EXAMINING THE LINKAGES BETWEEN EMPLOYEE BRAND LOVE, AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT, POSITIVE WORD-OF-MOUTH, AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS: A SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY PERSPECTIVE

The concept of brand love has gained significant attention from researchers in recent years. However, brand love has largely been built on consumer-brand relationships. Employees’ love for the organisation brands they work for has hardly been examined. This study attempts to fill this research gap by conceptualising and demonstrating the significance of employee brand love in influencing employees’ attitude and behaviour towards their organisations. Using the basis of social identity theory, this study examines the relationship of employee brand love with attitudinal and behavioural constructs: affective commitment, positive word-of-mouth (PWOM)  behaviour, and turnover intention. For this purpose, data were collected from 289 professionals working in public and private sector insurance companies located in India. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data for relationships between the study variables. Results suggest that employee brand love has a significant positive effect on affective commitment and PWOM behaviour as well as a significant negative effect on turnover intention of employees. Furthermore, affective commitment mediates the relationship between employee brand love and PWOM behaviour and that between employee brand love and turnover intention. From a social identity perspective, this result implies that strong love for organisational brands enables employees to be emotionally attached and remain committed to, speak highly about, and have lower intention to quit the organisation. Our study offers important theoretical and practical implications by highlighting the importance and exploring the role of employee brand love in driving positive employee attitudes and behaviours that are important to organisational growth and success.