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AMBASSADORS AND BRANDS: THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Sofia dos Santos Cansado
The impact of internal brand ambassadorship on the employer branding of corporate brands
Dissertation presented as partial requirement for obtaining
the Master’s degree in Information Management
2022 Title: AMBASSADORS AND BRANDS: THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Subtitle: The impact of internal brand ambassadorship on the employer branding of corporate brands Sofia dos Santos Cansado
MGI
i
ii NOVA Information Management School
Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação Universidade Nova de Lisboa
AMBASSADORS AND BRANDS: THE KEY TO SUCCESS The impact of internal brand ambassadorship on the employer
branding of corporate brands
by
Sofia dos Santos Cansado
Dissertation presented as partial requirement for obtaining the Master’s degree in Information Management, with a specialization in Marketing Intelligence
Advisor: Prof. Teodóra Szabó-Douat, Ph.D.
October 2022
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My acknowledgments are dedicated to everyone that had an impact on my life, even without knowing it. I consider myself a creative person, but ideas only come from experiences that life and people bring to us.
To Gonçalo Pinheiro for motivating me through the weekends, weekdays, and nights when I would not stop, and for teaching me that resting and having fun are also important for my thought process.
To my parents for teaching me that learning is a never-ending journey.
To my sisters Patricia Cansado and Mónica Cansado for their brave and encouraging examples.
To my friends Ana Margarida Costa and Zahara Abibe for inspiring me with their unique paths.
To my tutor, Professor Teodóra Szabó-Douat for making me question everything, in a positive and constructive way and for the support throughout these months.
And to my course professors, for making me open my mind about data storytelling and for proving that numbers can have a wonderful story, ready to be discovered.
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RESUMO
O conceito de embaixadores da marca evoluiu ao longo dos anos para integrar estratégias de marketing de todas as marcas, seja para um público externo ou interno, para um segmento de mercado de consumidor ou empresarial. Se analisarmos as marcas corporativas de sucesso, podemos ver como se distinguem por terem uma estratégia de employer branding integrada com diferentes pontos de ação que garantem a diferenciação no mercado. Esta investigação vincula os programas de embaixadores de marca e o conteúdo criado por colaboradores à atração de potenciais colaboradores e, consequentemente, ao relacionamento positivo com o employer branding. Esta investigação é composta por dois estudos e mostra que os embaixadores internos de marca formam uma componente atrativa e motivadora para potenciais colaboradores se candidatarem a uma determinada empresa, além de afetar positivamente o employer branding. Quanto ao programa de embaixadores, este deve incluir conteúdo criado por colaboradores, pois está comprovado que cria uma sensação de confiança e tem impacto em potenciais candidatos. Os resultados também sugerem que, embora os colaboradores não estejam prontos para se tornarem criadores de conteúdo sobre a empresa, por conta própria, estão mais dispostos a tornarem-se embaixadores internos, especialmente se falarmos de profissionais mais jovens.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE
Embaixadores de Marca; Employer Branding; Conteúdo Gerado por Colaboradores; Equidade de Marca; Marcas Corporativas
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ABSTRACT
Brand ambassadorship has evolved over the years to integrate marketing strategies for all brands, being to an external or internal target and to a consumer or business segment of the market. If we analyze successful corporate brands, we can see how they distinguish themselves by having an integrated employer branding strategy with different action points that guarantee differentiation in the market. This research links the brand ambassadorship program and employee-generated content to the attraction of potential employees and consequently to the positive relationship with employer branding. These two studies research shows that internal brand ambassadorship is a proven attractor and motivator for potential employees to apply to a certain company, as well as positively affects employer branding. As for the ambassadorship program, it must include employee-generated content has it’s proven to create a feeling of trustworthiness and reliability and have an impact on potential applications. The results also suggest that, even though employees are not ready to become employee- generated content creators by themselves, they are more prone to becoming internal ambassadors, especially when referring younger employees.
KEYWORDS
Brand Ambassadorship; Employer Branding; Employee-generated content; Brand Equity; Corporate brands
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
UGC User-generated content EGC Employee-generated content EVP Employee Value Proposition WOM Word-to-mouth
E-WOM Electronic Word-to-mouth
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INDEX
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Literature review ... 3
2.1 Internal Brand Ambassadorship ... 3
2.2 Employee-generated content... 4
2.3 Brand Equity ... 5
2.4 Corporate Brand ... 6
2.5 Employer Branding ... 7
3. Conceptual Model ... 9
4. First study ... 10
4.1 Methodology ... 10
4.2 Participants ... 11
4.3 Results and Discussion... 12
4.3.1 Application Interest ... 12
4.3.2 Employee Motivation to Act ... 13
4.3.3 Corporate Brand Attractivity ... 14
4.3.4 Employer Branding Impact on Employee Choice ... 15
4.3.5 Impact of Age ... 18
4.3.6 Social Actions ... 18
5. Second Study ... 20
5.1 Methodology ... 20
5.2 Participants ... 21
5.3 Results and discussion ... 22
5.3.1 Motivation to Apply... 22
5.3.2 Expectations Behind a Post ... 22
5.3.3 Probability of Creating Content ... 24
6. Conclusion, Limitations, and Future Research ... 25
7. Bibliography ... 28
8. Appendix ... 33
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 - Theoretical Model ... 9
Figure 2 - Reasons behind the company choice ... 17
Figure 3 - Means comparison for motivation to apply ... 22
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 - Reliability Statistics ... 12
Table 2 - Descriptive Statistics of univariate analysis of variance ... 14
Table 3 - One-Sample T-Test for the listed companies ... 16
Table 4 - Means comparison for actions promoted by EGC and Company content ... 23
Table 5 - One-way ANOVA for the probability of creating EGC ... 24
Table 6 - Comparison of Randstad Employer Brand Research results and survey results ... 25
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1. INTRODUCTION
Think about your dream company. Perks aside, what would it have? A good office, a good team.
What about its brand? Would it be as “cool” as Google or Amazon? When you tell your friends and family about it, does it make you proud to be part of it?
This dream company probably has an attractive, well-known brand and makes people have a
“wow” moment the first time you tell them about it. It probably makes you more willing to make a positive statement about it, and how the brand reflects your position. This is the first step as a brand ambassador.
