“Make me feel special”: Are hierarchical loyalty programs a panacea for all brands? The role of brand concept

Despite extant literature, the most effective structure of loyalty programs is still heavily questioned among researchers. Building on the congruence principle, we examine the moderating role of brand concept. Our findings reveal that for symbolic brand concepts, customers perceive hierarchical loyalty program structures (which classify customers into tiers according to spending levels or other purchase activities) to be more congruent; this perception increases firm loyalty intentions. However, for functional brand concepts, customers perceive hierarchical and linear loyalty programs structures as equally congruent. Also for symbolic brand concepts, program structure appears as the most important feature in ensuring perceived congruence between a program and a brand, ahead of program benefits. These findings have important theoretical and managerial implications.     

Examining the Role of Brand Equity in Business Markets: A Model,Research Propositions,and Managerial Implications

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a model of brand equity for business markets. It is argued that the potential benefits of branding and brand equity development have been neglected in business markets and that a general model and stream of relevant empirical research could be useful to managers in business markets depending on the situational nature of their market and competitive structure. The model adapts and extends existing brand equity literature to reflect the unique aspects involved in a business-to-business marketing context. The model developed considers marketing strategies as antecedents, two different classes of moderator variables, brand equity as a perception by the buyer or the market, a series of consequences of brand equity perceptions, and perceived risk as a moderator of the brand equity-consequences relationship. Propositions have been defined and discussed to help facilitate research and provide guidelines for industrial marketing managers.     

Adolescent brand consciousness and product placements: awareness,liking and perceived effects on self and others

Product placements in entertainment media are increasing, particularly in content targeted to adolescents. This marketing communication tactic is examined in the context of media socialization and individual differences in brand consciousness. The relative influence of commercial media (TV, radio, movies, online) and perceived peer and parent brand consciousness on US adolescent brand consciousness is assessed, as well as differences in how low and high brand‐conscious adolescents view product placements. Awareness, liking and perceived effects of product placements on self and others (third‐person perception) were measured. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that movies and perceived parent and peer brand consciousness were positively related to adolescent brand consciousness. Those adolescents considered to be highly brand‐conscious were also those who were most aware of and favourable towards product placements. All adolescents demonstrated third‐person perception of media effects in that they considered others to be more influenced by product placements than themselves, with peers influenced more than friends. Highly brand‐conscious teens perceived the greatest effects of product placements on their own and others’ buying behaviours, yet low brand‐conscious teens revealed the largest gap in perceptions of impact on self vs. peers. The results are discussed in view of media effects; ramifications for marketers and public policy makers are also appraised.     

Role of customer orientation in an integrative model of brand loyalty in services

This study attempts to model the development of brand loyalty by examining the simultaneous effects of customer orientation, perceived quality, brand associations, and satisfaction on brand loyalty. Data are used from retail banking and discount store retailing services to examine the direct and indirect effects of customer perceptions of customer orientation and quality on brand loyalty. It was found that customer orientation has a direct effect on brand loyalty and indirect effects through customer satisfaction, perceived quality, and brand associations as mediators. Further, perceived quality has a direct effect on brand loyalty as well as an indirect effect with satisfaction as a mediator. The results suggest that effective management of brand loyalty would require tracking of customer perceptions of a firm's customer orientation, quality and brand, in addition to measuring customer satisfaction.     

老字号品牌广告采用流行文化对品牌真实性的影响——一个有中介的调节模型

真实性是中华老字号品牌特有的优势。在当前激烈的市场竞争环境下，老字号品牌更新变得尤为重要。在老字号品牌更新过程当中，更新策略是否会对老字号品牌固有的优势与属性造成负面影响？这一问题在理论与实际上均具有深入探讨的迫切性。本章依托组织合法性理论，探讨了老字号品牌采用流行文化的广告中，消费者感知文化差异对品牌真实性的影响机制。实证研究以三个老字号品牌广告为样本，共搜集到631份有效数据。数据分析结果显示，在老字号结合流行文化元素的品牌广告中，消费者感知传统文化与流行文化的差异性对广告合法性与品牌真实性均有显著负向影响；广告合法性在消费者感知广告中文化差异与品牌真实性之间发挥部分中介作用；而消费者流行文化卷入度显著降低了广告中感知文化差异对广告合法性的影响，以及流行文化卷入度在广告中感知文化差异与品牌真实性之间的调节效应完全通过广告合法性起作用。该研究结果丰富了品牌真实性与品牌合法性领域相关文献，具有一定的理论与实践意义。     

