人力資本開發者任務與以員工為基礎的品牌權益之研究探討

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(1)A Study on the Task of the Human Capital Developer for Brand Vision and Employee Based Brand Equity. by Ying-Chih Diane Wang. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of. MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Chih-Chien Lai, Ph.D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan June, 2014.

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(3) ABSTRACT In an intensely competitive era of market uncertainty, sustaining the value of a brand is crucial for maintaining corporate competence. The vision of a brand is the blueprint of growth and the potential for a competitive breakthrough. However, due to the existence of a vision-culture gap, opportunities for growth and a breakthrough are sometimes limited. Acer suffered a tremendous net profit loss amounting to NT$20.6 billion (US $685 million) in 2013, acknowledging missteps in the past on resource allocation. Human capital has been acknowledged as the most important organization. resource that is needed to develop competitive advantage and innovation. Literature provides evidence that alignment between customers and employees is possible when marketing and human resource is locked in a strategic fit. Thus, this study explores the role of the human capital developer in Taiwan industries, investigating the human capital development process of brand building and the outcomes on brand equity. The study aimed to standardize a brand building process for human resource practice. Through qualitative interviews and small scale quantitative investigations of several “Taiwan Excellence” awarded brands, results showed the perceived different approaches used in enterprises for brand building, with the general tasks sorted out by the researcher. Furthermore, results of this study provide a better understanding of employee based brand equity in Taiwan. Keywords: human capital development, human capital developer, brand visioning, brand management, employee based brand equity. II.

(4) ACKNOWLEGDEMENT Before any words of gratitude to men, I thank first my God, who has not only but helped me through this journey of mountain and valley, but has given me molecules of inspiration that help moved this research idea into tactile form of paper, which you are reading right now. My Greatest Gratitude goes to my parents, who have been the most loving parents one can have, especially my dearest Father, who has not only been so supportive during this process of research, helping me connect to resources of interviewees, driving me to interviews; but whom is also the financial supporter of this research. I cannot describe with words the overflow of gratitude in my heart, so I shall carry on my appreciation to the rest of important few. My warmest thanks to advisor Dr. Lai for his assistance in helping me make this paper possible, thank you for being a patient mentor. I also thank all the members in the faculty including Dr. Chang, Dr. Tony, Dr. Lin, Dr. Yeh and especially Dr. Miller, who although is strict and keeps me on my toes of the quality I write, but is none the less loving and caring, thank you for manifesting unlimited grace and teaching me how to be devoted to life. I extend also my thanks to Dr. Shen for his inspiring classes that transcend beyond the scopes of marketing and business management, whom has inspired my wisdom of philosophical level business and the understanding of human cognitive and behavior. I thank all the rest of the teachers who have taught me lessons that have added to a piece of my cognitive memory, and every classmate I have gotten a chance to know. Last but not least, I want to thank my dearest friend Olga for helping my research in times when I encountered difficulty, thank you for being so faithful and constant and helping in times of trouble. Finally, I want to thank IHRD for the experiences that have helped me grow, and a chance to plow in the field of international human resources.. III.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................... ....................II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT................................................. ....................III TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………IV LIST OF FIGURES........................................................... ....................VI LIST OF TABLES………………………………………..……………VII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION..................................................................1 Background of the Study..............................................................................….....1 Problem Statement of the Study............................................................................7 Significance of the Study.......................................................................................7 Research Objectives……………………………………………………………...8 Research Questions ………………………………………………………………9 Delimitations and Limitations.................................................................................9 Definition of Key Terms.......................................................................................10. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................13 Corporate Culture and Brand Identity…………………………………………..13 Vision…………………………………..………………………………………..17 Employee Brand Building Behavior ....................................................................19 Human Capital Developer………………………………………………………25 Employee- Based Brand Equity...........................................................................31 Relevant Studies on organization culture and brand equity…………………….33 Relevant Studies on Vision, Organization Culture and Brand Building………...34. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS................................................35 Research Approach……………………………………………………………...35 Research Framework............................................................................................36 IV.

(6) Research Procedure.......................................................................................37 Research Objectives and Participants………………………………………39 Instrument of the Study……………………………………………………..40 Data Collection and analysis..........................................................................40 Reliability and Validity of Study……………………………………………43. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS…………………45 Introduction to the Case Companies…………………………………………45 The Categories of Business Types……………………………………………48 HCD Tasks and Competencies………………………………………………..49 The HCDs role in Managing Vision-Culture Gap………………………….....55 The Effects on Employee Based Brand Equity……………………………….59 Other Findings……………………..………………………………………….62. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS….69 Conclusions……………………………………………………………….......69 Recommendations…………………………………………………………….70. REFERENCES.....................................................................................72 APPENDIX A: INVITATION LETTER….......................................77 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.....................................78 APPENDIX C: QUESTIONAIRE……………........................…......79. V.

(7) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1.. A Comparison of the HCD Tasks and HCM Items. Table 3.1 Questionnaire items. VI.

(8) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. McKinsey’s 7S Model Figure 3.1. Research Framework Figure 3.2. An Example of Coding Steps Figure 4.1. The Inducted Structure of Brand Equity. VII.

(9) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This chapter presents the overall perspective of this research, including the background of the study, research motivation, research purpose, research question, significance of the study, limitations, delimitations, and definition of terms.. Background of the Study Moving from the industrial age to the information age of globalization, a paradigm shift of transformation between producing tangible assets to exploiting intangibles such as ideas, knowledge and information was formed (De Chematony, 1999; Hatch & Schultz, 2003), and, since then, intensified. Intangible assets have also been widely recognized as important value creation by business such as brands (Blair, 2011; Hatch & Schultz, 2003), trademarks, customer goodwill and other forms of reputational capital, intellectual capital and organization capital (Blair, 2011). Among the changes that businesses make as they move toward globalization is a shift in marketing emphasis from product brands to corporate branding. In recent years, findings suggest that companies with strong corporate brands can have market values that are more than twice their book values (Hatch & Schultz, 2001). Thus, the equity value of a corporate brand is gradually increasing its importance as the quality of the company product. The human capital has been recognized as an important resource organizations should develop to gain sustained competitive advantage. The formation of a brand personality is also created by the interaction of the people behind the logo. Without the innovation and creativity of people, a brand is merely a logo. Moreover, the importance of human capital in organizations as a source of innovation and strategic renewal has been stated (Kong 1.

