“That’s my job” Exploring the effect of brand empowerment towards employee brand equity: Mediating role of employee critical psychological states

Mohsin Altaf,Arfan Shahzad

doi:10.7819/rbgn.v0i0.3952

Mohsin Altaf, Arfan Shahzad

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7819/rbgn.v0i0.3952

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Abstract

Purpose – Based on the recent call to unfold the dynamics of employee psychological states in branding i.e. employee brand understanding and brand psychological ownership, this study aims to investigate the relationship of brand empowerment, employee psychological states and its outcome i.e. employee brand equity. Moreover, the study tried to investigate the mediating role of employee psychological states i.e. employee brand understanding and brand psychological ownership in the relationship of brand empowerment and employee brand equity. Design/methodology/approach – Survey method was adopted to collect the data from the respondents of public sector banks. Data were collected from 374 employees working in the banking sector through proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Findings – Results of this study confirm the positive relationship among brand empowerment, employee psychological states i.e. employee brand understanding and brand psychological ownership and employee brand equity. Furthermore, employees’ psychological states have a mediating role in the relationship between brand empowerment and employee brand equity as illustrated in the job characteristics theory. Past studies in branding literature have revolved around employees’ psychological states and their impact on personal outcomes i.e. employee brand equity. Originality/value – Based on the recent call to explore the dynamics of employee psychological states, the present study tries to dig the theory by investigate the link between brand empowerment and employee brand equity.

Highlights

In 2015, China and Pakistan signed a US$46 billion trade route agreement called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is an important part of the “One Belt, One Road” projects that connect Pakistan and the western parts of China to the Arabian Sea (Houreld, 2015)
The objective of the research was to investigate the relationship between brand empowerment, brand psychological ownership, employee brand understanding, and employee brand equity, in addition to examining the mediating role of employee brand understanding and brand psychological ownership in the relationship between brand empowerment and employee brand equity
The results of the study show that brand empowerment has a positive relationship with employee brand understanding and brand psychological ownership, while brand psychological ownership and employee brand understanding have a positive relationship with employee brand equity

Summary

Introduction

In 2015, China and Pakistan signed a US$46 billion trade route agreement called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is an important part of the “One Belt, One Road” projects that connect Pakistan and the western parts of China to the Arabian Sea (Houreld, 2015). It was reported that the CPEC will generate approximately US$70 billion in revenue per year from Chinese cargo transportation (Aamir, 2016) This will create a new set of challenges and opportunities for Pakistani banks. Most Pakistani banks are willing to start operations in China but they will face fierce competition from Chinese ones, which are among the most powerful in the world, with nine Chinese banks ranking among the top twenty-five in the world (Gara, 2016). To overcome these challenges, some significant changes are required to meet the changing dynamics of the new competitive environment. The development of powerful brands and brand equity has become an important top management issue in this current competitive environment (Hirvonen, Laukkanen, & Reijonen, 2013)

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