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EXPLORING THE PROCESS OF EMPLOYEE BRANDING IN

HIGHER EDUCATION IN MULTINATIONAL CONTEXT

ABSTRACT

A brands reputation is predominantly an ensuing occurrence to a favourable brand identity

and image. Such brand identity and image is considered vital in all sectors. Considering the

services sector, the image creation depends on the nature and quality of service provided by

the service organisation. The promised service is delivered only by the employees of the

service organisation. It necessitates the seeding of desired brand image in the minds of the

employees. Such incorporation of desired brand image in employees minds in facilitated by

employee branding.

The employee branding process helps the organisation to deliver its desired brand image to

customers, thereby ensuring a clear position in the minds of customers and employees alike.

It assists in gaining competitive advantage achieved through employees who have

internalized the desired brand image and are motivated to project that image to customers and

other organizational constituents. This article unfolds the employee branding process in

higher education sector which focuses on internalising the desired brand image among

employees. It also models the employee branding process in higher education which portrays

the flow of internalisation commencing from brand identity to favourable outcomes. This

study focuses on multinational perspective on employee branding to embellish the

importance of incorporating the desired brand image in the minds of the employees.

Exploratory research design is used to unearth the stance of higher education institutions with

regard to employee branding. Samples were drawn from countries like India, USA, Canada

and Singapore. The sample constitutes 25 teaching faculties from top-notch higher education

institutes of diversified academic discipline. Snow ball sampling method is used to collect


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data. Data collection involved two phases. First phase involved in-depth interviews with 15

teaching faculties in India. Second phase involved mailing of open-ended questions to 10

teaching faculties in USA, Canada and Singapore.

Content analysis was performed on the collected data. Text analysis method is also used to

extract the keywords and fine tune the transcribed data. An employee branding model is

formed on the basis of fine tuned results and available literatures. It suggests that identifying

a higher education brand through its vision, mission and values lead to image creation in the

minds of the employees. The image of higher education institutions are determined by the

academic, research and recognition factors. It is internalised through external and internal

communication methods and practices such as training, meeting etc. Such internalisation

evokes commitment and psychological ownership among employees which ensures

positioning of image in the minds of the stakeholders through brand promise delivery. The

beneficiaries identified are students, employees themselves, management and corporate.

Based on the qualitative nature of the study, only limited generalisations can be made as the

purpose is to add to theory-building rather than to generalise to a population. There is a clear

need for further empirical research. Such research could help quantify the nature of the

relationships between the variables suggested. This paper would be of value to researchers

and practitioners seeking to understand and promote the specific role of employee branding

in higher education.

Paper type: competitive paper

Keywords: Employee branding, Brand identity, Brand image, service, Higher education,

internalisation


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EXPLORING THE PROCESS OF EMPLOYEE BRANDING IN HIGHER

EDUCATION IN MULTINATIONAL CONTEXT

INTRODUCTION

In an era that has been witnessing the shrinkage of virtual borders between countries,

businesses have started globalising their enterprise. This has made the concept of brand

identity, a subject of prime attention of the moment. The brand identity supports, expresses,

communicates, synthesises and visualises the brand (Wheeler 2003). Brand identity is

described in terms of psychological and emotional associations that the brand aspires to

maintain in the minds of the consumers (Coop 2005). The brand is identified through various

communication channels by the consumers. Such identification catalyse image in the minds

of the consumers. Brand image is the perception of brand as reflected by the brand

association held in consumer memory (Keller 2003). Taking into consideration the service

sector, the brand image is primarily determined by the quality of service provided by the

service organisation. The employees are the vital component of a service brand. The

consumers expectation about the service brand is met by the employees by delivering the

brand promise. Internal marketing was proposed as a solution to the problem of delivering

consistently high service quality (Berry et al 1976). It communicated and motivated the

employees to deliver a satisfying customer experience. This added value to the service brand

and insisted the service organisations to deliver the promise made by the brand. This created

a paradigm shift in service quality delivery. Making customers to live the brand was given

priority than focusing on mere satisfaction. Such target could be achieved only by employees

who offer the promised service. To deliver the promised service and to build the desired

image in the minds of the customers, the employees must incorporate the brand value and

image in work. Such incorporation of brand image in work is facilitated by internal branding.