(10) & Tsai, 2012).. Unique resources, imitation difficulty, and the importance of. knowledge are becoming a critical ingredient for gaining competitive advantage in the new economic landscape, added to the fragmentation of markets, the human capital has grown in importance, as they are like knowledge and intellectual capital, one of the elements of sustained competitive advantage (Blair, 2011; Bierman, Hitt, Shimizu, & Kochhar, 2001; Hatch & Schultz, 2003). The employee is the most valuable asset of a company. Satisfied employees can have a positive impact on customers’ satisfaction with the firm and its products. Vice versa, studies have found that marketing efforts enhancing customer satisfaction not only make employees feel good about their employer, but may improve their future performance (Wells, 2007). An aspiration for good performance brings out good brand equity. For many companies, people are the only source of long-term competitive advantage (Bassi & McMurrer, 2007). Throughout Taiwan’s economic development, many of Taiwan’s industries established numerous “Taiwan No. 1” records internationally, earning affluent foreign exchange due to the hardworking nature of the Taiwanese people. According to Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives, footware, textile, bicycle and personal computer manufacturing industries have been regarded as the entrepreneurial spirit of Taiwan. Taiwan’s industrial development flourished in the 1970s, starting with years of Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM). After the rise of labor costs, investment started to shift to the mainland, due to the lifting of a ban, attracting large manufacturers to invest cross-strait. In 2005, due to factory relocations oversea and the abolishment of quotas, Taiwan began focusing on forming strategic alliances in design, research and development, transforming into an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) type of enterprise (http://culture.teldap.tw). Many are the international brands that were born in Taiwan, including Acer, which was also an 2.

(11) OEM transformed ODM company. In 2013, Acer suffered a tremendous net loss of profit amounting to NT$20.6 billion ($685 million), Acer acknowledges missteps in the past on resource allocation, and the over expectation of Ultrabooks and notebooks with touch panels, although the products were leading in design they did not accurately fulfill market needs (Sun & Culpan, 2014).. A product design that does. not accurately fulfill the market needs, suggests a misjudgment and a failed attempt in the company direction and misalignment of endeavors. Economic growth and human development, thus, exhibit a degree of independence, but long term links exist of human development helping economic growth, and economic growth helping human development (Wilson, 2005).. Thus, failed revenue growth stimulates contemplation. on the human capital development outcomes within the brand for the sake of innovation and risk. One answer to the critical question in strategic management, regarding why firms vary in performance, is that they differ in human capital, human capital attributes (education, experience, skills) and particularly the characteristics of top managers affect firm performance outcomes (Bierman, Hitt, Shimizu,& Kochhar, 2001).. Human capital makes a valuable contribution to a firm’s competence,. exerting a positive relationship between leveraging human capital and firm performance (Bierman, Hitt, Shimizu, & Kochhar, 2001; Lepak & Snell, 2002). Therefore, the role of a human capital developer is crucial in developing human capital to build up the brand equity. The Human Capital Developer is a Human Resource (HR) role identified by Ulrich (2005).. Ulrich believes human capital. developers play a distinctive role within organizations, emphasizing the development of individual employees (especially managers) through personal development programs, coaching organizational leaders, and managing the formation and development of effective management teams (Oxford Press, 2008). Contemporary. branding. models. emphasizes 3. value. through. employees'.

(12) involvement in relationship building, and additionally, brand management has become more of a culture management internally, and externally a customer interface management (De Chematony, 1999).. Yet, when financial resources for training. and development are limited, efficient usage can be met when those that are responsible for human resource development (HRD) are clear about the business strategy and priorities. The practice may be considerably different in many countries (Wilson, 2005). A theme which is also what this research wishes to explore in Taiwan major corporate brands. Marketing and human resources are the two functional areas that provide mega impetus to change efforts in an organization. Aligning these two functions can create competitive advantage and success for the firm (Memon & Kolachi, 2012). For successful brands such as Disney, the collaboration of both functions is prominent, benefitting the whole body of the corporation. The collaboration is like an amplifier that leverages the brand to another level, and brings a potential charismatic attraction to customers from the inside-out. Dissonance of brand communication isolating the two functions brings out ineffective disadvantages. As Hatch and Schultz (2001) stated in the Harvard Business Review:. “Obstacles in the way of such communications, detriment their corporate brands. Consider the potential for misalignment when marketing talks to customers, HR talks to employees, public relations talks to the media, but the departments don't talk to one another.” (p.132 ). The business environment background in Taiwan is highly intense where efficiency and quality are required from employees in any industry. Workplace stress has resulted in high turnover rates in Taiwan. Abiding by the fact, high frequency of 4.

(13) employee liquidity and turnover is seen in lower position jobs with poor salary. Most often, even in low turnover rate business environments, employees may be settled in their comfort zones, and are not engaged in the organization goals and identity. In other circumstances, top players in the industry are lured by headhunters easily to rival companies, due to low commitment. These shortcomings will disadvantage the brand equity by lack of employee contribution of equity. In all situations, high turnover is without a doubt lethally a disadvantage of brand building. Therefore, understanding the function, tasks and existence of the human capital developer, and the effects on employee based brand equity might turn a new leaf and help companies to adapt new strategies to enhance the corporate brand. Leadership is a unique property of extraordinary individuals whose decisions are capable of sometimes radically changing the streams of history (Zaccaro, 2007). Inspiring leaders are typical visionary. Like great leaders, a leading brand surpasses industry competitors by inspiration, a sense of innovation, and the possession of an extraordinary vision. Another aspect of leadership is to provide vision, although this is the chief executive’s task, HRD functions to contribute by providing a vision of how people need to interrelate and develop themselves in order to achieve the organization’s mission and strategic aim (Wilson, 2005).. The Disney Brand has not. yet perished even though the founder Walt Disney has deceased for a decade. Walt Disney had instilled in everyone the hallmark of Disney entertainment was consistency of vision, his vision (Koenig, 1997).. In time, leadership ensures that. the development storyline of this brand’s fate is following an ensured vision. In order for a vision to come true, faithfulness of the employee is anticipated hence a strong retention force is also a foundation during the phase of brand establishment and organization development. A brand is essentially a promise of commitment and performance by an organization (Love & Singh, 2011). 5. Visionaries have stated.

