Consumers sometimes see brands as relationship partners and expect that they conform to certain expectations, or relational norms. However, there is no valid and universal operationalization of these norms for the specific context of consumer-brand relationships. We address this gap by developing and validating a new scale in four studies.
본 연구는 골프웨어 브랜드 진정성과 브랜드 애착 및 충성도 간의 구조적인 모형을 검증하여 골프웨어의 브랜드 전략을 수립 할 수 있는 기초자료를 제공하고자 했다. 따라서 골프웨어를 구매했던 유 경험자를 표본으로 선정했으며, 292부의 자료를 최종분석에 활용했다. 자료처리 방법은 빈도분석과 신뢰도 의 내적일관성, 타당도의 확인적 요인분석, 상관분석, 그리고 구조방정식 모형분석을 실시했다. 프로그램은 SPSS(ver. 21.0)와 AMOS(ver. 20.0)를 활용했다. 연구결과 첫 번째로 골프웨어의 브랜드 진정성은 브랜드 애착에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 골프웨어의 브랜드 애착은 충성도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 골프웨어의 브랜드 진정성은 충성도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타 났다. 마지막으로 골프웨어의 브랜드 진정성 및 충성도 간의 브랜드 애착은 부분매개효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다.
본 연구는 축구 스타의 휴먼 브랜드가 구단에 대한 태도 및 애착에 미치는 영향력을 규명하여 구단 소속 스타 선수들의 브랜드 관리의 중요성 및 시사점을 제공하고자 했다. 따라서 K리그 구단 소속 축구 선수를 선호하고 있는 사람을 표본으로 선정해 2021년 1월 14일부터 3월 5일까지 모바일 조사를 실시했으며, 총 348부의 자료를 최종 분석에 이용했다. 자료처리는 SPSS(ver. 21.0) 프로그램을 활용해 빈도분석, 내적일관성 및 탐색적 요인분석, 상관분석, 다중회귀 분석을 실시했다. 본 연구의 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 축구 스타의 휴먼 브랜드는 윤리성, 매력성, 차별성 순으로 구단에 대한 태도에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 축구 스타의 휴먼 브랜드는 윤리성, 매력성, 차별성 순으로 구단에 대한 애착에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다.
This study is about pressure-accepting behavior of consumers attached to brands. Previous studies of the situation focused on time pressure and scarcity pressure, focusing on scarcity. The results of the study are as follows. First, consumers attached to brands were found to be relatively blunt in time pressures. This indicates that brands of consumers are attached to do not buy on impulse because of time pressure. Second, consumers attached to brands were found to be relatively under social pressure. This indicates that consumers who are attached to the brand do not buy with social pressures such as quasi-family groups. Third, consumers attached to brands were found to be relatively sensitive to scarcity pressures. Thus, a quantity-limited marketing strategy is generally more effective for consumers with high marketing effectiveness but high brand attachment. Fourth, unlike the one presented, consumers attached to the brand were found to be relatively insensitive to place pressure.
This study defines Korean wave stars as Korean wave human brands and examines the influence of the characteristics, attachment, and self-congruity of the Korean wave human brand on brand equity. For this, this study surveyed Chinese female consumers in their 20s and 30s who consume many Korean wave products from May 2018 to June 2018. First, human brand characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, Korean wave aspiration level, and brand equity according to demographic characteristics were identified. Second, characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, and the aspiration level of the Korean wave human brand showed correlations with brand equity. However, brand awareness, a sub-factor of brand equity, does not show correlations with self-congruity. Third, characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, and Korean wave aspiration level had a positively influenced brand equity. Fourth, when looking into the mediated effect of attachment on brand equity, both human brand characteristics and self-congruity showed a partially mediated effect. Fifth, when analyzing the adjustment effect in the Korean wave aspiration level, a group with higher Korean wave aspiration level showed more correlations with attachment and brand equity. This study found that attachment and self congruity are important elements in forming human brand and brand equity. This study is significant in that it verified the influence of Korean wave brand power that has been on the rise recently on brand equity and provided a theoretical basis that has allowed researchers to determine that the characteristics, attachment, and self-congruity of Korean wave human brand significantly influence brand equity.