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Internal branding describes the activities undertaken by an organisation to ensure that the

brand promise reflecting the espoused brand values that set customers expectations is

enacted and delivered by employees (Punjaisri and Wilson 2011). Internal branding focuses

on brand promise delivery by the employees. This becomes the primary determinant of

perceived brand image in consumers minds. Such emphasis on internalisation of brand

image nurtured the fine tuned concept of internal branding, i.e. employee branding. Employee

branding is the process by which employees internalise the desired brand image and are

motivated to project the image to customers and other organisational constituents (Miles &

Mangold 2004). The concept of employee branding is incipient in the academic arena, but

has gained paramount dominance in the corporate realm. In globalised business set up,

employee branding becomes inexorable as the employees from all walks of life meet

diversified consumers across the globe. Such employee branding is intrinsically practised in

service sector. Studies on internal branding in various sectors have provided a robust base for

employee branding. Though the study on employee branding on airline industry formed a

base, its practical implementation and extension on other service sectors are scarce.

The purpose of this study is to explore the employee branding process in higher education

sector. Education has also emerged as a competitive sector in this era. Consumers demand

for global recognition, prominence, transfer of high profile knowledge base, and

multinational research opportunities has made the internationalisation of higher education

indispensable. Higher education institutions sedulous attempts to meet global demand have

made the education business hypercompetitive. Such competition has given importance for

identification and positioning of the desired brand image of the higher education institutions

in the minds of consumers, i.e. students and corporate. This emphasise the internalisation of

desired brand image among the employees in higher education institution to deliver the brand

promise to its stakeholders. This paper attempts to model the process of internalisation in


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higher education institutions. From the practical perspective, the study draws attention of

higher education institutions in terms of implementing employee branding programs

effectively. From academic perspective, this study proposes a new model of employee

branding in education sector, which paves way for future research.

REVIEW OF LITERATURES

Services branding

An era commenced which viewed organisation as a different entity from the products and

services it offered. Such separate identity concept seeded the need of branding. There are five

steps for effectively branding services. These are: building a brand proposition; overcoming internal

barriers; measuring delivery against the proposition; continual improvement; and expansion (Dobree

and Page 1990). They also recommend developing a service contract internally to create ownership

for the service brand across all levels of the organization. A service's marketing mix consists of 7Ps -

product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, process and people (Booms and Bitner 1981).

A service brand is not only communicated through advertising and marketing but also from

the interaction that takes place between employees and consumers. There is an emotional

bond that customers have with the service brands and this bond is created from the

relationships that the customers build with the employees (Vallaster and Chernatony 2005).

Many literatures in services branding strengthened the need for employees to internalise the

brand they work for the purpose of delivery of better service quality. Such internalisation of

brand is facilitated by internal branding.

Internal branding and Employee branding

Internal branding describes the activities undertaken by an organisation to ensure that the

brand promise reflecting the espoused brand values that set customers expectations is


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enacted and delivered by employees (Punjaisri and Wilson 2011). To develop a corporate

brand there must be greater internalisation of brands core values, more consistent the brands

identity. More congruent the brands core values with stakeholders personal values, more

favourable the brands reputation (chernatony and Harris 2000). This led to the procedures

necessary to build the brand inside.

Brand success is more likely when employees internally believe in their brand values.

Commitment, internal loyalty, consistent brand delivery are resultants of shared brand values.

Brand knowledge and values stimulate staff behaviour (chernatony and horn 2003).