Antecedents leading to perceived franchise support

Abstract

Franchising is an important part of the U.S. economy. According to the International Franchise Association (IFA), franchising provides 9.0 million jobs and pays out 351 billion dollars in wages and benefits annually (2016). This study examines franchise relationships in the context of building franchisees’ perceptions of support from the franchisor. The literature was examined to determine if and what support provided by the franchisor has a positive impact on the franchisee. We examine four dimensions of organizational climate (i.e., initiating structure, leadership consideration, autonomy, and reward orientation), brand value/recognition and franchisee’s perception of the quality of the franchisor’s advertising as predictors of perceived franchise support. This study indicates there is a positive and significant impact between three types of organizational climate (i.e., leadership consideration, autonomy, and reward orientation). In addition, a positive impact to brand value recognition on perceived franchise support and a negative effect on initiating structure.     

The role of social network websites in the consumer–brand relationship

Building and leveraging the brand community on a social network website (SN) such as Facebook is one of the popular social media strategies that companies employ to build a consumer–brand relationship. This research empirically tests a theoretical argument that the perceived benefits of a brand׳s social network website (BSN) influence the consumer׳s relationship with the brand׳s SN, which in turn leads to loyalty behavior. After qualitative exploration of the community to understand the practice of BSN, a quantitative method was utilized to test the hypothesized relationships. The results provide general support for the positive effect of BSN benefits on outcome variables. Specifically, experiential and functional benefits of a brand׳s SN positively influence the consumer׳s perception of relationship investment made by the brand, resulting in both brand relationship quality and the willingness to spread good words about the brand׳s SN. In addition, experiential benefits of BSN positively influence BSN relationship quality, which in turn leads to brand relationship quality, while the effect of functional benefits on BSN relationship quality is not found. The findings provide practical managerial suggestions to marketers and theoretical implications for future studies.     

Brand Authenticity: Testing the Antecedents and Outcomes of Brand Management's Passion for its Products

While customer orientation is accepted as a core marketing principle, this research suggests that an opposing orientation—product orientation—may offer an advantage. Managers who follow a product orientation focus on products that interest and inspire them rather than on products that fulfill consumers’ desires. This research suggests that a consumer's perception that managers follow a product orientation is consistent with prior conceptualizations of brand authenticity. That research suggests that brands perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, yet that research does not empirically assess brand authenticity's effects nor suggest its antecedents. To fill this gap, the authors develop a conceptualization and model of brand authenticity grounded in self‐determination theory, attribution theory, and extant authentic human brand research. Brand authenticity is defined as the extent to which consumers perceive that a brand's managers are intrinsically motivated in that they are passionate about and devoted to providing their products. The model proposes four antecedents of brand authenticity—two related to rare brand behaviors (uniqueness and scarcity), and two related to stable brand behaviors (longevity and longitudinal consistency). It also proposes two perceptual outcomes of brand authenticity—expected quality and trust. Two 2 × 2 experiments (n = 136 for Study 1; n = 155 for Study 2) demonstrate a positive impact of the antecedents on brand authenticity and of brand authenticity on the outcomes. Brand authenticity mediates these effects.     

A process leading to strategic alliance outcome: The case of IT companies in China,Japan and Korea

Although theories and research have provided valuable information on strategic alliance, it still seems difficult for practitioners to overview the process and subsequent outcomes of strategic alliance in a single frame. This is because the conditions of alliance are different from one alliance to another, which makes it difficult for practitioners to apply existing research findings to their own cases. One of the ways to overcome such difficulties in practical application would not be focusing on alliance processes with unique or idiosyncratic features of each alliance but instead focusing on elements that exist in most alliances. To find out the process that leads to the outcome in strategic alliance that is easily applicable for practitioners, the current study measured the behavioral direction and relational outcomes of strategic alliance based on benefit and risk perception in information technology (IT) companies in China, Japan and South Korea. Results show that firms set the direction and the intensity of their participation in alliance based on benefit and risk perception. Specifically, while perceived benefits promoted active participation in alliance, perceived risks increased protective participation in alliance. Also, these behavioral directions predicted the relational outcome in strategic alliance such that while active behavioral orientation predicted commitment to the relationship with the partner firms, protective behavioral orientation led to dissolution of the relationship. The present study provides useful insights for strategy associates, and evoke more various and detached academic approaches in the field of strategic alliance discussions.     