Brand ambassadors are often described as “the face” that brands adopt, the ones that represent brands, to be the tastemaker and a positive influence in word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing strategies. One author describes the concept of internal brand ambassadorship as a tool that is used by companies to communicate with the public to improve their sales numbers. It is the way a company can communicate its products to the right target (Gede Permata Sari Dewi et al., 2019). But as we will see in the literature review, this is but one of the many definitions of ambassadorship.
The core of internal brand ambassadorship goes back to how internal ambassadors, the employees, communicate the corporate brand where they work. And if we think of employees, a lot must be said about how they live the brand values and transmit them to the outside. In other words, how they communicate brand equity. Brand equity is proven to be linked to how an employee communicates (Theurer et al., 2018) and it shows how someone can be deeply motivated and related to the values and culture of one’s workplace.
The brand ambassadorship strategy must include ways to engage employees in this program, using wide-spread social platforms like social media networks. This is how employee-generated content (EGC) is introduced. The rise of social media made it easier for employees to share their experiences online, and for potential workers to see how the real work environment is. By sharing their experience, employees are creating content that is powerful and has an impact that companies cannot compete with and can have an impact on their reputation (Joglekar &
Tan, 2022). So, if EGC becomes part of a brand ambassadorship strategy, it can benefit the company, promote employee engagement, and also positively impact employer branding.
Thinking back to the dream company everyone imagines, how does a company reach such a desired state?
The concept of employer branding can help to understand this circumstance. Employer branding proves that marketing strategies can be applied to the recruitment side of a company (Ambler
& Barrow, 1996) allowing it to attract but also retain its talent. But for the brand to be successful, it is not enough to pass a message of internal success. The employer branding must be consistent with the employee’s real work experience and the core values and culture of the company (Moroko & Uncles, 2008).
To have a good employer branding strategy, companies must first understand the topics that make potential employees choose a specific place to work, and then proceed to construct an
2 employee value proposition (EVP), to ensure they offer what could be the critical factors to have happy and motivated employees. (Randstad, 2021).
Besides internal factors that influence an employee’s choice, employer branding also works on the aspect of the corporate brand. The actions and strategies that are externally communicated and that promote the corporate brand is also a way of showing the unique aspects of the company itself, such as the work environment or benefits that go beyond the hygienic factors (salary is a hygienic factor) (Theurer et al., 2018).
This research consists of two studies. The first study focuses on how corporate companies can adopt internal brand ambassadorship to impact the attractiveness of the brand, both internally and externally, by the means of employer branding.
The second study is centered on employee-generated content (EGC) and its impact on potential employees’ motivation to apply to a company, as well as its impact on being a tool of a brand ambassadorship program.
There is a lack of research about the impact of internal brand ambassadorship on corporate brands' employer branding strategy, and the following study contributes to shaping a better brand ambassadorship program and reinforces the importance of internal ambassadorship by associating feelings of trustworthiness to the corporate brand.
The main findings of this research validate that brand ambassadorship and EGC do in fact have a positive outcome for corporate brands and should be considered as an important tool of an employer branding strategy. Organizations should take into consideration their employees' experience as a way of communicating the values of the brand to the outside. It is also confirmed that brand ambassadorship is becoming an important factor in communication, as can be a criterium of choice for a potential employee.
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTERNAL BRAND AMBASSADORSHIP
The basic concept of ambassadorship is the success in communicating products from the brand they are part of, aligned with the brand positioning and creating positive influence and behavior (Mazur & Zimnoch, 2018). Magnusson (2014), relates the concept of internal brand ambassadorship to how organizations ensure that employees are committed to the brand, and (Andersson, 2019) describes the communication role that employees have.
There is a common understanding in corporate brands that employees are important communicators and therefore should be motivated to do so (Andersson, 2019). A brand ambassador's role is to deliver the brand promise through actions and behaviors that correspond to the brand expectations by consumers, in moments of truth. They must be aligned with the brand values to become the brand reality (Xiong et al., 2013).
A brand ambassadorship strategy is strongly related to brand commitment as this is the key factor behind a successful brand ambassadorship program (Schmidt & Baumgarth, 2018). Brand ambassadorship can be external, with stakeholders and influencers playing the role of brand ambassadors, or it can be internal, with employees. This research will cover the latter.
Not every employee is instantly labeled as an ambassador. To become an internal brand ambassador, the employee must have a strong relation and engagement with the organization and its brand values, as accentuated in a study with healthcare workers (Suomi et al., 2019).
If we think about the internal marketing strategy of a company, how can it create a culture that promotes internal brand ambassadors? Research conducted in a retail company found that some key elements in company culture can leverage brand ambassadors, such as freedom of speech or the relationship with managers. But this is not enough to promote an internal voice, if the only commitment employees have, is regarding continuity, or retention. Adopting conceptual models to the specific company’s needs can be a successful approach to sustaining positive voice behavior internally (Mazur & Zimnoch, 2018).
To have good conditions that promote internal brand ambassadorship, the employee must identify itself with the brand values, and its brand equity, which is approached in the next topic.
The research found, regarding the matter of ambassadorship, shows that corporate brands have made a solid journey in applying internal brand ambassadors in their marketing strategy (Mazur
& Zimnoch, 2018). Also, in order to have brand ambassadors, brands must work on their deep core, and the first step is understanding what their brand equity is. This is further talked about in the next literature review topics. The terms internal brand ambassador and corporate influencer are interchangeable, which means we can use both expressions for the same concept (Hesse et al., 2021). In this research, the term internal brand ambassador will be used.
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2.2 EMPLOYEE-GENERATED CONTENT
Brands have invested in all sorts of advertising to promote their products. With the era of influencers and social media, content generated by other parts, such as user-generated content, also appears. This type of content is spread on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, or even Tik Tok. Some of it is brand related and can have an impact on the consumer's perception (Saleem & Hawkins, 2021.).
Employee-generated content appears as a source of content from the inside of certain organizations, helping to promote what sometimes companies can't in their corporate marketing strategy. Similar to user-generated content, this type of content is produced by employees of a certain company. There is, from a consumer perspective and not work, a linkage between consumers relating to employees’ experiences with products with the increased chance of buying the said products (Li et al., 2017).