This research provides empirical support to the understanding of the consumers’ public self-consciousness and its impact on the luxury brand attachment. A self-administered survey questionnaire was distributed to an online consumer panel in Australia. The results show that both actual and ideal self-congruity positively influence the consumers’ luxury brand attachment. The impact of actual self-congruence on luxury brand attachment is stronger than that of the ideal self-congruence for privately consumed luxury products. The impact is non-significant for publicly consumed luxury products. Moreover, highly attached consumers tend to advocate the luxury brands to other consumers. The research also reveals that public self-consciousness does not moderate the relationship between consumers’ perceived self-congruence and luxury brand attachment. The results suggest that luxury brand advertisers should incorporate the consumers’ actual and ideal self into the advertising message to strengthen the attachment. Future research may validate the hypothesised relationships within different luxury product and service category to enhance the generalisability of the findings.
The present study contributes to the international literature on brand personality and congruence. There is still a general lack of clarity regarding the measurement of the self-brand congruity construct. Moreover, in the light of international branding research cross-national validation of this measurement is needed. Previous empirical evidence also suggests a positive relationship between brand-self congruity and consumer-brand relationships (i.e. brand attachment) across nations and cultures, but the strength of these relationships requires deeper investigation. The present study therefore aims to test and validate a personality congruence scale at an international level and to measure the effect of congruence on brand attachment with specific reference to the luxury sector. A survey of nearly 1,500 international luxury customers has been conducted. Results confirm that personality congruence is based upon five dimensions (Prestige/Emotion/Trust/Anxiety/Order). In addition, the results highlight the existence and relative importance of the link between “personality congruence” and “brand attachment”. Finally, findings suggest similarities and differences across countries regarding specific dimensions of congruence scale and the personality congruence and attachment relationship. Both theoretical and managerial implications are provided.
This study aims to investigate the role of luxury brand attachment on consumer brand relationship by examining the relationship with trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty. This also examines the interrelationships among trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty from luxury branding context which provides a good number of theoretical and practical implications.
Introduction
The global luxury market exceeded $1 trillion in the year 2015 with a 5% annual growth (Bain & Co., 2015). However, industry experts predict that the luxury industry will face challenges in upcoming year primarily due to the economic instability and turmoil in the global foreign exchange market (Robert, 2015). Therefore, the luxury brand executives should carefully target their future consumer segment to sustain the current growth (Luxury Society, 2015). Earlier studies demonstrate that consumers seek various types of emotional benefits from luxury brands such as status seeking (Nelissen & Meijers, 2011), hedonic pleasure (Tsai, 2005), feeling good (Aaker, 1999), pleasurable experience (Atwal & Williams, 2009), mental peace (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003), and impressing others (Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Siebels, 2009). Moreover, these emotional benefits create a comprehensive and memorable experience in terms of ownership and consumption of luxury brands (Choo et al., 2012). Therefore, luxury brand marketers should emphasize more on emotional attachment for building a long term and sustainable customer relationship (Orth et al., 2010).
Research Gap
Existing literature on consumer-brand relationship mostly considers cross-cultural issues (Chang & Chieng, 2006), reviving brand loyalty (Fournier, 1997), consumer attitude (Aggarwal, 2004), satisfaction (Sung & Choi, 2006), self-brand connection (Cheng et al., 2012), trust-based commitment (Hess & Story, 1995) and such other dimensions on brand evaluation (e.g. Swaminathan et al., 2007). Few studies have considered luxury products (Hodge et al., 2015) and the role of emotional aspects (Hwang & Kandampully, 2012) in the consumer-brand relationship. Still, there is a lack of empirical support for understanding the role of luxury brand attachment into the construct. This research will attempt to fulfil these research gaps.
Conceptual Model and Hypotheses
Psychological theories explain attachment as the tie between a person and an object or any other components (Bowlby, 1979; Hazan & Shaver, 1994). Brand attachment is defined as a long-term and commitment oriented tie between the consumer and the brand (Esch et al., 2006). The conceptualization of luxury brand demonstrates that the inherent traits of luxury brands are distinctiveness, high transaction value, superior quality, inimitability, and craftsmanship; and luxury brand consumption is mostly emotion laden (Nueno & Quelch, 1998). Based on the existing attachment concepts and theories, we define luxury brand attachment as the emotional bond that connects a consumer with a specific brand and develops deep feelings toward the brand.