The result of internalising the brand is to have a better position about the brand image in the

minds of the consumers. The employees need to project the desired brand image to

consumers. Such internalisation and projection of desired brand image was chained into a

process, which was termed as employee branding. Employee branding is the process by

which employees internalize the desired brand image and are motivated to project the image

to customers and other organizational constituents (Miles and Mangold 2004). Companies

engaging in successful employee branding efforts are also likely to benefit from higher levels

of customer satisfaction and loyalty, and a favorable overall reputation because the desired

brand image is being consistently reflected by employees (Miles and Mangold 2005). The

internal message systems, both formal and informal, contributed both to employees

knowledge of the desired brand image and to the upholding of their psychological contracts

with their employer. The external formal message systems contributed to employees

knowledge of the desired brand image while the external informal message systems

contributed both to employees knowledge of the desired brand image and to the extent to

which the psychological contract was upheld (Miles and Mangold 2011).


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Branding in higher education

Like many service-oriented organizations, universities are facing an increasingly competitive

environment in which they must find ways to differentiate their institution and tell their story.

Various technological and social changes continue to erode the monopoly that universities

once had over intellectual resources and privileges (Burbules and Callister 2000). When

addressing new challenges, the higher education paradigm must be continually reengineered

from the ground up to facilitate an entrepreneurial spirit and a coordinated, customer-driven

strategy (Dimun 1998). Universities have increasingly implemented integrated marketing

techniques in an effort to strengthen promotional efforts (Wasmer et al 1997). As part of

institutional efforts toward a coordinated, customer-oriented marketing system, universities

must also include a focus on developing the university brand. Within the university setting,

a brand is a name, an image, a compelling description of an organization that captures the

essence of the value that your college provides (Frederick et al 2000). The usefulness of this

brand is that it allows individuals to make a decision on a limited amount of information

(Papp 2002). Selecting a university to attend is certainly a complex consumer decision, and

looking to the brand simplifies the selection process for many. Thus, universities have

increasingly recognized the importance of developing a brand identity for the university.

Brand identity is the essence of how you would like alumni, prospective students,

legislators, and the public to perceive your institution (Lawlor 1998). Internalising such

brand becomes essential as it enhances the perception of employees about the higher

education brand, which in turn helps the brand in delivering the promise to intended

stakeholders. Employees awareness and knowledge about the brand helps in delivery of the

brand promise. Such brand knowledge paves the way for employees brand commitment

(King and Grace 2005). The knowledge leads to the generation of psychological ownership

which influences the citizenship behaviour in organisation (Chang et al 2005). The


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knowledge is received through communication within and outside organization. Such

communication helps in identifying the brand which evokes commitment and loyalty (Neha

Sharma and kamalanabhan 2012). Such identification, commitment and loyalty generates

favourable which benefits management, students and corporate.

METHODOLOGY

Data collection

To be able to unearth the aspects of employee branding, grounded approach was selected

(Glaser and Strauss 1967). Exploratory research design is adopted. The data collection was

done in two phases in top notch higher education institutions. Phase one consisted of 15 semi-

structured face-to-face interviews. The respondents were teaching faculties in premier

institutes in India. Questions were selected on the basis of the available literatures on internal

and employee branding. Phase two consisted of mailing open ended questions through e-mail

to 10 respondents which were framed after transcribing and analysing the phase one response.

The e-mail respondents are teaching faculties in higher education institutions in USA, Canada

and Singapore. Due to confidentiality concerns, the institute and the individual identities have

been made anonymous. It should be noted that the size of the institutions and limitations in

terms of time, distance and resources made it impossible to attempt to target the entire

organisations. As a consequence it was decided to centre the research on manageable sample

which was functionally and responsibility wise diverse. The interview and e-mail sample

consisted of junior, senior teaching faculties and some teaching faculties who occupied

middle management level designations. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and

transcribed. The transcribed response was analysed through text analysis (Robert 1997). The

lexical density was calculated. The word frequency was tabulated and the ranks were given

on the basis of frequency. The keywords involved in each questions were ranked and

clustered together into major constructs. Those constructs were selected on the basis of


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available literatures and open-ended questions were framed based on those constructs. The

questions were mailed to 10 respondents who are teaching faculties in top notch institutions

abroad. The snowball sampling was adopted in this method to select the samples (Biernacki

and Waldorf 1981). The response received through e-mails was analysed using text analysis.

The results of two phases were compared and it paved the way for conceptual level analysis

from descriptive level analysis.

