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Challenged by demanding contextual conditions, public sector organizations struggle to succeed in internal branding. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of value congruence in internal communication and positive organizational practices on employees’ brand perceptions. The study examines the impact of PSM on these variables. The results of a survey demonstrate the importance of value congruence and positive organizational practices for facilitating employees’ brand identification, brand pride, and brand commitment. The findings show that PSM directly impacts employees’ opinions about value congruence and positive organizational practices, and indirectly influences their affective responses to the organizational brand.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of human capital and relational trust on business-to-business (B2B) brand equity.

Design/methodology/approach: Data collection was conducted among the clients of one of the Big Four auditing firms in Sweden. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized effects.

Findings: The results demonstrate positive effects of human capital and relational trust on the core dimensions of brand equity. In the context of the professional services, human capital was found to have a stronger direct impact than relational trust on brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty.

Practical implications: The study provides practical recommendations for marketing managers on how to consider the nature of B2B brand equity and its determinants in developing successful branding strategies. The findings indicate that although relational trust has a positive impact on brand equity, it draws on the clients’ positive perceptions of the service providers’ human capital. Thus, investments that generate positive perceptions of a service provider’s human capital will strengthen its competitive position. Leading to the creation of relational trust and having a strong impact on the dimensions of brand equity, human capital is a strategic asset that needs careful management.

Originality/value: The study advances extant knowledge on B2B brand equity by examining contextual conditions and factors that are critical for building strong brands in industrial markets. The study demonstrates that clients’ perceptions about the knowledge, skills and abilities of service providers are more important than relational trust for enhancing B2B brand equity.

The increased interest of public organizations in using corporate branding principles creates a need to understand how to implement such principles effectively. Although previous research investigates challenges related to branding in this context, the findings provide contradictory evidence and opposing recommendations. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of literature on branding in the public sector and to explore directions for future research. The results demonstrate that owing to the distinct differences between the private and public sectors, there is a need to adapt branding principles to meet the sector-specific challenges faced by public organizations. However, the extent of the required changes needs further research. This literature review presents a number of potential directions for future studies, which focus on diverse topics related to the internal and external aspects that are crucial to the successful branding of public organizations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of individual and organizational resilience on perceptions of employees about the performance of self-service technologies (SSTs) and determinants of employee-based brand equity in a retailing context. The data was collected by distributing an online survey among employees of grocery stores and chains in Sweden, who were members of a panel of one large marketing research organization. The data was analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The findings advance research on internal branding by demonstrating the relevance of considering individual and organizational resilience, as well as perceptions of employees about technological innovations, such as SSTs, in the development and implementation of internal branding strategies. The study contributes to research and managerial practice by adopting an employee perspective and examining the impact of employees’ perceptions about technological innovations and resilience, which are found to be critical for enhancing employee-based brand equity.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of internal branding and self-service technologies on work meaningfulness and internal brand commitment in the context of omni-channel retailing. The findings confirm significant positive effects between the factors of internal brand citizenship.The study demonstrates significant effects of employees’ perceptions about self-service technologies and customers on work meaningfulness and internal brand commitment. The study advances the current state of knowledge on internal branding and retailing by investigating the effects of technological innovations on internal brand citizenship. The study contributes to managerial practice by providing practical recommendations on how companies can effectively use self-service technologies to enhance employees’ work meaningfulness and internal brand commitment, as well as to increase the value of the corporate brand and employer attractiveness.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effects of brand relationships in the dynamic process of B2B brand equity development. The study considers the mediating effects of relational factors and their significance for enhancing brand equity in industrial settings. The findings of this study confirm the importance of brand relationships established between service providers and their clients in the B2B context. More specifically, the study demonstrates the significant mediating effects of customer perceptions about human capital and established relational trust on B2B brand equity. The existence of significant effects between the dimensions of brand equity, human capital, and relational trust confirms the relevance of considering these factors in the dynamic process of brand equity development.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the test of a pedagogical intervention to enhance students' entrepreneurial mindset on a university course.

Design/methodology/approach – The course where the authors tested the new course design is a mandatory one in the business school’s undergraduate business program. Pre- and post-evaluations of the students’ opportunity recognition (OR) and individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) were carried out to measure the effects of an intervention aimed at enhancing these capabilities.

Findings – The results from paired-samples t-tests indicate significant positive changes (enhancements) of the students’ OR and IEO. The positive effects of the intervention methods are accounted for as evidence of the benefits of applying pedagogical methods that fit the learning style of young adults.

Practical implications – The findings suggest that students’ mindsets can be positively affected by an intervention tailored to enhance their OR and IEO capabilities. The findings have implications for curriculum development because the strengthening of these capabilities is a precondition for further development of the participants’ innovative and creative thinking, as well as their entrepreneurial orientation.  Since innovative and entrepreneurial activities have a positive impact on economies worldwide, the authors encourage the adaption of the intervention methods applied in this study in other settings.

Originality/value – This paper reports the results of a pedagogical intervention aimed at enhancing students’ entrepreneurial mindset. The findings from the study demonstrate that the applied intervention method supports the development of functional skills, which complement the conceptual knowledge gained from other courses in the undergraduate program.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of intervention methods in an entrepreneurship education (EE) course that was designed to enhance the students' entrepreneurial mindset by targeting their opportunity identification, creativity and risk management capabilities (RMC). Design/methodology/approach - The authors formulate hypotheses on enhancement of opportunity identification, creativity and RMC, and they test them using data collected from pre- and post-tests of three courses: one treatment course group and two control course groups. Findings - The pretests and posttests of the treatment course demonstrate that the applied intervention methods have a positive impact on how the participants perceive their opportunity identification and creative capabilities. The participants in the control groups, which used a traditional course design, reported no such effects. Combined, the authors' findings suggest that the new intervention methods positively affected the participants' entrepreneurial mindset. Originality/value - This study contributes to extant EE literature by examining the question of how certain pedagogical intervention methods enhance the participants' self-efficacy with regard to possessing opportunity identification, creativity and RMC. The findings reported in this paper have implications for EE scholars, program evaluators and managers who seek methods to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset of people in their organizations.

Inspired by the literatures on internationalization and absorptive capacity, we develop a model exploring how small firms—during crises—acquire and apply political information to export decisions. We test our model using data collected during the 2012 Eurozone crisis from a sample of 440 British, French, and Swedish SMEs. Findings indicate that firms dependent on the Eurozone for exports and heavily impacted by the crisis engaged in frequent political monitoring. In turn, frequent monitoring leads to the development of formal routines for exploiting political information. Firms with the most formal routines sought new export opportunities beyond the Eurozone. In contrast to previous research into small-firm internationalization, our study stresses the significance of "shortcut" searching activities, non-market information, and firms' decisions to reduce prior investments in export markets.