Corporate heritage identity stewardship: a corporate marketing perspective

Abstract

Purpose: Focusing on the nascent corporate heritage identity domain, this empirical study introduces the theory of corporate heritage stewardship. In particular, the research explores managers' collective understanding of their organisation's corporate heritage and how the latter is marshalled, and strategically represented, by them. The case study was undertaken in Great Britain's oldest extant brewery. Established in 1698 Shepherd Neame is one of UK's oldest companies.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical research informed by a theory-building, case-study using qualitative data. This study draws on multiple sources of data generated through semi-structured interviews, the analysis of documents and non-participant observations. The analysis of data was facilitated by a multi-stage coding process and a prolonged hermeneutic interaction between data, emerging concepts, and extant literature. Findings:Corporate heritage identity stewardship theory argues that the strategic enactment of a corporate heritage identity is predicated on a particular management mindset, which is meaningfully informed by three awareness dimensions expressed by managers (i.e. awareness of positionality, heritage, and custodianship). These awareness dimensions are underpinned by six managerial stewardship dispositions characterised by a sense of: (1) continuance; (2) belongingness; (3) self; (4) heritage; (5) responsibility; and (6) potency. The findings are synthesised into a theoretical framework of managerial corporate heritage identity stewardship. Research limitations/implications:The insights from this empirical case study meaningfully advance our theoretical understanding of the corporate heritage identity domain. Whilst the empirical contribution of this study is qualitatively different from statistical/substantive generalisations, which seek to establish universal laws, the research insights are valuable in terms of theory-building in their own terms and are analytically generalisable. The insights from this study have the potential to inform further studies on corporate heritage identities, including research underpinned by a positivistic, and quantitative, methodology. Practical implications:The findings have utility for corporate marketing management in that they illustrate how a collective corporate heritage mindset can both inform, as well as guide, managers in terms of their stewardship of their firm's corporate heritage identity. The theoretical framework is of utility in practical terms in that it reveals the multiple dimensions that are significant for management stewardship of a corporate heritage identity. Originality/value:The research confirms and expands the notion of management stewardship in corporate identity in corporate marketing contexts by identifying how a multi-dimensional managerial mindset has constitutive and instrumental relevance. Moreover, this study identifies the distinct characteristics of this corporate identity type -corporate heritage identity -which are revealed to have a saliency for m...

Cognitive outcomes of brand heritage: A signaling perspective

“…Considering brand heritage as a signal allows the modeling of its effect on quality and price, with a focus on the informational asymmetry between the firm and its consumers. It builds on and contributes to existing research on brand stewardship (Burghausen and Balmer, 2015), heritage branding (Santos et al, 2016) and consumer image heritage (Rindell et al, 2015), by quantifying what value brand heritage adds from a consumer perspective in terms of credibility, quality, and willingness to pay a premium. It provides additional validation from a consumer perspective to engage in stewardship and make use of brand heritage in external communications.…”

Conceptualizing corporate identity in a dynamic environment

“…Similarly, from a multidisciplinary approach, Simões et al (2005) developed a CI scale that considered only the internally controlled perspective of CI and measured three internal elements of CI -consistent image implementation, mission dissemination and visual identity implementation. Recently, a stream of work in CI focused on the umbrella notion of corporate marketing and considered related concepts, including corporate strategy (He and Balmer, 2013), corporate brand identity (Coleman et al, 2015), corporate heritage (Burghausen and Balmer, 2015), corporate reputation (Harvey et al, 2017), with a call for more research to explore the relationship between CI and other corporate marketing concepts (Balmer, 2017;He and Balmer, 2013).…”

Explicating corporate heritage, corporate heritage brands and organisational heritage

“…In particular the study resulted in an integrated theoretical framework of three managerial awareness dimensions that are underpinned by six management dispositions to think feel and act (see: Burghausen and Balmer 2015).…”