Corporate branding researchers alert us to the importance of the internal aspects of brand building, in particular, how staff can be mobilized to ensure that the brand delivers on its promises to stakeholders. Internal branding programs help achieve alignment between the brand’s identity, purpose and promise and the behavior of its employees by developing greater brand engagement internally. Research suggests that consumers display greater brand engagement when they can place themselves in the brand’s narrative, that is, experience the brand’s claims as authentic. We propose that what holds for consumers also holds for employees and extend work on authenticity into the internal branding area. We explore the internal branding challenges in regards to three forms of authenticity: Consistency, conformity, and connection. Together these three forms of authenticity identify the need for programs that create alignment between external and internal messaging, enable employees to operate as a cultural insider with their target audience (and the context which surrounds them), and build connections between brand narratives and the collective historical identity of the firm and its employees. We conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and issues for future research.

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We examine the value of design thinking in times of crisis. Drawing on examples of firm innovations during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, we propose that disruptive events represent wicked problems that require managers to break out of established patterns of thinking. Design thinking, or the problem solving approaches and tools of designers, represents one such approach. Drawing on extant research, we identify a three-stage process of design thinking: disrupt, develop and deliver, and transform. We examine each stage, identifying how careful disruptive thinking with a focus on understanding problems within their context can give rise to innovative solutions, resulting in a more resilient organisation.

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Subverting scripts can be critical to successful service innovation. However, deviating from firmly embedded scripts can be risky, because doing so can confuse and frustrate customers. Through an ethnographic study of a specialist coffee shop, we investigate customers’ responses to the introduction of a script that countervailed dominant category norms. Drawing upon the constitutive elements of design thinking, we find that three practices— destabilization, control, and adaptation—led to the successful subversion and replacement of the dominant scripts. While this initially disoriented customers, the three identified practices enabled adoption by supporting customers’ transition to the new script. This study is novel in examining the practices and processes necessary for effective script subversion, and reveals the importance of thorough understanding of both the dominant script and customers’ experience of it. Moreover, it provides evidence of design thinking’s role in prompting and enacting service innovation.@en