The influence of branding on employee attitude and perceptions in the banking industry in Kenya a case study of four banks

Abstract

The objective of branding is profit oriented and customer focused. It is a widely accepted theory in marketing that a brand is owned by the external customer because brand equity must be based partly on the values and aspirations of the external customer in order for them to accept it. It has been similarly argued that brand equity in a service organisation should also partly reflect the values and aspirations of the employee or else they may not deliver the brand in a convincing manner thus killing the brand. There has been a recent fashion of employer branding where organisations market themselves as attractive places to work, whilst encouraging employees to behave in ways that support business strategy and values. They are trying to develop employees who" live the brand" in order for them to act as company advocates and ultimately impact positively on corporate values. The attitudes and perceptions of the employees towards their work, the employer and the customers is therefore key in ensuring that the brand promise is delivered by employees. If a service organisation satisfies the wants and needs of its employees, it will upgrade its capability of satisfying the wants and needs of its external customers. In our study it was found that all the three banks generally have positive attitudes -. towards their work, are of the opinion that they have good relationships with their customers and have a fairly positive perception of the employer ( and by extension the mission and values.) It was therefore established that from the case studies branding had little or no impact on employees in the banking industry.