Several past studies have found that brand attachment reinforces brand trust and there is a positive relationship between brand attachment and trust (e.g. Belaid & Behi, 2011). In addition, Esch et al. (2006) argue that brand satisfaction and brand attachment are interrelated and satisfaction results long-term consumer-brand relationships (Gladstein, 1984). Moreover, strong commitment from the consumers has been identified as a critical factor of long lasting brand relationship (Li et al., 2014; Sung and Choi, 2010). Further, Thomson et al. (2005) find that brand attachment creates behavioural loyalty for which consumers are also willing to pay higher prices. Expecting similar relationship from luxury branding context, we propose that
H1: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumers trust in that brand.
H2: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumer satisfaction for that brand.
H3: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumer commitment to that brand.
H4: Higher luxury brand attachment leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand.
Scholars explain that satisfaction is an essential element of brand loyalty and both the constructs are positively related (e.g. Agustin and Singh, 2005). Past researches find that highly satisfied consumers demonstrate repeat purchases (e.g. Bennett et al, 2005). Past studies also show that trust toward the brand results brand loyalty and strengthen the relationship (Bansal et al., 2014; Belaid & Behi, 2011). Fournier (1997) identify brand trust as the key determinant of brand loyalty. Thus, we propose that
H5: Higher satisfaction to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand.
H6: Higher trust to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand.
Ganesan (1994) argue that a satisfied customer develop trust toward a specific brand. In support of this, Belaid & Behi (2011) state that if a brand becomes successful in fulfilling the promise with consistence performance, the consumer will have satisfaction and positive feeling about the brand. In addition, the authors find a positive relationship between brand commitment and behavioural loyalty. Expecting similar relationship from luxury branding context, we propose that
H7: The higher the trust in luxury brand, the more customer satisfaction in that brand.
H8: Higher commitment to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand.
Summary of the hypothesised relationships are illustrated in Figure 1.
Methodology
The simple random sampling will ensure proper representation of the target population and eliminate the sampling bias (Cook & Campbell, 1979; Zikmund, 2002). The sample population will be 300 young Australian consumers aged between 20-30 years. Previous studies have found that there is a growth in luxury brand purchase by individuals in younger age groups e.g. 20 – 30 (Hung et al., 2011). Therefore, this is representative of the possible drift in the ages of consumers in the market for luxury brand purchase (Han et al., 2010). A consumer panel from Qualtrics database will be used and the sample frame consists of consumers who have higher brand likeability (Martin & Stewart, 2001).
Established scales will be used to measure the constructs. All items will be measured on a seven-point Likert scale with 1 representing “strongly disagree” and 7 representing “strongly agree”.
Research Significance
This would be the very first study to investigate the role of luxury brand attachment in consumer brand relationship. This research will provide meaningful insights for the brand managers, brand strategists and advertising managers. This research will assist luxury brand managers in allocation of resources for the action plans that will ensure a stronger tie with the consumers in a cost efficient way. For brand managers luxury brand attachment may help them with segmentation process and well as providing direction on improving attachment to the consumers to influence trust, commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty.
This research was conducted in order to examine the reverse effect of brand loyalty on
the emotional attachment to the place-of-origin. Results indicate that consumers that
are highly loyal to a brand tend to be more emotionally attached to the place-of-origin;
the effect is mediated by affective place image. Affective place image also partially
mediates the brand loyalty–place attachment relationship in cases when the brand is
authentic in the place.
Human beings tend to extend their affect towards one object based on another object
related to the first one. Building on this notion researchers have been trying to
understand two related concepts—a place, and a brand originating from that place. In
this endeavor, one literature stream has been focusing on place-based branding from
the perspective of international marketing, including work on country-of-origin (COO)
or product-country image (Baldauf et al., 2009; Hong & Wyer Jr, 1989). Another
stream focusing on place branding adapts traditional marketing theory to market a
place (Kotler 2002), and focuses on destination image (Bramwell & Rawding, 1996;
Lee & Lockshin, 2012; Qu, Kim & Im, 2011), and place attachment (Gross & Brown
2006). Notwithstanding the above, there is a dearth of research combining these two
aforementioned streams. One of few exceptions is Lee and Lockshin (2014), who
explored the reverse COO effect of product perceptions on destination image.