An employee-generated content can be a photograph, video, or testimonial that shares the experience of the employee in the organization. It can be about the products the company is selling, thus forming an inside point of view of the products (Yan et al., 2021).
But if, in the case of consumers, there is a purchase intention that comes from the employee- generated content about products from the brand, can there be an intention to work, when the EGC focuses on the working experience of the organization? We will focus on this latter question.
Companies have understood the power of content that is produced by employees and since then begun to have it in their own strategy, such as the brand Dell. In 2010 the company started an employee advocacy program that consisted of employees using their own social media networks to share their content about the organization, from their own perspective.
Five years later, the program counted 10,000 employees with brand-related content. It also had an impact on attracting new talent, with 36% of new hires coming from the employee content program, proving it to be a great source of referral (Ilic & Tranell, 2018). By letting employees become brand ambassadors of their own company, their voice becomes one with the values that the organization seeks to share with potential employees. It also impacts the foundations of employer branding itself, has it puts the employee as part of the strategy (Ilic &
Tranell, 2018).
Furthermore, employee-generated content can be an important pillar of an internal brand ambassadorship program. As mentioned, Dell is one of the many examples that companies can apply for employee-generated content programs in the internal ambassadorship strategy, making their employees part of the employer brand strategy (Ilic & Tranell, 2018).
But the main question is, what makes an employee share their experience? In a digital fast- moving world, every user shares their experience online, whether it is purchasing experience (Symitsi et al., 2021), a traveling experience (Noreen Zahra et al., 2019), or a working
experience (Duncan et al., 2019).
ECCs (Employee content creators) can be seen as experts on the organization at hand, mainly because of their real knowledge and experience with the company. More so, there is a sentiment of ECCs going above what they are expected, to share their work experience but also other information regarding the company itself (Saleem & Hawkins, 2021). This expertise sentiment by users can contribute to the effect of motivation to apply when looking for a job.
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2.3 BRAND EQUITY
Brand equity is defined as the added value that is endowed to a product. In an organization, it can be measured by the financial performance that comes from associating the brand with the product. It is a positive attitude that is related to the branded product (Farquhar, 1989) and derives from the brand image created by brand associations (Bendixen et al., 2004). It is also positively related to brand loyalty (Mohammad, 2017).
We can go back to Aaker’s model of brand equity to better understand the concept (Aaker, 2006). The author conceptualizes brand equity with five components: Brand awareness, the perception, and knowledge of the customer, brand loyalty, the degree of loyalty of a customer, brand associations, being what the customer associates and affects its purchase decision, perceived quality, as in what the quality level of the brand that is seen by the customer and finally other proprietary assets, more specifically competitive advantage, as in what the brand has in its advantage in the eyes of the customer (Tanveer & Lodhi, 2016). It is fair to relate that brand equity grows stronger if these five assets also grow and are associated with positive references.
Since this research focuses on corporate brands and how organizations are creating employer brand strategies that include internal brand ambassadors, we will focus on internal brand equity. Internal brand equity is defined by the effect of branding on the behavior of employees (Vatankhah & Darvishi, 2018).
There are a lot of research papers that concern the importance of brand equity in corporate brands. One study on internal branding, highlights the importance of brand equity, as it promotes the alignment with the brand identity and predisposes employees to communicate the brand consistently to all stakeholders (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2010). The same study shows that internal brand equity can be measured by the intention to remain loyal to both the brand and the company. This conclusion helps to define another relationship in which the concept of employees as ambassadors, or internal ambassadors, is linked to their contribution to brand equity (Andersson, 2019) and it shows how the relationship between employees and brand equity reinforces the role of internal ambassadorship in corporate brands.
But there is a clear research gap in how internal brand ambassadors can improve the employer branding strategy of a company. This research will study the relationship and further impact on employment and corporate brand strategy.
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2.4 CORPORATE BRAND
Following Aaker’s book (Aaker, 2006), a corporate brand is what defines the firm that consequently stands behind the product or service. It has both organizational and product associations, playing two key roles in branding, but this research will focus on the organization part.
Balmer’s definition of a corporate brand highlights the importance of having one, as it establishes a responsive attitude towards the company by its stakeholders (J. Balmer, 1995).
Behind a corporate brand, there is a defined strategy that includes corporate strategy, communication (J. Balmer, 1995), and culture (Vallaster & Lindgreen, 2011). As mentioned, it was also Balmer in 1995 the first author to construct a generic model of corporate brand characteristics. Similar to brand equity, corporate brands have a diverse number of concepts associated, such as corporate mission and philosophy, as in the organization's competencies and market position, corporate identity, as in its character, corporate personality, as in the mix of ideology related to the organization, corporate image, as in the perception of the organization and finally visual identification that is related to its logo, style and other factors that help design the organizations image (He & Balmer, 2006).
We can go deeper into this definition and analyze the corporate brand identity, which includes the organization's heritage, assets, people, values and priorities, local and global perception, citizenship, and finally performance (Aaker, 2018).
Corporate brands have an important part in building strong identity-based relationships with employees (Tuškej & Podnar, 2018a). Research shows that with the implementation of corporate branding practices, comes a sense of identification of the employee with the corporate brand and altruism towards it, therefore facilitating the role of brand ambassador they can take part in (Chang et al., 2015).
A corporate brand does involve a certain degree of decisions by management to have a clear branding proposition, that shows the organization’s communication (J. M. T. Balmer, 2001). In this same paper, a concept model is proposed, where corporate brands are conceived as a “mix of cultural, intricate, tangible, ethereal and commitment elements”. It is also stated that the focus should always be on all internal and external stakeholders.
In a study that researches the consumer’s relationship with a corporate brand, the researchers show a link between strong, favorable corporate brands and the engagement by various stakeholders to nurture the relationship with these types of brands (Tuškej & Podnar, 2018b).
This relationship is heightened if the corporate brand is perceived as prestigious and humanlike.
Prestige is also referenced in a paper that is based on a case study of the Aston Martin corporate brand (Essamri et al., 2019). Either through the super spy character associated with the brand or through storytelling that reinforces the meaning of the corporate brand identity, Aston Martin creates a member environment, where a customer feels like he belongs to the corporate brand. This membership scenario is one of the many ways a brand can grow brand loyalty with customers, and in this case, how a corporate brand can begin to have its internal ambassadors, as they connect in new and different ways with their employer.