Analysis

A content analysis of the transcribed interview and mails was performed to unveil the main

themes of the study. The major components or themes of employee branding are listed below:

Brand identity Brand image Communication methods Internalisation Outcomes

Table I lists the research questions asked in interview

Research questions Topics/Codes for analysis

Explain a higher education brand in your own words starting point

What does this higher education institutions brand stands for?

Brand identityWhat is its vision and mission?

What is you perception of this institutes brand?

Brand imageWhat is it conveying to you?

How do you get information about HE brand vision, mission etc Communication methods


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What are the methods of communication adopted by

management to communicate to employees about its vision and

mission?

How do you implement the communicated vision and mission

in your work?

Brand knowledge

Does such communication and information provide knowledge

about vision and mission?

Does your perception of HE brand image drive commitment and

loyalty?

Employee brandingOutcomes

How do you contribute to building HE brand image?

What are the favourable outcomes of projection of such image

from your perspective? Who are the beneficiaries of suchoutcome?

The transcribed and coded responses were clustered into five topics. Having the base of such

response, the questions were framed for mail respondents. It was open-ended in nature, which

would help in exploring their notions. The questions sent through e-mail are listed below.

What does the higher education institutions brand that you are working stands for? What is your perception of the HE brand? What are the sources of external and internal communication which communicates the

image, vision and mission of HE brand?

How do you internalise the communicated message in your work? Is such knowledge about the mission, vision and image driving commitment and

loyalty?

How do you contribute towards building the image of your institution? What are the favourable outcomes of projection of such image from your perspective?

Who are the beneficiaries of such outcome?


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The response from e-mail and interview were analysed descriptively and conceptually.

Descriptive analysis was performed using text analysis. The detailed text analysis is given in

tables below.

Table II: Table showing analysis of transcribed response of Brand identity and Image

Complexity factor (Lexical Density) : 39.3%

Readability (Gunning-Fog Index) : (6-easy 20-hard) 10.3

Lexical density shows the number of unique words used in the transcribed text. The Gunning-

Fog index which measures the readability of the transcribed text indicates a measure of 10.3,

which confirms that the text can be read easily by the intended audience (Parkan and Warren

1978). The vital keywords are extracted after tokenising and stemming the text content

Table III: Results showing text analysis of words used in brand identity and image

Words Occurrences Frequency Rank

brand 29 4.3% 1

Vision & Mission 25 4.1% 2

education 23 3.4% 3

research 16 2.4% 4

quality 15 2.2% 5

faculties 14 1.7% 6

excellence 12 1.6% 7

institution 10 1.5% 8

professionals 5 0.7% 9

global 5 0.7% 9


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diversity 5 0.7% 9

placements 4 0.6% 10

alumni 4 0.6% 10

popularity 4 0.6% 10

development 3 0.3% 11

service 2 0.3% 11

knowledge 1 0.1% 12

recognition 1 0.1% 12

The term brand has a high number of occurrences which makes it a top keyword. It is no

surprise to have education, research and quality as succeeding keywords in higher education

institutions. Other key components of brand identity and image that are ranked are faculties,

excellence, institution, professionals, global, diversity, placements, alumni, popularity,

development, service, knowledge and recognition.

Table IV: Table showing analysis of transcribed response of communication methods



The lexical density of 57.9% indicates that the transcribed text contained many unique words.

It illustrates that many communication channels and methods were mentioned by the

respondents. After tokenising and stemming the transcribed text, the major keywords were

alone extracted. Those keywords were ranked on the basis of frequency of occurrence.

Table V: Results showing text analysis of words used in communication methods

Words Occurrences Frequency Rank


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Media 30 5% 1

Websites 17 2.8% 2

Social Networking 12 2.1% 3

Mails 10 1.7% 4

Newspapers 8 1.4% 5

Meetings 8 1.4% 5

Journal Publications 7 1.3% 6

Ranking 6 1% 7

Magazines 5 0.8% 8

News 5 0.8% 8

Informal Network 4 1.3% 9

Project 4 1.3% 9

Accomplishments 3 0.5% 10

Training 3 0.5% 10

Alumni 3 0.5% 10

Seminars 3 0.5% 10

Advertising 3 0.5% 10

Interviews 2 0.3% 11

Events 2 0.3% 11

Announcements 2 0.3% 11

Forums 1 0.2% 12

Presentations 1 0.2% 12

Lectures 1 0.2% 12


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Circulars 1 0.2% 12

Conferences 1 0.2% 12

Digital 1 0.2% 12

Newsletters 1 0.2% 12

Workshops 1 0.2% 12

The highest frequency word in media, followed by websites, social networking, mails etc.

