Exploring the Antecedents of Brand Loyalty and Electronic Word of Mouth in Social-Media-Based Brand Communities: Do Gender Differences Matter?

ABSTRACT

Recently, social media have emerged as key marketing communication channels. In this context, consumers are increasingly gathering in online communities which have been identified as social-media-based brand communities (SMBBCs). However, notwithstanding scholars' attention towards SMBBCs, the role of consumers' gender in developing brand loyalty intention (BLI) has been scarcely explored by literature. Moreover, scant attention has been given to the analysis of whether gender is related to different propensities towards brand recommendation—identified as a proactive behavior towards a positive electronic word of-mouth diffusion (E-WOM)—in the social media context. Hence, this research aims to explore the antecedents of BLI and E-WOM by focusing on consumers' gender differences. A structural equation model has been created based on 250 surveys collected among SMBBCs of an American sportswear brand. The results showed that male consumers' BLI is influenced by engagement in SMBBCs. Instead, brand trust was the main antecedent of females' BLI.     

Interactivity,Inspiration, and Perceived Usefulness! How retailers’ AR-apps improve consumer engagement through flow

This study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of consumer engagement through AR apps and suggests a new conceptual model. The purpose of the paper is to examine how consumer engagement is shaped via AR apps, which eventually leads to a positive attitude towards brand and brand usage intent. To this end, a face-to-face survey instrument was administered to 350 participants in Turkey, where participants tried an AR app and then answered a questionnaire. The structural equation modeling (SEM) and Hayes' Process analyses were applied to test the hypotheses and moderated mediation relationships. Findings showed that interactivity and inspiration are two major antecedents of consumers' flow experience. The flow experience with AR can generate favorable attitudes towards AR apps and more trust in AR apps, which trigger consumer engagement with AR apps and then improve brand attitude and brand usage intent. The outcomes of flow experience with AR (i.e., attitude and trust) mediate the relationship between flow and engagement. Although perceived usefulness increases the effect of consumers' attitudes towards AR on engagement, it has no moderating effect on the relationship between trust in AR and engagement. Furthermore, the results of Hayes' Process revealed that the indirect effect of flow on consumers’ engagement with AR through attitude towards AR is moderated by perceived usefulness. So that, if AR marketers aim to strengthen the link between consumer flow experience and engagement via attitudes towards AR, they should therefore consider enhancing the perceived usefulness of AR. Surprisingly, perceived usefulness had no moderating effect on the indirect relationship between flow and engagement via trust. Finally, this paper discusses both the theoretical and managerial implications.     

Exploring ethnic consumer response to crossover brand extensions

This research uses a social identity theory approach to investigate the impact of cultural identity on ethnic consumer response to ethnic crossover brand extensions—brands associated with one ethnic group that crossover into a product category associated with another ethnic group (e.g., McDonald's Café con leche). Study 1 demonstrates that the manner in which crossover brand extensions blend ethnic consumers' in-group and out-group cultural representations impact brand extension cultural fit and parent brand attitudes, and perceived ethnic target market impacts brand extension attitudes. Study 2 demonstrates that high ethnic embeddedness extensions strengthen ethnic consumers' self-brand connections. These findings provide managerial implications for practitioners considering a crossover brand extension strategy.     

Conceptualization of Brand Experience in an Event Marketing Context

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing importance of brand experience and event marketing, research addressing what constitutes brand experience in an event marketing context is scarce. The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptualization of brand experience that is specifically applicable to an event marketing context. Drawing on qualitative data collected from an international motor show, which is an important form of event marketing in the automotive industry, this article develops a conceptualization of brand experience as consumers' multifaceted interaction with brands enabled through four interrelated processes of multisensory stimulation, bodily performance, social interaction, and discovery/learning. In turn, these four interaction processes trigger perceptual, embodied, social, and epistemic brand experience. Drawing on data and the relevant literature, the article elaborates on these dimensions of brand experience and discusses their theoretical and managerial implications.     

Consumers' cognitive and affective responses to brand origin misclassifications: Does confidence in brand origin identification matter?

