title: Building Employee Based Brand Equity: Model Conceptualisation and Development
Creators: name: King, Ceridwyn
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Brand loyalty
subject: Staff loyalty
subject: Employee Based Brand Equity

description: The significance of employee behaviours and actions influencing consumer perceptions of the brand and service quality, as well as their overall satisfaction levels, has been established in the literature. In particular, in high contact service industries, where the service is inseparable from the person providing it (Bove &amp; Johnson, 2000), management of the relationship between service employees and customers is considered to be a critical component to an organisation’s overall strategy (Goldstein, 2003). This is because such actions influence consumer based brand equity, which represents the added value attributed to a brand as a result of brand building marketing efforts (Keller, 1993). As a result, modern brand management practices promote the need for brand management to be placed at the heart of the organisation (Interbrand, 2007). In particular, internally oriented brand management practices have been advocated as a means through which positive, brand related employee actions could be realised (Gapp &amp; Merrilees, 2006). Despite practitioners and academics alike promoting the positive outcomes of employees being aware of the organisation’s brand in the context of their work environment, there appears to be no evidence thus far to understand the impact of such brand building efforts from an employee perspective. To date, brand equity has only been conceptualised from an external market perspective. So as to enable appropriate investment and emphasis in the context of a holistic brand management strategy to be realised, this study has allowed for necessary consideration to be given to the impact of internal brand building efforts. In particular, given that the employee perspective, within the brand equity literature, is currently missing, this study promotes a third perspective of brand equity, namely Employee Based Brand Equity (EBBE). Conceptualisation and subsequent development of EBBE required a thorough review of the extant literature that is focused on harnessing the power of an organisation’s human capital. Specifically, as a result of considering and synthesising the internal communication, internal marketing and internal relationship marketing literature, a sound framework upon which to appreciate what is involved in realising brand equity from an employee perspective was realised. The resultant EBBE framework or model is considered to be a holistic brand management conceptualisation that not only identifies the dimensions of internal brand management but also promotes significant relationships between them. For example, the model illustrates the components of internal brand management, namely information generation, knowledge dissemination, openness and the ‘H’ factor (i.e. the extent to which an employee perceives that the organisation treats them like a human being), as well as the employee brand knowledge effects that result from such actions, incorporating role clarity and brand commitment. Furthermore, the EBBE model not only enhances current brand management practices by promoting a link between actions and subsequent effects, it also allows for the identification of organisational benefits. Such benefits are reflected in the model as EBBE benefits or, more specifically, brand citizenship behaviour, employee satisfaction, employee intention to stay and positive employee word of mouth. Furthermore, to enable a significant contribution to both practitioner and academic arenas focussed on brand equity and the application of internal brand management, the EBBE model was empirically tested. Following a methodical research design process, data were collected via an online survey that was sent to service industry employees. In total, 371 completed surveys formed the basis of empirical evaluation. Through the application of Partial Least Squares analysis, the proposed relationships within the EBBE Model were assessed. Despite the lack of support for the relationship between the ‘H’ factor and information generation, overall, the results confirm the EBBE Model to be a valid model to build employee based brand equity. As a result, it is believed that the conceptualisation and development of the EBBE Model makes a valuable contribution to enriching practitioners’ application of traditional brand management techniques. In particular, this study serves as a guide to internal brand management as well as highlights the need for managers to exhibit affective, as well as cognitive, awareness. Furthermore, enhanced internal communication practices, which are demonstrated via words and actions, are acknowledged as being necessary for improved employee ‘buy in’. Finally, the articulation and subsequent empirical validation of benefits attributed to EBBE provide a measurement tool that not only allows for greater management accountability, but serves as a robust platform to justify internal brand management investment as well. The EBBE Model also makes a contribution to theory in the area of brand management. In particular, this study addresses the absence in the brand equity literature with respect to employees. In doing so, it is believed that EBBE completes the brand equity picture, which, prior to this study, was limited to consumer and financial perspectives only. Furthermore, in synthesising the extant literature, an empirically validated framework (EBBE Model) focussed on realising productive employees, has been developed. Consequently, the EBBE Model extends existing theory as it relates to the application of cognitive psychology in the context of the brand equity literature. As a result, this study provides a good theoretical example from which further brand equity model development can emanate. In consideration of both the practical and theoretical contributions of this study, it is believed, here, that the conceptualisation and empirical support for the EBBE Model, emphasises the importance of a third, yet equally relevant, perspective of brand equity, namely Employee Based Brand Equity.