(14) that for an organization to be successful, the brand vision must outgrow the need of the entire organization, and be “claimed” or “owned” by all important actors (De Chernatony & Vallester, 2005).. In the Harvard Business Review, Hatch and. Schultz (2001) stated that companies are increasingly seeing the benefit of a corporate branding strategy. But to get the most benefit, three essential elements must be aligned: vision, culture, and image. Hence, the motivation of this research is to find out how the human capital developer aligns the three elements in the company by human resource developing. A vision has an important direct and indirect effect on follower’s attitude and performance (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996).. The role of a human capital developer is. crucial, since the human capital developer is the molder and gatekeeper of the company’s vision. Therefore, defining such a vision keeper’s role inside a corporate brand name is important. According to Bassi and McMurrer (2007) as the links between people and performance come into focus, organizations will also begin to appreciate the long-term value of investments in human capital, and the folly on dwelling on narrow, near-term goals. Although training and development in Taiwan HR functions are mature, the role of a human capital developer is not yet defined. Furthermore, the relationship of the human capital development and brand equity is not yet explored in any existing literature. As for the research participants, the significance of this study also is based on the statement of King and Debra (2008) that in internal branding research, the cognitive view and perceptions of the employee party are currently under-represented. Kulvisaechana (2006) has emphasized that little work has been done on what constitutes a framework of human capital development, particularly in view of investigating the gap between rhetoric (what is espoused) and reality (what is enacted) in an international organization. 6.

(15) Problem Statement of the Study A vision of a company leads its management. For low or high performance brands, a vision culture gap is, to different extents, existent. Therefore the problem lies in how human resource professionals tackles the issue to minimize the difference between the two, since vision culture gap is relevant to the brand’s performance in terms of brand equity or even financial revenue. Added to that in recent HR practice, the role of a human capital developer in the corporation has not yet been defined.. In. terms of internal marketing, this research explores the functions of human capital development in Taiwan enterprise brands to find new insights and solutions to manage the vision culture gap and employee based brand equity. Furthermore, the methodology of understanding the employee based brand equity is worth more investigation, since compared with customer based brand equity, this is a new pioneering territory in research. The goal of this study is to determine the scenarios and gaps in actual HR business practice and investigate the relationship of human capital development and employee based brand equity. In significance, this study wishes to shed light on the aspect of the human capital developer role in Taiwan.. Significance of the Study The human capital developer is an HR role identified by Ulrich (2005). Ulrich believes human capital developers play a distinctive role within organizations, emphasizing the development of individual employees (especially managers) through personal development programs, coaching organizational leaders, and managing the formation and development of effective management teams (Oxford Press, 2008). Although training and development in Taiwan HR functions are mature, the role of a human capital developer in the corporation has not yet been defined. Furthermore, the relationship of the human capital development and brand equity is not yet explored in 7.

(16) any existing literature. As for the research participants, the significance of this study also resonanced the statement of King and Debra (2008) that in internal branding research, the cognitive psychology aspect and the perceptions of the employees are currently under-represented. Kulvisaechana (2006) had emphasized that little work has been done on what constitutes a framework of human capital development, particularly in view of investigating the gap between rhetoric (what is espoused) and reality (what is enacted) in an international organization. Therefore this research hoped to investigate the outcomes of human capital development by employee based brand equity in depth search from the employee psychological brand building behaviors.. Research Objectives The purpose of this research was addressed by the following objectives: 1. To explore and describe the task analysis of a human capital developer within a culture matured business organization of an existent brand name in Taiwan. 2.. To explore and describe strategies used by the human capital developers to retain and cultivate internal talent aligning the corporate vision.. 3. Find out how the human capital developer manages the vision-culture gap. 4. To gain further insight of identifying how corporate culture and brand education bring out employee brand building behaviors, and following outcomes of the employee based brand equity. Furthermore, integrate the correlation of human capital development and standardize measurements of employee-based brand equity.. 8.

(17) Research Questions According to the research objectives, the research questions were developed into the following: 1. What are the perceived tasks of a human capital developer? 2. How does a human capital developer retain and cultivate talent aligning to the corporate vision? 3. By managing the vision culture gap with development, how does a human capital developer influence employee psychology capital and decrease psychosocial risks? 4. By managing the vision culture gap with development, how does a human capital developer perceive brand-building behavior? 5. How is the effect and recent state of the employee-based brand equity?. Delimitations and Limitations Due to the incremental necessity of a brand’s ultimate growth to sustain competitiveness, the investigation of a human capital developer role and the relationship with the corporate brand development is a crucial issue. For in-depth investigate, the employee psychologies influencing the brand building behavior unity was considered. Through the research instrument, the research discovered the employee based brand equity and the underlying psychological aspects of brand-building behavior. This research was conducted from a human resource point of view, the coverage scope of industries in this research were international brands established in Taiwan that had won the “Taiwan Excellence Award” in the development of the brand history, or is in the top three brand of an industrial field. This research only focused on human capital development, therefore, aspects of social capital was not further discussed in this paper. Furthermore, the 9.

(18) industry brands selected for this research was limited to international company brands that were established in Taiwan.. Definition of Terms Corporate Culture In this research corporate culture was defined by the definition according to Zwetloot and Leka (2012) as a set of shared values underlying company strategy, structure, and systems (the hard side of business) but also the company skills, staff, and style (the soft side of business). Vision For this research, vision was regarded as a projected image of what a company wants to achieve, an image of the future based on general, long-term goals and blueprint.. Vision-culture Gap In this research vision-culture gap was defined as the distance between an aspired brand image blueprint of a corporate brand, and the present existent internal values and cultures.. Human Capital In this research, human capital was defined as the competence and commitment of employees: knowledge, skill or ability applied to meeting the organization’s goal and purposes (Wilson, 2005).. Human Capital Development In this research, the definition of human capital development was based on that which is defined by Bassi and Mcmurrer (2007), including existent training and development tasks for leadership practice, employee engagement, knowledge accessibility, workforce optimization, learning capacity, including the definition of 10.

(19) cultivating employee psychological capital (Avey, Luthans, Luthans, & Sweetman, 2011) to decrease psychological risks for retention possibilities.. Human Capital Developer A distinctive role within organizations, emphasizing the development of individual employees (especially managers) through personal development programs, coaching organizational leaders, and managing the formation and development of effective management teams (Oxford, 2008).. The term was as synonymous with. HRD in this research, adding the functions of tasks mentioned by Ulrich (2005).. Brand Building Behavior Brand building behavior in this paper was defined as a modification set of behavior criteria according to the usage of King and Grace (2008) term “Brand Citizen Behaviour” and “Positive Word of Mouth (WOM),” and including strategies from the Cornell University IRL school article “Making Human Capital the Creative Core of Strategy Execution” (ilr.cornell.edu), the research abstracted and applied the following definitions: taking responsibility for tasks outside of own area, demonstrating brand personality-consistent behaviors, consider impact on brand before acting, interested to learn more about brand, positive employee word-of-mouth: recommend to others, positive employee word-of-mouth: talk positively about brand, employee involvement: participate in development of customer initiative, involve in organizational initiatives, provide feedback about organizational activities, offering and contributing innovative ideas, motivating one another towards fast-pace learning and knowledge exchange. Operational definition. In the research questionnaire of 40 items, 9 items including the above mentioned definitions were made into a summated rating scale, from a scale of 1 to 5, ranking above the median value 3 represented good brand building behavior 11.