Although research on country-of-origin (COO) effects in general is abundant, findings regarding the phenomenon of brand origin misclassification (i.e., consumers' association of a brand with the wrong COO) remain limited and inconclusive. This study fills this research gap by investigating how consumers' cognitive and affective responses upon learning the true origin of a previously misclassified brand drive the extent to which they revise their brand evaluation. Specifically, the authors explore the role of consumers' confidence in brand origin identification in this context. The results from an empirical study in South Korea (N = 259) suggest that consumers tend to adjust their brand evaluations only if the true COO is perceived more favorably; they tend not to take a worse COO into consideration. Moreover, negative emotions lead to greater losses in brand evaluation than positive emotions lead to gains in that respect.     

Branding in the age of social media firestorms: how to create brand value by fighting back online

ABSTRACT

Leading research on social media firestorms typically advises managers to quickly quell the backlash by appeasing brand critics. Drawing on crisis communications and branding research, we offer a radically different perspective and argue that brands can benefit from fighting back online. Through a netnography of a moral-based firestorm, we contribute to the marketing and crisis communications literatures by identifying the escalation strategy as a way to build brand value; explaining how brands can activate supporters; and providing guidance on how to assess these morally steeped events. We advance branding research by identifying how managers can provoke consumer-generated brand stories; and uncovering the hidden benefits of negative consumer voices. Finally, we outline a new perspective on how brands are dialogically constructed through a process we call ‘flyting’.     

Effects of brand personality on brand trust and brand affect

Given the potential utility of brand personality for marketers, the present research conceptualizes and investigates the relationships between five brand personality dimensions and brand trust as well as brand affect. This research proposes that some brand personality dimensions relate more to brand trust, whereas other dimensions relate more to brand affect. The results suggest that Sincerity and Ruggedness brand personality dimensions are more likely to influence the level of brand trust than brand affect, whereas the Excitement and Sophistication dimensions relate more to brand affect than to brand trust. The Competence dimension appears to have similar effects on both brand trust and brand affect. The research findings are consistent with marketing and consumer researchers' assertions that brand personality can increase levels of brand trust and evoke brand affect, which in turn builds the level of brand loyalty. Theoretical and practical contributions and implications are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Does consumers' personal reciprocity affect future purchase intentions?

In this study, we examine the mediating role of a consumer's personal reciprocity in the relationships between brand trust, brand loyalty and product familiarity, and future purchase intentions. Data from 308 printer users in Hong Kong reveals that a consumer's personal reciprocity partially mediates the relationships between brand trust and brand loyalty, and future purchase intentions. The theoretical implication is that personal reciprocity not only enhances consumers' future purchase intentions but also provides an alternative path linking brand trust and brand loyalty to consumers' future purchase intentions. The managerial implication is that by capitalising on a consumer's personal reciprocity in the context of consumer-firm relationships, firms can improve their performance in retaining existing customers.     

How brand communities emerge: The Beamish conversion experience

Abstract

This paper explores the processes contributing to the genesis of a brand community. This ethnographic study focuses on the Beamish brand community. The Beamish beer product is a niche brand only available consistently in the locality of Cork city, Ireland. Evidence from this study shows that a collective conversion experience is foundational to the emergence of this brand community. Following this initial conversion experience, the brand community attempts to maintain the transcendent experience through practices of sacralisation maintenance. Sacralisation is maintained through the playful rituals and virtual play the community members enact. The mutual willingness of the converted to participate in these various forms of playful rituals has been a key role in the reification of the Beamish brand community. Finally, suggestions are made as to how brand management should best approach the initial attempts at brand-community formation.     

The competing roles of variety seeking in new brand adoption

We examine how consumers' attribute-level variety-seeking behaviors can explain their propensity to adopt a new brand in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market. We leverage consumers' purchase history among extant brands prior to a new brand introduction as an indicator of the new brand adoption upon its launch. We incorporate variety seeking at two product attribute levels – brand and flavor – and find that variety seeking along these two dimensions predicts different outcomes for new brand adoptions. The estimation results of our discrete-time hazard model show that consumers' brand-level and flavor-level variety-seeking behaviors affect their likelihood to adopt a new brand in different manners: consumers who purchase various brands are more likely to adopt a new brand, whereas those who choose various flavors are less likely to adopt a new brand. The results also show that the new brand's price promotions and in-store displays can affect the role of variety seeking in consumers' new brand adoption. We assess the robustness of our findings by replicating our empirical model with an additional measure of variety seeking as well as a variety-seeking measure in another product category.     