7 In recent years with the introduction of startups, these specific types of corporate brands are starting to be developed through online communities, by creating quality relationships with members and enhancing most of all brand loyalty (Mingione & Abratt, 2020).
Only when the organization has a defined, strong corporate brand, can it begin to work on its employer branding strategy.
2.5 EMPLOYER BRANDING
Organizations are taking good steps toward employer branding. We can grasp the concept of employer branding as being the measure of the reputation of an organization as an employer and its value proposition to employees (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). The value proposition is what is viewed as attractive to a potential employee. And a corporate brand can go a long way in terms of building a good value proposition, that goes beyond the monetary aspects of a job offer.
In order to develop a solid employer branding strategy, it must be aligned with the corporate brand in question and the values and mission of the organization (Veloso, 2018). In the past, Employer Branding and Internal Branding were often two interchangeable concepts, meaning these were mistakenly taken as two concepts that were mandatorily connected. This misconception wasn’t cleared until 2019 mainly because there was no agreed concept of what Internal Branding was (Suomi et al., 2021).
The employer brand impact is, as seen by Dabirian et al. (2017a) determined by the match between employees’ experiences with the company culture and values. We can have a deeper understanding of employer branding in The Randstad Employer Brand Research, a yearly study conducted by Randstad, that determines the top criteria when choosing an employee. The outcomes are related to the public perception of overall brand awareness and relative attractiveness (Randstad Hong Kong, 2016).
This study approaches three areas that are the critical factors in a job decision, the companies that the inquire knows and would like to work in, and finally the perception they have about those companies, as potential employees (REBR Fatores Mais Importantes | Randstad Portugal, 2021).
This approach shows that a company can go a long way in corresponding to the potential employees’ expectations.
Besides research that is out there such as Randstad’s annual study, we see the rise of online platforms (e.g., Glassdoor) that measure employer branding, solely based on employees’
reviews. On Glassdoor, for instance, both former and current employees can leave their feedback regarding the company and management, based on variables such as the overall evaluation of the company, and more specific subjects such as the firm’s career opportunities, payment and benefits, management, workload, environment, and the brand’s culture and
8 values. There are some specific questions included as well, such as to evaluate the CEO or the first 6 months of experience in the company (Dabirian et al., 2017b).
There is something to be said about a brand that already has a path of awareness well built. Will a potential employee be more engaged with this company if it has an attractive brand? If we look at Google, this can be the case.
Throughout the years, Google has been accomplishing a solid employer branding strategy, with employees leaving positive feedback, both by traditional WOM (word of mouth), e-WOM (electronic word of mouth), and online employer branding platforms such as Glassdoor. Google has an innovative brand identity that attracts potential employees and in the latest years, since 2016, it was ranked the second-best place to work, which reflects the distinctive employer branding that the brand has in place (Gaddam, 2008).
Companies implement employer branding to brand the company with internal and external marketing strategies that reflect the employment experiences and can serve as a criteria of attraction of potential employees (Biswas & Suar, 2018).
As stated, Employer branding, in its concept, also defines a criterium list of what is considered the most attractive factors for employees to join a company. In this study, brand
ambassadorship is pointed as one of the criteria, in order to understand if it fits the potential criteria that employees choose and alas be part of future criteria that companies need to consider in their employer branding strategy.
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3. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
There is a clear relationship between corporate brands, which are deeply related to brand equity, internal brand ambassadors, and employer branding, as seen in the literature review, but there is a lack of research that links these three concepts to each other.
To understand the impact of internal brand ambassadorship on employer branding and corporate brands, the main research question of this dissertation is the following:
What is the impact of internal brand ambassadorship on the employer branding of corporate brands?
To answer the research question, the following hypotheses will be tested:
H1 - Internal brand ambassadorship condition increases the effect on employer branding criteria versus the absence of the condition.
H2 - Potential employees are more attracted to corporate brands that have internal brand ambassadorship condition and employee-generated content, versus the absence of the condition.
H3 – A brand with a strong employer branding is more likely to be chosen as a place to work by a potential employee, versus a brand with no employer branding.
H4 - Younger employees are more willing to become internal brand ambassadors in their place of work, versus older employees.
The proposed relationship between the constructs is shown in the following theoretical model:
Figure 1 - Theoretical Model
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4. FIRST STUDY 4.1 METHODOLOGY
To test the hypotheses, an experimental research design was applied. The first step in the experiment is to compare how a corporate brand is perceived as attractive in their job advertisements and if internal brand ambassadorship plays a role in the potential employee’s choice.
A fictional brand was created, with no name mentioned, to test two different versions of the same job advertisement. The first job advertisement mentions the benefits and internal brand ambassador program, the “#workbuddy” that describes how the program works: employees who participate in the “workbuddy” program would share their work experience online and work with other colleagues to grow their ambassadorship concept. The second job advertisement does not mention the program. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions.
The experiment was applied to a group of participants who may or may not be currently looking for a job and may be from different work areas. This allowed understanding what the main points are that the participants consider the corporate brands to be attractive or not and if it is related to their current position of looking for a job. It was also interesting to understand what attracts these participants from a candidate's point of view. This experiment will further help the research about the perceived level of attractiveness of the company and if it is influenced by the fact that they work with internal ambassadors or not.
To measure the level of attractiveness of these places to work that was constructed specifically for the experiment at hand, these imagined scenarios will put the participant in situations where they must choose a place to work, based only on the corporate brand attractiveness and the internal brand ambassadorship program.
The participants were asked to rate how likely they were to apply to the shown scenario, to follow the company on LinkedIn, to recommend it to a friend or colleague, and participate in events from the said company, from 1= unlikely to 7= extremely likely. An overall behavior index was created, showing the average of these four topics. (a = .996).
Some pillars on to base their choice include external communication, like social media and platforms used to communicate externally; awareness of the brand, from media and
advertising; work environment that can be shared via e-WOM (electronic word of mouth) or employer branding platforms such as Glassdoor, career opportunities, shown in platforms like LinkedIn and finally internal environment awareness that comes from internal brand
ambassadorship programs.