However, they focused on consumers’ cognitive beliefs and, thus, the underlying
mechanism of the relationship is yet to be examined. Hence, the current research aims
to answer the following questions: can brand loyalty be leveraged to consumers’
relationship with the place-of-origin as a tourism destination? And, if so, what is the
mechanism underlying the effect?
We present a global survey with consumers of place-based wine brands as a means to
understand whether consumers’ loyalty to a brand will influence their emotional
attachment to the place where the wine brand origins. A moderated mediation model
is proposed. Affective destination image mediates the positive effect of brand loyalty
on place attachment, which is positively moderated by authenticity of the brand-place
associations. The study contributes to the tourisms marketing field by identifying the
emotional linkage between brand loyalty and place attachment. It serves as a starting
point for further investigation of how company or product branding could benefit
place marketing and branding theory. Affective components are suggested to play a
vital role in the relationships between a place and a brand. It further enriches understanding of the role of brand authenticity. Place marketers need to understand
the role of brand loyalty in the decision-making process of tourism consumption.
Many studies in the marketing literature focus on investigating the effects of brand attachment and self-congruence on favorable consumer behavior, such as brand loyalty, positive Word-of-Mouth, resilience to negative information (Thomson et al., 2005, Japutra et al., 2014a). However, limited studies examine the relationship between brand attachment, self-congruence and negative consumer behavior. For instance, Johnson et al. (2011) posit that when consumers are in relationships with brands and more self-relevant, they are more likely to induce retaliatory actions when the relationship ends. Highlighting the dark side of brand attachment, Japutra et al. (2014b) show that stronger brand attachment leads to a wide range of unwanted consumer behaviors including trash-talk, Schadenfreude, and anti-brand actions. These studies show how brand attachment is capable of hurting consumers. However, only limited studies pay attention on the negative consequences of brand attachment (e.g. Johnson et al., 2011; Japutra et al., 2014b). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of self-congruence and brand attachment on compulsive buying behavior.
Academic researchers have conceptualised and studied consumer-brand relationship and individual-place relationship in parallel in branding literature and environmental psychology research. As a construct that describes the strength of the bond connecting an individual with an entity, attachment receives great attention, due to its potential in affecting behaviours that may assist in marketing and promoting this entity (not limited to repeat purchase) (Park, MacInnis, Priester, Eisingerich, & Iacobucci, 2010). For example, research in branding literature finds that the strong attachment to a brand indicates a private relationship between consumers and brands and further leads to developmental commitment (Fournier, 1998), energetic word-of-mouth behaviour (Sommerfeld & Paulssen, 2008), and apparently loyalty (Thomson, MacInnis, & Park, 2005); in internal marketing studies, brand commitment is found influencing employees’ brand citizenship behaviour intentions (e.g. Morhart, Herzog, & Tomczak, 2009); research on brand ambassadors explores how they would influence other potential consumers in a general consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communication context, (e.g. Keaveney, 1995; Lovelock, 1983); in resident studies, Chen, Dwyer, & Firth (2014a) find that attachment may motivate word-of-mouth (WOM) to promote a place as a tourism destination. On one hand, the similar concepts of brand attachment and place attachment are respectively developed and discussed from different paths, but on the other, researchers from brand studies and place studies have long invoked to apply findings from one to the other. For instance, Kavaratzis (2005) attempts to transfer marketing and branding knowledge to places; while some other researchers devote themselves in adopting the framework of place attachment in the study of the consumer-brand relationship to take advantage of its multi-dimensionality development (Chen, 2012). Regardless, the multi-dimension nature of this concept is explored in branding literature. For instance, Mittal (2006) suggests that consumers associate a brand to themselves because the personality of these brands also represents who they are (i.e., an identity basis); Fournier (1998) finds an emotional component that is highly relevant to both marketing academics and practitioners; etc. Nevertheless, little research on brand attachment develops a multi-dimensionality as complex as those in place studies (e.g. Kyle, Graefe, & Manning, 2005). The questions are: Is the multi-dimension nature of consumer-brand relationship the same as that of individual-place relationship? If not, to how much extent may researchers apply findings from these two research streams to the other? To fill in these research gaps, this study aims to test the dimensionality of place attachment on studying consumer-brand relationship, and to examine how dimensions of brand attachments affect consumers’ brand citizenship behaviours.A variety of disciplines have shown an interest in understanding the attachments that people form with places. The concept of place attachment is defined as “a positive connection or bond between a person and a particular place” (Williams & Vaske, 2003, p. 831). In environmental psychology, a number of researchers have attempted to