Author Focus of the study Function/outcomes Target Group
Chen, Okumus,
Hua, & Nusair (2011)
To explore effective communication strategies for Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies
Employee communication satisfaction Employees from a resort hotel in Orlando, Florida, USA
Dawson, Madera, Neal, & Chen (2012)
To examine the influence
communication of lodging managers
Employee communication satisfaction Employees in citizenship projects conducted in Texas, USA
Mustamil et al. (2014)
To explore the relationship between communication satisfaction and employee turnover intention
Employee turnover intention Employees working in 11
Industries in Malaysia
Gümüş & Hamarat (2014)
To explore the effects of communication on
organizational identification
Organizational identification Teacher at public school in Turkey
Bakanauskienė et al. (2015)
To explore the relationship between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction
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In summary, the research conducted regarding internal communication by using the CSQ constructs in the developing countries context can extend and develop the internal communication research in these countries.
Thailand is especially interesting for examining the CSQ constructs and employee outcomes in an internal branding context because the business environments of Thailand differences from the western countries and the internal communication construct should be conceived of in distinctive ways.
4.2 The importance of studying internal communication in internal branding concept in the hotel industry in Thailand
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) was established in 1960. Tourist numbers increased from 0.336 million in 1967 to over 22 million in 2012 (BOT, 2013). The share of tourism jobs reached 6.6 percent of total employment (2,563,000 jobs) by 2013 and the tourism industry produced more than 9.0 percent of GDP in 2013 (WTTC, 2014). Therefore, the tourism industry has had a tremendous impact on Thailand’s economy. The industry is composed of hotels, transportation, entertainment, food and beverage, etc. The hotel industry plays an important role, and has a 28% share (or more than a quarter) of tourist expenditures (BOT, 2013).
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created in 1967 and includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN has five main objectives: 1) increase economic growth; 2) social development; 3) cultural development; 4) the protection of regional peace and stability; and 5) provide opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully. In 2003, ASEAN attempted to reduce hardship through economic integration and announced the formation of a customs union called ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) (ASEAN, 2011; Cuyvers, De Lombaerde, & Verherstraeten, 2005). The ten member
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countries have agreed to reduce tariffs to a maximum level of 5% by 2005 and to create a customs union by 2015.
Since 2015, the AEAN Economic Community (AEC) has established a single regional common market of ASEAN countries. This means that the growth of international trade and investment has been substantially larger than the growth of domestic economies, especially in Thailand. Therefore, the AEC presents more opportunities for expansion, growth, and income than domestic business does alone (Czinkota, Ronkainen, Moffett, Marinova, & Marinov, 2009). The benefits derived from the AEC include trade creation, economies of scale, improved terms of trade, the reduction of monopoly power, and improved cross- cultural communication (Czinkota et al., 2009). The Siam Commercial Bank Economic Intelligence Centre (SCB, 2011, p. 4) lists five opportunities that accrue of AEC, and these are summarised in Table 3.2.
Table 4-2: ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) offers greater opportunities
AEC Compare to…
Population 580 million > Europe Union GDP size 1.5 trillion USD = South Korea International Trade 1.6 trillion USD = 6 times Thailand FDI 50 billion USD = 60% of China
International tourists 65 million persons = ranked 2nd globally (next to France)
Sources: The Siam Commercial Bank Economic Intelligence Centre (SCB, 2011, p. 4)
However, the Thai hotel industry perceives both opportunity and threat from the AEC success: the opportunity arises from possible increases in the number of ASEAN visitors to Thailand and Thai hotel investment in ASEAN enterprises, whereas the threat arises from the size and rapid growth of other ASEAN countries and the competition for customers and foreign direct investment.
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When ASEAN becomes a single market in 2015, new hotel players from nine nations that have similar services will emerge as serious competitors to Thailand as a cheap travel destination. Therefore, the Thai hotel industry must prepare for the AEC (SCB, 2011).
The AEC is a challenge for Thai business owners to prepare to seize the opportunity of the expanding customer base from 60 million in Thailand to more than 580 million people in ASEAN in 2015. Thus, as the Thai-Commerce (2010) has suggested, “internal branding” is going to become increasingly important for the hotel industry in Thailand. Thai hotel brands have a challenge to focus beyond their small home market and to bring their brands to the bigger, regional and even global markets.
Thai marketing researchers undertook many studies about branding in many aspects and some Thai universities established research centres, which focused on ‘brand studies’. However, most of the studies related with brand building currently focus on the positioning of products and services while in the present study the brand-building concept shifts from focusing on the positioning of products and services to the importance of internal branding. Similarly, the study of Punjaisri (2008) classified research on internal branding research according to the context of service industry and found that there has been a lot of research on internal branding in different contexts within services companies; however, there has been little research focused on internal branding within the hotel industry. Therefore, the research about internal branding research in the hotel industry in Thailand will reveal how Thai hotel business is different from other competitors.