The ranking shows the respondents choice of external communication channels which

dominated the internal communication.

Table VI: Table showing analysis of transcribed response of brand knowledge



The lexical density of 38.5% indicates that the unique words used in response are less. The

response was more of one word, close-ended answer.

Table VII: Results showing text analysis of words used in brand knowledge

Word Occurrences Frequency Rank

yes 19 6.1% 1

image 10 4.3% 2

research 6 1.9% 3

knowledge 5 1.6% 4

Mission & vision 3 1% 5

goals 3 1% 5

definitely 3 1% 5


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commitment 2 0.6% 6

certainly 2 0.6% 6

channels 1 0.3% 7

internalization 1 0.3% 7


The text analysis results substantiates that the communication provides knowledge about the

brand among employees, as the word yes occupies the first position followed by research,

knowledge, vision, mission etc.

Table VIII: Table showing analysis of transcribed response of commitment and loyalty

Complexity factor (Lexical Density) : 60%


The lexical density is 60% which indicates percentage of unique words used. Though the

response was mostly close-ended, the occurrence of unique words was resulted for

identifying the brand, organization, image etc.

Table IX: Results showing text analysis of words used in commitment and loyalty


yes 14 4.7% 1

image 7 2.3% 2


definitely 4 1.3% 3

loyalty 4 1.3% 3

commitment 4 1.3% 3


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value 4 1.4% 4

certainly 2 0.7% 5

ownership 2 0.7% 5

research 2 0.7% 5

experiences 1 0.3% 6

salary 1 0.3% 6

increments 1 0.3% 6

award 1 0.3% 6

The word yes is ranked top based on the frequency of occurrence which was the response

to the question, Is communication about the image triggering commitment and loyalty?

The words definitely and certainly are also ranked which shows strong acceptance from

the respondents.

Table X: Table showing analysis of transcribed response of favourable outcomes



The lexical density indicated 63.4% of unique words in the transcribed response. It indicates

a good number of unique terms that are related to the favourable outcome response.

Table XI: Results showing text analysis of words used in favourable outcomes


students 14 3.3% 1


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Management 12 2.8% 2

quality 9 2.1% 3

image 7 1.7% 4

research 6 1.4% 5

knowledge 3 0.7% 6

training 3 0.7% 6

placements 3 0.7% 6

education 3 0.7% 6

attract 3 0.7% 6

corporate 2 0.5% 7

academic 2 0.5% 7

commitment 2 0.5% 7

teaching 2 0.5% 7

internalize 2 0.5% 7

industries 1 0.2% 8

consultation 1 0.2% 8

journals 1 0.2% 8

satisfaction 1 0.2% 8

The text analysis of favourable outcome response was tokenised and stemmed. Unique

keywords alone were extracted and ranked based on the frequency of occurrence. It

elucidated the favourable outcomes which benefitted students, management and corporate.

Comparing both the text analysis and response statements, the results were derived and the

model was framed.


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FINDINGS

Brand identity and Brand image

The brand identity should be strategic, reflecting a business strategy that will lead to a

sustainable advantage, while the brand image tends to be more tactical (Aaker 1996). The

strategy adopted by the higher education institution brand is sculpted by the vision and

mission of the organisation. An associate professor from a premier business school at Canada

stated that vision and mission statements determine the goals to be achieved. Elaborating the

identity component he stated,

The terms of "vision," "mission" are defined by the related committees and are declared as

the university`s goals to achieve. The achievements of faculties, departments and schools are

followed and assured that they are aligned with organisations requirements.

