Employees and the brand: The relationship between brand understanding, brand commitment and brand citizenship behavior

Abstract

In order to build a successful brand employees need to know brand’s values and how they can contribute to its success. By understanding the attitudes and behavior of employees towards the brand, marketing and human resources departments can work in collaboration to increase the brand’s success by creating a working environment with employees who understand what the brand stands for, are committed to the brand and even willing to put in more effort in their work. This article presents the results of a study of employees’ attitudes and behavior towards the brand. Three factors were examined; brand citizenship behavior, brand understanding and brand commitment. The study is based on a survey in the form of a questionnaire that was submitted to employees of three Icelandic companies in the summer of 2021, resulting in approximately 397 respondents in total. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between brand citizenship behavior, brand understanding and brand commitment. Brand citizenship behavior refers to behavior that employees exhibit voluntarily which strengthens the brand and therefore the organization’s success. The results showed that as brand understanding and brand commitment increases, employees display greater brand citizenship behavior. Brand understanding had a greater impact on brand citizenship behavior than brand commitment. Brand understanding also proved to be a precursor to brand commitment. The results underline the importance of the role HRM and marketing departments play in encouraging employees to develop a positive attitude towards the brand and demonstrate behavior that reflects the brand value. The study compensates on the shortage of research on the relationship between human resource management and branding. In addition, it provides managers important information that can be used in human resource management and marketing to increase the brand‘s success.