Tweet this,not that: A comparison between brand promotions in microblogging environments using celebrity and company-generated tweets

Despite the popularity of social media in general and Twitter specifically, little empirical research exists to assist marketers in how to successfully connect with consumers in these environments. The purpose of this study was to identify the ways in which brands can connect with consumers through Twitter and to examine how the category of Tweet impacts brand engagement. Findings reveal that whereas celebrity Tweets may be successful at capturing attention and disseminating brand information, they have minimal impact on changing brand opinions. What influence celebrities do have may be best served with unfamiliar brands rather than familiar ones – results suggest that not unlike in traditional offline media, in social media celebrities may be influential in drawing attention to unfamiliar brands. Our results also suggest that companies with established familiar brands should be cautious about paying to seed their own Tweets using Twitter's ‘Promoted by’ option, particularly if the brand is one that consumers have a neutral opinion of, as this can lower consumers' opinion of the brand. Instead, these companies should encourage consumers to follow them on Twitter as this will enable the brand to interact directly with consumers.     

Political ideology and brand attachment

We introduce political conservatism as possibly associated with brand attachment. We propose that conservatism, in particular, might be related to stronger attachment bonds to brands due to greater feelings of uncertainty, encouraging consumers to seek security via forming brand attachment bonds. In five studies, we demonstrate a relationship between conservatism and brand attachment. Uncertainty is able to explain the relationship, as attachment bonds to brands can appease conservatives' uncertainty. We also observe downstream consequences for price sensitivity and purchase intentions. Finally, the relationship may arise primarily for a brand with a domestic (vs. foreign) country-of-origin. Accordingly, consumers' political ideology may play a role in brand attachment with implications for how brand managers can segment or target the market in order to predict consumer–brand relationships. We situate our work more generally on the relevance of consumers' political ideology for marketing activities.     

Ethical Judgments of Sexual Appeals in Print Advertising

Abstract

This study explores consumers' ethical judgments about the use of sexual appeals in print advertising. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethics scale, ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intentions. The findings indicate that, regardless of the respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal in a print advertisement was not well received. Consequently, advertisers need to rethink the use of strong overt sexual appeals, especially given the controversial issues surrounding such advertising stimuli and their popular use to break through media clutter.     

Matching a cause with self‐schema: The moderating effect on brand preferences

The moderating roles of consumer brand involvement type and product type on the effect of a match between consumers' self‐schema and the cause a brand supports on consumers' preference for the cause‐supporting brand is investigated. The authors show that a schema–cause match enhances consumer preference for a brand engaging in cause‐related marketing when (1) consumers' involvement with the brand is of the impression‐relevant type (vs. outcome‐relevant type) and (2) when the branded product is functional (vs. hedonic). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Does green brand anthropomorphism influence repurchase intention? Understanding the impact of brand warmth,psychological ownership,and self-brand congruity

As consumers become more conscious of the deteriorating state of the environment, organizations too are beginning to demonstrate their sustainable commitments in ‘green’ branding through anthropomorphism. Extant literature has not been able to holistically cover this phenomenon, especially in terms of its importance in facilitating repurchase intention. Based on this lacuna, we explore how green anthropomorphic branding can influence consumers' brand warmth and psychological ownership, which in turn, could lead to repurchase intention. We explore the impact of ‘green self-congruity’ and its influence on this relationship. By illustrating the significance of constructs such as green brand anthropomorphism, psychological ownership, brand warmth, and self-congruity in facilitating repurchase intention. We apply the notion of self-congruity and enhance the literature on green anthropomorphic brands. This research provides guidelines to brand managers of green retail, to design strategies that focus on green anthropomorphic branding, facilitating consumers' repurchase intention.     

How does consumers' Perception of Sports Stars' Personal Brand Promote Consumers’ brand love? A mediation model of global brand equity

Previous research on the sports marketing of global brands has focused mainly on the sponsorship of sporting events and the endorsement of products by athletes. This study reveals the unexamined effect of the impact of sports stars' personal brand on global brand equity and consumers' brand love. Based on global consumer culture (GCC) theory and self-expansion theory, this paper examines the influence of sports celebrities' personal brand on consumers' perceptions of global brand equity and brand love. Using survey data from 372 users of “HUPU”, our results revealed that the use of sports stars' personal brand (attractiveness, expertise, and congruence) was positively related to global brand equity and brand love. Belief in global brand citizenship has a full mediating effect between attractiveness and brand love but a partial mediating effect between expertise, congruence and brand love. Product quality partially mediates the relationship between expertise and brand love. These findings suggest that it is appropriate to use sports stars' personal brand to build global brand equity and increase consumers’ brand love.     

