Employees are the key within the service organization when it comes to providing the promise of the brand to customers. Therefore, the service organization has developed processes that enable employees to deliver the brand promise effectively and consistently
(Abimbola, Lim, Foster, Punjaisri, & Cheng, 2010; Du Preez & Bendixen, 2015; King & Grace, 2012).
Employee-customer interface are the people who create the value for the service organizations by using their words and actions. Internal branding concept views the employee-customer interface as the service providers who enthusiastically deliver what the brand promises because they create good/ bad memorable experiences of the brand promise in the eyes of major customers through their knowledge and skills. Therefore, there is the relationship between customer-facing employees’ positive and negative behaviours and customers' perception of the brand, i.e. brand image (Chong, 2007; De Chernatony & Cottam, 2006; Du Preez & Bendixen, 2015; Henkel et al., 2007; Joseph, 1996; King & Grace, 2012; Tavassoli et al., 2014). Similarly, the study of Stewart (2004) noted that the skills and talents of a company’s workforce constituted an intangible asset, which service organizations can use as a competitive advantage. They have a crucial impact on the service brand building process (Burmann & Zeplin, 2005; Du Preez & Bendixen, 2015; Khan, 2009; Papasolomou & Vrontis, 2006; Punjaisri & Wilson, 2007; Tavassoli et al., 2014).
The above discussion clearly evidences that the employee-customer interface is the key to delivering brand promise in the concept of internal branding. The employee-customer interface is capable of delivering the brand promise and their responsibility is to turn the company’s brand promise into brand reality, to determine it by their ability to meet customers' expectations and to deliver customer service excellence (Berry, 2000; Punjaisri & Wilson, 2007, 2011). Therefore, employees’ attitudes and behaviour have a crucial impact in their
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contact with the customer (Asha & Jyothi, 2013; Henkel et al., 2007; King & Grace, 2012; Kimpakorn & Tocquer, 2010; Punjaisri & Wilson, 2007). Now, the question is how well the customer-facing employees perform and mange to fulfil and deliver the company brand promise.
2.3 Internal Communication: Definition, Theory and Implication
According to the study of Bergstrom et al. (2002), the communication of the brand promise is the first element of the concept of internal branding, namely internal communication. There are so many meanings and definitions of internal communication since research on it is cross-disciplinary. Internal communication can be termed in internal media, cross- departmental communication, management communication (Greenbaum, Clampitt, & Willihnganz, 1988 Neves & Eisenberger, 2012), corporate or business communication (Kitchen, 1997; Valackiene, 2015), organizational communication, internal marketing, employee relations (Berthon et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2015; Quirke, 2000), integrated internal communication (Kalla, 2005) or strategic communication (Argenti, 2007; Henderson et al., 2015). In the present day, internal communication covers all aspects of communication within an organization (Horomia, 2007).
The definition of internal communication by Welch and Jackson (2007, p. 186) states that it is, “a process between an organization’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders,
designed to promote commitment to the organization, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims”. In the internal branding concept, internal communication is considered to be communicating with people inside an organization and it means to create and implement behaviour changes (Gelb & Rangarajan, 2014; Punjaisri, 2008; Sharma & Kamalanabhan, 2012; Smidts, Pruyn, & Van Riel, 2001). Therefore, internal communication is a process of communicating brand values and other brand-related messages that have an influence on employees’ behaviours.
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According to the internal communication literature, this study found that there are two theories as to how internal communication in the concept of internal branding could have been created: Meta-theoretical Approach and Organizational Behaviour Theory. In the next section, Meta-theoretical Approach and Organizational Behaviour Theory will be examined.
2.3.1 Meta-theoretical Approach
The organizational communication and management communication from a corporate communication approach is the meta-theoretical approach to the internal communication in the concept of internal branding.
The definition of corporate communication by Riel (1995, p. xi) defines it as, ‘a framework in
which all communication specialists (marketing, organizational and management communication) integrate the totality of the organizational message, thereby helping to define the corporate image as a means to improving corporate performance’. According to Riel (1995), ‘marketing communication’ covers all aspects of the promotion mix that support sales of particular goods or services. It includes advertising, sales promotions, direct mail, sponsorship, personal selling and other elements in the marketing communication strategies. It means that the objective of any form of marketing communication is to provide information to external target audiences or a company’s customers and decide to purchase products or services. The organizational communication studied by Riel (1995) sees organizational communication as forms of communication that attempt to influence the behaviour of groups on which the organization depends. Using organizational communication (such as public relations, public affairs, environmental communication, investor relations, and labour market communication) in the context of corporate communication is considered an important development in emotionally influencing internal stakeholders (Riel, 1995). Thus, organizational communication is the process of communicating directly with internal audiences and building positive behaviours that promote the positive corporate image. The most important form of corporate communication is management communication; it is
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communication between management (who is authorized to exert influence on internal and external stakeholders) and internal stakeholders that is fundamental to build a strong corporate image (Riel, 1995). An important consideration for the use of management communication as a theory is belief in the source of good communication in the workplace (McKenna, 2012; Riel, 1995). Three approaches have been put forward as ways of creating effective corporate communication to build a strong corporate image.
A development of corporate communication to define corporate image as a means to improving corporate performance by Riel (1995) is principles of corporate communication. The author focuses on what they call the three communication specialists, which include marketing, organizational and management communication. The three communication specialists are given both internal communication and external communication functions and then combined into a single message that initiates overall organizational excellence and effectiveness, so the company can ensure both customer and employee communication satisfaction and thereby define the corporate image as a means to improving corporate performance. In short, organizational, management and marketing communication forms of corporate communication are significant factors associated with the overall corporate image.
The corporate communication approach and the concept of internal branding have similar aims or outcomes, which are the balance between external marketing and internal marketing. The external marketing attempts to communicate a company’s brand promise to its customers, which influences customers’ perceptions about a product or service (Kimpakorn & Tocquer, 2010; To et al., 2015). For external marketing to be successful, the company’s employees need to perform and manage to fulfil and deliver the company’s brand promise (Burmann & Zeplin, 2005; Khan, 2009; To et al., 2015). Without employee support, all their marketing communication is wasted (Khan, 2009; To et al., 2015). For this reason, the company needs to implement the concept of internal branding through effective internal communication (both organizational and management communication) as a process by
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communicating brand values and other brand-related messages that have an influence on employees’ behaviours. Therefore, to achieve the balance between external marketing and internal marketing, both marketing communication with its customers and internal communication with its employees must be integrated to deliver a consistent message, which is associated with the overall corporate brand. Both marketing communication and internal communication are parts of a corporate communication approach (Riel, 1995), and therefore it is not a surprise that there is a link between the corporate communication approach and the concept of internal branding.
Major aims of the meta-theoretical approach (organizational communication and management communication) relevant to this study are that both organizational and management communication from the corporate communication approach have an important role to play in developing the internal communication dimensions in the concept of internal branding. Here, a number of research studies in the internal branding literature will be considered with both organizational communication and management communication as a vehicle for changing employees’ attitudes and behaviours (Du Preez et al.; 2015; Gelb & Rangarajan, 2014; Punjaisri & Wilson, 2007; Sharma & Kamalanabhan, 2012).
From the point of view of this current study, both organizational communication and management communication of a corporate communication approach are seen to be involved in the domains of internal communication satisfaction in the concept of internal branding, to increase the positive employee attitudes and behaviours, and to assist the organization in improving corporate performance. However, these did not existed in the internal branding research in Thailand prior to this study. This study will use both organizational and management communication from a corporate communication approach to develop the domain of internal communication in the concept of internal branding.