Measuring interaction: An empirical comparison of three OLS regression models

The capacity to correctly assess the existence of interaction is a high-value modeling capability among researchers of information systems (IS), especially those focusing on behavioural paradigm studies. Interaction is a notable aspect for the major theoretical frameworks of the IS field, particularly the adoption theories. Allowing for crossover effects in the Theory of Planned Behaviour resulted in improvements in model prediction (Taylor & Todd, 1995b). This study presents the trimmed model, which does not permit crossover effect relations among variables. In complex models, as mentioned by Pedhazur (1997), one variable may affect another variable indirectly through multiple paths. According to him, it stands to reason that indirect effects, through certain paths, may be more meaningful and/or stronger than others. The findings of this quantitative study lead one to conclude that crossover effect models are more capable of showing the interaction among models’ variables, as well as explaining the highest percentage of variation for a single dependent variable, in comparison to the full and trimmed model

Business School corporate brand identities

The escalation in the number of business schools in Malaysia has created a competitive pressure to attract the best students and lecturers from both the national and international arenas. These business schools have, and, are developing competitive marketing strategies to augment their brand images in terms of university rankings as well as be seen as the top business school in the country. However, little is known to understand how these business schools position their brand images in order to be seen as such. Most of previous studies that surrounds this area mainly focused on external stakeholders, making our understanding of how the internal stakeholders namely the employees contributes or shaping the school’s identity very limited. Thomson et al. (1999) suggest that employees play specific role in building the service brand in order to make the brand ‘come alive’. Furthermore, employees can have a positive influence on consumers’ perception regarding the service brand (Martin et al., 2004). Employees are thought to play a crucial role in building their company brands through their brand loyalty and commitment towards their organisation and thus, should remain as top priority among the top management when designing the company brand identity (Kimpakorn and Tocquer, 2009). Mitchell (2002) suggests that in order to gain a strong brand position of one product or service, it is vital to build internal branding as a process to align staff’s behaviour with a corporate brand’s identity. This is consistent with a view that brand-consistent behaviour often supports the development of a coherent brand image and is considered as one of the crucial success factors in corporate brand management (de Chernatony and Vallaster, 2005). Hence, while branding strategies focus on the enhancement of such corporate image, corporate identity on the other hand, is seen as part of the overall corporate brand. Thus, the current study examines a business school brand identity from an internal stakeholders’ perspective in the East (Malaysian’s business school). The study has adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches (in-depth interviews, focus group discussion-FGD and survey). The measures developed by Davies et al. (2004) known as ‘Corporate Character Scale’ was used alongside with the semi-structured interview and FDGs in order to measure the institutional brand identities among employees of the business school. Institutional or corporate brand identities are commonly measured by human personality traits to portray the brand identity or image of a company or institution and, recently, increasing attention has been given to the understanding of the more abstract, intangible aspects of consumer brand knowledge (such as brand personality or corporate brand image). By using metaphorical expressions, specifically the personification approach (i.e. by viewing the company or institution as a person), these studies have examined corporate brand images or brand personalities in various settings such as retailing, cars and books but little has been done to understand the positioning in the context of higher education. The study reports its qualitative findings from 25 in-depth interviews ranging from the academics, management as well as the administration of a business school. Content analyses were used to analyse the results and the employees appear to express business schools as prestigious, tough, associate the school with the overall institutional brand/long standing reputation, new building and updated facilities (tangible attributes). The present study enhances this understanding by providing empirical evidence in the context of higher education among employees. The practical contribution of the study and its managerial implications can be seen in the context of defining strategy and positioning the business schools in a higher education context