To also analyze the employer branding pillar that is fundamental in this research, a list of nine companies will be included, taken from Interbrand’s 2021 global brands (Interbrand - Global Brand Consultancy - Interbrand, 2021.) where the participant must choose which ones would he be interested to work in, rating them in an ordinal scale.
11 After rating them, the participant must also answer the reason behind the choice, with a list of options that are related to the level of perception they have of these corporate brands.
Other important criteria from employer branding are included, and participants must also answer why they would want to work in the company described in the scenario, including criteria such as career opportunity, salary, work environment, benefits package, and finally the internal brand ambassadorship program.
Participants must also rate how likely they would be to follow the imagined corporate brand on LinkedIn, to recommend it, and event to participate in events.
A question about the source of company reviews is also included, to understand the level of trust these participants have in WOM (word-of-mouth), E-WOM (electronic-word-of-mouth), and internal ambassadors, when choosing a place to work.
4.2 PARTICIPANTS
For this study, Amazon Mechanical Turk was used, where participants have monetary
compensation for their answers. All genders were included, and a universe of 18 to 65 years of age was considered, as this is the typical age range for working professionals. We considered international participants, who may or may not have professional experience and also come from a broad range of sectors, as the goal was to understand their point of view on the subject.
The experiment was set up in an online survey, using Qualtrics, with a one-factor and two levels design. An initial goal of 150 participants was set and a sample of 165 answers was collected over the course of two weeks. Out of this sample, 144 answers were deemed acceptable for analysis, respecting the completion rules of the survey.
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4.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The first step was to clean up the data and understand the first approach to the results. The questionnaire had a manipulation check question, to make sure that participants were attentive to what was presented in the scenario, more specifically if they were in fact in the presence of a scenario with a brand ambassadorship program or not. Using the manipulation check question has a filter, we proceeded with the data analysis with a total of 101 answers.
After filtering out inattentive answers, we continued to validate the reliability of the presented data, in order to move on with our analysis.
As the main question in the survey analysis job scenarios, whether it may include or not the ambassadorship program, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was used as a measure, in performing a reliability analysis for both job scenarios, and the result indicated that the constructs employed in this research are reliable with alpha values and composite reliability higher than 0.7 (Tavakol
& Dennick, 2011), helping to move forward with the data analysis (Table 1). We then proceed to the analysis of our experiment with the two job advertisements.
Reliability Statistics Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
,939 9
Table 1 - Reliability Statistics
4.3.1 APPLICATION INTEREST
To better analyze the likelihood to apply for both job scenarios, two new variables were computed. The variable “Apply” merged both job advertisements, where it rated how likely the participants were to apply and the variable “Condition” that merged both job scenarios, with and without ambassadorship.
A one-way ANOVA was conducted to see how these variables related to each other and if in fact the internal brand ambassadorship program "#workbuddy" had any impact on the likelihood to apply.
There was a significant effect of the apply variable in the condition variable at the p<.05 level for the two conditions [F(1, 114) = 4.61, p = 0.034].
Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean score for the no ambassadorship condition (M = 4,74., SD = 2,05) was significantly different than the ambassadorship condition (M = 5,47, SD = 1,55). These results suggest that the
ambassadorship program has an effect on the interest to apply, meaning that applicants that
13 saw the program included in the advertisement were more interested to apply. Further data is available in appendix one.
It is also very important to understand why people would apply for the job advertisement, and for that, we compared the means of the reasons to apply and the condition, as seen in
appendix two.
It's interesting to see that in the scenario without ambassadorship, the factors Career
opportunity (44%) Salary (40%), Work environment (35%), and Benefits Package (35%) are the most important criteria when choosing this job.
But when the scenario mentions brand ambassadorship, this rating changes to Career
opportunity (45%) Work environment (36%), Salary (30%), and Benefits Package (27%). These percentages were calculated based on the means table from appendix two. In this particular question, participants selected from the five factors, which they considered the reason behind their interest to apply in the stated company.
We can also compare that the criteria related to the company itself are valued first than the monetary component when talking about this last scenario with the “#workbuddy” program.
We must do a crucial parenthesis here. The brand ambassadorship program is not the most valued, but when compared in both scenarios, we see a significant difference between them, meaning that participants who saw the job advertisement with ambassadorship, valued more the program (11%).
4.3.2 EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION TO ACT
H1: Internal brand ambassadorship condition increases the effect on employer branding criteria versus the absence of the condition.
After the participants rated how likely they were to apply to the job advertisement, they had to also rate how likely they were doing some actions related to the company described, such as following the company on LinkedIn, recommending it to friends or colleagues, and
participating in events from the company. These are some of the most neutral company- related actions that a professional could proceed to do if they are in fact interested to join an organization they consider to be attractive.
A one-way ANOVA test was conducted to compare the effect of the condition of
ambassadorship or no ambassadorship in the three different actions mentioned (appendix three). The test revealed that there is a statistically significant difference in the condition between at least two groups (F(1, 11) = [7,37], p =<001).
In a general way, we see that participating in events is the action that resonates with most participants (p= <.001). This is the highest effort action from the three-item list, which
represents the level of identification that participants have with this brand, and that all actions are significant for them to perform. Knowing the impact of the internal brand ambassadorship program, the likelihood to apply, and the reasons to conduct company-related actions, we conclude that H1 is supported: Internal brand ambassadorship condition increases the effect on employer branding criteria versus the absence of the condition.
14
4.3.3 CORPORATE BRAND ATTRACTIVITY
H2: Potential employees are more attracted to corporate brands that have internal brand ambassadorship condition and employee-generated content, versus the absence of the condition.
But what makes the company from the scenario so attractive? Participants had to choose from a list of factors that are associated with the job advertisement presented, which included external communication, awareness of the brand, work environment, career opportunities, and finally the internal ambassadorship program. These items are related to an employer branding strategy that organizations can put in place, as seen in the literature review section.
We ran an ANOVA to compare the effect of these five items on both job scenarios. The results confirm that external communication (M=0.92), Awareness of the brand (M=0.92), Career opportunities (M=0.62) are the factors that contribute to the brand's attractiveness.
It is also important to highlight that the brand ambassadorship program (M=0.58) is also very relevant in the list, coming in fourth place. Since participants who did not have the
ambassadorship concept in the scenario, have it later explained to them, we can see the effect of this program in their choice, from both job advertisements. All results can be consulted in Table 2.
Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable: Condition What makes this
company's brand
attractive? Mean Std. Deviation N
0 ,41 ,507 17
External
communication (social media, platforms)
,92 ,289 12
Awareness of the brand (advertising, media)
,92 ,277 13
Work environment ,55 ,506 31
Career opportunities ,61 ,495 31
Internal
ambassadorship program
,58 ,515 12
Total ,63 ,485 116
Table 2 - Descriptive Statistics of univariate analysis of variance
15 The experiment also included specific questions about internal brand ambassadorship, after the participant has rated the job advertisement, to test if these programs have an actual impact on one's choice. Could it be a critical factor or not even considered in their choice?
To test this relationship a one-way ANOVA test was conducted to examine the effect of the internal brand ambassadorship program described in the experiment, on the choice of place to work. The participant could either classify the program as a factor that made the company more attractive, could consider it to not have any impact on their choice, or even make him not want to apply to the job advertisement.
It's interesting to understand that there is a strong relationship between both job
advertisements and the level of impact of the internal ambassador program (p=<001). The full results can be consulted in appendix four.
When seeing the choices at hand that rate the degree of impact this program could have in their decision, being “Yes it made the company more attractive”, “It didn’t have an impact on my choice” and “It made me not want to apply” we see a major difference. We see that for participants the program made the company more attractive (appendix four).
Therefore, H2 is statistically supported: Potential employees are more attracted to corporate brands that have internal brand ambassadorship condition and employee-generated content, versus the absence of the condition.
4.3.4 EMPLOYER BRANDING IMPACT ON EMPLOYEE CHOICE
H3: A brand with a strong employer branding is more likely to be chosen as a place to work by a potential employee, versus a brand with no employer branding.
Following the employer branding factor, the participants had to choose three from a list of nine companies (IKEA, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Accenture, Heineken, and Uber) to work for. The listed companies were chosen with the research by Interbrand’s 2021 best global brands list (Interbrand – Global Brand Consultancy – Interbrand, 2021).
To analyze the chosen companies, a One-sample T-test was conducted, with the objective to understand which variable means of the companies are statistically different. By looking at the mean difference values, we see that Google and Microsoft are the most statistically different, followed by an also relevant statistical difference of Amazon.
Google's score was statistically significantly higher by a mean of 4,78, 95% CI [0.5 to 0.4], as well as Microsoft's score, was statistically significantly higher by a mean of 4,76, 95% CI [0.5 to 0.4]. Amazon scored statistically significantly higher by a mean of 4,63, 95% CI [0.5 to 0.4]. All data can be seen in table 4.
16 One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
t df
Significance Mean Differen
ce
95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference One-
Sided p
Two-
Sided p Lower Upper
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - IKEA
19,384 115 <,001 <,001 4,034 3,62 4,45
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Google
20,833 115 <,001 <,001 4,784 4,33 5,24
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Microsoft
21,406 115 <,001 <,001 4,759 4,32 5,20
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Amazon
19,381 115 <,001 <,001 4,629 4,16 5,10
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Apple
19,840 115 <,001 <,001 4,534 4,08 4,99
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - IBM
20,051 115 <,001 <,001 4,336 3,91 4,76
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Accenture
18,973 115 <,001 <,001 3,948 3,54 4,36
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Heineken
18,348 115 <,001 <,001 3,879 3,46 4,30
How interested would you be to apply to the following companies? - Uber
17,264 115 <,001 <,001 3,810 3,37 4,25
Table 3 - One-Sample T-Test for the listed companies
After assessing the top three companies chosen by participants, we then proceed to
understand why they chose such companies. The reasons listed are "I know and follow these brands on online platforms, knowing what they work on, awards they won and I follow some employees", "I have seen these brands in media and online platforms, with awards they won
17 and projects that interest me", "these brands are very popular on social media and I follow their social media channels", "I have always been interested in these brands, and know what they do from the news" and finally "I was not interested in any company". The results are visually interpreted in figure 2.
Figure 2 - Reasons behind the company choice
Understanding the main reasons to choose the companies, we see that, the strongest ones are
"These brands are very popular on social media and I follow their social media channels" (M=
0,88, 95% CI [0.1 to 0.07]), "I have seen these brands in media and online platforms, with awards they won and projects that interest me" (M= 0,77, 95% CI [0.09 to 0.06]) and finally "I know and follow these brands on online platforms, knowing what they work on, awards they won and I follow some employees" (M= 0,73, 95% CI [0.09 to 0.06]).
These are three statements that are related to how well the participants know the brand and the level of involvement in their actions, which are in line with the employer brand strategy these brands have.
Coming back to the list of companies, three brands that are referred to as having a strong employer branding (Interbrand - Global Brand Consultancy - Interbrand, 2021), as places chosen to work, as well as the reasons supporting these choices that are aligned with
employer brand strategies, we can see that H3 is statistically supported: A brand with a strong employer branding is more likely to be chosen as a place to work by a potential employee, versus a brand with no employer branding.
Another question asked was about the type of company reviews that potential employees rely on when choosing a place to work. There are many sources of company reviews, and the ones mentioned were reviews by family and friends that are ex-employees (word-of-mouth), online review platforms such as Glassdoor (electronic word-of-mouth), and finally online reviews from employees, as a form of brand ambassadorship.
Participants were asked to select which review sources they trusted the most and, when looking at the four choices, there is a significant preference for online reviews from employees
0,73 0,77 0,88
0,38
0 0
0,10 0,20,3 0,40,5 0,60,7 0,80,91
I know and follow these brands on online platforms, knowing what they work on, awards they won and I follow some employees.
I have seen these brands in media
and online platforms, with awards they won and projects that interest me.
These brands are very popular on social media and I follow their social media channels.
I have always been interested in these brands, and know what they do from the news.
I just want to work there, but have not seen anything
about the companies.
I was not interested in any
company.
Reasons behind the company choice
18 (p=0.152) and online reviews, with Glassdoor as an example (p=0.264). The complete results are accessible in appendix five. Both of these reviews are coming from a digital space and are related to both internal ambassadorship (employees sharing their work experience) and employer branding (Glassdoor is one of the principal employer branding platforms, as mentioned in the literature review).
