Abstract
This research examines how branded service encounters, in which frontline service employee behavior is aligned with a firm's brand positioning, may positively affect customer responses to brands. Across two brand personality contexts, Study 1 demonstrates that employee-brand alignment increases overall brand evaluations and customerbased brand equity, with more pronounced results for unfamiliar brands. Study 2 shows that conceptual fluency underlies the effect of employee-brand alignment on overall brand evaluations for unfamiliar brands. Study 3 reveals that employee authenticity enhances the effectiveness of employee-brand alignment. Finally, a critical incident study (Study 4) extends the generalizability of these findings to a wider variety of service contexts. This research is the first to demonstrate how firms can leverage employee behavior as a brand-building advantage, particularly for new or unfamiliar brands as they establish their positioning with customers.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 108-123 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Journal of Marketing |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2013 |
Keywords
- Brand equity
- Brand familiarity
- Brand personality
- Branded service encounters
- Conceptual fluency
- Frontline employee
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Marketing