A longitudinal examination of the impact of quality perception gap on brand performance in the US Automotive Industry

A quality perception gap, defined as the difference between perceived and objective quality, indicates either consumers’ overappreciation or underappreciation of product or brand quality and can have critical effects on performance. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of a quality perception gap on brand performance and its moderating role in the relationship between marketing-mix signals and performance. Analyses based on a longitudinal dataset from the US automotive industry reveal that the relationship between the quality perception gap and brand performance has an inverted U-shape. Findings also demonstrate that, except for advertising, the impact of marketing signals on performance is higher when the quality of a brand is perceived as higher than its actual quality. Finally, over an 18-year period, the average gap between perceived and objective quality demonstrates a decreasing trend, indicating that the nature of demand in the automotive industry has become more utilitarian.     

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.     

The role of ethical problems related to a brand in the purchasing decision process: An analysis of the moderating effect of complexity of purchase and mediation of perceived social risk

The objective of this article is to identify the effect of the perception of a brand's ethical problems on consumer behavior. The research contemplates two experimental studies, in which different brands were used in different product categories. Based on the results of the experiments, we verified the moderating effect of the perceived purchase complexity and the mediating effect of perceived social risk in the relationship between the perception of ethical problems related to a brand and the declared purchase intention, both by university students and by real consumers. Through the analysis of means differences and conditional models analyzed with PROCESS (Hayes, 2012), we identified that the perception of ethical problems related to a brand affects consumer confidence and, in some cases, the perception of product quality. In addition, we find that for products with low purchasing complexity, the effect of ethical problems is mitigated both in relation to the purchase intention and in the formation of the perception of social risk linked to consumption.     

Perceived ‘Hispanicness’versus ‘Americanness’

This article discusses how consumers differentiate competing brands of similar utilitarian values on the basis of a brand’s cultural association, namely brand ethnicity, and examines how the perceived brand ethnicity influences consumers’ brand preference and choice. Study findings, based on both qualitative and quantitative research with self-identified His panic consumers, indicate that Hispanic consumers associate certain brands with Hispanic culture and other brands with American culture. In a hypothetical purchasing scenario, the perceived brand ethnicity affects consumers’ brand preference significantly in accordance with their cultural orientation. However, in a real consumer behaviour setting, external factors such as brand accessibility attenuate the effects of brand ethnicity.     

中档女性服装顾客感知价值实证分析

本文结合中档女装行业的特点,对影响顾客感知价值的因素进行实证研究,通过因子分析,得出中档女装顾客感知价值要素中影响顾客感知价值的主要因子分别是服务、价格、归属、产品内在属性、广告、品牌口碑和产品外在属性因子。     

The Psychological Mechanism of Brand Co-creation Engagement

Co-creation for brand innovation is an intriguing and rapidly growing trend in the current competitive market. Past research emphasizes the economic gains of consumer co-creation, with limited research focusing on the psychological effects engendered in the process of consumer brand co-creation. Drawing from self-determination theory and implicit self-esteem theory, the present research proposes an integrative framework for synthesizing the perceived psychological benefits and distinctive motivations in the brand co-creation process. The results indicated that brand self–connection and three perceived benefits of brand co-creation tasks (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) facilitate consumer motivations to participate in brand co-creation campaigns. These motivations facilitate the establishment of brand co-creation engagement, which in turn leads to strengthened brand relationship behavior. This research exemplifies that a well designed brand co-creation contest is a potent means which can not only enhance consumer engagement with the co-creation contest, but also turn engaged consumers into intangible assets for brand innovation.     

