Research On The Formation Of Employees' Brand Citizenship Behavior And Its Effect On Consumers' Brand Relationship

Due to the optimization and upgrading of industry structure,the service industry has becoming a pillar industry in our country.The data shows that by the end of third quarter of 2015,the proportion of service industry has reached 51.4%,for the first time exceeding 50%.However,with the prosperity of service industry,some ensuing problems came into being,like the imbalance of brand building,the unclear internalizing strategy of the brand,and the decrease of customer's loyalty,and etc.In service industry,the brand citizen behavior of staff resulting from the internalizing strategy of the brand is a direct and open window for the customer to watch and learn about the quality of service and culture atmosphere of the whole enterprise,and also a critical basis of ensuring the continuity of delivering the service and brand commitment.Although the service industry organizations realized the importance of the brand internalized management in our country,however,such organizations are still at the primary development stages of the internalization management and their service levels have not kept pace with the pace of development of the industry.Thus,managements are not clear about the effects of the internalizing strategy,the influences on brand citizenship behavior of staff and the help it can bring to the brand relationship with customers of the insurance company.For lack of the systematical awareness of brand internalization and brand support of staff,people in service industry are likely to put a single focus on the brand training and brand motivation when carrying out brand internalization strategy,ignoring the importance of internal communication and leadership features.Insufficient knowledge about brand support behaviors of staff and unavailable normative system possibly lead to the ineffectiveness of brand management.Thus,in our country,it is meaningful theoretically and practically to discuss the design and implement of the brand internalization strategy,to analyze the characteristics of brand citizenship behaviors of staff and their effects on the relationship with customers based on the specific characteristics of service industry.Focusing on the flaws in the process of building the brand in service industry,such as the incompatible relationships between emphasizing the brand commitment and neglecting the brand internalization,the unmatched relationship between the customer experience and brand commitment,and also the distorted evaluation of the brand values,this article takes the insurance company as the research object to study the influence of the insurance company's brand internalization on employee's brand related activities,and the effects of employee's brand related activities on consumer's brand relationship.This paper consists of six chapters;at first,it introduces the research background and significance,research ideas,content,innovation and deficiencies.Then,this study was conducted on a comprehensive summary of literature review,from different aspects such as the social identity and employee psychological ownership theory,brand service theory,the role staff play in building the service brand,the concept of internalization in the field of social science,service brand internalization and employee brand support,employee brand psychological ownership and brand commitment and employee citizenship behaviors,brand relationship with customers and so on.By discussing the relation between brand internalization and employee behavior pertinent to brand support employee behavior and customer brand relationship,this paper puts forward the theoretical model about brand internalization of employee behavior and its influencing factors of brand support on customer brand relationship and process mechanism.Under the theoretical model,this study designs the empirical method,and describes the sampling methods,the questionnaires and the recovery of the research.The reliability test,convergent validity and discriminant validity were tested according to the statistical data,and the analysis was carried out as well.This study uses the structural equation measurement tool on the structure model of the overall goodness of fit test and try to verify its rationality,and at the same time,the relationship between each path are tested,the whole process mechanism is analyzed.The empirical analysis results illustrate that: during the process of brand internalization of the insurance company,brand motivation,brand communication and leadership features can positively affect the brand citizenship behavior of staff;among the motivation factors of brand internalizations,brand leadership is the most important one;brand ownership of staff and brand commitment support the brand citizenship behaviors of staff;and brand citizenship behaviors of staff have positive effects on the brand relationship with customers.According to the empirical research,this paper draws the following conclusions:(1)brand internalization mechanism influences employee brand citizenship behaviorby affecting employee psychological ownership;(2)the brand internalization mechanism influences employee brand citizenship behavior by affecting employee brand commitment;(3)employee psychological ownership,as the mediating factor,affects the influence of brand internalization mechanism on the brand commitment and on the brand citizenship behaviors;(4)employee brand commitment positively influences customer based brand,customer brand trust and brand commitment;(5)employee and customer demographic characteristics significantly affect employee and customer brand attitude and behavior.The creativiteis of this paper are as follows:Firstly,traditional management models of the brand internalization are based on human resource related behavior,brand communication and brand leadership,the three elements of brand internalization mechanism research,and later scholars are basically around these three dimensions to verify.But the previous models rarely involve the elements of human resources and their effects on the brand internalization and brand supportive behaviors of staff.Based on literatures,talks and interviews,this paper explores fourmotivating dimensions of brand internalization in Chinese service industry: brand training,brand motivation,brand communication and brand leadership,and these dimensions are a good support for the human resources related behavior dimensions,making the motivating dimensions of brand internalization clearer,more measurable and more workable.Secondly,the current literatures on the behaviors of staff supporting the brand,concentrated mainly on organizational citizenship behavior and tried to verify the theory of Burmann&Zeplin model.From the new perspective of employee psychological ownership,this paper has better verified that the brand internalization will have an impact on the brand citizenship behaviors of the staff.And meanwhile,brand citizenship behavior and psychological ownership,as an intermediary variable,can better explain employee brand commitment.This not only further clarify the internal mechanism of brand internalization on Employee Brand citizenship behavior,but also act as a useful supplement to the relevant research.Thirdly,since current literatures are divided into two fields: the brand supportive behaviors of staff and the brand relationship with customers,this article integrates the research focuses on the workers in the production line and the customers they directly serve,carries out a combined research on the internal brand internalization mechanism and external customer brand relationship of the enterprise,and studies them as a whole,more real and fully reflecting the relationship between enterprise brand internalization mechanism and customer brand equity.Focusing on the existing problems during the process of brand building in Chinese service industry,this article broadens the horizons of researches on brand internalization.From an innovative perspective of brand psychological ownership,this paper has studied the effects of brand internalization mechanism on the brand commitment and brand citizenship behavior of staff,through integrating the brand citizenship behavior of staff and brand relationship with the customers and doing systematical analysis of brand internalization in service industry.It has also developed a measurable scale for brand citizenship behaviors of staff and brand relationship with customers,and has carried out strict empirical tests.The result of the empirical studyillustrates that the model is not only plausible but also effective for the insurance company and even the service industry as a whole.It can be applicable in various practical fields,such as in developing the effective staff-and-customers oriented brand management,in building the positive brand relationship among the company,staff and customers,and in guiding or evaluating the brand citizenship behaviors of the staff.