Brand Reward, Brand Training and Employee’s Brand Citizenship Behavior in Telecommunication Industry: The Mediating Role of Employee Brand Fit

Abstract

The current internal branding literature has paid little attention on how employees in an organization can be encouraged to exhibit brand citizenship behavior particularly among frontline and back stage employees of telecommunication industry. In order to bridge this gap, the study aimed at exploring the impact of internal branding practices on employee brand citizenship behavior through the mechanism of employee brand fit among telecommunication employees in Nigeria. In particular, the study determined the relationship between brand reward and brand training on employee brand citizenship behavior. Similarly, the study is aimed at examining the mediating role of employee brand fit on the relationship between internal branding practices and employee brand citizenship behavior. A self-administered questionnaire was used in obtaining data from employees of Nigeria telecommunication industry. The hypotheses in the study were simultaneously tested on a sample of 254 employees out of 377 distributed, giving the response rate of 68%. SmartPls was used to assess the relationship between the variables under investigation. The empirical results showed that brand reward and brand training have significant impact on employees’ BCB. Similarly, significant relationship was revealed between brand reward, brand training and employee-brand fit. Also, it was discovered that employee-brand fit has significant impact on employees’ BCB. Employee-brand fit was found to mediate the relationship between brand reward, brand training and employees’ BCB. Practically, this study has shown the importance of internal branding practices such as brand reward and brand training in encouraging employees to exhibit brand citizenship behavior. It is therefore suggested that the management of companies in the telecommunication industry should prioritize, promote, and improve their internal branding management. Implications and directions for future study were discussed.