(20) outcomes, below the median value 3 represented inadequate brand building behavior outcomes.. Employee Based Brand Equity In this research the definition of employee based brand equity includes employee information generation, knowledge dissemination, role clarity, brand commitment, brand citizenship behavior, employee satisfaction, employee intention to stay, positive word of mouth, management support, organization socialization, employee attitude toward their job, and employee involvement (King & Grace, 2008) . Operational definition. In the research questionnaire of 40 items, 34 items including the above mentioned definitions will be made into a summated rating scale, ranking above the Median value 3 represented good employee based brand equity outcomes. Below the Median value 3 represented inadequate employee based brand equity outcomes.. 12.

(21) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW. To serve the studies need, a literature review was done to analyze the important terms. This chapter contains the review of literature on key terms in this research, including corporate culture, vision, human capital developer, brand building behavior and employee-based brand equity. Elements such as brand identity, psychological capital are also reviewed.. Corporate Culture and Brand Identity Definition of Corporate Culture The English word Culture derives from the word cultura, which means to cultivate. The term culture harbors a vast amount of definitions, but its Latin derivation sums up its deepest meaning to the core albeit all perspective of definitions. In a general concept, culture is a shared set of attributes within a group or a structured organization. The importance of culture in organizations has a significant, unnoticed influence on the decisions and behaviors of individuals and the whole organization as well (Hartnell, Kinicki, & Ou, 2011; Zwetloot & Leka, 2010). Matsumoto’s (2000) definition of the word “culture” was described in six general categories: (1) Descriptive, the activities and behavior. (2) Historical, as the heritage and tradition. (3) Normative, as in rules and norms. (4) Psychological descriptions emphasizing learning, problem solving (5) Structural, emphasizing societal structure (6) Genetic, referring to the origin. This analysis of culture was consistent to the intangible aspects of a corporate organizational culture, where coordination flexibility of the structural body depends on the fine balance of all 6 elements. From the viewpoint of a corporate brand, the descriptive category of activity and behavior simulates the human interaction of business execution; the 13.

(22) “historical” category refers to the company history and brand tradition, which affects the continuous corporate culture. “Normative”, explains policies and regulation of the company system, and “Structural” as in a company’s hierarchy. “Genetics” refers to the DNA of the corporate member’s heritage of brand identity. The “psychology” category is the most complex and intangible part of the employee member’s psyche, yet it is also the richest part in culture worth investigating. In Cottam and De Chernatony’s (2008) findings, given the link between culture and employee behavior and the criticality of employee behavior in service brands, organizational culture, which is examined as consistent, was perceived by managers and staff as being key to brand success. Corporate culture or organizational culture is a set of shared values (Zwetloot & Leka, 2012).. Culture is cyclical and dynamic in. its own nature, as Matsumoto (2000) stated, culture helps to reinforce, promulgate, and strengthen the behavioral similarities and differences that produce it in the first place, producing a cycle of reciprocity between actual behaviors and our theoretical understanding. It is a formation of a standard of behavior based on a set of beliefs, influencing an individual that is engaged to know of a certain way to interact in the shortest time span. Organizational culture is a set of values that binds the organization, holistic, historically determined, socially constructed, and involves beliefs and behavior, that exists at a variety of levels, and manifests itself in a wide range of features of organizational life (Cottam & De Chernatony, 2008; Deteit, Schioedei, & Mauriel, 2000).. Organization core values are vital for continuity, consistency and. credibility in a value-creating process, core values are overarching concepts that summarize the identity of the corporate brand, and are guiding lights for the brand building process (Urde, 2003).. Shared values are a main element of corporate. culture corporate identity and cohesion since linked with ethics and corporate social responsibility (Zwetloot & Leka, 2010). 14.

(23) Structure system. strategy. shared value style skill staff. Figure 2.1. McKinsey’s 7S model. Adapted from “Occupational Health Psychology,” ( p.251) by Zwetsloot, G. and Leka, S. 2010. Copyright 2010 by the Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. In the business setting, explicit core values are recognized as main determinants of organization identities. The McKinsey’s model (see also figure 2.1) illustrates that shared values are underlying company strategy, structure, and systems; the hard side of business, but also skills, staff, and style; the soft side of business (Zwetloot & Leka, 2010).. Enlargement of the soft side of business, means the dissection and. amplification of culture components in terms of company skills, staff and style, which correlates to the psychological aspect in Matsumoto’s equation. Organizational culture is an important characteristic that influences organization, group, and even individual behavior (Hartnell, Kinicki, & Ou, 2011).. One way of embedding. culture is to have key values that are widely understood and respected within an organization. These need to be communicated regularly and employed by all the employees so that they become embodied in creative action (Wilson, 2005). 15.

(24) A strong culture has a positive effect on performance, by facilitating goal alignment, leading high levels of employee motivation. Both a strong culture from the viewpoint of “consistency” and an appropriate culture from the standpoint of content will produce positive results (Cottam & De Chernatomy, 2008).. The corporate. brand personality strongly influences the organization culture throughout each and every one of the employees, necessary in existence for a healthy corporation. In the past Aaker (1995) examined 60 US products and defined the basic brand personality attributes: (1) sincerity, (2) excitement, (3) competence, (4) sophistication, (5) ruggedness. This model later became the foundation of an evolution of the personality trait model. Keller and Richey (2006) based their research from Aaker's model and defined another corporate brand personality trait model. Corporate brand personality reflects the value, words and actions of employees, individually and collectively (Keller & Richey, 2006). Unlike brand personality which reflected the purchasing behavior of customers as an express of their actual or ideal self-image. Corporate brand personality revolves on the core of the employee perceived corporate brand image, which is relevant to brand identity.. Brand Identity Explicit core values of organizations are recognized as main determinants of the organization’s identity (Zwetloot & Leka, 2010).. The social identity theory states. one’s self concept is derived from a perceived membership in a relevant social group. Brand personality is a set of human characteristic associated with the brand (Aaker, 1997), sometimes representing the organization culture. Seen in literature was the intimate relationship of organizational culture and employee identity. Organization culture can bring out the brand personality in forms such as human communication, interaction, marketing, advertising and customer relations. De Chematony (1999) suggests that stronger brands result from a homogeneous brand identity, with 16.

