Internal marketing,organisational culture,job satisfaction,and organisational performance in non-life insurance

The concept of internal marketing employed in the service sector is crucial to excellent service provision and successful external marketing. This study conducts an empirical investigation into the non-life insurance industry in Taiwan, exploring the correlation between internal marketing, organisational culture, job satisfaction, and organisational performance in Taiwan. Results show significant correlations among internal marketing, organisational culture, job satisfaction, and performance of non-life insurers. These findings can provide a basis for future studies of related topics as well as a solid reference for business owners and managers in the non-life insurance sector.     

Online brand communities: constructing and co-constructing brand culture

Consumers act and interact via social media networks and online brand communities, collectively generating brand culture. In this context, organisations have the opportunity to develop a cultural following. The respective task for brand managers and marketers is to understand how consumers collectively generate online brand culture? Using active and overt netnography and investigating the specific context of the Behance Network, the findings presented here demonstrate that online brand community members collectively generate brand culture in variant ways: through construction of self, emotional relationships, storytelling and ritualistic practices. Pragmatically, this work demonstrates that online brand community members are curators of online brand culture and netnography offers a window through which to identify what actions and interactions need to be facilitated and fostered.     

Consumer-based brand equity and brand performance

The relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance was investigated across 15 product categories in Brazil and the UK. Brand equity was conceptualized as related to the level of social benefit offered by each brand and was measured with a simple questionnaire that asked consumers to rate brands with respect to their familiarity and quality levels. These measures were then related to brand market share and revenue. Results showed that the relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance varies across product categories, indicating that products differ with respect to their level of brandability and suggesting ways to measure it.     

Franchisee-based brand equity and performance

This study focuses on the perceptions of franchisees and analyzes the influence of brand equity on franchisee performance. The factors that constitute brand equity are also assessed. Factor analysis was used to generate valid and reliable scales based on a sample of 205 Portuguese franchisee firms, and structural equation modeling methodology was then employed in the analysis. The results show franchisee-based brand equity (FBBE) to be a multivariate factor with strong influence on performance. This study contributes significantly to the literature by showing the perspective of franchisees toward franchising. It also has implications on the adequacy of corporate strategy in achieving performance.     

New product portfolio performance in family firms

This study investigates the relationship between top management team (TMT) innovation orientation and new product portfolio performance in small and medium-sized family firms by exploring two family firm-specific sources of TMT diversity as moderators: the number of generations involved in the TMT and the ratio of family members in the TMT. Results indicate that family-induced diversity in the TMT has opposing moderating effects. Although a positive relationship exists between TMT innovation orientation and new product portfolio performance when multiple generations are involved in the TMT, TMT innovation orientation and new product portfolio performance experience a negative relationship when the ratio of family members in the TMT is high. The study discusses theoretical and managerial implications of the findings and develops avenues for future research.     

A typology of organisational stakeholder engagement with place brand identity

ABSTRACT

This study explores how stakeholders engage with a place brand identity (PBI) in the context of country branding. This research extends beyond the importance and challenges of stakeholder brand engagement with place brand identity by exploring several typology of stakeholder engagement with PBI. A case study approach using semi-structured interviews with 39 senior-level representatives from national Australian organisations was adopted to explore how internal stakeholders in Australia are engaged with the current PBI initiative in Australia: Australia Unlimited (AU). A typology of stakeholder engagement with a PBI, including philosophical and concrete engagement was identified. Stakeholders’ philosophical engagement is reflected by their moral support, future engagement intention, as well as positive word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviour. Concrete engagement, on the other hand, is reflected by place brand partnership and internalisation of PBI in the organisations’ strategy. The research findings offer practical ways for place brand managing organisations (PBMO) to enhance stakeholder engagement with a PBI. The identification of multicomponent nature of PBI from the research findings allows PBMO to identify which PBI component lacks stakeholder support in order to make necessary improvements. Further, identification of the typology of stakeholder engagement with PBI provides alternative strategies of how stakeholder engagement can be managed.     

The interplay of culture and situational cues in consumers' brand evaluation

This research examines the effects of situational cues in consumers' brand evaluation; more importantly, this relationship is explored across the US and Korean cultures. The findings suggest that consumers prefer brands with personality traits that are congruent with the social situations. Furthermore, as predicted, this brand‐situation congruity, for which brand preference increases when the social situational cues are congruent vs. incongruent with the brand personality, is stronger among Korean vs. American subjects.     

