Investigating mediators between corporate reputation and customer citizenship behaviors

Recent corporate reputation research focuses on customers as an important stakeholder group for whom firm reputation matters. The authors hypothesize that customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) may affect customer citizenship behaviors (CCB) and that both commitment and loyalty mediate the CBR-CCB relationship. The tests of the hypotheses use a sample of 583 service customers who evaluate the reputation of service firms. These results suggest that commitment and loyalty mediate the relationship between CBR and one type of CCB, that is, helping the company. The authors discuss the implications for marketing research and practice.     

The Impact of a Flagship vs. a Brand Store on Brand Attitude,Brand Attachment and Brand Equity

How can flagships and brand stores contribute to building brands? We inquire about the relationships between store image, brand experience, brand attitude, brand attachment and brand equity using store intercepts. We find that flagships, due to the powerful brand experiences they allow, have a stronger impact on brand attitude, brand attachment and brand equity compared to brand stores. We provide retail marketers with avenues to offer increased in-store brand experiences by appealing to consumers’ emotions, senses, behaviors, and cognition.     

Drivers of Customers’ Adoption and Adoption Timing of a New Loyalty Card in the Grocery Retail Market

The authors study consumers’ process of adoption of a new loyalty card in a grocery retail context. More specifically, the authors simultaneously investigate the impact of attitudinal, behavioral, and socio-demographic variables on the likelihood of adoption and the time to adoption. They show that these variables differently affect the adoption likelihood and timing and demonstrate the importance of attitudinal measures of customer loyalty such as commitment to the store. This research confirms the so-called self-selection bias and extends it to the attitudinal dimension of loyalty. Some guidelines are proposed to increase the effectiveness of loyalty card program launches.     

Re-thinking the relationship between store brand attitude and store brand loyalty: a simultaneous approach

Academic attention to the relationship between store brand attitude and store brand loyalty is insufficient. Our paper fills this research gap by proposing and testing a theoretical model that demonstrates a reciprocal and mutually-reinforcing relationship between store brand attitude and store brand loyalty. The literature review identifies independent variables as potential predictors of both characteristics. We apply a two stages least squares model to data that come from a survey of Spanish households. The findings corroborate some of the propositions of the conceptual model: the reciprocal relationship between the two dependent variables; the influence of risk, deal proneness, price and value consciousness and extrinsic and intrinsic cues on store brand attitude; and the influence of exploration, deal proneness, store loyalty, store brand trust and store brand affective commitment on store brand loyalty.     

The importance of retail brand equity and store accessibility for store loyalty in local competition

Previous research shows that the success of a retailer depends on strong retail brands and attractive, easily accessible store locations. However, little is known about the relative importance of retail brand equity and store accessibility for store loyalty in different local competitive contexts. To provide insight into this issue, we conduct on a cross-sectional study of 4151 interviews and objective data on 30 stores of a focal retailer and its local competitors. We find that store loyalty benefits more from a strong brand than from a conveniently accessible location and that location can benefit from a strong brand. We also find that competitor’s brand equity has an especially negative influence on store loyalty towards a focal retailer and that the strength of the effects of brand equity and location accessibility on store loyalty depends on the local competitive context.     

The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation

In this article, the researchers explore the following question. Can corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the corporate reputation of a firm lead to its brand equity in business-to-business (B2B) markets? This study discusses CSR from customers’ viewpoints by taking the sample of industrial purchasers from Taiwan small-medium enterprises. The aims of this study are to investigate: first, the effects of CSR and corporate reputation on industrial brand equity; second, the effects of CSR, corporate reputation, and brand equity on brand performance; and third, the mediating effects of corporate reputation and industrial brand equity on the relationship between CSR and brand performance. Empirical results support the study’s hypotheses and indicate that CSR and corporate reputation have positive effects on industrial brand equity and brand performance. In addition, corporate reputation and industrial brand equity partially mediate the relationship between CSR and brand performance.     

Culture and age as moderators in the corporate reputation and loyalty relationship

This study investigates the moderating role of culture and relationship age in the relationship between customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) and customer loyalty using data from two service contexts (retailing and fast-food restaurants) in three countries (France, the U.K., and the U.S.) that differ with regards to two cultural values—uncertainty avoidance and time orientation. Results suggest that CBR has similar effects on affective and intentional loyalty in all three countries. However, culture interacts with relationship age, such that relationship age magnifies the effect of CBR in France, while relationship age suppresses CBR's effect in the U.K. and the U.S. The authors provide explanations for these effects based on cultural theories. Managerial and research implications are developed.     

