Abstract

The purposes of this study were to develop a tool for assessing internal branding performance and to identify the difference of internal branding performance between local and international hotels. The internal branding performance measure was developed through literature studies and face-to-face in-depth interviews with managers in various departments of 5 deluxe hotels. The questionnaires were distributed to 460 employees in food and beverage departments of 11 deluxe hotels in Seoul, and a total of 398 questionnaires were used for analysis (86.5%). The statistical analyses were completed using SPSS Win (12.0) for descriptive analysis, reliability analysis and t-test, and AMOS (5.0) for confirmatory factor analysis. The results of this study showed that the measure developed in this study was reliable and valid for assessing internal branding performances of hotels. In addition, the internal branding performances of hotels were high at understanding of brand dimensions and relatively low at work and organizational culture and human resource management dimensions, and local hotels showed lower levels of performance than international hotels at the dimensions of work and organizational culture (t = -3.801, p < 0.001) and human resource management(t = -5.397, p < 0.001). In conclusion, it is considered that a strong internal branding strategy should be established for successful brand management, and the practical measure for internal branding performance would be a key factor.

• Keywords: deluxe hotel; internal branding; internal branding performance