تحقیقات پیشداوری و عواقب ارزش گذاری نام تجاری داخلی: شواهدی از صنعت هواپیمایی An empirical investigation of antecedent and consequences of internal brand equity: Evidence from the airline industry

1. Introduction In the past few years, Iranian airline industry have been experiencing a tremendous growth. According to Iran Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), 16 local airlines namely Ata, Aseman, Taban, Iran air tour, Kaspian, Naft Iran, Mahan and Kish are active and responsible to carry passenger and transport cargo (Omrani and Soltanzadeh, 2016). In terms of market size, Iranian airlines have been transporting increasing numbers of passengers. According to the reports received from Iran’s statistic center (2017), a total number of 5332 inbound and 5294 outbound passengers have been transported in 2015 by Iranian airlines through international flights. Comparing to the reports in 2005, with a total number of 2558 inbound and 2609 outbound passengers, there has been an upturn in number of passengers demanding Iranian flight services. To be successful in the fragmented airline market, therefore, managers of airline companies should develop and maintain processes through which delivery of high quality services as well as retention of loyal passengers are warranted (Karatepe and Vatankhah, 2014). Flight attendants are an integral part of this process (Fu, 2013; Hvass and Torfadóttir, 2014). They are frontline employees (FLE) who are responsible for assisting passengers and providing a pleasant service atmosphere on board the aircraft. Yeh (2014, p.94) referred to airline industry as “a particularly sensitive service industry” and argued that due close interaction between flight attendants and passengers during flight, their quality performance has a strong impact on customers’ overall perception of service quality. Indeed, review of extant literature suggest that frontline employees are playing an important role for services branding (Aurand et al., 2005; Burmannn and Zeplin, 2005; Burmann et al, 2009a; Gapp and Merrilees, 2006; Papasolomou and Vrontis, 2006; Punjaisri and Wilson, 2007) and aligning their attitudes and perceptions with the brand would positively contribute to organizational success (Terglav et al., 2016). With this stated, management of airline companies should invest in processes that would contribute to flight attendants’ motivation for a better performance. Internal branding is considered as a managerial tool (Erkmen and Hancer, 2015) that would help employees to develop compatible brand oriented behavior throughout their daily service encounters (Özçelik and Fındıklı, 2014). Adoption of internal branding have been also the case for the victorious airlines (Appelbaum and Fewster, 2002). For example, southwest airlines is known as a successful airline whose competitive advantage is centered on its strong brand position which has been gained by its’ employees exemplary service behavior (Miles and Mangold, 2005). Singapore airline is also recognized as a successful airline who owes its success to its employees brand supporting behavior (Chong, 2007).