Rethinking Brand Commitment in Internal Branding Models: A Cross-national Validation of a Three-component Model in Germany, China and North America

Abstract

There seems to be consensus on the role of brand commitment in internal branding models but overall confusion exists to its affective and cognitive conceptualization. The aim of this research is to add to its clarification over any conceptual confusion. Furthermore, this research attempts to validate whether or not the postulated brand commitment-brand citizenship behavior framework is a universal concept by validating the model among German, Chinese and North American employees of a large automobile manufacturer in Germany.

This research evaluates the dimensionality of brand commitment and brand citizenship behavior and explores cross-country disparity. As the dimensionality of brand commitment and the conceptualization of brand citizenship behavior varies so much as to be unreliable, the author conducted exploratory interviews with senior executives from various organizations listed in the DAX 30 and internal branding consultancies to probe for a holistic IBM model. A semi-structured interview approach was chosen prior to conceptualizing the variance based partial least square and structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The results of the structural relationships are discussed.