conceptualise, understand, and measure attachment to interpret the individual–individual, individual–community, and individual–place bonding (e.g., Kyle, Graefe, & Manning, 2005). Research on place attachment can be divided into two streams: (1) The first stream of research (research in environmental psychology) considers place attachment as an outcome of an individual’s evaluation and attitude towards a place based on knowledge and experience with this place; (2) The second stream of research (research in interaction) ascribes the bond formed by an individual to a place to the meaning given to this object through interactional processes (Chen, Dwyer, & Firth, 2014b). In branding literature, Fournier and Alvarez (2012) suggest that the relationship between consumer and brand is highly alike to how one builds relationships between each other, which provides the ground of evidence to apply attachment (originated from studies on the child-mother relationship) in understanding consumer-brand relationship. Brand attachment can be defined as “a dynamic bond that illustrates the connection between consumers and brands” (Chen, 2012). Following Chen, Dwyer, and Firth’s (2014b) conceptualisation on place attachment, this study adopts the six-dimension framework of attachment and applies it in studying the consumer-brand relationship via brand identity; brand dependence, affective attachment, social bonding, brand memory, and brand expectation. In internal marketing literature, Morhart, Herzog, and Tomczak (2009) classify brand building/citizenship behaviours into three categories: retention, in-role citizenship behaviour, and extra-role citizenship behaviour. This framework of behaviours is applied in this research to explore consumers’ brand citizenship behaviours including retention, as well as WOM and proactive participation (equivalent to the extra-role citizenship behaviour). The relationships between dimensions of attachment and brand citizenship behaviours are established based on similar propositions in research in different disciplines. Many researches support this bond-behaviour relationship in different disciplines and research scopes. For instance, in tourism research, Choo, Park, and Patrick (2011) study and discuss residents’ voluntary behaviours to assist in promoting their resident place as a tourism destination, suggesting that residents would like to show hospitable attitudes and behaviours if they feel a sense of belonging and identify themselves with their places. A survey approach was employed to test the relationships between included constructs. Data was collected from different cities in China from November 2014 through March 2015. This study used a sample of 362 consumers who have used or are using Nike product. 62.4% of the respondents are male (consistent with the distribution of sports product consumers). Average age of the sample is 26.5, and the average length of brand usage is 8.87 years. Data was analysed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics 22 and IBM® SPSS® Amos 22 software. CFA was used to test the reliability and validity of the measurement, and SEM was applied to identify relationships among the constructs. The measurement of brand attachment in this study is adapted from Chen, Dwyer, and Firth’s (2014b) place attachment dimensionality and scales. Three three-item scales on one-to-one WOM, retention, and participation were replicated from Morhart, Herzog, and Tomczak (2009). One-to-many and many-to-many WOM measurements were respectively adopted from Hsu, Ju, Yen, and Chang (2007) and Lu, Lin, Hsiao, and Cheng (2010). CFA with maximum likelihood (ML) estimation was conducted to test the validity of the dimensionality of brand attachment. Due to the high correlations between several constructs, this measurement failed discriminant validity test. To enable further analysis, brand identity, affective attachment, and social bonding are combined as one single dimension (as Individual Attachment). Thereafter, a standard two-step SEM was run to identify relationships among the constructs in the hypotheses. A measurement model was first tested on the data to verify demonstrate convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of brand attachment (revised) and the other constructs (Byrne, 2001). Goodness-of-fit indices of both measurement and structural models reached an acceptance level. From data analysis, the frameworks on brand citizenship behaviours are supported by the statistics. However, the number of attachment dimensions is compromised in testing the consumer-brand relationship due to the high correlations between several dimensions. This implies that consumer-brand relationship is less complex than individual-place relationship and can be captured by a simplified dimensionality framework. In other words, the finding indicates a high complexity on the dimensionality of place attachment compared to brand attachment. The results suggest that simple replications of brand concepts in studying places may be problematic and biased, since aspects that are not significantly distinguished in brand attachment but important in place context may be overlooked. On this basis, branding researchers need to be cautious in studying phenomena in place and destination issues when applying classical branding and marketing theories. Similar evidence can also be found in several previous studies (e.g. Chen, Dwyer, & Firth, 2014b; Lee, Kyle, & Scott, 2012). As to the constructs included in this study, the factor loadings (all larger than 0.76) were satisfactory after combining brand identity, affective attachment, and social bonding as one construct, indicating a satisfactory degree of reliability. An alternative model (considering brand attachment as a second-order construct) is tested to explore