Managing the foreign investment portfolio: How industry and governance diversity influence firm performance

Foreign investment has been seen as an important strategy for learning about new technologies and markets. However, the link between the characteristic of a foreign investment portfolio and firm performance has not been examined in detail. Using panel data from 199 Taiwanese firms, this study examines how the foreign investment portfolio in terms of industry and governance diversity influences firm performance. This study finds that governance diversity has an inverse U-shaped relationship to firm performance, whereas industry diversity does not. In addition, this study also finds that their relationships are affected by R&D capability and industry profitability. The empirical findings of our study are useful for firms that invest in emerging economies.     

Customer brand personality perception: A taxonomic analysis

Abstract

The brand personality concept has received considerable attention. However, researchers have paid little attention to how homogeneous consumer brand personality perceptions are. This study attempts to fill this gap by analysing survey data (n?=?603) collected from respondents evaluating seven mass-market consumer brands. Using cluster analysis, it identifies four typical brand personality constellations. The authors find variance among brand personality perceptions across brands, but more interestingly also within perceptions of individual brands. This result points to issues in implementing brand personalities in marketing practice. The article concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.     

Multi-tiered private labels portfolio strategies: Effects on consumer behavior

Abstract

Retailers wish to expand their standard private label (PL) adopting a multi-tiered portfolio. We study the effects produced by the introduction of two new PLs quality-tiers (economy and premium) on the market share of various national brands (NB; premium-quality and second-tier) and the standard PL. This study proposes a model that accommodates three effects (similarity, attraction, and compromise) for understanding how the introduction of economy and premium PL may affect market incumbents. This study also analyzes the effects of introducing new PL quality-tiers for customer segments. Our results indicate that when economy and premium PL are introduced in the market, the choice probability of standard PL decreases, especially for high purchase quantity customers and PL loyal customers. In addition, introduction of a premium PL decreases the choice probability of second-tier NB and premium-quality NB, especially for PL loyal customers and high purchase quantity customers.     

Effects of pricing strategies and product quality on private label and national brand performance

Using product test ratings and panel data from more than 35,000 participating households in Germany, this study addresses the impacts of price, quality, and promotion shares on the market shares of different products, including national brands and private labels, as well as food and non-food products. The results of a path analysis reveal important differences across the four segments, as well as insights regarding the use of everyday low price and high–low retail pricing strategies. The findings also lead to key implications for manufacturers and retailers.     

The impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions in the service industries

The antecedents of brand equity are considered to be brand attitude and brand image, and the consequences of brand equity are considered to be brand preference and purchase intentions. This study concentrates on service brands, selecting 18 from 3 service categories. A structural equation model is presented. Not only does it show a good fit with the research constructs but also the relationships between brand image and brand equity, and brand attitude and brand equity. The impact of brand equity on customer preference and purchase intentions is confirmed as well, which tends to validate the proposed research framework.     

A conceptual analysis of brand intimacy on social media platforms

The nature of brand intimacy in the context of social media-based brand communities (SMBBCs) remains unclear. This paper aims to explore whether reciprocal factual and emotional self-disclosure can lead to brand intimacy in such a community; whether brand intimacy generates valued marketing outcomes, including attitudes, intentions and behaviours; and what external and internal factors motivate and enable reciprocal factual and emotional disclosures on social media platforms. A review of the relevant literature suggests that reciprocal disclosure may lead to brand intimacy in this context. For marketers, brand intimacy is important for strengthening resistance to negative information, and enhancing positive word-of-mouth, loyalty intentions, purchase intentions and brand passion, as well as developing effective marketing strategies. The degree of anonymity and the special interactivity features of SMBBCs are key external enablers of disclosure. In situations where community members internally seek relations and/or emotional support from other members, they tend to disclose their emotions. Members who internally seek social validation and/or self-expression tend to both disclose, factually and emotionally. Such a conceptual understanding of the importance of brand intimacy, paired with a number of propositions for empirical work, can serve to guide future research into this important field.     

An appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness

Recent academic discussions about the concept of brand happiness have introduced brand happiness as a promising new branding asset and a key research area. There is scientific evidence that its strong desirability, its characteristic of greatest emotional fulfillment, and its superior power to influence brand behavior qualify brand happiness as an important brand goal and differentiate it from other emotional‐relational concepts (e.g., emotional brand attachment, customer delight). However, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of brand happiness. To provide essential new insights in this research field, the authors theoretically develop an appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness and empirically verify it in four industry sectors. On the cross‐industry level, brand relationship quality, brand self‐relevance, brand goal‐congruence, and actual and ideal brand self‐congruence are confirmed to be important brand appraisal determinants of brand happiness, and pleasantness, fairness, and certainty are confirmed to be important situational appraisal determinants of brand happiness. The behavioral power of brand happiness was supported by showing that brand happiness strongly predicts five coping strategies; namely, the problem‐focused coping strategies of (re‐)purchase intention and price premium, and the emotion‐focused coping strategies of word‐of‐mouth, brand evangelism, and brand forgiveness. On an industry‐specific level, differences are observed regarding the influence of some of the brand appraisal determinants on brand happiness and regarding the influence of some of the situational appraisal determinants on brand happiness across the four analyzed industry sectors.     

