A Study of Factors Effecting on Employees Behavior as Brand Ambassadors in Hotel Industry of Shiraz

Nowadays, employees constitute the core competency of hotel industry which can generate a sustainable competitive advantage. So far, brand equity research has been concentrated on the improvement of the relationship between customers and the organization; however, brand equity can also be formed from the perspective employees. In this research, sampling method was accidental and the data was obtained from 246 employees at a five-star hotel in Shiraz city. To test the validity of questionnaires, convergent validity and content validity are used. Reliability test is performed by cronbach's alpha (0/79) and composite reliability methods. Structural equation modeling techniques and smart PLS software were selected for verifying the hypotheses. Results show a significant relationship between employees perceived brand knowledge with employees brand commitment and also employees perceived brand role relevance with employees brand commitment. There was significant relationship between employees perceived brand knowledge and employees perceived brand role relevance with employee brand equity. The relationship between employee commitment and employee brand equity is also confirmed. The research also showed that there is a significant relationship between employee brand equity with employee brand endorsement, employee brand allegiance and employee brand consistent behavior.
The hotel industry is a significant part of the tourism industry worldwide and its employees play a key role in delivering the service product, it's to customers. Excellent service provided by employees can create lasting positive experiences for customers. Under keen competition in tourist hotel industry, how employees offer the best service to customers has become the most important issue for hotel administrators (Tsaur et al, 2004). Employees being the primary ambassadors of brands in the hospitality industry, it is important that they perceive their role responsibility in delivering the brand promise to customers. Within the hospitality industry, where the final product is co-created by both customers and employees, the role of the employee is emphasized as a conduit in the establishment of customer brand relationships (Xiong et al, 2013). Since acquiring external brand equity (based on the customer) through the acquisition and strengthening internal brand equity (based on the employee), it is possible (Hosseini et al, 2013). in order to make effective communication with Customers hotels employees need to understand your brand equity and become brand ambassadors.
In tourism industry, brand ambassadors are employees who can bring ideal experience for customers, as a result, it is essential that employees behave consistent with the organization's brand. Kandampully and Duddy (2001) promote the need for tourism managers to identify innovative ways to extend employee behavior. Previous research in the field of brand ambassadors include Olwen (2012), Rehmet and Dinnie (2013) and Singh (2010). Xiong et al. (2013) have stated that employees brand understanding the critical factor in achieving the brand's ambassadors.
Since employees serve as brand ambassadors during service encounters, their understanding of the brand identity and service skills becomes crucial in effective brand management. Employees brand understanding (brand knowledge, brand importance, brand relevance, brand confidence and role clarity) determine their level of brand commitment (Xiong & King, 2013). The most important measure in determining brand equity is commitment in internal branding research (Kwon, 2013). The concept of employee-based brand equity – which we define as the value that a brand provides to a firm through its effects on the attitudes and behaviors of its employees (Tavassoli et al, 2014). Hadizadeh Moghadam (2012), King (2010), Xiong & King (2013), Kimpakorn and Tocquer (2009) have examined the role of employees in hotels. Since Shiraz as a major tourist city and pilgrimage, has great potential in tourism development, hotel employees’ behavior can increase the tendency of tourists to stay in city hotels. Therefore, in this study, employee brand equity has examined as a result that employees can become brand ambassadors and act as a representative of their hotel. The purpose of this study was to examine employee brand understanding, confidence, role clarity, and commitment on employee brand equity, which ultimately can lead to brand endorsement, brand allegiance and employee brand consistent behavior. According to previous studies, there are little studies in the field of employee's brand equity and their role as brand ambassadors.
Material and This applied research has been built upon data gathered through questionnaires distributed among 246 employees of five-star hotels in Shiraz using non-probability method. To check the validity of questionnaires, content validity and convergent validity are applied while for testing the reliability, Cronbach's alpha (0/79) and composite reliability are used. To test the hypothesis, structural equation modeling method using smart PLS software has chosen.
Discussion and Results indicate a significant relationship between perceived knowledge and perceived relational role of brand with commitment and brand equity from the perspective of employees. The link between employee commitment and brand equity also confirmed.
The study also showed that the relationship among employee based brand equity, brand endorsement, brand allegiance and brand consistent behavior is significant.