The present research examines the relationship between internal branding and employees’ behavioral performance and proposes a research model that includes employees’ perceived brand authenticity and work engagement as sequential mediators to explain the examined relationships. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 3.0 statistical software is used to validate the proposed research model. The results of a self-administered online survey distributed to 95 frontline employees in a Kuwaiti bank confirm the positive direct effect of internal branding on employees’ behavioral performance. Interestingly, mixed results are obtained regarding the mediating effects of work engagement and brand authenticity. Overall, the results indicate that employees’ perceived brand authenticity is the missing link for internal branding and its effects on employees’ work engagement and behavioral performance. The findings provide important theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners on the use of internal branding to promote the brand promise to frontline employees and support employees' brand-building behaviors.

本研究调查了内部品牌与员工行为表现之间的关系，并提出了一个研究模型，该模型包括员工感知的品牌真实性和作为顺序中介者的工作参与度，以解释所考察的关系。使用SmartPLS 3.0统计软件中的具有偏最小二乘法（PLS-SEM）的结构方程模型来验证所提出的研究模型。对科威特一家银行的95名一线员工进行的自我管理的在线调查结果证实，内部品牌塑造对员工的行为表现具有积极的直接影响。有趣的是，关于工作参与和品牌真实性的中介效果，获得了不同的结果。全面的，结果表明，员工对品牌真实性的感知是内部品牌缺失及其对员工工作投入和行为表现的影响。研究结果为研究人员和从业人员使用内部品牌推广对一线员工的品牌承诺并支持员工的品牌建立行为提供了重要的理论和实践意义。