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.     

The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Consumers' Brand Preferences

Five lab studies and a field study explore how power distance belief (PDB) influences consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands, the underlying mechanisms, and boundary conditions. We find that high (vs. low) PDB consumers are more likely to prefer mass-market over niche brands because they tend to be risk averse, which in turn increases preference for widely used brands. Consequently, the relationship between PDB and brand preferences is mediated by risk aversion. Further, when product usage contexts are risky, low (but not high) PDB consumers' preference for mass-market brands increases, whereas offering an extended money-back guarantee increases high (but not low) PDB consumers' preference for niche brands. In addition, we find that when choosing service providers (versus choosing physical goods), low (but not high) PDB consumers are significantly more likely to prefer mass-market brands over niche brands. We conclude with the implications of these findings for marketers, such as for their segmentation and targeting endeavors. We also provide specific tools that marketers could use, both inside and outside the store, to influence consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands.     

Enhancing brand coolness through perceived luxury values: Insight from luxury fashion brands

Consumers of luxury brands have been described as seekers of products that can offer a signaling value to present to others but also a value for their self-concepts in an existentialist spirit potentially linked to being “cool or not.” Prior studies have conceptualized brand coolness and evaluated its impact on consumer responses to brands. However, few studies have contextualized the construct of brand coolness concerning luxury brand realism. We assessed the semiotic tension that luxury brand consumers feel between self-concept and self-presentation to others via a theoretical consideration of four antecedents of brand coolness: individual, social, financial, and functional luxury values; and one intentional outcome such as consumers' passionate desire to use luxury fashion brands. Our findings indicated that luxury values positively influence brand coolness, and brand coolness positively influences passionate desire. We further confirmed that brand coolness plays a complementary mediating role between luxury values and passionate desire. A final contribution is to invite brand managers to consider how luxury values and brand coolness might be used proactively to drive consumers' passionate desires in the relationships with luxury fashion brands.     

Media amplification of a brand crisis and its affect on brand trust

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which consumers' brand trust during a brand crisis is affected through direct experience versus when it is amplified through mass media. By using case-study methodology, our findings reveal that generalised public images of a product crisis initiate a public perception of risk, which provides more negative effects on brand trust than the actual consumers' experience does. We introduce the media as a third partner influencing the trust relationship between consumers and brands, and offer suggestions for restoring and preserving customers' brand trust.     

The effect of interactivity of brands’ marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation intentions: An S–O-R framework study

Social media platforms have become crucial in helping brands build their marketing activities. We investigate the effect of interactivity of brands' marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation (i.e., commenting and sharing) intentions. The S–O-R (stimulus-organism-response) framework is used to examine consumers' psychological states (perceived brand fan page experience and attachment) and subsequent behavioral responses (continuous participation intentions) after being stimulated (social media marketing activity interactivity). Using an online questionnaire, this study surveyed the top 15 brands' Facebook fan page users worldwide. We obtained 216 valid responses and used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. Results show that the more interactive a brand's marketing activities are on its Facebook fan page, the higher the perceived experience. In addition, perceived experience positively affects brand fan page attachment. Perceived experience and brand fan page attachment positively affect continuous participation intentions. Perceived experience partially mediated the relationship between interactivity and continuous participation intentions. Brand fan page attachment also partially mediated the relationship between perceived experience and continuous participation intentions.     

Why Nonprofits Are Easier to Endorse on Social Media: The Roles of Warmth and Brand Symbolism

Brands often seek endorsements by consumers on social media (e.g., likes on Facebook). But is this marketing strategy feasible for all brands? To answer this question, this research investigates in seven studies the processes that underlie consumers' intention to endorse brands on social media. We suggest that consumers aim to signal their identity by endorsing brands online. Based on the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework and related research in (social) cognition and consumer behavior, we argue that consumers on social media primarily want to emphasize their warmth rather than their competence. Experimental studies 1, 2, and 3 distinguish between nonprofit and for-profit brands and show that brand warmth (and not competence) mediates the effect of brand type (nonprofit vs. for-profit) on consumers' intentions to endorse brands and branded content on social media. Experiment 4 demonstrates that this process is moderated by brand symbolism (moderated mediation). A high level of brand symbolism increases the positive effect of warmth on consumers' intention to endorse brands online, but only for for-profit brands. The fifth experiment shows that these effects are conditional upon the public vs. private distinction in consumer behavior: consumers prefer to publicly affiliate with nonprofit (vs. for-profit) brands but with regard to private affiliations, there is no difference between both types of brands. In experiment 6, the causal role of warmth (vs. competence) is further examined. Finally, we demonstrate that perceptions of brands' warmth and not competence reduce the efforts that brands need to make to achieve consumers' endorsements on their real brand pages on Facebook.     

