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Sponsorship as an internal branding tool and its effects on employees’ identification with the brand

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Abstract

Recent research has acknowledged that a firm’s external advertising targeted at consumers can also be used for internal branding activities. The present study extends this research stream and investigates the role of a firm’s sponsorships directed towards consumers in achieving internal branding goals. Specifically, this study examines how employees’ perceptions of sponsorship characteristics impact their identification with the brand. Results from an empirical study with the employees of backaldrin, an Austrian producer of baking ingredients sponsoring the Austrian national biathlon team, indicate that employees with better general attitude towards sponsorship show higher brand identification. Employees’ attitudes towards the sponsored property and perceived fit between the sponsor and the sponsored property have no direct effect on brand identification, but are positively related with employees’ general attitude towards sponsorship. The study concludes with managerial implications how companies can implement sponsorship as an effective internal branding tool.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are tremendously grateful to Peter Augendopler and Wolfgang Mayer, backaldrin the Kornspitz Company, for their support. We would also like to cordially thank the Guest Editors Professor Christoph Burmann and Rico Piehler, the Editors-in-Chief and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and guidance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Retailing, Sales and Marketing, Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Katharina Maria Hofer

  2. Seeburg Castle University, Seeburgstrasse 8, 5201, Seekirchen am Wallersee, Austria

    Reinhard Grohs

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  1. Katharina Maria Hofer
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  2. Reinhard Grohs
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Correspondence to Katharina Maria Hofer.

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Hofer, K.M., Grohs, R. Sponsorship as an internal branding tool and its effects on employees’ identification with the brand. J Brand Manag 25, 266–275 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-018-0098-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-018-0098-0

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