Correspondence: Narumon Kimpakorn, Faculty of Business Administration, Chiangmai University, 239 Huaw Kaew Road, Meuang District, Chiang Mai Province 50200, Thailand. Tel: +66 53 942134 ext. 110; Fax: +66 53 892692; E-mail: narumon@ba.cmu.ac.th

¹obtained her PhD and is a university lecturer of Chiangmai University, Thailand. She teaches marketing management, service quality management and marketing research. Her file of study and research interest includes services marketing and management, and service branding.

²obtained his PhD from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France. He teaches service design, as well as strategic brand management. His research interests include service innovation as well as the design of customers' experiences in services. He is the co-author of several books on service marketing and tourism marketing.

Received 21 November 2007; Revised 21 November 2007; Published online 5 December 2008.

Abstract

In the past, many service brands have applied a consumer-goods approach to branding to respond to a more competitive environment. This approach emphasises the role of advertising in building a strong brand, but underestimates the role played by employees in developing the brand during their interactions with customers. More recently, the development of models that provide an understanding of the process of building a powerful service brand has emphasised the role of employees and their contribution to enhance brand equity. The role of employees in building the brand and making the brand 'come alive' is seen as essential. Employees must be committed to demonstrating the brand values (as expressed by top management) each time a customer interacts with the brand. The present research explores employees' brand commitment in the hotel industry in a highly competitive market (the 5-star hotel category in Bangkok). Employees' brand commitment is defined as the extent to which employees experience a sense of identification and involvement with the brand values of the company they work for. The dimensions of employer brand (the organisation's image as seen through the eyes of associates and potential hires) are used as independent variables for explaining the level of employee's commitment to their company's brand.