End Users' Sense of Meaningfulness of Work: Role of Supplier Firm Brands and Associated Behaviors

Abstract

In summary, this research makes several key contributions to the B2B marketing literature. First, it illuminates how a key organizational behavior concept, meaningfulness of work, and its associated theory, logotherapy (Frankl, 1959), can be applied to brand attachment in a work context. Second, it highlights the role of instrumental value in the development of brand attachment in a distinctive setting: the completion of tasks at work. More concretely, it outlines the unique role of end users within the customer firms and how the theoretical lens of logotherapy provides a way to understand how end users find meaning on their job and how they develop strong feelings for supplier firm brands because of the key role supplier firm brands play in completing tasks at work. It is important to note that the end user would have to see the brand as being inextricably tied to doing the job and specifically doing the job well. Therefore, only certain work brands would enter into this domain of meaning creation for an end user, those with strong instrumental value. In addition, supplier firm brands may also be a source of shared meanings for end users as a whole and a way for them to connect with other end users through those shared meanings or values. Finally, the results from the qualitative and quantitative findings suggest interesting avenues for future research. For example, the qualitative results provide key insights into how supplier firm marketing activities influence end users and provide a basis for the development of strong connections to supplier firm brands, such as brand attachment. In addition, the post-hoc structural equation model suggests that ELM may be a useful theory to understand how the meaningfulness of work for an individual may influence how she or he evaluates brands encountered on the job as part of the process of the development of brand attachment.