Examining employee disparity in response to brand knowledge

Abstract

The significance of employee brand awareness enhancing their ability to deliver the brand promise has fuelled the emergence of internal brand management in both academic and practitioner arenas. Awareness requires the dissemination of brand knowledge, while delivering the promise requires employee confidence with respect to their roles and responsibilities. Such confidence is represented here as role clarity and brand commitment. However, group dynamics reflect a diversity of roles, which influence responses to stimuli. Therefore, this study examines the effects of brand knowledge dissemination on employees' role clarity and brand commitment, investigating the impact that hierarchical roles have on employees' response to internal brand management. The results suggest the employee market is not homogenous in their responses. Therefore, organisations expectations of employees as well as allocation of internal brand management resources should reflect this diversity.