Undertanding the relationship between corporate brand personality and brand equity: Insights from employee and customer brand equity

Brand equity is commonly known as the commercial value of the brand. There is limited empirical study on employees and customers as equity sources for a brand. Research mainly focused on customer or employee-based brand equity which are indications of brand equity from opinions. A key influencer of brand equity is corporate brand personality. There is however, limited research comparing how each corporate personality type influences brand equity. This study aimed to obtain insights into how brand equity is affected by each brand personality type, and if these effects differed between the two equity sources, namely, employees and customers. The quantitative methodology was adopted, and data collected from 400 respondents in Malaysia. The results indicate that both customers and employees are sources of brand equity and that all the corporate brand personality dimensions have a positive effect on all the variables of brand equity. The highest effect was shown by the active corporate brand personality dimension on the brand equity variable of brand endorsement. Employees were also observed to be a significantly higher source of brand equity when affected by the corporate brand personality dimensions of responsibility and activity. Findings provide positive contributions to theory with new understanding from the employee perspective, and of employees and customers being not only indicators, but also sources of brand equity. For management, this study helps the formulation of corporate brand strategy from the employee perspective, in terms of the hiring, training and management of human resources.