Image congruence effects on product evaluations: The role of self-monitoring and public/private consumption

Past research has demonstrated that congruence between brand image and self-image is positively related to consumers' product evaluations. Results from this study support the hypothesis that increased self-monitoring is associated with a greater effect of image congruence on consumers' evaluations of publicly consumed brands, but not privately consumed brands. Results also suggest that consumers' evaluations of publicly consumed brands are more affected by the congruence between brand image and ideal self-image than actual self-image, whereas actual and ideal congruence have equal effects on consumers' evaluations of privately consumed brands. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The role of brand schemas,information transparency,and source of message on apparel brands' social responsibility communication

In today's complex business environment, apparel brands are communicating about their socially responsible (SR) practices through marketing messages to create a niche for themselves and show their SR efforts. However, SR aspects of products are difficult to verify by consumers. To help brands effectively communicate their SR efforts, this study assessed how consumers process an apparel brand's SR messages based on their prior experiences with that brand (brand schemas). Information transparency on messages and source of messages were tested as external cues to influence consumers' brand schemas and SR message evaluations in a mixed method repeated measures online experiment using a national US consumer sample. Results from regression-based conditional process analyses indicated that increased congruity of consumers' schemas to the fact that brands are SR led to more favorable attitude toward brands' SR messages. Also, presence of high information transparency on SR messages influenced consumers' schemas positively, and in turn, they evaluated messages more favorably. However, consumers were not influenced by whether messages were made by brands or third-party organizations. The study results show the importance of brand schemas and information transparency on apparel brand communications, helping both apparel brands and educators create effective SR-related marketing strategies.     

Influencer marketing: Social media influencers as human brands attaching to followers and yielding positive marketing results by fulfilling needs

While the literature related to this topic has predominantly focused on investigating the influence mechanism that social media influencers (SMIs) impose over their followers, less is known about their attachment mechanism. Given that social media platforms were originally designed to facilitate personal bonding and not product or brand recommendations, we posited that social media followers' emotional attachment to SMIs is an important precedent that affects the followers' behavioral inclination to accept the SMIs' endorsements. We thus drew new attention to the relationship between SMIs and their followers by focusing on their attachment development mechanism and its casual factors and effects. In doing so, Study 1 inductively analyzed the key causal factors, both with respect to SMI persona- and content-driven attributes, that make followers feel attached to SMIs. By integrating the findings of Study 1 with the human brand theory, Study 2 provided empirical evidence after analyzing 325 U.S. consumers' responses about how SMIs' personas (i.e., inspiration, enjoyability, and similarity) and content curation abilities (i.e., informativeness) affected followers to perceive the SMIs as human brands who fulfill their needs for ideality, relatedness, and competence—all of which resulted in an intense attachment to SMIs. It was this positive emotion shaped with SMIs that transferred to SMIs’ endorsements and positively influenced the followers to acquire the products/brands that the SMIs recommended.     

Asymmetries in the Effects of Drivers of Brand Loyalty Between Early and Late Adopters and Across Technology Generations

Mobile marketing activities are growing at a rapid pace. The success of mobile marketing hinges on consumers' adoption of mobile devices. However, consumers' mobile device adoption is not well understood at the brand (e.g., Apple, Nokia, Samsung) level. We propose a conceptual framework linking mobile device brand loyalty (repurchase intention) to its drivers including perceived value, brand satisfaction, brand attachment and trust, and develop hypotheses about the moderating roles of adopter type and mobile technology generation in some of these linkages. We test these hypotheses using structural equation modeling on a unique cross-sectional dataset of attitudes toward mobile phone brands spanning two technology generations, 2.5G and 3G. The results reveal important asymmetries between adopter types and between technology generations: early adopters of mobile devices emphasize perceived value, whereas late adopters rely on brand satisfaction in developing brand loyalty; and consumers depend more on trust and less on perceived value in developing loyalty for the new generation than for the existing generation. We outline how brand managers of mobile devices should adapt their marketing strategies to different adopter types and technology generations.     

Brand alliance and customer‐based brand‐equity effects

This research examines brand alliances, a specific marketing strategy designed to transfer the positive brand equity of two or more partner brands to the newly created joint brand. The study explores how customer‐based brand equity (that is, brand equity as seen from the customer's perspective) of partner brands affects consumer evaluations of an alliance brand; how the brand equity of one partner brand affects the other; how customer‐based brand equity of the partner brands affects consumers' evaluations of the search, experience, and credence attribute performance of the alliance brand; and how product trial influences such evaluations. Results suggest that merely the act of pairing with another brand elevates consumers' evaluations of the partner brands' customer‐based brand equity, and high‐equity partners enhance pretrial evaluation of experience and credence attributes that are relevant to the high‐equity partner. As hypothesized, product trial moderates the equity value of the alliance partner for experience attributes, and brand equity of the partner brands influences consumer perceptions of the alliance brand's equity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Fostering Consumer–Brand Relationships in Social Media Environments: The Role of Parasocial Interaction

As brands solidify their place in social media environments, consumers' expectations have amplified, thus spurring the development of technologies to assist with the engagement process. Understanding the ways in which brands can preserve the one-to-one characteristics and intimate relationship qualities offered by social media while still meeting consumer expectations amidst the escalating volume of interactions has become essential. Drawing on the communications literature, this research proposes that parasocial interaction (PSI) theory may be used as a theoretical lens for designing successful social media strategies. Three studies, using a multi-method approach, provide evidence of PSI's role in the development of positive relationship outcomes. Mediation analysis reveals that this sense of feeling connected with the brand goes beyond the interaction itself and drives increased feelings of loyalty intentions and willingness to provide information to the brand. Evidence from this research suggests that these effects may not hold when consumers are aware of the possibility that the brand's social media response may be automated. These findings offer marketers theoretical guidance for fostering relationships in social media environments.     

