Internal brand management, brand understanding, employee brand commitment, and brand citizenship behavior: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This study examines the interrelationships between internal brand management (IBM), brand understanding (BU), employee brand commitment (EBC), and brand citizenship behavior (BCB) by synthesizing existing empirical results via a meta-analysis. In addition, the moderating effects of country and industry contexts on these interrelationships are also investigated. The findings from 38 studies were used within the meta-analysis. The results demonstrate that IBM plays a significant role in predicting both EBC and BCB. Among all dimensions of IBM, brand communication was found to be the most crucial factor in predicting EBC, followed by brand-oriented leadership. Of the different dimensions of IBM, brand-oriented leadership has the greatest impact on BCB. Brand-centered HRM had a modest impact on both EBC and BCB. In addition, BU had the highest impact on BCB.

KEYWORDS:

• Meta-analysis
• internal brand management
• internal branding
• brand understanding
• employee brand commitment
• brand citizenship behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.