KOREASCHOLAR

In a virtual world, firms and individuals are connected through multiple devices and channels, whereby both act as content creators. The relevance of customer co-creation for brand-building in digital environments requires further research (Ramaswamy and Ozcan, 2016). From a growing body of research, a stream suggests that technology is changing the way consumers and firms interact, whereby consumers perceive brand image to be the sum of all brand online and offline information. Another stream assumes that consumers perceive brands as having personality characteristics, which are used to differentiate them from competitors. For this latter approach, Aaker’s (1997) model is widely used to analyse brand personality (BPS). However, no evidences has been found regarding to what extent firms and customers communicate the same brand values. We accomplish this by analysing the brand personality dimensions communicated online by two international hotel chains (Pestana & FourSeasons) and their clients, using two different digital channels, namely: 12 websites and 600 TripAdvisor comments. A content analysis was carried out using the BPS dictionary of WordStat software, created by Opoku et al. (2006), which contains 833 words, divided into the five BPS categories. The results show that most of the content was created by clients (89% of messages). FourSeasons hotels communicate Excitement and Sophistication, whereas Pestana hotels communicate Sincerity and Sophistication. Sincerity is the highest tagged dimension of the BPS references, both for FourSeasons and for Pestana, which suggests that clients tend to perceive both brands as being reputable. In summary, although clients and hotels converge with regards to hotel brand personality traits, distinctive brand personalities emerge.

• Flavio Tiago(University of the Azores, Portugal)
• José Manuel Veríssimo(ISEG – Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal)
• Teresa Borges-Tiago(University of the Azores, Portugal)
• Tiago Silva(University of the Azores, Portugal)