(25) contingent identity components. An individual’s brand identity in the organization is the reflection of the corporate brand personality. The sense of self is a strong core, possessing the richness of thoughts, ideas and beliefs, as an employee enters a corporate brand, the corporate brand personality becomes a part of this “self”. Corporate identity is the self-presentation of a company that consists of the cues offered by an organization through its behavior, communication and symbols. These signals are received by various groups, internally and externally, and are formed into perceptions and attitudes constituting an image of the company (Demetriou, Papasolomou, & Vrontis, 2010).. Furthermore, employees must effectively. internalize the desired image before they can project it to others (Miles & Mangold, 2004).. Vision Vision is a projected image of what a leader wants to achieve, an image of the future based on general, long-term goals, thus vision is motivational, and is measured by growth, aspiration and imagery (Baum & Locke, 2004).. Vision is defined by the. oxford dictionary as an ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. An effective process of understanding the organization’s vision, enables employee commitment for action, and emphasizes the alignment across various statements of the organization’s mission, goals, values, and policies (Srinivasan, 2014). Imagination is the inspiration of a pre-planned long term goal, the insight leadership direction, which is in essence also correlated to the fundamentals of the initial establishment concepts of the company. The importance of vision as a motivation of the brand is recognized when more than 50% of new ventures are terminating within five years (Baum & Locke, 2004).. Gluck (1981) has stated that the prospects of 17.

(26) success for a business or enterprise are more often limited by the lack of creative insight and new option generation than the scarcity of capital and other resources. Therefore the existence of a vision is very important and crucial to a company brand’s lifeline. Strategic management is visionary management, concerned with creating and conceptualizing ideas of where the organization is going, and. empirical management. decides how to get there (Wilson, 2005). Vision is not only a goal but should be frequently communicated, and understood by employees to increase efficiency. Communicated vision may help align entrepreneur-employee goals. Not only does vision have positive effects on organization performance, the communication of vision is as important as vision content alone for motivating high venture growth (Baum & Locke, 2004). The power of shared vision was stated in a research on high performing companies of the Singapore National Productivity Award in methods: (Wilson, 2005) “…… similarities in their approaches include, introducing management practices designed to develop self-motivated workers who took pride in their work, transfer authority for both tasks and responsibility down the hierarchy to give a sense of ownership, regular discussion between managers and employees about performance growth and development. ” (p.160). And in different external environment situations, vision sometimes requires change. It need not always be the CEO of the organization, who is the sponsor of the change. Srinivan (2014) had stated vision as the person/unit/representative in the organization who has felt the need for change/new direction and is driving the initiative. And at Forbes, it was the HR Director. In many companies a fatal flaw is that strategic planning and operational decision making cannot be forged because one or another of two critical factors - vision and leadership - is missing (Gluck, 1981). Visionary 18.

(27) leadership is the key driver to integrate the motives and facilitators of global companies (Akkrawinut & Ussahawanitchalit, 2011). Innovation was encouraged in a growing corporate brand for the sake of evolution. When organizations as a whole try to promote risk taking, concepts of “organizational innovation” take focus, in innovative organizations there is often a push for constant, continuous improvement and institutionalized belief that “we can always do better” (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000). This is also the whole meaning of vision.. Employee Brand Building Behavior Psychological capital. The psychological contract is the perception of employer and employee parties in the employment relationship, the organization has expectations, the individual similarly has a vision of the results or rewards expected which will satisfy one’s needs in return for the energy spent (Wilson, 2005). The researcher believes that the human psychological aspect effects the out bringing of behavior in regard of organization behavior dynamics. Beliefs about what motivates humans are fundamental to the study of organization behavior (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000).. People make the difference, and therefore it is important to focus on. people’s self-belief (Bakker & Derks, 2011).. After recruitment, what people bring. into the company becomes a net asset value of the company. Brand building was based on the employee individual level of existing solid foundation of psychological capital which can also be influenced by the corporate culture. Therefore it is of great importance that human capital developers understand and cultivate the employee psychological capital. The extent to how much influence the human capital developer affects an employee’s psychological capital was unknown in current literature, which was also a research objective of this paper. But prior research had found, the more 19.

(28) higher the employee psychological capital, the better are the employee performance outcomes. Psychological capital (PsyCap) has a positive relationship with both employee performance and job satisfaction. Moreover, in a business environment where innovation has becoming a competency, PsyCap predicted creative employee performance over and above each of the four PsyCap components (hope, optimism, resilience, and efficacy) (Avey, Luthans, Luthans, & Sweetman, 2010). PsyCap was seen as a mindset initiator for positive organizational behavior, which focuses on the positive emotional factors of the human psychological components, concerning “strength “rather than negative components such as “weakness” that invokes negative organizational behavior, organizational cynicism (Avey, Luthans, & Youssef, 2010), intentional turnover or sometimes even dysfunctional behavior. Research on positive emotions using this framework has suggested that individuals and groups of people operate at more optimal levels of cognitive and emotional functioning when reporting higher levels of positive emotions (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005).. On personal individual level, one’s. psychological capital is a power house that can fuel and boost growth and performance. At the organizational level, similar to human and social capital, psychological capital may provide leverage, return on investment, and competitive advantage through improved employee performance (Luthan, et al, 2005). Psychological capital is not as transient and momentary as the more extreme states such as moods or emotions, but was more of a long-term attitude. For example, unlike emotions, whose at-the-moment meaning and intensity may be constructed through subjectively negotiated appraisal processes for more effective coping (Luthans, Avolio, Walumbwa, & Li, 2010).. PsyCap was a more stable. measurement of the long term capacity of one’s psychological state. This asset measurement was stated by Luthans et al., (2010) to bring out measurable success 20.

(29) and tangible goal achievement. The full illustration of PsyCap is: (Luthans et al., 2007) “An individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by: (1) having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; (2) making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resilience) to attain success.”(p.3). Efficacy is the ability or power to produce a desired result or effect. Based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, efficacy is usually domain-specific and can be developed for a specific set of tasks through mastery experiences, modeling, social persuasion, and physiological and psychological arousal (Bandura, 1997; Avey, Luthans, & Yousef, 2010). With the arousal of keen competitive business rivalry, it is vital for companies to possess awareness for the look out of creative employee talents. Thus it is mentioned in research of the effectiveness of Efficacy, higher levels of efficacy are associated with increased creative performance (Amabile, 1996). Resiliency is the capacity to rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, failure, or even positive events, progress, and increased responsibility (Luthans, 2002). It is also stated that Individuals who are resilient show more emotional stability when faced with adversity (Luthans, Vogelgasang, & Lester, 2006) are more flexible to changing demands, and are open to new experiences (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).. In Baum and Locke’s (2004) research finding, tenacity, which. was similar to resilience, was significantly related to new resource skills. 21.