the general indication from brand attachment to WOM, retention, and participation. This result also provides a theoretical and empirical basis for practitioners to finds means to motivate loyal and attached consumers on different behaviours which may benefit their brands. Specifically, Individual Attachment and Brand Memory are found to be significantly affecting different types of WOM behaviours. This is consistent with Chen, Dwyer, and Firth’s (2014) findings on the impact of place attachment on WOM behaviour in studying Shanghai residents. The results imply that for Chinese consumers, the stronger an individual identify a brand will influence the more he/she would “talk up” the brands. For branding managers, it is clear that an emphasis should be taken on enhancing the identify fit between their brands and consumers, as well as promoting a brand personality which is perceived popular and adoptable by consumers. Similarly, helping consumers to build brand community to interact and socialise with other consumer and stimulating consumers’ emotional arousal can help brands motivate consumers to “pass on the right word”, likewise creating unforgettable consumer experiences. Secondly, BAS and brand expectation are found to be influencing brand participation. This is consistent with the study on Chinese students’ attitude toward participation in tourism activities in Sydney by Chen, Dwyer,and Firth (2015). For brand managers, assisting in consumers’ identification process with the brand, creating socialising opportunities and receiving positive emotional responses from consumers via brand activity designs, as well as enhancing consumer’s confidence on the brand may attract consumers to be more actively involved in the branding process. Lastly, brand dependence and brand expectation are found to affect retention behaviour in this study, suggesting brands still need to emphasise on maintaining and constantly improving the quality of the product and the brand to take a better place in the competitive market. This remains the key to reduce consumer defections. Future research may be taken to (1) propose a refined dimensionality of brand attachment based on place attachment; and (2) compare consumers and brands in different cultures on what role attachment may play in motivating different brand citizenship behaviours.
Brand extensions are a critical strategy for the introduction of new products, which are often prone to failure. The use of an established brand can help promote acceptance of the new product by reducing perceived risk, enhancing efficiencies in terms of distribution and promotion, and reducing overall costs associated with launching the new product. Previous research regarding brand extensions has shown that various factors influence success of brand extensions (e.g., marketing support and retailer acceptance). One of the most important factors driving brand extension success is the fit between a parent brand and its extension.
A new marketing construct, emotional attachment to a brand, has recently been introduced to the brand extension literature. However, the role of consumers’ brand attachment, in terms of reactions to a brand extension has largely been ignored by researchers. The lack of research on brand extensions and brand attachment is somewhat surprising, given the considerable body of research findings that show consumers who are emotionally tied to a brand respond differently to that brand due to increased attachment. Building on this body of work, we propose that consumers who are emotionally attached to a brand will be less impacted by the degree of fit between the parent brand and its extension.
In this research, we show that emotional attachment with a brand is an important factor underlying consumers’ responses to a brand extension. In particular, we explore the moderating role of brand attachment on consumers’ responses to extensions that vary in terms of fit with the parent brand. We also explore the process underlying observed effects. These issues are examined with an experiment regarding extensions for a real-world brand. Further, mediated moderation analyses indicate that the moderating effect of brand attachment is mediated by brand image fit, but not by product category fit. Implications of our findings for managers and researchers are also are provided.
In both marketing research and business practice, the study of corporate brand heritage has gained growing interest. Although, the field of heritage is rather widely analysed, a closer investigation reveals that there is a lack of research that covers the deeply embedded associations toward a company or brand with a heritage, and their effects on the overall brand performance from a customer’s perspective. That said, previous quantitative studies regarding corporate brand heritage fall back on traditional and basic explicit self-reporting scales. However, an increasing number of neuroeconomic studies indicate that customers are not fully aware of their thoughts and opinions. In fact, most mental processes are of so-called implicit nature, taking place hidden in the unconscious and automatic mind. Yet, established models of corporate brand heritage are missing implicit processes completely. Against this backdrop, the aim of the current paper is to fill this research gap. For that reason, a holistic framework of dual information processing is derived with reference to corporate brand heritage. Furthermore, related explicit and implicit measures are developed and applied to capture the dual facets of corporate brand heritage. The empirical results provide evidence that both heritage facets, explicit corporate brand heritage, but in particular implicit corporate brand heritage have a crucial impact on the degree of attachment toward the corporate brand.
