Branding CEOs : How relationship between cheif executive officers, corporate brands and stakeholders image can influence perceived brand value

摘要

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have become recognised as brands in theudacademic and popular domain, but little is known about the relationship between theseudsenior manager ¿brands¿ and the corporate brand of the organisation they represent.udSince stakeholders associate the CEO¿s reputation with that of the company, they mayudnegatively or positively affect each other, and there is little research into this dynamic.udIndeed there is only a limited understanding about the field of people branding inudgeneral and much less into CEO brands in particular. Consequently this doctoral thesisudinvestigates the people and CEO brands phenomena, the relationships between CEO,udcorporate brand and stakeholder¿s self-image and how these can be effectively managedudin order to enhance brand equity for the company.udBased on a critical realist perspective, this research examines traditional productudbrand elements from the literature and develops a new conceptual framework for peopleudbrands, which is subsequently applied to CEOs. Furthermore a survey is performed withudbusiness school students. The findings are analysed by using content analysis,uddescriptive statistics and by developing and testing a Structural Equation Model.udThe contribution to knowledge is threefold. Firstly a conceptual framework ofudpeople brands is constructed. Second this model is applied to CEO brands. Third fiveudpropositions about stakeholder perceptions of CEO brand differentiation and equity areudempirically tested. The main findings are that visual presentation is not the main factorudto differentiate CEO brands from each other, nor is their association with the company.udPositive perceptions of corporate brands can influence the reputation of the CEO brandudand lead to an enhancement of their brand equity. Importantly this indicates thatudstakeholders do not distinguish between CEO and company. Brand equity is alsoudcreated if there is a relationship between stakeholder self-image and company brand,udwhich in turn can improve the reputation of the CEO brand. Finally brand equity isudenhanced through stakeholder perceptions of an ideal self-image.udOverall this research has important implications for academia and managerialudpractice as it extends the knowledge about people and CEO brands and provides anudinsight into ways in which the relationships between CEO, company and stakeholdersudcan be managed to enhance brand equity for the company