(30) In the midst of a highly competitive rapidly changing business era, employee’s ability to confront environmental risk, uncertainty and change leads to the increment of the human capitals sum of value. To conclude this section, relevant research findings have established the fact that psychological capital is positively related to employee performance, satisfaction, and commitment. And that physiologically, behavior is a result of the psychological state. Employee brand building behavior. There will always be that discrepancy between culture and behavior (Matsumoto, 2000).. The degree of discrepancy often differs according to dynamic. tension, extremes such as employee turnover or damageable behavior towards the brand image. Therefore enhancing the basic Positive organizational behavior in a corporate personality trait is the foundation of further up-building of the brand structure. Positive organization behavior (POB) is “the study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement (Avey, Luthans, & Jenson, 2009).” Employee behavior is the often-underestimated success factor in brand-building (Burmann & Zeplin, 2005). In Burmann and Zeplin’s (2005) research, for the purpose of better understanding the development and functioning of brands, they approached the study from the perspective of human psychology research to brand management. Results showed that employee brand commitment explains the psychological processes that lead employees to display brand citizen behavior, manifesting the organization culture that has already been immersed into the employee’s own identity, which brings forth brand building behavior. Kapferer stated, “In terms of brand management, identity precedes image.” Burmann and Zeplin explains the relationship as below: 22.

(31) “While brand image is on the receiver’s side —it describes how external target groups perceive the brand — brand identity is on the sender’s side. It can be defined as those sustainable cross-spatiotemporal attributes that determine the essence and character of a brand from the internal perspective.” Once identity is inked in, is the prism that goes beyond image, turning the internal employee into a faithful follower and projector of the brand vision. Highly regarded Brand image can also enhance stakeholder or customer’s brand identity or brand identity. According to social identity theory, as long as the brand identity is etched as an individual’s own identity, awareness and loyalty to the mother brand is a reflex, stimulating brand-building behavior unconsciously. Employees can reinforce, strengthen and create a brand image for their product and organization. Employee brand behaviors may include courtesy, responsiveness reliability, helpfulness, empathy among others (Miles & Mangold, 2004). King and Grace (2008) termed “Brand Citizen Behavior” and “Positive Word of Mouth (WOM),” as a set of behavior criteria necessary to measure the brand equity, containing the following criteria: 1. Taking responsibility for tasks outside of own area. 2. Demonstrating brand personality-consistent behaviors. 3. Consider impact on brand before acting. 4. Interested to learn more about brand. 5. Positive employee word-of-mouth: recommend to others. 6. Positive employee word-of-mouth: talk positively about. 7. Employee involvement: participate in development of customer initiative. 8. Involve in organizational initiatives. 9. Provide feedback about organizational activities. The Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations school article “Making 23.

(32) Human Capital the Creative Core of Strategy Execution” discussed the benefits of developing the human capital such as: “Closing knowledge gaps and sharing expertise across the enterprise produces new ideas, shortens response cycles and increases organizational capabilities.” The article points out strategies for human capital developers such as increasing organization learning agility and employee innovation capabilities. In other words, employee brand building behavior would be, offering and contributing innovative ideas and motivating one another towards fast-pace learning and knowledge exchange. Furthermore, from the resource-based view of the firm, the knowledge, including cognition, held by human capital has been demonstrated to have strong positive effect on firm performance (Burton-jones & Spencer, 2011). In order to enhance brand-building behaviors, the internalization of the brand image, received, ruminated and displayed is first the concern. The internalization of the desired brand image occurs best when employees feel a high level of trust in the organization for which they work. The fulfillment of employees’ psychological contracts with the organization is critical to the process of developing high levels of employee trust (Miles & Mangold, 2004). Internal branding. Internal branding is the direction the employer provides to influence employee attitudes and behaviors so that they reflect organizational requirements and successfully carry out roles and responsibilities, and starts with the process of transferring brand-related information to the employee (King & Grace, 2010). The “Employer Brand” was described by Ambler and Barrow (1996) as the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company. While Employer branding means “the sum of a company’s effort to communicate to existing and prospective staff that it is a 24.

(33) desirable place to work” (Lloyd, 2002) Employer branding is seen principally as a recruiting tool for organizations (Robertson & Khatibi, 2013). In other words, Employer branding is the conveying of the Employer’s status value. As quoted by Robertson & Khatibi (2013):. “The employer brand has the ability to develop a brand image and personality which contribute to the organization identity. This shapes the employee’s personally perceived image and in turn, influences their satisfaction and commitment.”. Human Capital Developer Definition of Human Capital Development According to Wilson (2005) human capital was illustrated by Drucker in 1985 as individual, complementary, difficult to measure, and something that differentiates mental effort from physical labor and enables learning to be taken into account. In 1997, Edvinnson and Malone described human capital as what employees and managers can do individually and collectively. Ulrich stated in 1998 that human capital is the competence and commitment of employees, including knowledge, skill or ability is applied to meeting the organization’s goal and purpose. Human capital was also described by Kramer, Murthy, and Guthrie (2011) referring to employee capability, knowledge, innovation adaptability, experience and education. The strategic value of human capital refers to its potential to improve the efficacy and effectiveness of the firm, exploit market opportunities and neutralize potential threats, the uniqueness refers to the degree to which it is rare, specialized and firm-specific (Lepak & Snell, 2002).. The motivation to employ strategies to. attract and retain staff has never been more pressing as financial markets are 25.

(34) increasingly recognizing human capital - the skills, experience and knowledge of employees — as sources of value to firms and shareholders (Moroko & Uncles, 2008). A company’s human resource is known to be the sum of human capital including individual knowledge, skills, and know-hows that an organization has at its disposal within national economies (Aston, Brown, & Launder, 2011).. Human capital. subsumes various human resource elements, including collective tacit knowledge, competencies, experiences and skills, innovativeness and talents of people in an organization (Kong & Tsai, 2012).. People are the only source of long-term. competitive advantage. Companies that fail to invest in employees jeopardize their own success and even survival (Bassi & McMurrer, 2007).. The researcher has. found the term “human capital” as a resurrected new concept revived again after first coined by an economist and exceeds the earlier capitalist’s definition of financial gains, defining the deeper values of the human resource competence. The term Human Capital was first introduced by economists who believe that the human capital can be invested like any other capital in the financial market, through education, training, and psychological awarding that will lead to improvement of production. In business, human capital is a comparative measured value of employee talent and skills on an economic scale. Human capital has been defined as (1) individual knowledge and abilities that allow changes in action and economic growth. (2) The stock of knowledge, know-how, expertise, and education residing in individual workers, brought to bear in their productive work but distinct from their capacity to do manual labor. Individual knowledge includes tacit knowledge, human resource is the primary repository of tacit knowledge, which is knowledge that resides in routines, processes and analysis which cannot be articulated and unable to imitate by rivals (Kong & Tsai, 2012).. Therefore, human capital is valuable to the. extent that it contributes to a firm’s competitive advantage or core competence by 26.

