Internal branding: Franchisor leadership as a critical determinant

Franchising and branding are almost interchangeable as concepts, yet a dearth of academic branding research in the franchising sector prevails. The aim of the study is to understand why franchisees vary in attitude toward the franchisor brand. A further aim is to give guidance to franchisors on how they can achieve greater franchisee brand buy-in. A conceptual model provides a foundation to the study. The main dependent variable is the level of positive attitudes of the franchisee toward the franchisor brand. The independent variables draw upon the internal branding literature and include brand commitment and culture. Transformational leadership moderates the model. The results show that brand commitment and marketing support for the brand are the two main influences on getting franchisee support for the franchisor brand. However, transformational leaders have a different pattern of getting franchisee buy-in, with greater reliance on culture and facilitating brand commitment.