As the sector selected was education, the image statements were in tune with the mission and

vision which focused more on academic, education, research, recognition etc. The statements

that focused on the components of image witnessed a contrast between the faculties in India

and abroad. While questioned about the HE institutes brand image, many faculties in India

perceived the university brands prioritising education, quality and placements. They placed

research after education and quality. An Indian professor said,

It stands for quality education. I really mean it is for quality education. It is a technical

education brand which is well-recognised by the student community and the alumni. In

industry we are getting good placements.

Whilst Indian professors image on higher education recorded dominance of education over

research, faculties from abroad put forth research first. A professor from leading business

school in Singapore mailed his perception regarding his institution brand which stated,


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A top notch research stressing business school

The contributions from faculties in research are considered as a predominant factor in

building brand image in stakeholders. Its significance was enunciated from a response from a

professor in leading university in America. He stated,

We engage in various research projects which bring reputation to our institution and bags

funds for institutional development. It also helps in bringing quality students and high profile

faculty members. We publish in top notch journals and our knowledge contribution through

journals adds a lot of value.

This portrays the perception of teaching faculties in India and abroad regarding the higher

education institutions brand. The overall analysis after considering the national and

international response identified the factors associated with brand identity as vision and

mission. The image was determined on the basis of academic, research, recognition and

quality aspects of higher education institutes. The recognition component of brand image is

found to have very less occurrence, but, it is also included as a major component as its

importance in building image is proved in previous study (Bosch et al 2006). The text

analysis results also justify the selection of the above mentioned factors as determinants of

brand identity and image.

Communication methods

The internal message systems, both formal and informal, contributed both to employees

knowledge of the desired brand image and to the upholding of their psychological contracts

with their employer. The external formal message systems contributed to employees

knowledge of the desired brand image while the external informal message systems

contributed both to employees knowledge of the desired brand image and to the extent to

which the psychological contract was upheld (Miles et al 2011).


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The communication methods of foreign education institutes differed from that of Indian

institutes. The exclusive marketing and communication department in foreign institutes

handled external and internal communication process and is updated regularly. Though

Indian institutes has exclusive public relation and personnel department, its functioning on

disbursing messages is done with negligence. It was well exhibited from the response of

many Indian faculties. A senior teaching faculty from India stated,

We dont have media within the organization to communicate. Only the media outside the

organization communicates

The vital role of office of marketing and communication in institutes was explained through

mail responses from faculties of HE institutes abroad. An excerpt of their response illustrates,

We have a separate communication and marketing department in our organization. We get

regularly informed through mails and institutes website. Our accomplishments are displayed

regularly in our website. Our mission and vision are regularly conveyed to us through

meetings.

The response on internal communication showed a unanimous acceptance of teaching

faculties from India and abroad over the methods adopted by managements and respective

departments to communicate vision, mission and image. Some of the methods identified were

meetings, internal mails, websites etc. The mail response of a professor from USA stated,

There are faculty meetings every month where a specific department shares its plans,

mission, vision, etc with members of its faculty. The department also has events such as talks,

seminars, lectures, presentations, etc to present its mission and actions towards reaching

those goals. Events, announcements via email, monthly publications, etc work towards

establishing certain missions and also dictating the progress towards reaching them


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Many Indian professors response gave emphasis on external source of communication and

grapevine communication in internalising the desired brand image.

Internally we have a lot of informal groups. Though formally we get lots of information, we

have an image which is largely provided by the informal groups of different kinds of people.

So that is how we are getting information. Largely it is informal. During Heads meeting and

deans meeting, we are coming and many things are discussed and we become aware that

these things are happening.

Another faculty stated,

Communication through media and social network adds image. We gain knowledge about

brand through passed out students also. By means of conducting workshops, seminars,

newsletters, by offering training programs to the employees boost their brand image.

The communication through external and internal sources builds brand image in the minds of

the employees.

