Corporate Brand Image: Antecedents, Mediating Role and Impact on Stakeholder Expectations

Corporate identity and image are shaped by the entirety of perceptions of a variety of stakeholders, both existing and potential ones, such as customers, suppliers, employees, general public, opinion makers, and government officials. Our study is an empirical investigation of corporate brand image and impact on one such stakeholder group made up of prospective employees. A large multinational, a technical and scientific research firm, a major recruiter of graduates from campuses of reputable universities across the nation was chosen as the subject. This paper develops and tests a path model of the antecedent factors affecting corporate brand image and specific expectations that stakeholders may have of a corporate brand. Based on a thorough literature review, a corporate brand image model that treated as antecedents the four constructs, awareness of organisation’s products, perceptions about culture, personality of the focal firm, and general expectations was proposed. Specific expectations that respondents may have about working with the firm was modeled to be influenced by the corporate brand image of the firm surveyed and also by the mentioned four antecedent constructs. The model is fitted to empirical data obtained from a national sample of 368 respondents using LISREL 8.5 methodology, and strong support was found for five, partial support for two of the nine hypotheses tested. Substantial evidence can be seen for the mediating role of corporate brand image in shaping specific expectations that stakeholders have from the corporate brand. Practical significance and managerial implications for marketing investments and organisational performance are detailed.

Do universities have successful brands?

Branding in universities is a topical issue, but arguably few UK universities have fully developed ‘successful’ brands in the manner of commercial organisations. This qualitative paper explores the opinions of forty opinion formers on which UK universities have successful brands and the associations these brands have. Current literature on what constitutes a successful brand and current branding theory and practice in higher education is examined to give context to the work. Findings identify comparatively few institutions with ‘successful’ brands, but those that are suggested are considered for attributes, and limited commonality is found ; areas such as marketing communications, reputation, location and public relations are all argued to be contributory to successful brands. Perhaps more importantly, this research identifies certain institutions worthy of closer qualitative investigation towards generating a model of successful branding in higher education

Interpretation and implementation of reputation/ brand management by UK university leaders

Reputation and brand management are topical issues in UK higher education but previous research has often focused on marketing practitioners within higher education (HE) institutions rather than the senior, strategic leaders. This paper, however, examines university Chief Executives’ understanding, attitudes and interpretation of reputation and brand management. Current literature on defining reputation and brand, research on branding in higher education, and the role of leaders in brand management, are examined to give context to the work. Research was conducted through interviews with Vice-Chancellors, Principals and Rectors from a selection of fourteen universities representing three different ‘generations’ (the 1992 universities, those formed in the mid-20th century, and older institutions) Whilst the work is exploratory in nature it does highlight this as a rapidly evolving area of perceived importance and discusses conclusions on some of the external and internal issues related to reputation and brand management in this sector

Understanding the role of social media in political corporate branding research in the context of Indian politics

This paper seeks to explore how political actors within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) use social media in their communication campaigns and how these social media platforms are understood by citizens following the 2014 Indian General Election. This research attempts to address the limited understanding of social media in the context of politics (Barnard and Kreiss, 2013; Burton and Shea, 2010; Cogburn and Espinoza-Vasquez 2011; Ganz, 2009; Gulati and Williams, 2007; Kumar 2009; Owen and Davis 2008). Furthermore, the limited research on political branding and social media has predominantly focused a western context negating eastern perspectives including the republic of India. This study will use the adapted Kapferer’s (2008) brand identity prism developed by Pich et al. (2014) to a political setting. This framework will ground the study and offer the opportunity to examine the role of social media from an internal brand identity and external brand image perspective. The findings will have implications not only for political parties but also for politicians, candidates and other parties interested in social media. This study will offer organisations a mechanism that will allow them understand how their social media is projected and understood and allow them to investigate whether their projected brand identity is coherent with the understood external brand image

Confronting uncertainty: Anthropology and zones of the extraordinary

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below, copyright @ 2013 the American Anthropological Association.Anthropological theory has privileged consideration of the regularities of everyday life and has paid far less attention to irregular events that disrupt the social order. In this article, I contribute to ongoing theoretical attempts to redress this imbalance. While I acknowledge the potential historical importance of irregular and extraordinary events, I do not see them as entirely free-floating. Here I concur with Marshall Sahlins, who convincingly shows how people order unusual events through mythopraxis and also how social structures facilitate individual agency. I contemplate a third possible relation between structure and event, namely, “framing.” Drawing on my fieldwork in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, I show how people located and framed unfortunate and destructive events in zones that stood apart from everyday life. This process provides insight into witchcraft and homicide, topics that can no longer be understood only in terms of systemic agency

Evaluation of Communication Activities in Branding Success Jateng Gayeng

Jateng Gayeng is one of the provincial tagline in Indonesia, Central Java which has a message of attraction, such as culture and art that characterize Central Java. Jateng Gayeng published through the media. Gayeng Jateng has now become the branding of Central Java. The reality of Central Java has not been too known by the community. It requires the Central Java government to develop all sectors in a conceptual manner based on the strength and potential of Central Java. Central Java through Central Java Gayeng is a branding that has the vision and mission to raise the image of Central Java to the national and International scene. Nevertheless, the era of globalization requires Central Java to be open to many things. Central Java nowadays has transformed into a modern province with the establishment of infrastructure and facilities in Central Java, but still refers to the existing culture. The description has become the rationale of this research that will focus on branding Gayeng Central Gayeng brand that must be created is a province that is identical with the strength of local culture. This study aims to describe the communication activities of Central Java government in branding Jateng Gayeng. This research uses mix method approach and analyzed with Models of Public Relation J.Grunig that is press agentry model, public information model, two way asymmetrical model, two way symmetrical model and branding concept from Kaparder prism with phsysic indicator, personality, culture, relationship, Reflection, and self image. This research shows that branding of Central Java Gayeng is done through several activities that have been designed by the related office by using communication activities. By holding various communication activities, it will increase the attraction of the people to visit Central Java. In the implementation of branding can not only rely on local government but there must be supporters such as local communities, investors and stakeholders. The success of branding in Central Java is measured by the number of tourist arrivals and the level of investment

Tingkat Pengetahuan Karyawan Jw Marriott Hotel Surabaya Terhadap Brand Identity Perusahaan

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui tingkat pengetahuan karyawan JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya terhadap brand identity Perusahaan. JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya, sebuah brand hotel yang berasal dari Amerika Serikat ini, melihat pentingnya hubungan antara karyawan dengan brand, sehingga mengkomunikasikan brand identity Perusahaan kepada karyawan melalui berbagai media dan aktivitas komunikasi menjadi hal yang substansial, guna mencapai pengetahuan karyawan terhadap brand identity Perusahaan. Elemen-elemen brand identity JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya yang dikomunikasikan meliputi nama, logo, dan kisah brand. Jenis penelitian ini adalah deskriptif dengan pendekatan kuantitatif. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah survei dengan teknik penskalaan Likert. Sampel dalam penelitian ini adalah karyawan JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya yang berjumlah 167 orang, dan dikategorikan berdasarkan lama masa kerja. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan tingkat pengetahuan karyawan JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya terhadap brand identity Perusahaan yaitu tinggi