(35) improving efficiency, effectiveness, exploiting opportunities or neutralizing threats (Lepak & Snell, 2002).. Furthermore, while the main purpose of human capital is. capturing talent potentials, investment in talented employees isn’t enough. There must be motivation of individuals to contribute their skills and experience in the organization, without such commitment, utilization of human capital will not happen (Wilson, 2005).. The importance of human capital is that when physical assets and. financial capital are no longer the resource that facilitates competitive advantages, human capital becomes a unique differentiating factor that provides a competitive marketing position to an organization, and differentiates the uniqueness of organizations (Kong & Tsai, 2012; Lepak & Snell, 2002).. The term “human capital. developer” was introduced to increased emphasis on viewing people as critical assets (Baron & Armstrong, 2005). Human capital development has existed for quite some time in forms of training and development, shadowing, mentoring, learning sets and reserve cadres. In the Cornell University IRL school article “Making Human Capital the Creative Core of Strategy Execution” it was proposed that comprehensive human capital development integrates three essential elements, talent optimization, learning agility, and innovation capabilities. Human capital is valuable to the extent that it contributes to a firm’s competence by improving efficiency and effectiveness, exploiting opportunities, or neutralizing threats (Lepak & Snell, 2002). The uniqueness and strategic values of human capital differed in varied employment modes (knowledge based employment, job-based employment, contract work, alliance/partnership), knowledge-based employees tend to have the highest level of uniqueness, alliances and job-based have the next highest, while contract workers have the lowest uniqueness (Lepak & Snell, 2002).. 27.

(36) The literature on human capital development is not as common as literature for human capital management. Yet categories of human capital management (HCM) items can be references of development scopes. In table 2.1, Bassi and McMurrer (2007) developed a system for HCM which predicts organizational performance, and guides investment in employees, advocating the long-term value of investments in human capital, and the folly of dwelling on short-term goals. They proposed a core set of HCM drivers including, leadership practice, employee engagement, knowledge, accessibility, work-force optimization and organization learning capacity.. 28.

(37) Table 2.1. A Comparison of the HCD Tasks and Human Capital Management Items Definition. Year. Author. HCD tasks 2008. Ulrich. 1. Emphasizing the development of individual employees through personal development programs. 2. Coaching organizational leaders. 3. Managing the formation and development of effective management teams. Human capital management evaluation tasks for development 1.Knowledge accessibility 2007. Bassi and. Availability, collaboration and teamwork, information sharing, McMurrer. systems 2.Learning capacity Innovation, training, development, value and support, systems Human capital developing tasks from the EBBE model 1.. Information generation The communication of organization information via employee feedback.. 2.. 2010. King and Grace. Knowledge dissemination. Brand knowledge transfer. 3.. Management support Organization acknowledges and supports employee effort. 4.. The “H” factor The efforts to promote humanity level in the organization (employee respect, communication, encouragement). The Human Capital Developer in Organizations Leadership and management play a critical role in unlocking and creating value from a cognitive view of human capital (Burton-jones & Spencer, 2011).. 29. From.

(38) Ulrich and Brockband’s categorization of roles for HR Professionals (EFMD global focus) the human capital developer is the one of the important roles withholds the responsibility of development in all five roles. Including the responsibility to build job prospective and job satisfaction, create an environment of constant improvement, support and learning. The significance of the role increases especially when HR is evolving more into the “strategic (business) partner” in a business unit. The HCD is a distinctive role within organizations, emphasize the development of individual employees (especially managers) through personal development programs, coaching organizational leaders, and managing the formation and development of effective management teams (Oxford Press dictionary, 2008).. The. role of the Human Capital developer was coined by Ulrich (2008) yet it is still a vague concept with mere literature mentions, therefore it is a new field worth researching in the business environment, which may be a crucial solution to further business strategy development. The balance scorecard, in the perspective of learning and growth, innovation and learning contain measurements of: Percentage of staff aligned to the organization’s vision and mission; percentage of staff with personal development plans in place and being implemented (Wilson, 2005).. These are all similar rearing tasks of the HCD.. Forsyth (1996) stated that “as a response manager you should have an individual development plan for every single person that reports to you” for example by personal counseling, the employee side will know the direction of private studying, behavior reflection, on the organization side, the manager will know which training and applications are suitable for growth. This provides mutual benefits in an efficient way, increasing personal motivation and stimulation of the running process. It is also stated in the definitions describing the elements in a learning system that make a flexible and viable company including, learning is tied to business objectives but also 30.

(39) for personal development (Wilson, 2005). It is timely to reexamine the nature of human capital needed for individuals and organizations to be successful in modern economy. According to The Oxford Textbook of Human Capital (2011): “For organizations to become world-class, Kanter(1995) states they must develop a breed of managers fulfilling 3 role,(1) “integrators” who see beyond surface level cultural differences to find common ground. (2) “diplomats” who resolve conflicts and influence locals to accept world standards. (3) “cross-fertilizers” who help to transfer knowledge and best practices from one place to another.” (p.97). The values of investigating the perceptions of the human capital developer lies in the cognitions of individual managers have also been regarded as resources, as a matter of fact, they are considered critical in transforming resources and capabilities into strategic assets through decision making (Burton-jones & Spencer, 2011).. Employee-Based Brand Equity Brand equity is the characteristics as such, brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association and credibility. Brands are clusters of functional and emotional values making promises of unique experiences (De Chernatomy & Vallaster, 2005).. The term brand equity was originated by Keller (1993), from a. customer’s perception. Marketing research has suggested that brand image is a vital element of brand equity (Faircloth, 2005).. Keller (1993) developed a. Customer-based brand Equity model based from the consumer’s perspective. Customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand, constituting concepts include the differential effect, brand knowledge and consumer response to marketing. King and 31.

(40) Grace (2008) proposed a new model based on the employee’s perspective of the brand, focusing on an Employee based brand equity. Brand equity is the characteristics as such, brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association and credibility. The equity value of corporate branding is its importance to a multiplicity of stakeholders including customer attractiveness, investor confidence, and staff motivation (Hatch & Schultz, 2003). Consistency of message is important in the process of building brand-equity. The messages employees receive must align with the employees’ organizational experience if the psychological contract is to be held (Miles & Mangold, 2004). Corporate brands can increase the company’s visibility, recognition, and reputation in ways that can’t be fulfilled by product-brand thinking (Hatch & Schultz, 2003). Therefore, the human capital aspect is a considerately valuable asset to leverage the brand equity. After review of employee psychological aspects and induced behavior, literature has stated that the belief in total quality management is most people are intrinsically motivated to do a good job but are often thwarted by the system in which they work (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000).. An employee’s. knowledge of the desired brand image and their willingness to project it to others resides in their psyche (including knowledge of desired brand image, psychological contract), which forms a covenant called the psychological contract (Miles & Mangold, 2005). As for the brand image, employee brand image is likely aligned with the desired company brand image when employees understand and are motivated to project it. An organizational position is created in the minds of customers, fellow employees, and other stakeholders when this alignment is consistently attained (Miles & MangoldI, 2005). The definition of brand equity was originated from Keller’s concept, in this paper the researcher focused on employee-based brand equity (King & Grace, 2008). 32.

