Correspondence: Khanyapuss Punjaisri, Department of Marketing, Stenhouse Building University of Strathclyde 173 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G4 0RQ, UK. Tel: +44(0)141 548 3249 E-mail: khanyapuss.punjaisri@strath.ac.uk

¹is Doctoral Researcher at the University of Strathclyde Business School. Her research focuses on service branding with a particular interest in corporate brands and internal branding.

²is Professor of Marketing at the University of Strathclyde Business School and Deputy Head of the Marketing Department. Prior to joining the University of Strathclyde, he held high-level positions within leading London-based marketing research agencies and a management consultancy practice. He has written numerous articles on corporate culture and reputation and has received a number of awards for his publications. He is a member of the Governing Council of the Market Research Society and is on the editorial boards of a number of leading journals. His textbook, Marketing Research: An Integrated Approach is in its second edition. He regularly acts as a marketing and market research advisor to a number of public and private organisations.

Received 5 June 2007; Revised 5 June 2007.

Abstract

In branding literature, the employee role is recognised as crucial in delivering the service as promised by the brand. A plethora of existing insights have been gained through practitioners' and customers' perspectives. Little empirical research has been undertaken with employees. Therefore, this study aims to reveal their perceptions towards their role and the techniques that enable them to fulfil the brand promise. A case-study approach is adopted using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In-depth interviews reveal that employees feel that their actions are vital to the brand, and findings from a survey of 699 respondents demonstrate positive relationships among internal branding instruments and their brand promise delivery. These tools influence the employees' brand attitudes, namely brand identification, brand commitment and brand loyalty. Ultimately, these attitudes also influence the manner in which employees deliver the service. Therefore, internal branding not only directly influences the extent to which employees perform their role in relation to the brand promise, but also influences the attitudes employees have towards the brand, which in turn affects employee performance.