The buy-in benchmark in Islamic banking: combined effect of brand role clarity and employee brand commitment towards employee brand equity

Abstract

Purpose Employee position is acknowledged as central in service brand management to achieve competitive advantage. Hence, this study aims to illustrate the importance of brand role clarity (BRC) and employee brand commitment (EBC) by investigating the moderating role of EBC on the relationship between BRC and employee brand equity (EBE) in Islamic banking. Design/methodology/approach Data is collected from 259 respondents who are involved in Islamic banking. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select bank branches for the study, and simple random sampling was adopted to choose respondents within these bank branches. Findings Building on the insight obtained from data analysis, the results of this study demonstrate that the EBC strengthens the significant relationship between employee BRC and EBE. It indicates that EBC is vital in affecting the employee BRC on EBE. Originality/value The importance of BRC and EBC has been widely discussed in the literature that both of these variables are essential sources of EBE. However, empirical studies on the combined effect of EBC and BRC on EBE have not been considered in past studies.