“United We Brand”: The impact of internal brand orientation on performance and the moderating role of interdepartmental conflict
(A2019-2137)

AUTHORS

Lamprini Piha, University of Athens; Karolos Papadas, Coventry University; Vasileios Davvetas, University of Leeds

KEYWORDS

branding; conflict; moderation

ABSTRACT

Internal Brand Orientation (IBO) was recently introduced as a new construct to capture the degree to which a company is oriented towards achieving high levels of brand internalization. Although it has been repeatedly asserted that internal branding constitutes a driver of firm success, to date, there is only scant empirical evidence supporting the effect of internal brand orientation on organizational performance. Based on the analysis of primary data drawn from managers of 221 companies operating in a European country, the authors find that internal brand orientation has a significant positive impact on financial performance, however this effect is attenuated when conflict among company departments is high. The results enrich literature on the benefits of supporting employee alignment with the brand values and highlight the organizational obstacles that need to be removed to achieve these benefits.