Article (Accepted Version) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Boukis, Achilleas, Koritos, Christos, Daunt, Kate L and Papastathopoulos, Avraam (2019) Effects of customer incivility on frontline employees and the moderating role of supervisor leadership style. Tourism Management, 77. pp. 1-14.

A wealth of research examines firm or consumer-based brand equity but largely ignores internal stakeholders' perceptions of the brand asset. The present study focuses on service employees who affect both internal (i.e. other employees) and external (i.e., customers) stakeholders through their interactions. The study draws on cognitive psychology and social identity theory to develop and empirically test an integrated model of antecedents and consequences of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) that distinguishes between a cognitive and an affective route for its development via brand knowledge and brand identification respectively. The research extends the limited work on EBBE by examining how perceptions of employees about their supervisors' brand leadership behaviors and their supervisors' focus on their subordinates significantly drive employees' responses to the internal brand. The proposed model also highlights the significant role of EBBE vis-à-vis two citizenship behaviors, namely brand value dissemination and customer orientation.

Purpose The purpose of this conceptual paper is to delve into the implications of blockchain technology adoption for brands and consumers. Drawing on the existing branding literature and real-life applications of blockchain, the challenges, risks and opportunities from blockchain adoption for four important areas of the branding literature are canvassed (i.e. brand positioning and corporate brand image, consumer–brand relationships, online brand communication and consumers’ trust in the brand). Also, a future-oriented discussion is provided that highlights some important avenues for researchers in the field. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper sheds light on the potential implications of blockchain technology for brand–consumer relationships. To do so, an analytical review of the blockchain literature is conducted, the nature of blockchain technology is presented and its unique features and functions for brand–consumer interactions are discussed. Findings This paper ignites an exploratory discussion around how blockchain applications and platforms can affect consumer–brand relationships, drawing on a number of real-life examples of blockchain adoption. This discussion sheds light on how blockchain features can impact on various areas of interest for strategic brand management, such as the adoption of digital currencies, brand storytelling, use of blockchain-enabled loyalty programmes, role of intermediaries in online advertising, counterfeit consumption, brand transparency and trust for brands in online marketplaces, amongst others. Originality/value This is one of the first conceptual efforts in the branding literature that draws on the scarce existing knowledge around blockchain adoption and discusses the potential implications of blockchain technology for brands and consumers whilst also providing directions for future research.

Purpose This study aims to explore how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance front-line employee brand enactment within an interpersonal service setting. Insights from equity theory and the person – environment paradigm are drawn upon to develop a theoretical model describing the impact of IMO on employee – organization fit, employee – supervisor fit and employee – job fit and the consequences of IMO on employee brand knowledge and brand identification. Second, the role of various types of fit and brand knowledge/identification for front-line employee brand enactment is confirmed. Design/methodology/approach This study draws from service employees in a high-contact customer setting. Findings Results uncover two mechanisms for successful internal branding: increasing employee fit with the service environment and enhancing employee brand knowledge. Practical implications The study contributes to practice in that the findings outline a realistic understanding of how managerial actions facilitate employees’ alignment with the firm’s brand promise within the realm of the broader organizational context in which service delivery takes place. Originality/value The present study contributes in the extant literature as it enables a more holistic view of the drivers of brand-congruent behaviors among front-line employees. Moreover, it has a significant contribution for future researchers as it lays the ground to further examine how employees’ perceptions of internal marketing strategies shape their fit levels with different aspects of their working environment which also affect the internal branding efforts of service organizations.

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of front line employee job satisfaction in customers ' behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach: Research design is nested with data collected from both first line employees and customers. Data are collected from multiple branches of a single bank to eliminate the possibility of other parameters such as design of operations and physical evidence from masking the true effects of the variables under investigation. Findings: Employee job satisfaction influences a customer ' s perception of quality, customer satisfaction and the development of high relational switching cost. Hence the effect on repurchase intention is indirect but significant and strong while moderated by branch size and age of the employee. Research limitations/implications: The degree of employee job satisfaction is a resource of strategic nature for these companies aiming to improve customer retention rates. Such companies should protect their ability to build employee job satisfaction and restrain themselves from policies that threaten to slim down the satisfaction their employees derive from their job. Originality/value: Using a hierarchical research design, this is the first study that manages to establish the relationship between employee job satisfaction and customers ' behavioral intentions while eliminating the effect of complementary marketing mix parameters such as operations design effectiveness and aesthetics

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the fit theory and the equity theory in order to stress the importance of retail supervisor's IMO adoption for enhancing contact employees' fit with their environment and for shaping positive employee extra-role behaviours towards their firm and their supervisor. A hierarchical research design is employed with evidence from 89 from retail store supervisors through personal interviews and 417 contact employees. This study contributes by suggesting IMO as a mechanism which can raise employees' fit with their organization and their supervisor. Another finding of this study lies on the role of IMO for positive employee-outcomes such as higher patronage and motivation to report service complaints. Additional research is necessary to identify whether different individual characteristics and background influence employees' fit with their organization or their supervisor. The results presented in this study clearly suggest an important first step in understanding the importance of IMO adoption for employees' better fit with their environment. Considering that supervisor's level of IMO accounts for a significant portion of contact employees' IMO adoption, it is imperative that top management must first sell the organization itself especially to middle level managers before implementing an internal marketing program across the whole firm. As IMO increases employees' fit with their environment, this paper departs from the view that managers can mainly achieve “fit” into their organization and avoid misfit only by carefully attracting and selecting individuals. moreover, managers should take into account that IMO increases employees' willingness to report service complaints to their supervisor. This study is intended to be a key step in bringing internal marketing and fit research together while also formally including IMO into multilevel marketing research and providing an important shift for extant research by discussing how interpersonal interactions between different organizational groups shape IMO adoption. From a theoretical view, the paper extends fit theory by establishing IMO implementation as a key strategy for recovering or increasing employees' fit with their environment

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