Employer branding and retention of employees in luxury hotel chains in Malaysia

Employer brand is an image of one organization which is seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires. In particular, it is “a package of all functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identifies with the employing organization” (Ambler and Barrow, 1996). Thomson et al. (1999) suggest that employees play specific role in building the service brand in order to make the brand ‘come alive’. Furthermore, employees can have a positive influence on consumers’ perception regarding the service brand (Martin et al., 2004). Employees are thought to play a crucial role in building their company brands through their brand loyalty and commitment towards their organisation and thus, should remain as top priority among the top management when designing the company brand identity (Kimpakorn and Tocquer, 2009). Mitchell (2002) suggests that in order to gain a strong brand position of one product or service, it is vital to build internal branding as a process to align staff’s behaviour with a corporate brand’s identity. This is consistent with a view that brand-consistent behaviour often supports the development of a coherent brand image and is considered as one of the crucial success factors in corporate brand management (de Chernatony and Vallaster, 2005). Hence, while branding strategies focus on the enhancement of such corporate image, employer branding, on the other hand, is seen as part of the overall corporate brand. However, empirically, this concept has received limited awareness from past researchers, particularly in the context of luxury hotel chains in the East countries. Thus, to add to the literature, this study examines employer branding as a concept for enhancing employees’ brand commitment in the luxury hotel chains in Malaysia. It extends the previous model on employer brand proposed by Kimpakorn and Tocquer (2009) by adding employer characteristics/CEO/leader personality as another important dimension of employer brand concept. To better understand the employees’ brand commitment in service industry, research related to the indicators of employees’ brand commitment is reviewed to construct a conceptual framework of employer brand. Employees’ brand knowledge, employer brand and its competitors, customer brand as perceived by employees, employer brand characteristics (Kimpakorn and Tocquer, 2009) were examined along with the newly added dimension, employer characteristics/leader personality (developed from Slaughter et al., 2004) as dimensions of employer brand . The measures were developed based on extensive review of literatures, and to ensure the validity and reliability of the scales, they had undergone a content and face validity phase involving three expert researchers with academic and managerial background, 20 hotel middle management employees (at pre test level) and 50 employees for the pilot test. The main study was further informed by a total of 266 completed questionnaires from the middle management employees from ten (10) hotels which represents 5 luxury hotel chains in Malaysia. The results showed that two out of five proposed dimensions, employer brand and its competitors, and the newly added dimension-the employers’ characteristics/leader personalities (i.e. the integrity and trust of the leader) were significantly related to employee brand commitment. The finding is in line with Rae and Subramaniam (2007) who found that employees who work with a leader of high standards on integrity and ethics are more likely to adopt and enforce high performance at work. Fairness and integrity at workplace hereby, specifically in hospitality industry, often affiliate closely with the employees’ retainment and commitment. Through the study, it is found that CEOs effectiveness depends on their personality and charisma and not solely on their control over bureaucratic structures (House et al., 1991). Practically, the findings from this study contributes to HR managers on the importance of effective communication with employees, and designing policies for internal marketing that can make employees feel as part of the company during the process of brand building. The study further concluded with suggestions as to how manager could incorporate and address more efficiently on employer branding when communicating or designing the internal marketing program to enhance their employees’ brand commitment.http://www.mdx.ac.uk/events/2012/09/second-international-colloquium-on-corporate-branding-identity-image-and-reputation-cobii