Brand knowledge

Just as customers having knowledge of the brand is considered to be the driving force of

organisational benefits, as manifested in brand equity, employees having knowledge of the

brand is also to considered to be significant in deriving significant benefits for the

organisation (King and Grace 2007). The communication methods intended to seed the

desired brand image in the minds of employees creates knowledge about the brand. The

responses from the faculties invariably supported this link between communication and

knowledge. Faculties gave an unrivalled yes for receiving knowledge through

communication. A teaching facultys response highlighted such bond between brand

knowledge and communication.


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Yes certainly. It helps me in acquiring knowledge about the brand. It provides information about

institutes development. We try to be at par with such development. The communication about the

development makes us to compete to catch that growth level

The relation between the communication methods and brand knowledge is strengthened by

the text analysis results which show the highest frequency of the term yes. It was given as

an answer when questioned about the brand knowledge.

Brand commitment

When staff have a clear understanding of brand values, they are more likely to be

intellectually and emotionally engaged with the brand (Thomson et al 1999). As internal

branding strives for a shared understanding of brand values across the organisation, recent

studies have found it has a positive influence on employees brand commitment (Punjaisri

and Wilson, 2007; Punjaisri et al 2008). This exploratory study endorses the link between

knowledge and commitment. The responses of faculties from various countries asserted it.

When questioned about the communications impact on commitment, a facultys response

was,

Yes, yes, certainly. The way I used to approach things has certainly changed. The way I

deliver things has changed. This brand makes such change. It drives commitment and

loyalty

The text analysis result supports the association between the knowledge and commitment by

ranking the terms yes and definitely in top positions.

While answering to question on commitment, an Indian professor stated,

Surely, now where I am is because of this organisation. I even feel the ownership on it.

Though we get many opportunities outside, we feel comfortable here. This gives the sense of

ownership. We are attached to it. Attrition rate is less here.

This response brought the psychological ownership factor to limelight in this study. This

psychological ownership is also supported by literatures. Brand psychological ownership


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positively affects brand citizenship behaviours, which reveal employees with brand

psychological ownership can have altruistic brand spirit and then display brand citizenship

behaviours that may strengthen brand values (Chang et al 2012).

Favourable outcomes

The internalising part which consisted of getting knowledge about the brand, being

committed to it and feeling the sense of ownership results in the major desired outcome

which is brand promise delivery. It in turn positions the desired image of the HE institutions

brand in the minds of the customers, i.e. students, corporate and other allied stakeholders.

The beneficiaries are management, students, corporate and in turn employees too. A response

from a faculty elucidates it.

There are lots of benefits. The image will enhance. We will be able to have a better tie up

with industrial institute. Students will get benefit in terms of quality. Organization will be

benefitted because they will get good quality students, good research projects High profile

faculties.

Based on the results of response and text analysis, the process of internalising the desired

brand image is modelled. The conceptual model of employee branding in higher education is

portrayed below.

Figure 1: Employee branding model in higher education

Desired

Brand

Image

Academic

Research

Recognition

Quality

Brand

Identity

Mission

Vision

Values

Source of

Messages

Externalcommunication

Internal

communication

Favourable

Outcomes:

Management

Employees

Students

Brand

Knowledge

Brand

commitment

Brand

psychological

ownership


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CONCLUSION

The analysis of content of in-depth interviews and e-mails has paved the way for construction

of employee branding model in higher education sector. This model represents the methods

of internalising the desired brand image in the minds of employees and examines the

favourable outcomes of it. The identification of the service brand through its vision, mission

and values leads to the image creation in the employees minds. Such desired image is

formed through internal and external communication channels and methods. This forms the

knowledge about the brand. It creates commitment and ownership feeling which induces

employees to deliver the brand promise with spirit and enthusiasm.

This study is carried in higher education institutions in India, USA, Singapore and Canada.

As this is of exploratory in nature, the chosen sample becomes quantitatively small in

representing population. It must also be empirically tested to know the accurate quantified

relationship between the constructs. Various moderating variables that influence the

relationship between the constructs, as identified by prevailing literatures, must also be

included in future research.

The future research can be proceeded with empirical validation of constructs. This study

throws light on the internalising practices in education sector, which encourages researchers

and academicians to analyse and implement it.


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