4.3.5 IMPACT OF AGE
H4: Younger employees are more willing to become internal brand ambassadors in their place of work, versus older employees.
Other analyses were performed to check what variables could have a part as moderators and have an impact on internal brand ambassadorship. One factor is age and if it has any relevant impact on the participant's choice of place to work. More importantly if younger employees are more prone to the idea of becoming internal brand ambassadorships.
To investigate the effect of age on the likelihood to apply, a moderator analysis was performed using PROCESS by Andrew F. Hayes. We used model one, as it is a simple moderation analysis that runs the moderation effect of a given variable in the relationship between X and Y (independent and dependent variables).
The outcome variable for analysis was the rating scale of likelihood to apply. The predictor variable for the analysis was the condition of ambassadorship or no ambassadorship. The moderator variable evaluated for the analysis was age. The interaction between the
ambassadorship condition and age was found to be statistically significant (B=.061 95% C.I. (- 0,11,-0,01). p<0.5).
The conditional effect of age on the likelihood to apply showed corresponding results. At low moderation the variable likelihood to apply = 4,75 the (conditional effect = 1,0479, 95% C.I.
(0,33, 1.77), p <0.5).
At high moderation the variable likelihood to apply = 5,65 the (conditional effect = -0,2632, 95% C.I. (-1,0044, 0,4779), p <0.5).
These results identify age as a positive moderator of the relationship between the
ambassadorship condition and the likelihood to apply, with one standard deviation below the mean, meaning that younger employees resonate better with the idea of internal brand ambassadorship and therefore supporting H4: Younger employees are more willing to become internal brand ambassadors in their place of work, versus older employees.
4.3.6 SOCIAL ACTIONS
To test mediation, it was created a new variable named “Social Actions” merged all three actions mentioned above, to test its mediation effect. So, to understand if social actions have a mediation effect on the condition and likelihood to apply, a regression analysis was conducted with the process procedure by Andrew F. Hayes, using model 4.
19
As the indirect effect is significant, (95% CI [0.07, 0.81]), it can be concluded that social actions mediate the effect of brand ambassadorship on the willingness to apply to the firm.
Specifically, when in the ambassadorship condition, there is a higher likelihood to perform social actions related to the company and therefore there is also a higher chance to apply to the job advertisement. These results are available in appendix seven.
20
5. SECOND STUDY 5.1 METHODOLOGY
To ensure and reinforce the importance of the brand ambassadorship program and EGC (employee-generated content) as part of the program itself, a second study was conducted, focusing on the latter subject. EGC is growing on social media and is a powerful tool to take into consideration in any ambassadorship strategy. Consequently, it should be tested whether EGC is a relevant tool to motivate potential employees to apply.
The first study mentions the ambassadorship program #workbuddy, and the second study further researches the impact of EGC, that comes from the program.
For this study, there was also an experiment put in place, with two scenarios. The first one showed an EGC post on Instagram from an employee that works at “Company X”, the company simulated for this study. The employee is sharing their first day at work experience on
Instagram, featuring the material received as an onboarding present.
The second scenario also presents a post on Instagram, but this time from the simulated
“Company X” itself, showing one of the teams working at the office. This way, the company is promoting its internal engagement, whilst showing an inside view of what is the work
environment.
To create these simulated posts, an image showing onboarding material was created using free stock photos (Macbook pro on Brown Wooden Table Photo – Free Image on Unsplash, n.d.) as well as for the company image with the team (Group of People Using Laptop Computer Photo – Free Business Image on Unsplash, n.d.).
The scenarios were randomly presented to participants and a set of questions was asked afterward. The main goal was to reinforce the importance of brand ambassadorship and EGC as means to motivate potential employees to apply to the simulated company.
The two scenarios have the company post and the employee post and proceed to test which content is set to have better results in terms of engagement, motivation to apply, motivation to take an action, the general feeling it brings, and also the probability of the participant to become an employee-generated content creator as well.
The participants had to rate how likely they were to apply to the company that is represented in the image they were shown and the probability of posting about work, from 1 = very unlikely to 7 = very likely. The overall behavior index that shows the average of these two items shows that ( = .885).
The motivation of the company-generated content and the employee-generated content can be different, as well as the feeling. The study tests feelings of trustworthiness but also about the work environment that the posts project, the motivation to apply, and the feeling of belonging. As for the content itself, it also tests feelings of reliability, trustworthiness, friendliness, and if it is a good source of a company review.
21
5.2 PARTICIPANTS
This second study had a similar approach to the first one, as the goal was to maintain the same aspects of the first research. Once again Amazon Mechanical Turk was used with monetary compensation. And a similar target was considered: international participants, who may or may not have professional experience and also come from a broad range of sectors. All genders were included, and a universe of 18 to 65 years of age was considered, as this is the typical age range for working professionals. The average age of the participants was 37 years old.
The experiment was also set up in an online survey, using Qualtrics, with a one-factor and two levels design. This follow-up of the main research had the goal of further investigating the impact of Employee Generated Content (EGC) and Company Content on a potential employee's choice of workplace. There was a total of 161 answers with 149 being valid to proceed with the analysis, after the date being cleaned and prepared.
22
5.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5.3.1 MOTIVATION TO APPLY
The first and principal analysis to make was to understand the impact of the scenarios on the participants' motivation to apply to “Company X”. The findings show that when potential employees are exposed to content generated by a company versus generated by an employee, we can confirm that they are more likely to apply to the presented company when exposed to EGC (M=5,56) versus when they are exposed to the company post (M=4,88), as seen in figure 3.
Figure 3 - Means comparison for motivation to apply
5.3.2 EXPECTATIONS BEHIND A POST
It was also important to determine what degree of relationship the participants felt with the presented company. Was the company post or the employee post the one that represented best the mentioned organization?
In reality, when exposed to EGC, the potential employees feel that the organization
represented in the content had a welcoming work environment (M=5,85), versus the company post (M=5,42), which made them want to apply to the organization. This data reinforces the idea that organic content that is created by an employee has a positive acceptance by social media users and when referring to potential employees, can be a source of applications.
It is interesting to see that when the participants are exposed to the scenario with the company content, potential employees feel that the work environment is welcoming, but no other variable has a significant difference, as confirmed in table 4.