Introducing celebrity corporate brand and corporate brand enhancement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is first, to explore the concept of celebrity brand at a corporate brand level, known as Celebrity Corporate Brand – CCB; second, to investigate the impact of CCB on corporate brand equity (termed - corporate brand enhancement). In particular, this study will explore CCB at both levels - ‘developed/own’ and ‘endorsed’ corporate brands. The research marshals the nascent literature of celebrity, human and people brand (e.g. Kowalczyk, 2013, 2011; Halonen-Knight & Hurmerinta, 2010; Seno and Lukas, 2007; Thomson, 2006) which marked new ground by drawing on celebrity theories in corporate branding contexts. By combining these concepts together – we hope to propose a new way of how corporate brand can be differentiated and enhanced through celebrity since its introduction in ICIG, 1994. Corporate brand was first introduced through corporate identity concept (van Riel & Balmer, 1997; Balmer, 1995). Design/Methodology: In order to explore the study’s objectives, we focus on celebrity chefs and three studies were carried out: (1) Study 1 - netnography; (2) Study 2 – in-depth interview; and (3) Study 3 - experiment. Study 1 and 2 are carried out to explore and define CCB and corporate brand enhancement. Study 3 consists of five (5) experiments – 4 experimental groups and 1 control group – were conducted at the site (celebrity chefs’ restaurants), aids in developing the conceptual model for the current study where the interrelated concepts are explained. Data was coded using NVivo where thematic analysis and nodes were performed and assigned to define the constructs and produced items for measurement that were later used in the experiment data collection phase (Kozinets, 2014; Boelstorff, 2011; Churchill, 1995, Churchill, 1979). Findings – CCB is defined as ‘an individual who is a public persona and has fame or is popularly known to the public; whom by himself is a brand (celebrity brand); having their own products and/or services and/or companies (or corporate brands); who uses this recognition for the corporate marketing activities and simultaneously endorses other companies’ products, services and corporations (corporate brands)’, (Study 1 &2; Kowalczyk, 2011; Keel & Natarajaan, 2012; Seno and Lukas, 2007). In terms of dimensions representing CCB, the study found five namely: 1) Celebrity Interpersonal Quality/Personality; 2) CCB Enterprising Quality; 3) CCB Technical/Cognitive/Functional Quality; 4) CCB Symbolic Quality/Value; and 5) CCB Authenticity. These dimensions along with endorsed corporate brand values were found to enhance corporate brand of CCB (image) and endorsed. This, in turn, influences corporate brand enhancement (image, reputation identification, and behavioural action). Research implications – We contribute theoretically in three different ways: 1) provide a new way/offer new insights into how to enhance corporate brand equity (image, reputation and behavioural responses) by positioning and differentiating corporate brand through CCB; 2) offer definition of CCB based on the primary data (netnography, interviews) and secondary data (literatures) and 3) develop a conceptual model of how CCB and its interrelated concepts work through interviews and experiments. Practical implications – The managerial implications can be seen from the context of defining strategy within CCB own businesses, endorsed corporate brands, policy change (national and international) in matters pertaining to environmental and health concerns; and consumer lifestyle change that is geared towards better living standards and healthier lifestyles. In particular, CCB through personification portrays what an organisation stands for, and it does not address consumers alone. CCB addresses all stakeholders of the corporate brand and those corporate brands that it endorses. Originality/value – Responding to call for research on ‘beyond celebrity endorsement’ and ‘co-branded celebrity products’, this study extends the celebrity endorsement and celebrity brand concept to CCB and its effect on corporate brand enhancement. Whilst previous researches were mainly devoted to how celebrity endorser or human/celebrity brands influence consumer purchase intention at a more product/service brand level, this research examines celebrity brands at corporation level (the CCB). In particular, the effect of CCB on enhancing the ‘developed’ and/or ‘endorsed’ corporate brand (such as the image and reputation of the celebrity and corporation) are discussed. Empirical findings of the current study assist into theoretical insight - how relationships between celebrity corporate brand and celebrity equity (celebrity personality and image enhancement) could enhance corporate brand equity (corporate brand enhancement such as image, reputation and actual buying behaviour), with implications for personal fame and company fortune

Inter-national Branding Strategy and its Effect on Brand Performance: A Comparison Between the USA and China”

Although product and service brand strategy has long been argued as an effective method of explaining consumer decision making process and brand performances (at both non-financial and financial), with the advancement of technology and highly competitive business environment today, understanding consumer behavior is getting ever more complex. Many companies face difficulties with their brand performances, for example lack of brand loyalty and low market share, and cannot sustain their market leadership. Our study explores the relationship between branding strategy at both corporate/firm and product/service level with financial performance (e.g., company profitability/growth, return on investment), by comparing 50 brands and 5000 consumers from two countries namely USA and China. This study will help better understand the relationship between customer mind set measures and outcomes on the performance level, and contribute to the company’s strategic brand positioning and marketing strategy

Negative employee corporate brand identification: A case study of a prominent Malaysian University corporate brand

