The performance implications of company-salesperson corporate brand misalignment

Purpose - Global competition has increased a manufacturer focus on relationships and optimization of internal processes within channels of distribution. One of the central themes of channel relationships and an important theoretical proposition in corporate branding has been achievement of alignment between corporate and stakeholder perspectives. Using three corporate brands, this study seeks to use a configurational theoretic approach to investigate how deviation of salespeople from the corporate perspective is related to their satisfaction and commitment. Design/methodology/approach - The manager-specified ideal corporate brand profile was used as a proxy for a corporate perspective and a benchmark. Applying the Profile Deviation approach to study the effects of misalignment, the authors hypothesise that salespeople's deviation from the corporate perspective is negatively related to their satisfaction and commitment. Findings - Results, which were robust across the three corporate brands, partially support the hypotheses. However, positive performance implications of salesperson deviation suggest that the effects of misalignment are more complex than currently viewed in the literature. Findings and implications are discussed and research directions are developed. Practical implications - The study offers insights into the areas of corporate brand misalignment, internal branding and salesmanship. Originality/value - From the comparison of the three congruence models, it was intended to infer which corporation has succeeded in narrowing the perceptual discrepancy between the corporate and salesperson perspectives. By developing a fine-grained analysis the study pin-points the actual aspects that require co-alignment, thus facilitating managerial decision making.