Investigating Key Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee‐based Brand Equity

AuthorGeorge Christodoulides,Achilleas Boukis
Published date01 March 2020
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12327
Date01 March 2020
Investigating Key Antecedents and Outcomes
of Employee-based Brand Equity
ACHILLEAS BOUKIS
1
and GEORGE CHRISTODOULIDES
2
1
University of Sussex, Falmer, UK
2
American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
A wealth of research examines firm or consumer-based brand equity but largely ignores internal stakeholders
perceptions of the brand asset. The present study focuses on service employees who affect both internal (i.e. other
employees) and external (i.e., customers) stakeholders through their interactions. The study draws on cognitive
psychology and social identity theory to develop and empirically test an integrated model of antecedents and
consequences of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) that distinguishesbetween a cognitive and an affectiveroute
for its developmentvia brand knowledge and brandidentification respectively. The researchextends the limited work
on EBBE by examining howperceptions of employees about their supervisorsbrand leadership behaviorsand their
supervisorsfocus on their subordinates significantly drive employeesresponsesto the internal brand. The proposed
model also highlights the significant role of EBBE vis-à-vis two citizenship behaviors, namely brand value
dissemination and customer orientation.
Keywords: brand equity; employees; antecedents; consequences
Introduction
Brand equity,or the added value endowed by the brand to
the product (Farquhar, 1989), is a key indicator of brand
and business success and often fi rmsmost prized asset
(Ambler, 2000). Whilst the literature recognizes that
various stakeholder groups may potentially be recipients
of this value, the majority of published research examines
brand equity from the consumer or firm point of view
(e.g., Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2010;
Veloutsou and Guzman, 2017). The significance of
employees in delivering the brand promise to external
stakeholders (such as customers), especially in a services
context, is well documented. For example, employees
skills and knowledge play an important role in the
customersexperience of the brandand subsequently their
brand perceptions (de Chernatony and Cottam, 2006).
Despite this acknowledgment in the pertinent literature,
relatively little research exists on how employee-based
brand equity (EBBE) can practically be enhanced so that
internal stakeholders best perform their role as brand
ambassadors (Helm, 2011; Sirianni et al., 2013;
Morokane et al., 2016).EBBE captures the perceived
added value that employees receive as a result of
employee-based brand building efforts (Baumgarth and
Schmidt, 2010). It constitutes a central tenet in internal
branding, as the consistent delivery of the brand promise
to customers is unlikely without internal stakeholders
internalization of the companys values (Helm et al.,
2016). Shedding light on the mechanism through which
brands are interpreted from the employees point of view
and how this interpretation translates to brand and/or
customer-related behaviors is key for internal branding
success, as customersexperience with the brand promise
will remain ineffective without internal stakeholders
alignment with the co mpanysvalues(Helmet al., 2016;
Du Preez et al., 2017).
This work builds on previous research to develop and
empirically test an integrated model of antecedents and
consequences of EBBE that differentiates between a
cognitive and an affective pathway to the development
of EBBE via brand knowledge and brand identification
respectively. Previous research mainly recognizes brand-
associatedantecedents (e.g., brandcommitment) of EBBE
(King et al., 2012), but largely ignores how internal
stakeholdersperceptions of their proximal work context,
particularly with regards to their line managers, shape
their attitude towards the employers brand (Mabey and
Gooderham, 2005; Baker et al., 2014; Lievens and
Slaughter, 2016).
Correspondence: Achilleas Boukis, University of Sussex, Department of
Management,Falmer, BN1 9SL, UK. E-maila.boukis@sussex.ac.uk
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12327
©2018 European Academy of Management
European Management Review, Vol. 17, (2020)
41 5 5
55,

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