The purpose of this paper is to investigate negative employee corporate brand identification towards a business school in Malaysia. The research marshals the nascent literature of corporate brand identification (Balmer and Liao 2007; Balmer, Liao and Wang 2008) which marked new ground by drawing on social identity theory in corporate branding contexts. Corporate brand identification is relatively new concept but has been recognized as very important facet of corporate marketing (Balmer and Liao 2007). Additionally, issues of corporate brand identification have been identified in the previous works to affect not only the consumers (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003) but also other stakeholders with the corporate brand such as student corporate brand identification (Balmer and Liao 2007; Balmer et al., 2008) and employees or member organisation or institution identification (Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail, 1994). However, limited past research was found to examine corporate brand identification from employee’s perspective. Although some research have attempt looking into organizational or institutional employee/member identification (Mael and Ashforth’ 1992; Dutton et al., 1994; Bhattacharya, Rao and Glynn, 1995), most of these studies however report on the positive attachment of the members have with the organisations or institutions and furthermore, they are only focusing on institutional or organisation, which is somewhat different from corporate brand identification. Corporate brand identification emphasizes the degree to which customers, and other stakeholders have feel there is an affinity with their own identity and that of a corporate brands whereas organisation and institutional identification typically focusses on organisational members affinity with their own identity and that of an organization per se. Understandably, the former takes and explicit corporate marketing approach whereas the latter is underpinned by an organisational behaviour perspective. Identification relates to social identity theory. Social identity theory refers to how individual define themselves in their social environment. The identification relates to the concept of singleness with or belongingness to the group that could affect the level of satisfaction and effectiveness. In this study, employees’ identification to the business school is investigated to gauge their level of belongingness, attachment and their perception about the school particularly after changes in policy took place within the university which affect the business school. Strong and positive corporate brand identification will help to understand how employees respond to organization’s action, increase corporate brand performance and subsequently, corporate reputation. Balmer and Liao (2007) explain that corporation should recognise the strength and strategic importance of their corporate brand and the importance of employees, customers, stakeholder (corporate brand identification). This is due to all personnel are seen as corporate brand spokesperson (Balmer et al., 2008) and corporate brand image begins from within the organisation, i.e. corporate brand identity which is reflected by the personality of the employees (Keller and Richey, 2006). Moreover, members’ attachments to an organisation are not only based on economic transactions alone rather, heavily depends on: (a) Images they have about what the organisation means to them and (b) What they mean to others. A continuity of positive image evaluation will result in strengthen their attachment through organisational identification (Dutton et al., 1994). Furthermore, lessons should be learnt from organisation that possibly overlooks these issues (Balmer and Liao 2007). This is especially the case of higher education where stakeholder identification appears to be highly emotional (from the study of student corporate brand identification, Balmer and Liao 2007) and possibly the employees as arguably both of these stakeholders belong to life-long organisational member of corporate brand community (Balmer and Liao 2007). We focus on a single case – a business school in Malaysia. Malaysia universities place high importance on ranking. As a result, in order to be competitive and sore high up in the ranking (e.g. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings), the university has done some changes to the present systems, structure as well as internal culture within the university. Dutton et al. (1994) explains that these changes could have significant psychological effects such as declining on organizational performance, weakening organisational identification and creating less cooperation with the school among the members/employees. We uses a theory-building case study within the phenomenology/qualitative research tradition (Balmer and Liao, 2007; Balmer et al., 2008). We investigate three groups of employees within the business schools (academic, administrative and top management). 25 in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion were conducted among the academics, administrative and top management of the business school. Content analyses were used to analyses the results and preliminary insights reveal the importance of considering negative identification in corporate branding contexts: this area is underexplored. The present study enhances previous works on corporate brand identification by focusing on employee and, in particular, the negative aspects of this in a business school context

Explicating industrial brand equity: Integrating brand trust, brand performance and industrial brand image

