Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Employees are important endorsers and gatekeepers to authentic conversations\nbrands want to have with their consumers. This research focuses on predictors of\nemployee endorsement. The purpose of the study was to investigate how internal\nmarketing, internal engagement and perceived external prestige influence employees’\npropensity to engage in positive word-of-mouth conversations about their company’s\nbrands to their families, friends and close networks. Although the concept of word-ofmouth\nhas received a lot of attention from researchers and practitioners alike, few\nstudies have focused on the perspective of the initiator of word-of-mouth\nconversations, especially if the sender is employed by the brand being endorsed.\nFrom the literature reviewed an endorsement model was developed testing\nrelationships between the constructs of (independent) internal marketing, internal\nengagement prestige and (moderating) perceived external prestige with (dependent)\nemployee endorsement. A quantitative study was conducted through an email-based\nsurvey for which data from 156 employees from a South African bank was used to test\nhypotheses. A moderated regression was applied to establish the model fit to the data\ncollected.\nThe results of the model confirm that internal marketing and internal engagement are\nimportant predictors of employee endorsement. Although an organisation’s external\nprestige is theoretically important to employees, data reveals that the variable does not\nhave a significant bearing on the relationships between internal marketing and internal\nengagement with employee endorsement. These findings are relevant for businesses\nseeking to leverage their employee potential not only in strengthening their branded\nservices when servicing customers also growing their client base with an engaged\ncustomer base emanating from authentic trust relationships.
Author: Matjie Pride Morokane
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Pretoria
OpenAlex ID: W795968433