Employee as Internal Customers: A Study on Brand Equity and Employee Motivation

Abstract

Brand equity is the measure for a brand or organization’s success. It determines whether the brand has been able to sustain their brand promise, providing quality services or products, which would satisfy the need of their consumers. Studies conducted regarding this concept would always fall on external clients of consumers. But recent studies suggest that the employees could also be considered as internal customers, in which the organization must also be able to satisfy the needs of their employees for them to be motivated in the workplace. Studies have shown that motivated employees yield an increase in profit for an organization. Employee motivation has been a constant challenge for human resource departments. Although much research has been made about this, there is still no definite factor as to what really is the cause for an employee to be motivated at all times. This study thus focuses on the effect of brand equity to employee motivation. It will use the first four branches of brand equity, namely brand awareness, brand association, brand equity, and perceived quality. The study also aims to determine the overall motivational level and the corresponding motivational factors that influence this. A survey instrument was used for this study and was conducted in one of the top snack food manufacturing companies in the Philippines, concentrating on their corporate office only. A total of fifty employees were asked to answer the survey regarding their perception of the organization’s brand equity, their motivational level and motivational factors. Results showed that there is a significant relationship between the perceptions of the employees regarding the organization’s brand equity and their motivation at work. Results indicate that it had a significance, F (3.385, 0.35) = 3.420, p = .007. It should also be noted that employees consider having a promotion or career development as their top motivational factor, followed by good wages and job security. In line with the findings of this study, managers or owners of businesses must treat their employees as customers for them to keep motivated. By having a positive view on their company’s brand equity, employees are motivated to work which would also greatly contribute to the overall brand equity of the business.