Enhancing Hotel Employees' Brand Understanding and Brand-Building Behavior in China

Abstract

To participate effectively in the present Chinese hotel market, multinational companies must achieve a competitive advantage, which they attain by building the brand. This study promotes employee brand understanding as a precursor to positive brand-building behavior. Results indicate that internally oriented brand activities, especially brand-oriented recruitment, brand-oriented training, and brand-oriented support, exert a significant influence on employees' brand understanding, leading to subsequent exhibition of pro-brand behavior. In developing brand understanding, hotels must take into account the potentially limited knowledge of mainland Chinese employees regarding global hotel brands. The findings suggest that Chinese hotel employees' understanding of multinational hotel groups' brand is critical to successful brand-building behavior.