The Approach to Enhance Brand Citizenship Behavior and Customer-Based Brand Equity: Multilevel Mediating Effects in International Tourist Hotels

This research, building on social identity and social exchange theories, investigates the multilevel relationships among branding culture, person-brand fit, brand citizenship behavior, customer loyalty, and customer-based brand equity. The hierarchical linear modeling was utilized to analyze data from 172 supervisors, 318 employees, and 327 customers of 22 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. We found branding culture positively affects person-brand fit and brand citizenship behavior. Aggregated brand citizenship positively affects customer loyalty, which contributes to customer-based brand equity. A critical finding based on the holistic model showed that multilevel mediating effects of person-brand fit and customer loyalty exist.