Purpose (mandatory) The research explores brand equity from multiple perspectives (tangible and intangible) and their joint consequences, namely, on industrial buyers’ brand loyalty and their long-term commitment. The aim is to provide a more comprehensive framework of the buyer’s behavioral response in the business to business context by integrating both trust elements and industrial brand attributes (brand performance and industrial brand image). In addition, the study explores the mediation effects of trust and brand attributes on industrial buyers’ responses such as loyalty and long-term commitment. Design/methodology/approach (mandatory) Using a survey approach, the study includes respondents working in the HVAC industry in Malaysia, and data are collected in the industrial air conditioning segment. The research model was tested with SEM. Findings (mandatory) Findings show that brand performance and industrial brand image directly affect brand trust but with different effects on buyers’ commitment and loyalty. Interestingly, industrial brand image only mediates the responses via brand trust, while brand performance has a direct effect. Thus, both brand performance and industrial brand image build buyer trust. But in this context, it is brand performance rather than industrial brand image that influences long-term commitment and loyalty. The study concludes that in the HVAC industry, brand performance, industrial brand image, buyer trust, industrial loyalty, and commitment build brand equity. Originality/value (mandatory) Significant research reveals that, in business-to-business contexts, brand equity depends on the supplier’s brand trust and attributes of the brand such as brand image and brand performance. While useful in guiding a supplier’s or industry’s brand strategy, the study of both brand trust and brand attributes has led to only a partial explanation of the supplier’s or industry’s brand equity. The present research explores industrial brand equity, focusing on tangible assets (performance) and intangible assets (brand image), and their joint consequences

The Importance of CSR Initiatives in Building Customer Support and Loyalty: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

Purpose (mandatory) This study aims to examine how the perception of CSR influences different aspects of consumer behaviour, specifically focusing on the antecedents of perceived value, customer support and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach (mandatory) A total of 418 completed responses were obtained and provided the data to analyse and test the hypothesised research model. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling using PLS was employed. Findings (mandatory) Findings reveal that customer awareness of the current CSR initiatives to different stakeholder groups significantly influences their perceptions of what social initiatives are actually undertaken by firms for their economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibility. In addition, customer views of what firms actually do in respect to social initiatives are significantly related to their level of CSR expectations. This indicates that the customers will always expect more from banks compared to what they actually do. Surprisingly, CSR perception is not directly related to customers’ loyalty, which contradicts the majority of previous studies indicating that CSR perception influences consumer behaviour. Originality/value (mandatory) This study provides an original contribution to the CSR body of knowledge, especially for developing countries where the awareness level is low. It also provides a deep understanding of the influence of CSR into 2 consumer behaviour, as it investigates the influence of the full construct of CSR into customer loyalty. Finally, the study investigated the relationship between the perception and the expectation of CSR; this relationship has been neglected in previous studies, where either CSR perceptions or CSR expectations have been examined separately

Managing volunteerism behaviour: The drivers of donations practices in religious and secular organisations

The present research deals with donations practices and the extent to which drivers of donations practices contribute to volunteerism. The paper aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between volunteerism and key drivers in donating behavior and donations practices, thus allowing charities to pursue more efficient ways in which to elicit volunteer work as well as better manage fundraising practices. It is argued that gender, age, religious affiliation, compassion, altruism, egoism, and religiosity impact on the level of volunteerism of the donor. A sample of 612 Portuguese donors was selected from within a population of donors that donate regularly to charitable institutions. The key findings of the current study are grounded on the idea of interaction between the volunteering behavior of a donor and both his level of religiosity and his religious affiliation. With regard to other drivers of donations practices, it was found that both altruism and compassion are positively correlated with donor volunteerism

Online corporate brand experience: Development of construct and measures

This chapter introduces the concept of brand experience at the corporate brand level (known as corporate brand experience or CBE) and explores its concept with regards to the online retail banking services setting. To achieve this, we examine the initial measurement items and dimensions based on the proposal made by Hamzah, Syed Alwi, and Othman (2014). The remainder of this chapter is organised as follows; first, a brief review is provided of the CBE as a source of corporate brand value, together with previous studies of CBE and its current measurement, and, particularly, the definition and the issue of the lack of available measures in the literature are discussed. This is followed by an introduction to the dimensionalities of CBE. Third, we discuss the research methodology. Fourth, we present the analysis, the results of the study and discussion, research implications and conclusion. Finally, we discuss the limitations and highlight the suggestions for further research