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.     

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 Consumer Ethnocentrism (CET), Ethnocentric Marketing,and Consumer Individualism Affect Ethnocentric Behavior in China

This study investigates how the value of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and ethnocentric marketing affect consumers' purchase intentions for domestic and foreign brands in China. In predicting ethnocentric consumer behavior, past research has tended to focus on consumers' ethnocentric values rather than ethnocentric marketing stimuli. In addition, this study examines how the consumer value of individualism and collectivism (IC) affects ethnocentric choice behavior. An experimental study was conducted on 220 Chinese millennials, using fictitious advertisements. The study found that the CET value has moderate effects on consumer purchase intentions for foreign brands, while it strongly influences consumer purchases of domestic brands. In addition, the findings suggest that ethnocentric advertising may not encourage purchases of domestic brands, but can discourage foreign brand purchases. More significantly, individualistic consumers were found to show a greater preference for foreign brands and also their brand choices were less affected by the CET value and ethnocentric advertising.     

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.     

“Regretting your brand-self?” The moderating role of consumer-brand identification on consumer responses to purchase regret

Extending the study of consumer-brand relationships in the post-purchase stages of consumer decision making and in situations involving unfavorable comparisons with foregone brands, this research investigates the role of consumer-brand identification on consumer responses to purchase regret. Drawing on regret theory and consumer-brand relationship literature, the authors argue that consumer-brand identification immunizes the brand from the negative consequences of purchase regret through the amplification of consumers' cognitive regret regulation and the attenuation of consumers' behavioral regret coping. An empirical study using scenario manipulation of regret for participants' favorite brands provides support to the protective role of consumer-brand identification. The results indicate that consumer-brand identification attenuates the negative effects of regret on satisfaction and behavioral intentions and strengthens the positive impact of satisfaction on brand repurchase/recommendation intent. The findings enrich regret and consumer-brand relationship theories and provide managerial insights for effective branding strategy development under conditions of intense competitive pressure.     

Why Consumers in Developing Countries Prefer Foreign Brands: A Study of Japanese Brands in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Building on social-identity theory, the research develops a model for understanding of the impact of consumer identification with a nation on consumers' brand evaluations. It posits that developing-country consumers' identification with a foreign (developed) nation influences three factors—consumer-based brand equity, consumer-based country image, and consumer-based brand credibility. The research was informed by data from 400 Vietnamese consumers in relation to two Japanese brands Sony and Honda and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings show that Vietnamese (developing-country) consumers prefer Japanese (developed-country) brands over domestic brands, when these consumers identify with the developed nation.     

Consumer attitudes and loyalty towards private brands

Private or store brands improve the efficiency of consumer decision making by offering equivalent quality products at lower prices. The present study evaluated consumer attitudes towards private brands with the goal of understanding their appeal in order to enhance efforts to convince more consumers to buy them. We used three samples (ns = 279, 245 and 305) of US consumers to compare attitudes of buyers of private and national brands in three product categories: orange juice, cereal and bottled water. The results show that private label buyers (23% of orange juice, 6.5% of cereal and 14% of bottled water buyers) consider brands themselves to be less important and private brands to offer better performance than do national brand buyers. When asked about specific brands, national brand buyers tended to be price insensitive towards national brands, and private label buyers price insensitive towards store brands. In addition, the national brand buyers saw some of the national brands to be more relevant to their lifestyles and needs, but the private label buyers saw the private labels the same way. Being relevant to consumers' lives appears to influence brand selection. Besides touting lower prices, private brand promotions might stress the equivalent performance of private labels and create promotions showing how these brands can be relevant to consumers' lifestyles and needs.     

“I won't leave you although you disappoint me”: The interplay between satisfaction,investment, and alternatives in determining consumer–brand relationship commitment

While commitment is among the key constructs of consumer–brand relationships, past research has regarded the impact of predictors of brand commitment as being linear and has ignored potential interactive effects among the different antecedents. Applying the investment model of interpersonal relationship, the present research examines the dynamic interplay among the key determinants of consumers' commitment to their relationship with brands (satisfaction, alternatives, and investment) and substantiates the roles of the antecedents in consumer–brand relationship contexts. Results of two studies demonstrate that greater consumer satisfaction and investment and less attractive alternatives lead to a higher level of consumers' commitment to their relationship with a brand. Most important, the results suggest that the perceived size of investment exerts a stronger impact on brand relationship commitment when satisfaction is low while making no significant difference in the commitment level when satisfaction is high. Conversely, the influence of alternative attractiveness on brand relationship commitment appeared to be largely monotonic. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.