Internal branding process: Exploring the role of mediators in top management's leadership–commitment relationship

In high customer-contact services, employees are an imperative part of a company's service quality. While the effect of employee commitment on brand-supportive behaviors has already been studied, it remains unclear what drives employees’ brand commitment. This study explores the brand-oriented leadership of top management as an important driver of internal branding process and an indirect predictor of employees’ commitment. Moreover, three mediators are examined in relation to how brand-oriented leadership affects brand commitment. Using a sample of 226 hospitality employees working in a European hotel chain, our results indicate that employee brand knowledge, employee-brand fit, and psychological contract fulfillment fully mediate the relationship between brand-oriented leadership and brand commitment. The results support the importance of top management's leadership in internal branding and its role in achieving employees’ emotional attachment to the brand. We also suggest that, for leadership to enhance commitment, leaders must compel employees to possess brand-relevant knowledge, share similar brand values, and perceive their psychological contract as being fulfilled.