Linking Brand Orientation with Service Quality,Satisfaction, and Positive Word-of-Mouth: Evidence from the Higher Education Sector

Brand orientation has been recognized as having a positive impact on organizational performance in both commercial and nonprofit sectors. However, limited studies have examined the moderating effects of brand orientation in the nonprofit sector, particularly in the higher education context. This study attempts to examine the construct of brand orientation from the perspective of the students and examine its moderating role on the relationship between service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication behavior. Two hundred and fifty-eight questionnaires were completed by undergraduate students of an Australian university. The study found that students’ perception of a university’s brand orientation significantly moderates the relationship between service quality, loyalty, and WOM communication behavior. Significant managerial and theoretical implications were identified.     

Drivers of brand community engagement

Brand community engagement is evolving as a prominent relationship marketing variable that yields promising outcomes for the firms. Drawing upon the relevant premises of social exchange theory, this paper proposes a theoretical model portraying the role of online brand community based benefits (experience based and self-esteem based) and the community relationship investment in predicting the levels of brand community engagement.Data collected through a survey questionnaire technique from 925 members of the firm created online brand communities was employed to test the measurement and structural theory using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling respectively. The empirical results reveal that the customers’ experiential and self-esteem based benefits drive their brand community engagement. The perceived community relationship investment of the members also drives their brand community engagement positively. The sequential structural model also supported a positive impact exerted by brand community engagement on brand community commitment and brand loyalty. Additionally, it is observed that the focal brand ownership moderates the effect of community benefits and community relationship investment on brand community engagement.This study contributes to the nascent academic research on online brand communities and to the existing understanding of the brand community managers in managing customer engagement in online brand communities, thereby of profound theoretical and managerial relevance.     

Key service drivers for high-tech service brand equity: The mediating role of overall service quality and perceived value

Abstract

This study investigates how different aspects of service quality could have effects on overall perception of service quality, perceived value, and service brand equity. Based on a survey of active users of mobile telecommunications services in Taiwan, we obtained the following findings. First, we found that empathy, network quality, reliability, and assurance, but not tangibles and responsiveness, have a significant effect on service quality and value perception. Second, the effect of overall service quality on brand equity is partially mediated by perceived value. Third, overall service quality has differential mediation effects on the relationships between specific service quality dimensions and perceived value. Finally, empathy and network quality have direct effects on brand equity. For managers, our study suggests the importance of identifying key service drivers for building strong service brand for high-tech service firms. The identification of key service drivers could then enable these firms to make strategic decisions on services investments. It also demonstrates the importance of the humanisation of technology for services firms. This study is original in that it explores the path from specific services qualities to service brand equity.     

The impact of functional integration on perceived risk and consumer-based brand equity

Consumers today have access to a wide span of corporate information and are increasingly aware of the degree to which the functional areas of marketing and supply chain activities are becoming more integrated. Functional integration involves coordinating supply- and demand-focused activities and is theorized to create two interrelated benefits for consumers: lower perceived purchase risk and, ultimately, higher consumer-based brand equity. Despite an emphasis on the important role of consumers in the functional integration literature, the consumers’ viewpoint is missing. This research addresses this gap using a survey and an experiment to investigate the impact of functional integration on consumers’ perceptions of risk and consumer-based brand equity. Findings suggest that when functional integration acts as a component of brand association, purchase risk decreases and consumer-based brand equity increases. The results can help scholars and practitioners better understand the role of functional integration by advancing the nomological net of brand associations as part of the standard marketing mix.     

Transforming visitors into members in online brand communities: Evidence from China

Using observational learning theory, this study investigates how simply viewing posts can affect visitors' intentions to join an online brand community. The study finds that the viewing of posts leads to informational value and perceived social value, which in turn increases visitors' intentions to participate in the community. For visitors with brand ownership, both informational value and perceived social value play full mediating roles; for visitors without brand ownership, both values play partial mediating roles. In addition, for visitors with brand ownership, informational value is just as important as perceived social value in shaping their participation intentions; for those without brand ownership, perceived social value is more important than informational value. The findings enrich the brand community literature and provide implications for brand community development.