The purpose of this study was to understand how employee brand equity is cultivated in services. Specifically, a conceptual model, adopted from brand equity literature, was developed and tested to analyze the internal brand building process. To achieve this, a quantitative research methodology, using structural equation modeling, was used to understand the role of brand building mechanisms, namely the internal communication, external communication, and employee experience with the brand, in building employee brand equity. As a part of the service industry, data were collected from hotel employees who have direct contact with customers. The findings evidenced the distinguished role of each mechanism to build employee brand equity. That is, while internal communication enhances brand knowledge and role clarity, external communication and employee experience with the brand positively affect the brand commitment of employees. Therefore, as being the first study adopting customer service brand equity to employee context, this research confirmed the effect of brand building mechanisms on employee brand equity. In addition, the study proposes practical implications for organizations to design a balanced branding approach both internally and externally through the means of communication.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of other customers in explaining customers’ relation with a brand. A conceptual model, which incorporates other customers along with atmospherics, food quality and service quality, is proposed to better understand how customers form their brand preference for fine dining restaurants. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research methodology, using structural equation modeling, was adopted to understand the role of other customers along with other restaurant attributes. Data were collected from the customers of fine dining restaurants resulting in 324 usable surveys. Findings The findings supported the sequential link for: restaurant experience attributes – brand relationship and brand preference. While all restaurant attributes except other customers explain the satisfaction of customers, only service quality and other customers played a significant role in forming the brand image in the minds of restaurant guests. Overall, this study acknowledged the importance of both other customers and employees in fine dining restaurants’ branding. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that customers in servicescape have a significant role in creating a successful brand image for restaurants. Moreover, service quality is also key to achieve a unique image, thereby suggesting that employees could be a source of differentiation and competitive advantage by managing their brand related behaviors. Originality/value This research was one of the first to study the role of other customers in restaurant service experience along with other attributes to assess customers’ brand relation and brand preference for fine dining restaurants.
Purpose This study aims to examine the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and idiosyncratic risk in the restaurant industry. The study also explores whether brand diversification magnifies the risk reduction effect of CSR in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an unbalanced panel of 274 firm-year observations for 43 restaurant firms over the period 1995–2015. Models are estimated via fixed effect regression with robust standard errors. Findings The study finds that CSR involvement reduces idiosyncratic risk and this risk reduction is intensified when restaurant firms operate a portfolio of brands. Research limitations/implications The study’s findings are limited to restaurant industry, therefore, generalization of the findings to other industries requires delicate care. Brand diversification is a simple brand count due to a lack of brand sales data. Practical implications CSR activities are not cost burden for restaurant firms. Indeed, CSR could be a viable strategy to reduce the volatility in future expected cash flows, hence the idiosyncratic risk. This risk reduction could help owners/managers access to capital with lower cost. Moreover, the study suggests that CSR practices should not be implemented in isolation from firm marketing strategy such as portfolio of brands. Originality/value Although prior hospitality research puts forth some evidence using systematic risk as the measure of firm risk, this measure may not best suit the purpose in CSR context given that CSR is a direct, firm-specific strategy. Hence, the current study provides both new evidence with firm-specific, idiosyncratic risk and introduces an important contingency situation when the risk reduction effect of CSR would become more profound for restaurant firms.
Local cuisine has increasingly become one of the crucial factors contributing to how tourists experience a destination. As such, understanding which attributes affect travelers’ experience of the local food is especially important to enhance tourist satisfaction. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to determine the relative importance of different local cuisine experience attributes, as well as the perception of their performances. In doing so, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) was conducted to assess tourists’ perception. Data were collected from foreign travelers visiting Istanbul, Turkey, which is famous and well-known for its local cuisine. Furthermore, how different attributes affect destination satisfaction was analyzed via regression models. Interestingly, food-related cultural aspects and social aspects outweigh the food quality for their relative importance to travelers. Additionally, other than the physical environment, all attributes were found to contribute to tourists’ satisfaction of the destination. Practical implications are provided in terms of how to promote and develop a competitive advantage by using local cuisine attributes for destination marketing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.