Internal branding in the nonprofit sector

Abstract

Internal branding, a major marketing research topic, focuses on persuading internal members (e.g., employees) to internalize the organization’s brand promise and become brand ambassadors. This chapter reviews the development of internal branding research in the context of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). The author develops a conceptual map that identifies the key internal branding elements that emerged through this research stream: organizational brand-building behaviours, internalization, employee brand-building behaviours, internalization facilitators, environmental/contextual conditions, and consequences. Among them, the former four elements reflect the NPO’s internal branding processes. Environmental/contextual conditions represent the contingent factors of the internal branding processes. The consequences explain the aftereffects of internal branding processes. The synthesis of this diverse research provides a deeper insight into our understanding of internal branding in the nonprofit sector.