5,56
1,073 4,88
1,545
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Mean SD
Probability of applying for the mentioned company
EGC post Company post
23
Does this post makes
you: - Feel that the organization
is trustworthy
Does this post makes you: - Want to apply for a job in this organization
Does this post makes
you: - Feel that work environment is welcoming
Does this post makes you: - See
yourself belonging
in this company
EGC post
Mean 5,44 5,85 5,85 5,48
N 61 61 61 61
Std.
Deviation 1,057 0,946 0,928 0,993
Company post
Mean 5,16 5 5,42 5,14
N 88 88 88 88
Std.
Deviation 1,329 1,583 1,452 1,456
Table 4 - Means comparison for actions promoted by EGC and Company content
What we are analyzing fundamentally is the power of the content itself and what power underlies an employee's capability of showing the inside day-to-day of a company. And so, it was important to determine what the participants felt about the two posts, from the
employee and the company.
The EGC is considered to be more friendly (M=5,79) trustworthy (M=5,59) and reliable (M=5,57) than the company post (M=5,50; M=5,30; M=5,05). This reinforces the organic feeling users have when seeing posts about companies made by employees rather than posts fabricated by organizations as seen in appendix 9.
Although we are comparing the effects of the content generated by employees and by companies, it must be said that these are the two most trusted sources when searching for information on a potential organization, as seen on the list of possible sources, from appendix 10.
Content shared by both employees and the company itself creates a familiar environment where potential workers can understand at what level they resonate with the values, mission, and work feel of the said company.
24 It must be noted, however, the next most significant source from the list is Glassdoor, the employer branding platform that was previously mentioned in the first study as being in the top places to look for reviews.
5.3.3 PROBABILITY OF CREATING CONTENT
But if we go further than researching if EGC or content generated by a company has positive effects on choosing a potential employee and seeing them as trustable sources of company reviews, the participants are still cautious in becoming content generators themselves.
We see no statistical significance in the probability of participants sharing their work
experience online (f=.044, p >0,05), meaning that professionals are still wary of giving the first step in sharing their experience online through content such as posts on social media, as seen in table 7.
ANOVA
What would be the probability of you... - posting about your work experience, tagging your own company?
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups
,163 1 ,163 ,044 ,834
Within Groups 545,246 147 3,709
Total 545,409 148
Table 5 - One-way ANOVA for the probability of creating EGC
Companies that want to start an ambassadorship program that includes employees generating their own content, must understand what are the gains that professionals can have, in order to motivate them to share their experience online.
25
6. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH
Today’s organizations depend on talent more than ever, and the retention of employees is not enough. Identifying with the corporate brand and values is extremely important to guarantee a two-sided relationship (Dechawatanapaisal, 2018).
Employer branding has had a solid evolution over the years and more brands are taking into account this strategy. Moreover, ambassadorship is not seen as a tool that could be part of a corporate brand, when thinking of communicating with potential employees (Gilani &
Cunningham, 2017).
If we look back to the literature review about employer branding, it's interesting to compare the results from 2021 Randstad Employer Brand Research with the top criteria in common with the present research, to choose a company - career opportunity (or progression), work
environment, salary, and benefits package.
2021 Randstad Employer Brand
Research
Experiment scenario with ambassadorship
Experiment scenario without ambassadorship
Criteria considered by
employees
Salary and benefits package
Career Opportunity Career Opportunity
Work-life balance Work Environment Salary
Job Stability Salary Work Environment
Work environment Benefits package Benefits package
Career Progression Internal Ambassadorship Program
Internal Ambassadorship Program
Table 6 - Comparison of Randstad Employer Brand Research results and survey results
This research further investigated what could have an impact on today’s employees and how a job is not just a job; It’s a promise to an employee of how they will contribute to the
organization, but more importantly what the organization has to offer, more than the hygienic perks, such as salary. The experiment revealed how ambassadorship and employer branding impacts a corporate brand and how employees relate to it.
26 First, how internal brand ambassadorship can have a positive influence on employer branding.
We see that an employer brand strategy can be everything that presents an employee value proposition (EVP) and internal brand ambassadorship should be part of this proposition as this can add value to the corporate brand.
We have experienced this concept in the way potential employees were considered more attractive and had a higher probability to apply for a job offer that included the internal ambassadorship program as part of the organization’s proposed benefits.
Also, related to the advertisement that mentioned ambassadorship, potential employees were also more likely to engage in social actions related to the company, digital or not.
Diving deeper into the job advertisement in question, we see that the internal ambassador program comes in fifth, in the list of criterium that participants classified as making the described organization attractive. It comes behind four factors that are coming on top in important research in the field of employer branding such as Randstad Employer Brand Research.
This is an important listing, putting internal ambassador programs very close in the list of criteria that potential employees consider when choosing a workplace and highlighting the importance that these programs can have when implementing an employer brand strategy.
Second, we have found that corporate brands that implement in their strategy a program of internal brand ambassadors, are considered to be more attractive to potential employees and we confirm this on how the program itself had an impact on the participant's likelihood to apply, making it a factor to include in their choice process.
Following this thought process and focusing on employer branding, the research also
concluded that brands that have employer branding strategies are more likely to be chosen as a place to work by potential employees, and this was tested with a variety of real brands that have their own strategies in place. IKEA, Google, and Microsoft were the most chosen brands and participants already followed these companies' activities with attention.
But what makes an internal ambassadorship program? We’ve seen that the impact of
employee-generated content can be stronger than content created by companies, in terms of feelings of potential employees as well as becoming a source of company review and even creating motivation to apply to the company.
If companies want to start an internal ambassadorship program, EGC (employee-generated content) must be a part of it, as it engages employees but also creates an organic movement of content that is seen as reliable by social media users that can become potential employees.
Social media has proven its place in terms of engagement with brands and employer branding (Kaur et al., 2015), so companies should include employee-generated content in their internal ambassadorship frameworks, to ensure every time an employee shares their experience working in the company, it can have a positive impact in the corporate brand, attracting new workers but also engaging the ones that are currently working there.
Even though, most social media users still don’t feel comfortable taking the first step in becoming EGC creators, a brand ambassadorship program can motivate this action with a reward and recognition system as a starting point.
