Internal Branding of a University Business Through Building and Gaining from Employee-Based Brand Equity

Like other businesses, universities spend to build their brands, but rarely measure the sources and benefits of brand equity, especially employee-based brand equity (EBBE). We borrowed from an EBBE model, the Associative Memory Network Theory, social information processing, and exchange theories to examine the impact of brand-related information generated and disseminated to employees in a private African university on role clarity, brand knowledge, brand commitment, and four EBBE benefits. Cross-sectional data was collected from 588 lecturers, administrators, and technical staff. Structural equation modeling results revealed that brand information generated and disseminated impacted role clarity, brand knowledge, and commitment. Brand commitment impacted three EBBE benefits: brand citizenship behavior, employee intention to stay in organization and spread positive word-of-mouth. Role clarity and brand knowledge were significant mediators. Thus, for sustainability, university managers should communicate explicitly through frequent verbal brand communications and orientation, and implicitly through behaviors that reflect brand prestige.