Leveraging consumer personality and social media marketing to improve a brand's social media equity

Consumer personality traits impact consumer actions, preferences, online behaviour and shopping motives. This study examines personality traits as drivers of social media equity by addressing the mechanisms under which consumer personality traits influence social media equity. We aim to combine consumer-level information with brand-level metrics to advance our understanding of consumers' associations with brands on social media and how specific consumer personality traits can be leveraged to improve a brand's social media equity. Using a self-administered survey, a total of 418 respondents from an online consumer panel participated in this study. The results from structural equation modelling revealed that while extraversion, openness to experience and neuroticism personality traits are positively associated with brand engagement and brand advocacy, agreeableness and conscientiousness are significantly associated with brand advocacy and not with brand engagement. This study advances theory by examining how consumer personality traits influence social media equity via brand engagement and brand advocacy as mediators. The findings provide rich practical insights into underlying mechanisms through which marketers can increase social media equity using consumer personality traits.     

Value-oriented brand positioning

The objective of brand positioning is to place a brand that is clearly distinguishable from competitors' brands on the market. The principal aim is to ensure that the brand occupies a unique position on the market and that it is endowed with a precisely defined profile with clear-cut contours. The basic idea underlying this analysis is that consumers' perceptions of the various brands can be conceived as a multidimensional space in which individual brands are positioned. A product's positioning is determined from its position on the relevant dimensions of the perceptual space, its position on the various product attribute vectors and its position with respect to other brands. This paper uses correspondence analysis to reconstruct a space, in order to connect the relevant brand attributes with the drivers of behaviour, such as utility components and individual values. An empirical investigation shows the usefulness of this approach for product and advertising policy.     

Predicting brand preferences using self-concept theory

This paper seeks to replicate Ross's seminal work on self-concept and brand preference. Self-concept theory posits consumers as having perceptions of their selfs, from which predictions about brand preferences can be made, based on the similarity between consumers' self-perceptions and brands' images. The hypothesis that consumers prefer a brand whose image is more congruent with their self-concept was tested in three product fields and was partly supported. In common with Ross, we found that actual, rather than ideal, self-concept was a better predictor of brand preference for conspicuously consumed products. For the most inconspicuously consumed product, salt, neither actual nor ideal self-concepts were good predictors of brand preference.     

“I'll buy what she's #wearing”: The roles of envy toward and parasocial interaction with influencers in Instagram celebrity-based brand endorsement and social commerce

Companies increasingly leverage Instagram as a channel for brand management, consumer services, and social commerce. This study addresses the dynamics of interaction among brand-related user-generated contents (UGC) posted on Instagram, social media-based brand communication with Instagram celebrities (parasocial interaction [PSI] and envy), and consumers' characteristics (social comparison tendency, compulsive buying tendency, and materialistic envy). Three between-subjects experiments (Experiment 1: N = 121; Experiment 2: N = 106; Experiment 3: N = 377) were conducted to test the effects of Instagram influencers and their branded-UGC on consumer behavior outcomes. Experiment 1 employed a 3 (branded content type [Instagram influencer's photo type]: selfies vs. photos taken by others vs. group photos) x 2 (gender: female vs. male) factorial design. Experiment 2 employed a 2 (content generator type: Instagram celebrity vs. mainstream celebrity) x 2 (gender: female vs. male) factorial design. Experiment 3 deployed a 2 (branded content type: photos listing products vs. photos showing models) x 2 (content generator type: commercial brand [corporate] vs. Instagram celebrity [human]) factorial design. Experiment 1 indicates Instagram influencers' photo types and gender moderate the effects of envy toward and PSI with them on consumers' intention to buy the products Instagram influencers are wearing. Experiment 2 shows content generator types and gender moderate the effects of envy and PSI on source trustworthiness perception. Experiment 3 demonstrates branded content types and content generator types moderate the effects of consumers' physical appearance social comparison tendency, compulsive buying tendency, and materialistic envy on brand trust. This study makes theoretical contributions to the literature on retailing and consumer services as well as provides managerial implications for Instafamous-based influencer marketing and social commerce in Web 2.0 environments.