Exploring the Relationship between Employee Branding and Brand Loyalty : a qualitative case study

Abstract: Background:  Making customers loyal to the brand have become a key issue for marketers to achieve since it acts as a major contributor to competitive advantage. The brand image is argued to be the main source for brand loyalty and organizations continuously seeks for ways to achieve brand loyalty through enhancing their image. Employee branding makes it possible for organizations to consistently deliver a desired brand image to the customers, through its employees, and it could therefore be of importance to explore the relationship between employee branding and brand loyalty.  Research questions: RQ1: How does the organization’s management communicate its desired brand image to the employees? RQ2: How do the various sources of messages contribute to employees’ knowledge of the desired brand image? RQ3: How do the various sources of messages contribute to the upholding of the psychological contract between the employees and the organization? RQ4: How does the image projected by employees influence brand loyal customers? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between an organization’s employee branding and brand loyalty. Methodology: Conducted as a single embedded case study, semi-structured interviews Conclusion: The empirical investigation revealed that employee branding activities could strengthen customers’ loyalty towards the brand. Employee branding therefore influence customers’ satisfaction, commitment, trust, and identification to the brand.