Çalışan Temelli Marka Değeri: İçsel Markalama Yoluyla Çalışanlar İçin Marka Değeri Yaratılması

Bu çalışmanın amacı içsel markalamanın çalışan temelli marka değeri üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktır. Bu doğrultuda, insan kaynakları, liderlik ve iç iletişim olmak üzere içsel markalama mekanizmalarının çalışan temelli marka değeri üzerindeki etkisinin anlaşılması için kavramsal bir model önerilmiştir. Modelin çalışılmasında yapısal eşitlik modelinin uygulandığı kantitatif bir araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Çalışma verileri ise otel ve restoran sektörlerinde müşteriler ile bire bir ilişkide olan çalışanlardan toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın sonuçları önerilen içsel markalama – marka farkındalığı – marka imajı ve algılanan kalite – marka bağlılığı sıralı ilişkisini doğrulamaktadır. İçsel markalama mekanizmalarından sadece liderlik ve insan kaynaklarının marka farkındalığını etkilediği bulunsa da, söz konusu marka farkındalığının çalışanların algıladıkları marka imajı ve kalitesini üzerinde olumlu bir etkiye sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Bu algılanan imaj ve kalite ise çalışanların markaya olan bağlılıklarını arttırmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, söz konusu bu araştırma içsel markalama faaliyetlerinin çalışanlar için marka değerini arttırdığını doğrulamıştır. Bununla birlikte, bu çalışma, çalışanlar açısından marka değerinin araştırılması ve içsel markalamanın marka değeri üzerindeki etkisinin anlaşılması bakımından sınırlı sayıdaki çalışmalardan biri olması sebebiyle önem taşımaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

İçsel Markalama, Marka Değeri, Hizmet Markalaması

Employee Based Brand Equity: Building Brand Value for Employees through Internal Branding

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of internal branding in explaining employees brand equity in service industry. A conceptual model, which incorporates the internal branding mechanisms, namely the human resources, leadership, and internal communication, is proposed to understand their effect on employee based brand equity. A quantitative research methodology, using structural equation modeling, was adopted to understand the role of internal branding in creating brand equity for employees. Data were collected from the customer contact employees in hotel and restaurant industry. The findings supported the sequential link for: internal branding – brand awareness – brand image and perceived quality – brand commitment. Even only internal communication and leadership were found to significantly affect brand awareness; this brand knowledge was then positively influenced the brand image and perceived brand quality of employees. Moreover, the results found that as employees have a more positive perception of brand image and quality, they are more likely to be committed to the company brand. Therefore, this study confirmed the importance of internal branding to increase employee brand equity, which in turn, translates into a strong brand for customers. In addition, this research is one of the limited studies adopting an employee perspective for brand equity as well as studying the role of internal branding mechanisms in building that brand equity.

Keywords:

Internal Branding, Brand Equity, Service Branding,

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