(41) Relevant Studies on Organization Culture and Brand Equity There is a need for managers to be attentive to consistency and congruence between values in the organizational culture and corporate brand, to ensure that cultural change is managed appropriately, to adopt a holistic approach to brand management and to empower employees (De Chernatomy & Cottam, 2008). Especially when anticipated with the existence of a vision-culture gap. Corporate branding efforts generally involved projections of the company’s distinctiveness by using the total corporate communication mix to impress external audiences, who are thereby encouraged to perceive and judge the company and its multiple offerings as attractive and desirable. Such images are expected to influence stakeholder behaviour in ways that generate brand equity at the corporate level (Hatch & Schultz, 2003).. And for organizational culture to have a positive effect. upon brand performance, the values of employees should be aligned and compatible with brand values (De Chernatomy & Cottam, 2008). Literature provides evidence that alignment between customers and employees is possible when marketing and people’s system or HR is locked in a strategic fit, suggesting that HR and marketing must form a collaborative network and play on the same turf to focus on customer-employee engagement (Memon & Kolachi, 2012). Therefore, in order to build customer loyalty externally, the employee identity and loyalty must overflow internally from the organization.. Cultural pitfalls to avoid when seeking brand success include: Inconsistency between organizational culture and brand value, internal value inconsistency between organizational subcultures, overly “tough” organizational culture, Focus on quantified, financially centered performance targets. Unsuccessful of poorly thought out cultural change initiatives (De Chernatomy & Cottam, 2008).. 33.

(42) Relevant Studies on Vision, Organization Culture and Brand Building There is a positive relationship between leveraging human capital and firm performance (Bierman, Hitt & Shimizu, Kochhar, 2001; Lepak & Snell, 2002).. The. values of ideas about control, coordination and responsibility in Total Quality Management (TQM), is that a shared vision and shared goals are necessary for organizational success. Furthermore, all employees should be involved in decision making and in support of the shared vision (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000). Corporate brand management is a dynamic process that involves keeping up with continuous adjustments and alignments of vision, culture and image (Hatch & Schultz, 2003). Strategic vision to identity and branding is a means to integrated brand building (Hatch & Schultz, 2003).A company’s prevailing cultural characteristics can inhibit or defeat a reengineering effort before it begins, moreover, companies with short-term orientations focusing on quarterly results may find it difficult to extend their vision to reengineer longer horizons. It is executive management’s responsibility to anticipate and overcome such barriers (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000).. 34.

(43) CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS. The purpose of the study was to explore the role of a human capital developer in Taiwan, and understand strategies used by the Human Capital developers to retain and cultivate internal talent aligning the corporate vision, to gain further insight of identifying how corporate culture affects employee brand building behaviors and the outcomes of the employee based brand equity. For better tracing of the intangible areas and complete aspects, a mixed-method approach was conducted as the main core of the study. This chapter presents the research framework, research procedure, research approach, data collection, and data analysis. Details of the instrument are given with the reliability and validity explained.. Research Approach A qualitative approach was applied for this research, assisted with small scale quantitative descriptive statistics. With a qualitative interview as the main core, the researcher obtained in-depth insights on the humanitarian aspect and intangible factors of the role of the HCD and the problem and solutions of the vision-culture gap. An assistive small scale quantitative descriptive statistics was also used to search the aspects of the employee feedback to gain more insight on the influences of training and development and its effects on the employee brand building behaviors and employee-based brand equity outcomes on the employee side. The benefit in harnessing qualitative and quantitative enquiry provides two methods, and data generation can be clearly delineated, each approach provides a distinctive kind of evidence and used together can offer a powerful resource to inform and illuminate practice (Richie & Lewis, 2003). This exploratory research of the human capital developer’s role was done by a 35.

(44) mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, to achieve this, through the interviewee, a snow-ball sampling of selected employees for brand equity measurements and employee psychological state was investigated. Responses from the interviews by content analysis are examined through interviews to explore the beliefs, opinions, values and emotions and tasks of the HCD and its consistent outcomes of the psychological capital of employee individuals stimulating behavioral effects that affects the employee based brand equity.. Research Framework This research was aimed at identifying the tasks of human capital developers as well as understanding the impact of internal branding, in terms of training and development, and the relevant influence on the employee based brand equity. According to the research purpose and the literature review, the framework was formulated as the below Figure3.1, illustrating the relationship between corporate organizational culture, employee brand-building behavior, and the relationship with the employee based brand equity. The horizontal structure of the framework was the assumed dual way relationship of the employee self-development, including the factors of employee psychological capital, employee brand-building behavior, and employee branding. The focus of this study is to investigate the role of the human capital developer in the HR function, and its crucial influence on increasing the value of the employer brand from an examination point of the employee based brand equity.. 36.

(45) Figure 3.1. Research framework. Research Procedure The procedure for this research was divided into various steps. The steps are described below and presented below: 1. Identify the research topic According to the research motivation, a research topic was identified. 2. Explore literature review on research terms and organize correlation finding. After defining some research terms, literature was searched and filtered, further knowledge led the researcher to modify the research terms to fit the purpose of the study. 3. Define the purpose of study. 37.

(46) After solidifying the research purpose, further literature was review on relevant findings. 4. Create the framework. According to the literature review, key terms were sorted out, relationships developed, and a framework was constructed as a basis for this research. 5. Decide the research framework. The framework was modified after expert review and further literature review was done. 6. Develop the research instrument. After the literature review, interview questions were formed under the research question, a questionnaire was also modified and adapted. 7. Undergo process of data collection. The researcher sent out emails to several esteemed selected brands, within the four selected brands, three replied back and agreed to accept an interview. Another brand was added after the three brand interviews were conducted. The interviewing process was executed in the companies, and questionnaires were collected a week later via paperback retrieve. 8. Undergo process of data analysis. Qualitative data analysis was divided into content analysis and thematic analysis; quantitative data was analyzed by ratio of count and proportion according to theme topics. 9. Generate results 10. Draw Conclusion 11. Propose suggestion. 38.