Aligning employee service recovery performance with brand values: The role of brand-specific leadership

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of brand-specific leadership on employees’ brand-aligned service recovery performance (SRP). In order to do so, we empirically test a conceptual model of relationships between brand-specific transformational leadership (TFL) and transactional leadership (TRL), trust in leader and in corporate brand, brand identification, and SRP from employees’ perspectives. It is the first study to incorporate trust in corporate brand into the framework. Results from a study of 246 customer-contact employees show that brand-specific TFL has a positive impact on all variables studied, while brand-specific TRL is ineffective in fostering brand-building behaviours. More specifically, brand-specific TFL’s effects on employee SRP are mediated by trust in the leader, trust in the corporate brand, and brand identification. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords:

• leadership
• trust
• identification
• service recovery
• structural equation modelling

Notes

1. ¹Full details of the analyses are available upon request.

2. ²We cross-validated findings using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), as the 246 observations are nested in 15 branches. Results however reveal very low intraclass correlations: on average about 5% of variation lies between the 15 branches whereas 95% lies between individual employees. Moreover, HLM results are fully consistent with those obtained with structural equation modelling, with the exception of the relationship between brand-specific TRL and employees’ trust in corporate brand, which was found to be marginally significant (β = .224, p < .1).

3. ³We also employed the Satorra–Bentler scaled chi-square statistic to assess mediation (Satorra & Bentler, 2001). When added to the direct effects of trust in leader and trust in corporate brand on SRP, the model fit significantly improved (Δχ2(2) = 7.51, p < .05). These results are in line with those obtained through the traditional Baron & Kenny (1986) procedure.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Khanyapuss Punjaisri

Khanyapuss Punjaisri is lecturer in Marketing at the Hull University Business School, UK. She is a PhD graduate from the University of Strathclyde. Her research interests are in services marketing, corporate branding, and internal brand-building. She is published in different journals, namely European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Service Management.

Heiner Evanschitzky

Heiner Evanschitzky is Professor and Chair of Marketing at Aston University, UK. His research investigates interesting and relevant problems with an attempt to develop impactful conclusions. The current focus primarily lies in service and retail marketing/management, where he focuses on issues around the service profit chain concept. These include the areas of customer (value) management, franchising, myopic marketing management, research on satisfaction and loyalty, sales management, and relationship marketing. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of Product Innovation Management.

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John Rudd

John Rudd is a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Marketing Group at Aston University, UK. His research interests are strategic in orientation, and examine issues of sales and marketing strategy, strategic decision-making, stakeholder relationships and the performance impact of marketing capabilities and resources. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Strategic Marketing.

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