Building a University Brand from Within: A Comparison of Coaches' Perspectives of Internal Branding

Abstract

Branding efforts have typically focused on external promotional strategies to develop brand image. Recently, the brand messages conveyed to employees of an organization have been recognized as being equally as important as the brand messages sent to external stakeholders. This study investigates the internal communication of the university brand with college coaches as the internal recipients, as well as external senders. In order to assess institutional internal branding efforts, college coaches who regularly have an opportunity to convey the university brand promise to outside constituencies are surveyed. Differences are examined among the institutions to evaluate the internal branding techniques implemented at private and public universities and at institutions housing major and mid-major athletic programs.

Internal branding in universities and the lessons learnt from the past: the significance of employee brand support and transformational leadership

“…It is generally concluded that the more internal branding is applied by management, the higher the likelihood that their employees' behavior will support the brand (e.g., Burmann & Zeplin, 2005;Judson et al, 2006;Vallaster & de Chernatony, 2005. In line with a study conducted by Judson et al (2006), internal branding activities are likely to assist an employee to have a clear understanding of her/his respective university's brand values and use these brand values in her/his everyday work. However, there are several terms which were used to refer to employees' behavior as an outcome of internal branding.…”

“…Although the concept of internal branding in higher education institutions is recognized in the literature as a new phenomenon (Whisman, 2009), Judson et al (2006 found that when internal branding activities are implemented, employees are better able to reflect the brand values in their day-to-day operations.…”

“…Developing the organization brand from inside has been acknowledged as an important area of research in the marketing literature (Judson, Aurand, & Gorchels, 2006). From a resourcebased perspective, it is suggested that organizations can gain competitive advantage through their unique combination of resources, with people as the most important asset (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978;Leberecht, 2004).…”

“…From a resourcebased perspective, it is suggested that organizations can gain competitive advantage through their unique combination of resources, with people as the most important asset (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978;Leberecht, 2004). Aligning the behavior of employees with brand values, internal branding has been recognized as a new phenomenon, which has become important for universities in the present increasingly competitive markets (Judson et al, 2006;Whisman, 2009). In the UK, it seems that universities are increasingly employing some kind of marketing activity and branding program (Ivy, 2001;Oplatka & Hemsley-Brown, 2004;Bunzel, 2007), even though these tend to be unsystematic in nature (Oplatka & HemsleyBrown, 2004;Maringe, 2010).…”

“…In the UK, it seems that universities are increasingly employing some kind of marketing activity and branding program (Ivy, 2001;Oplatka & Hemsley-Brown, 2004;Bunzel, 2007), even though these tend to be unsystematic in nature (Oplatka & HemsleyBrown, 2004;Maringe, 2010). Although corporate branding and the ways in which higher education institutions create their corporate identity have been studied (e.g., Melewar & Akel, 2005;Judson et al, 2006;Balmer & Liao, 2007;Atakan & Eker, 2007;Whisman, 2009;Celly & Knepper, 2010), studies are not closely related to the academic staff of universities.…”