基于员工视角的服务品牌内化过程及其实证研究

Service Brand Internalization Process and Its Empirical Research Based on the Perspective of Employees

员工是消费者感知和信任品牌的重要来源。本文基于员工视角探讨服务品牌的内化过程,通过引入心理学、社会学等领域下的内化观点,提出了认知、交换、关系三种内化机制,并以82家服务企业的467名员工为样本进行实证研究。结果表明,三种机制均存在于服务品牌内化过程中,其中组织文化协同、组织内部沟通在三种机制中均起到了积极的作用;高层领导参与只在交换与关系机制中有显著的影响;品牌培训在关系机制中没有显著影响,而品牌激励却在关系机制中影响显著,此外,与传统的态度—行为理论相区别的是,在三种机制下,员工的参与意识并不总是发生于行为之前,而是在不同情境下产生不同的效果。这些结论对于服务企业的品牌建设工作提供了有价值的启发与借鉴。

In terms of service enterprises, consumers＇ brand perception and trust stems from their employees in most cases, therefore, how to internalize service brand into employees＇ be- havior is becoming an equally important issue in both practice and theory. Different from the previous brand research from the customer perspective, this research tries to discuss the process of service brand internalization by integrating relevant theories from psychology, sociology and marketing based on the perspec- tive of employee. This empirical research, which is based on the samples of 467 employees within 82 Chinese service enter- prises, set up three types of internalization mechanism concern- ing cognition, transaction and relationship. The results of SEM indicate that： （1） these three mechanisms exist in the process of service brand internalization; （2） coherence of corporate culture and internal communication play positive impact on the three mechanisms, while top management exerts distinct influence on transaction and relationship mechanisms; （3） brand stimula- tion, rather than bra^nd training, has a significant effect in the relationship mechanism; （4） interestingly, employee awareness of involvement in brand building does not always emerge before behavior in the internalization mechanisms, but depends on dif- ferent situations. In the last section, managerial implications are discussed for Chinese service firms. Firstly, Service enterprises should integrate external communication with internal manage- ment to create a ＂both inside and outside＂ brand management mode for stable competitive advantage and long-term benefits. As an important brand contact point, employees not only need to accept and identify the outside brand promise, but also show the brand promise in their action; secondly, employees often have negative attitudes towards brand building, so these three mecha- nisms provide basis to understand psychological characteristics of employees and find the underlying reasons for business man- agers. Finally, service enterprises should employ comprehensive utilization of organizational culture, training, motivation and communication methods to ensure the entire work more productive in the process of promoting the brand internalization.