Antecedents and Consequences of Salesperson Identification with the Brand and the Company

Abstract

One important area of research in branding has focused on consumers’ identification with their favorite brands, antecedents of this identification, and the potential positive implications from such identification (Fournier 1995). This research suggests that individuals will adopt certain behaviors when they associate/identify themselves with satisfying self-defining relationships or self-concepts. However, to date little research has investigated whether similar relationships may hold when salespeople identify with the brand they represent. One question of particular interest is how the salesperson connects with the brand. Salespeople work independently to establish credibility and reputation with the buyers, while marketing works to establish a brand identity for the firm’s products. Yet we know very little about how these two market influences interact with one another. Only recently has this topic been addressed as the subject of research by Hughes and Ahearne (2010). The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of salesperson identification with the brand and the company they represent, how it fits with the salesperson’s own identity, and to examine some of the antecedents to and consequences from salesperson identification.