This research was designed to conduct research to apprehend fashion brand's mobile SNS characteristics in depth and the related consumer psychology and behaviors such as brand attachment and brand loyalty. The fashion brand's mobile SNS characteristics were differentiated from the web-based fashion brand's SNS. This study targeted women in their 20s using mobile Facebook and mobile Twitter, and residing in Seoul or Gyeonggi province. Total 412 observations were collected through online survey. The major findings of the study were as follows. First, as the characteristics of fashion brand's mobile SNS, ease of fashion data storage, fashion recentness, fashion usefulness, and fashion accessibility were extracted. As the factors of the flow, time distortion/focused attention and playfulness were extracted. Second, the fashion recentness and fashion usefulness showed positive influence to time distortion/focused attention factor in the flow. All four fashion brand's mobile SNS characteristics showed positive influence to playfulness factor in the flow. Third, time distortion/focused attention factor and playfulness factor both showed positive influence to brand attachment and brand loyalty from using fashion brand's mobile SNS. Fourth, brand attachment had positive influence to brand loyalty from using fashion brand's mobile SNS. Based on the above results, this study provided practical ways to develop effective mobile SNS marketing strategies in fashion brand. Also, this study demonstrated feasible future contents and necessary improvement for fashion brand's mobile SNS, which holds marketing implications.
본 연구는 농촌관광마을의 브랜드 자산이 장소애착 및 친환경 행동의도와의 영향 관계를 검증하고자 하였다. 농촌관광마을의 브랜드자산은 브랜드인지도, 브랜드이미지, 지각된 품질, 지각된 가치로 분류되었으며, 장소애착은 장소의존성, 장소정체성, 사회적 유대감으로 구분되었다. 친환경 행동의도는 단일차원으로 도출되었다. 가설검증 결과, 첫째, 농촌관광마을의 브랜드자산인 브랜드인지도, 브랜드이미지, 지각된 품질, 지각된 가치가 장소의존성에 모두 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 둘째, 장소정체성은 친환경 행동의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었으며, 장소의존성 또한 친환경 행동의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 농촌관광마을의 브랜드자산 중 브랜드이미지와 지각된 가치가 친환경 행동의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of self-brand connections (SBCs) on brand attachment. The author proposes two types of SBCs: those that are created through marketing systems (brand-based self-brand connections, [BBSBC]) and those that are created by the individual (consumer-based self-brand connections, [CBSBC]). To investigate the influence of these SBCs on brand attachment, this study analyses survey data through the use of structural equation modelling. The results show that both BBSBC and CBSBC have positive effects on brand attachment but that the influence of CBSBC is stronger. Furthermore, in the context of durable consumer goods, CBSBC have a stronger effect on brand attachment when fast-moving consumer goods and services are compared. For fast-moving goods, BBSBC and CBSBC affect brand attachment at the same level.
The purpose of this research was to identify not only the effect of what consumers want from their brand identification and brand attachment, but also the effect of their perceived brand identification on their perceived brand attachment in the family restaurant setting. This research also investigated the causal relationship between a consumer's perceived brand attachment and brand loyalty. A total of 332 questionnaires were collected from customers who visited one of 4 nationallybranded family restaurants in Daegu. With the consent of the store managers of each family restaurant brand, students of Dongguk University helped respondents fill out questionnaires and collected the data. There were three major findings of this research. First, the benefits that consumers wanted were found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand identification and brand attachment. Second, the perceived brand identification of customers was found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand attachment. And third, the perceived brand attachment of customers was found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand loyalty. Also, consumer's benefits sought affected their perceived brand attachment through their perceived brand identification, and consumer's benefits sought and brand identification respectively influenced their perceived brand loyalty through their perceived brand attachment. Therefore, marketing managers or general managers of family restaurants should identify consumer benefits in order to increase sales and profits.