Signalling the corporate brand promise to front-line employees: The role of learning and development in internal branding

Abstract

Generating insights from a multimethod, multi-respondent qualitative study, we reveal the processes through which learning and development (L&D) signals the corporate brand and the heterogeneous responses of front-line employees (FLEs) in 4/5* hotels to these signalling efforts. Our insights reveal that L&D can play a key role in helping new employees reduce information asymmetry when it comes to the corporate brand and that employees do not respond to the signalling in a homogeneous way. Drawing on both signalling and construal level theories we conducted a sequential mixed method study across multiple respondents consisting of L&D professionals and FLEs in 30 4/5* hotels in Southeast Asia. We surfaced several important micro-foundations of the L&D signalling of corporate brand, including the use of multiple signal channels, different content elements, heterogeneous responses of FLEs to L&D signalling, and the importance of feedback. Our findings substantiate the key role that L&D plays as a signaller of corporate brand in 4/5*hotels and supports the view that FLEs will interpret these signals in different ways depending on their construal level. Our findings highlight important research implications and provide insights for managers and L&D professionals who wish to use L&D as part of corporate branding initiatives.