Abstract
Ph.D.
Despite the extensive research undertaken in the subject area of services marketing, much is still unknown about services internal marketing, specifically internal marketing mix elements and how they affect brand awareness in services organisations. This study attempted to address this limitation. The study revolved around eleven internal marketing mix elements and their influence on brand awareness dimensions in the South African car rental industry.
Services organisations of which car rental companies are an example play a vital role in South Africa’s economy, as services organisations contribute 74% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Car rental companies like many other services organisations, are operating in a complex and extremely competitive environment. In order to attract and retain external customers, car rental companies need to focus on programmes to enhance their services delivery. Employees are the most valuable asset of an organisation, especially in the services environment. Internal marketing programmes aimed at employees are crucial to motivate them to improve service delivery to external customers.
The four traditional internal marketing mix elements, namely internal product, price, promotion and place, as well as the three services internal marketing mix elements, namely internal people, process, and physical evidence are well known in product and services markets. However, this study contributed to the body of knowledge by adding four recent internal marketing mix elements, namely internal personal relationships, packaging, positioning and performance.
Brand awareness refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in the customer’s mind. Awareness is measured according to the different ways in which customers remember a brand, ranging from recognition (exposure to the brand) to recall (what can be recalled
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about the brand) (Aaker, 2004:10). Brand awareness recall is associated with three dimensions, namely trustworthiness, overall evaluation and loyalty.
In order to establish the influence of the eleven internal marketing mix elements on the brand awareness as perceived by the customers of selected car rental companies, an empirical investigation was conducted. The primary objective of this study was to determine the perceived influence of the different elements of internal marketing on the brand awareness as perceived by selected car rental customers in South Africa.