Internal branding and job satisfaction: Investigating the roles of brand individuality and personality–brand fit

The internal effects of branding are a topic that is rarely investigated within a business-to-business context. This paper illustrates and validates a conceptual model that connects mechanisms of internal branding to job satisfaction. Additionally, it broadens the understanding of internal branding by investigating the impacts of brand individuality and personality brand fit in an intra-organizational context. By applying PLS-SEM on a survey of employees in mechanical engineering firms located in Germany, this paper shows that the employer's brand influences employees' job satisfaction. It confirms mechanisms that help to explain the building of brand knowledge by employees and links this knowledge to the affective evaluation of both the employment and the employer's brand. In particular, the role of brand individuality and personality–brand fit is examined in more detail. This paper shows that the design of the employer's brand can be an instrument that enables firms to achieve higher job satisfaction. • Internal branding measures influence the employees' evaluation of employment. • Brand individuality plays an important role when employees build brand knowledge. • Personality brand fit also determines employees' commitment to the employer's brand.