The Impact of Brand Delisting on Store Switching and Brand Switching Intentions

A tool retailers often use to improve their negotiating position with brand manufacturers is to delist - or threaten to delist - the manufacturers’ brand. Because brand manufacturers rely mainly on retailers to sell their products to consumers, a brand delisting will cause a sales loss for the brand manufacturer. Therefore, many brand manufacturers feel enormous pressure to give in and improve buying conditions to favor the retailer. The question thus emerges: Can a brand manufacturer resist a retailer's threat to delist its brand(s)? If a brand delisting severely hurts retail sales, it is easier for a brand manufacturer to resist. The authors study the impact of brand delistings on store switching and brand switching using a controlled online experiment and in-store shopper survey. They develop and test a conceptual model with several antecedents of consumers’ reactions to a brand delisting and conclude that brand equity, market share, and the products’ hedonic level drive store and brand switching.     

The relationship between store image and store brand equity: A conceptual framework and evidence from hypermarkets

Retailers are making considerable efforts to improve their brand management. The challenge they face, however, is how best to integrate coherently their stores, as brands, and their various distributor brands (store brands, private labels, etc.), in order to increase their brand equity and offer the market differential value that will stimulate customer loyalty. From this perspective, it is crucial for retailers to investigate the relationship between the store and their own brands. This study proposes two theoretical models showing the mechanism whereby store image helps increase the equity of a specific type of distributor brand (the store brand). The approach used in this analysis is based, on the one hand, on defining brand equity through its components, using the model in Aaker (1991), and on the other, on including (social and strategic) corporate dimensions in measuring store image. The empirical research made in the hypermarket sector in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa backs the majority of the proposed hypotheses. The results show that store image can be used by retailers to influence all components of store brand equity, essentially through its commercial and strategic dimension. This research is intended to address the clear lack of research on store brand equity.     

A cross‐national validation of a new retail customer equity model

This study aims to examine retail customers of China and Korea with a view to understanding the differences in the effects of customer equity on perceived store loyalty. We built a modified model of retail customer equity incorporating three drivers of retail customer equity (experience equity, brand equity and relationship equity), and further substantiate the relationships among the three equity drivers. For this purpose, we measured the customer equity of large scale discount stores located in China and Korea. The result shows that experience equity and brand equity significantly influence customer loyalty, whereas relationship equity does not. The relationships among the three drivers of customer equity revealed that experience equity significantly affects both brand and relationship equities, but relationship equity does not significantly affect brand equity. Based on country level analysis, on Korean side the experience equity influences relationship equity, brand equity and store loyalty, whereas on Chinese side, experience equity influences relationship equity and brand equity,     

How CSR Leads to Corporate Brand Equity: Mediating Mechanisms of Corporate Brand Credibility and Reputation

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate brand credibility, corporate brand equity, and corporate reputation. Structural equation modeling analysis provided support for the hypotheses from a sample of 867 consumers in South Korea. The results showed that CSR has a direct positive effect on corporate brand credibility and corporate reputation. In addition, the results indicate that corporate brand credibility mediates the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation. Moreover, corporate brand credibility mediates the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation. Finally, the relationship between CSR and corporate brand equity is sequentially and fully mediated by corporate brand credibility and corporate reputation. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results and limitations are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.     

The customer-based corporate reputation scale: Replication and short form

Corporate reputation attracts significant attention among marketing scholars. However, researchers often overlook customers' opinions specifically. Walsh and Beatty [Walsh, G., Beatty, S.E., Measuring Customer-based Corporate Reputation: Scale Development, Validation, and Application. J Acad Mark Sci 2007; 35(1): 127–143.] identify dimensions of customer-based corporate reputation (CBR); they develop scales to measure these dimensions. Researchers in the present study use the Walsh and Beatty CBR scale in the UK and Germany across contexts to study the cross-cultural validity of the measure of customer-based corporate reputation. This study assesses an abbreviated version of the CBR scale (with 15 items). The CBR Short scale has equally good dimensional properties as the original scale. The paper ends with implications for cross-cultural marketing research and management.     

Consumer Perceptions of the Antecedents and Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility

Perceptions of a firm’s stance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) are influenced by its corporate marketing efforts including branding, reputation building, and communications. The current research examines CSR from the consumer’s perspective, focusing on antecedents and consequences of perceived CSR. The findings strongly support the fact that particular cues, namely perceived financial performance and perceived quality of ethics statements, influence perceived CSR which in turn impacts perceptions of corporate reputation, consumer trust, and loyalty. Both consumer trust and loyalty were also found to reduce the perceived risk that consumers experience in buying and using products. From these significant findings, we draw several conclusions and implications, including the importance of enhancing firm focus toward its ethical commitment and long-term reputation.     

