Journal of Brand Management

, Volume 23, Issue 3, pp 306–326 | Cite as

The internal branding process and financial performance in service companies: An examination of the required steps

  • Sasu Tuominen
  • Saku Hirvonen
  • Helen Reijonen
  • Tommi Laukkanen
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Revised:

Abstract

The objective of this study is to test how internal branding affects financial performance in service companies. Our hypothesized model suggests that internal branding has an indirect effect on financial performance (measured in terms of turnover growth and profitability growth) through brand values adoption, organizational commitment, brand performance and market performance. Structural equation modeling is used for testing the model. The data set consisted of 124 effective responses from Finnish service companies. Importantly, differing from the majority of earlier studies, financial performance is measured with objective data. The effects of internal branding proceed sequentially from inside an organization to the outside, showing that its impact on financial performance is a result of a relatively complex process mediated by several factors. The results reveal that internal branding indirectly affects brand performance and market performance, but not financial performance.

Keywords

internal branding brand values adoption organizational commitment brand performance market performance financial performance 
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Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sasu Tuominen
    • 1
  • Saku Hirvonen
  • Helen Reijonen
  • Tommi Laukkanen
  1. 1.Department of BusinessUniversity of Eastern FinlandJoensuuFinland

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