Knowledge management and organizational performance in the service industry: The role of transformational leadership beyond the effects of transactional leadership

This study examines a comprehensive model comprising of various relationships between transformational and transactional leadership, knowledge management (KM) process, and organizational performance. Data are collected from human resource managers and general managers working in 119 service firms. Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis are used to analyze the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that transformational leadership has strong and positive effects on KM process and organizational performance after controlling for the effects of transactional leadership. Further, KM process partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance after controlling for the effects of transactional leadership. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Developing brand champions: A franchisee perspective

Abstract

The establishment of a compelling brand lies at the heart of a franchise network’s success. To maintain brand integrity, franchisors rely on franchisees to deliver the brand promise consistently. However, franchisee behaviour is sometimes difficult to manage, impacting negatively on the franchise brand. In adopting an internal brand management theoretical lens, this study provides new insight into the development of franchisees as brand champions. This is achieved through the empirical validation of a model, which encapsulates the dynamics of important antecedent variables (i.e. information generation, knowledge dissemination, the ‘H’ factor, role clarity, franchisee satisfaction, and brand commitment) in creating franchise brand champions. The findings provide significant theoretical and practical implications and lay the foundation for future research in this important research domain.     

Relationship between organisational safety culture dimensions and crashes

Knowing about organisational safety culture in public transportation system can provide an appropriate guide to establish effective safety measures and interventions to improve safety at work. The aim of this study was investigation of association between safety culture dimensions (leadership styles and company values, usage of crashes information and prevention programmes, management commitment and safety policy, participation and control) with involved self-reported crashes. The associations were considered through Spearman correlation, Pearson chi-square test and logistic regression. The results showed an association among self-reported crashes (occurrence or non-occurrence) and factors including leadership styles and company values; management commitment and safety policy; and control. Moreover, it was found a negative correlation and an odds ratio less than one between control and self-reported crashes.     

Complaints-handling processes and organisational benefits: An ISO 10002-based investigation

Abstract

Benchmarking data provided by 144 organisations across four industry sectors are consolidated and mined to generate insights into the relationship between complaints-handling processes, as defined in ISO 10002, the International Standard for Complaints Handling, and a number of marketing-related outcomes. Factor analysis of the 17 complaints-handling process variables yields five factors accounting for 62.6% of the overall variance. The most important factors are: visibility and accessibility of the complaints-handling policy and process; easy-to-use process for all complainants; and responsiveness of the complaints-handling process. Collectively these factors account for 24% of the variance in the desired marketing-related outcomes, most notably levels of customer advocacy and customer satisfaction. Although there have been a number of empirical investigations of International Standards, this is the first empirical study to investigate the influence of ISO 10002-conformant complaints-handling processes on marketing-related and broader outcomes. We conclude that complaints-handling processes that conform to ISO 10002 can yield significant marketing-related benefits, and we make recommendations for marketing practitioners.     

Relevant factors that affect service recovery performance

This paper explores the factors that affect employees' service recovery performance from the perspectives of internal management. In addition, this paper combines the techniques of linear multi-variable statistical analysis and nonlinear fuzzy neural network methodology to analyse data and validate hypotheses. This paper selects travel agents who have frequent interactions with customers and provide intangible services. The empirical finding indicates that the more authoritative leaders have a more negative effect on employees' service recovery performance. Strong corporate culture works against employees' service recovery performance. Employees with high self-efficacy have better service recovery performance. The important characteristic of this paper is that it combines multi-variable analysis and nonlinear fuzzy neural network methodology in its empirical approach. Meanwhile, the factors concerning internal management within an organisation are examined, and measures to enhance employees' service recovery performance are proposed. In other words, these are responses to improve service recovery performance of employees on a preventive basis within an organisation. This is very different from the consumers' perspectives as seen in most of the previous literature. Past studies tend to focus on the amendments and responses of service recovery from the perspectives of consumers, and a vast majority of the case studies examine western enterprises. This paper studies small and medium enterprises in Taiwan and illustrates the factors that affect employees' service recovery performance.