How corporate reputation,quality, and value influence online loyalty

This study considers the role of corporate reputation and its relation to quality, perceived value, and loyalty in an online context. This milieu potentially challenges the relevance of the reported findings from the more traditional retail marketing situations. In this respect, a number of important questions are raised concerning how perceived value and quality impact on online loyalty and the effect corporate reputation has on this process. Research was conducted among customers of two diverse online vendors, one dealing in books and the other in shares. Findings from the two samples suggest that corporate reputation has a direct effect on online loyalty and provides an important mediating effect for perceived value and aspects of quality in terms of their impact on online loyalty.     

Understanding customer participation in CSR activities: The impact of perceptions of CSR,affective commitment,brand equity,and corporate reputation

This study investigates the mediating role of affective commitment in the link between perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the intention to participate in CSR activities. We also examine the moderating role of firms' brand equity and corporate reputation in the relationship between perceived CSR and affective commitment. The data were collected from two online surveys and analyzed using Hayes' PROCESS macro. The results indicate a partial mediating effect of affective commitment and a significant moderating effect of brand equity. However, the moderating effect of corporate reputation is not significant. This study contributes to uncovering the process of enhancing CSR performance.     

The Impact of Brand Equity and the Company's Reputation on Revenues

Abstract

This paper intends to establish the relationships among variables in corporate communications, especially between advertising and public relations, and to form an evaluation model for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation in the context of integrated marketing communications (IMC). A new approach for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation was introduced and the IMC evaluation model was specified for testing. The proposed model was tested with existing secondary data. The outcomes indicated that both brand equity and the company's reputation have significant impact on revenues and showed the positive relationship between brand equity and the company's reputation in the proposed model to justify the need of IMC in overall corporate communications.     

Perceptions of assortment variety: The effects of congruency between consumers’ internal and retailers’ external organization

This research shows that consumers’ perceptions of variety and satisfaction are dependent upon how the assortment is organized, both internally by the consumer and externally by the retailer. The results of three laboratory studies indicate that for familiar categories, congruency between a consumer's internal categorization structure and the external store layout leads to higher perceptions of variety and higher satisfaction with product choices, while for unfamiliar product categories, congruency between shopping goals and external structure leads to lower perceptions of variety but increased satisfaction with the store's assortment. However, if retailers institute external category filters congruent with consumers’ internal shopping goals that allow them to bypass products, consumers have both lower variety perceptions and satisfaction with the assortment offering.     

Corporate social responsibility: Findings from the Chinese hospitality industry

The study investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses, factors closely related to a firm's social and economic performance, using data from 451 customers of three hotels. We also test the universality of such impact across various consumer groups. Results show that CSR positively affects perceived corporate reputation and customer satisfaction, which in turn, significantly affect customer commitment and behavioral responses (i.e., loyalty intentions and word-of-mouth). Perhaps more importantly, the role of CSR is not universal across consumer groups. Particularly, consumer income seems to moderate the relationship between CSR and perceived reputation. Specifically, the positive effect of CSR on perceived corporate reputation is more salient among people with a higher income. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Two-Tier Store Brands: The Benefic Impact of a Value Brand on Perceptions of a Premium Brand

A recent trend in the retail industry is the emergence of multi-tier store brands. In the current article, we contrast consumers’ expectations in a retailing context in which a single store brand is present to one in which two store brands are offered in the same category. We propose that when a retailer offers a single store brand, consumers expect it to be of lower quality even when it is described as a premium brand. On the other hand, quality perception of a premium store brand increases in the presence of a value store brand. Importantly, quality perceptions of a value store brand are not affected by the presence of a premium store brand. In two studies we find support for our hypotheses showing the benefic impact of a value store brand on quality perceptions of a premium store brand.     

Store loyalty: its impact on retail revenue. An empirical study of purchasing behaviour in the UK

In this paper, we present some significant empirical findings about store loyalty and consumer spending in the United Kingdom across five retail sectors. Our findings are presented at two levels: Firstly, we compared loyalty levels across retail sectors in the UK and identified that home improvement stores generate the lowest levels of consumer loyalty. Secondly, by disaggregating the data by loyalty types, we found that, while loyal shoppers tend to have smaller monthly budgets than switchers, they spend double the amount in their “first choice” store. All our results highlight the importance of developing a corporate approach to managing customer loyalty in retailing.