BI, BP and BCB; for temporally separate measurement of identification, pride and BCB; and for use of fictitious brands or experimental manipulations of pride to increase internal validity. The discrepant impacts of congruity of the brand with the actual self and the ideal self as detected in the paper could spark research interest in addressing motivations to increase self-esteem and self-consistency in a work context or in investigating specific mediators or moderators in the relationship between self-concept, (brand) identification and pride, as well as behaviors. Finally, research could address different kinds of pride, such as individual and collective forms of pride, as well as their interplay.

Managers should be aware of the different effects of a corporate brand’s fit with employees’ actual and ideal self, and also should note that BI seems essential in augmenting BP and brand-related behaviors. The paper develops implications for internal branding and HRM strategies regarding employee selection, promotion and retention. Findings also indicate that BP motivates BCB in line with current assumptions in research and practice on individual forms of pride.

This paper investigates employees’ perceptions of “their” brand’s fit with their actual and ideal self separately, and determines the differences in impact on BP and BCB, extending existing knowledge on drivers of brand-building behaviors. It also develops the concept of BP in the context of social identity theory and the need for distinction; it further provides initial empirical insights into the role of employees’ BP, including the development of a measure.