The Effect of Negative Events and Firm Responses on Brand Associations, Organizational Associations, and Brand Evaluations.

This dissertation examines the impact of negative events and firm responses to such events on an associative network of brand knowledge; key consumer brand and organizational associations, risk perceptions, and brand response variables. To accomplish this objective the issue of how negative event information is integrated with an existing brand/organizational image was assessed within the framework of a consumer-brand relationship. Two between-subjects experiments were conducted using adult consumers as subjects. In Study One, negative events were found to affect associations linked to the brand and limit the brand\u27s ability to fulfill the consumer-brand relationship. Two types of events were identified, product-related events and organization-related events. Product-related events involve specific product attributes and call into question the ability of the brand to meet functional needs. Organization-related events do not involve product attributes, but rather are values-oriented events that might involve social or ethical issues. Product-related events were found to primarily impact associations (i.e., quality, corporate ability) linked to functional benefits and functional risk. Organization-related events were found to affect associations (i.e., corporate social responsibility, brand sincerity) linked more closely to symbolic and experiential benefits and social and psychological risk. While both types of events impacted brand response variables, a product-related event had a greater impact on important brand response variables. Study Two examined the effectiveness of three firm responses in restoring damaged associations and brand response. These image restoration strategies were assessed from the consumer\u27s perspective utilizing cognitive response, source credibility, and attribution theories. A denial strategy was found to be least effective due to source derogation and counterarguments of the firm being motivated by self-interest. A reduction of offensiveness strategy was found to be effective only for an organization-related event. A corrective action strategy was found to be the most effective response given a product-related event due to handling functional risk concerns associated with a product-related event. In general the results are consistent with the conceptualization of brand knowledge as an associative network of information and the predictions drawn from theory. The dissertation concludes by providing the key theoretical and managerial implications of the dissertation

Consumer Multicultural Identity Affiliation: Reassessing Identity Segmentation in Multicultural Markets

The increasing intra-national diversity of many modern markets poses challenges to identity segmentation. As consumers require greater recognition of their diverse identities from brands, marketing science and practice are in search of theories and models that recognize and capture identity dynamics as impacted by cultural influences both from beyond and within national market borders. This paper extends consumer acculturation theory into multicultural market realities and offers a Consumer Multicultural Identity Affiliation (CMIA) Framework5 that distinguishes and integrates three key types of intra- and trans-national cultural influences informing identity dynamics. By examining consumer cultural identities within the CMIA framework in a mixed-method, two-country study, we show that gaining such an integrative view on cultural identity affiliations uncovers greater diversity and complexity (mono-, bi-, or multi-cultural) of consumer segments. We conclude with discussing future directions for CMIA applications to support marketing managers, scholars and educators dealing with culturally heterogeneous markets

Consumer ethnicity three decades after: a TCR agenda

Research into consumer ethnicity is a vital discipline that has substantially evolved in the past three decades. This conceptual article critically reviews its immense literature and examines the extent to which it has provided extensive contributions not only for the understanding of ethnicity in the marketplace but also for personal/collective well-being. We identify two gaps accounting for scant transformative contributions. First, today social transformations and conceptual sophistications require a revised vocabulary to provide adequate interpretive lenses. Second, extant work has mostly addressed the subjective level of ethnic identity projects but left untended the meso/macro forces affecting ethnicity (de)construction and personal/collective well-being. Our contribution stems from filling both gaps and providing a theory of ethnicity (de)construction that includes migrants as well as non-migrants

Environmental consumption: Women feel more personal responsibility

Compared to men, women score significantly higher on guilt- and shame-proneness and concerns for environmental ( green ) consumption. We theorized that women would feel more personally responsible for their green consumption than men because of their heightened experience of guilt. We analyzed data from a recent study on green attitudes and consumer behavior (n = 449; 230 male). As expected, women had higher self-reported and observed green consumption and levels of personal responsibility for green consumption. 24% of the relationship between sex and responsibility was mediated by guilt, suggesting guilt partially explains why women feel more personal responsibility for their green consumption

Brand Dilution: When Do New Brands Hurt Existing Brands?

Potential for trademark dilution occurs when a new brand introduces itself with an identical or substantially similar mark to that of an existing brand. Currently, there is neither a clear standard for legal proof of dilution nor widely accepted measures for managerial use. Using a shared-brand-network model, the authors use three different but conceptually related measurement methodologies (response latency, aided recall, and simulated choice) across five experiments to examine “blurring ” dilution effects. The results suggest that when junior brands operate in similar categories and position on similar attributes, there is no immediate threat of blurring dilution. However, if the junior brand chooses to position on dissimilar attributes in a similar category, dilution of attribute associations is likely. When the junior brand operates in dissimilar categories, there is a threat of blurring dilution for both category and attribute associations. The final two studies demonstrate that dilution of junior brands (i.e., operating in dissimilar categories positioned on dissimilar attributes) can suppress consideration and choice probabilities for the senior brand and that this effect may extend over a period of time. Recently, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of a small store against a world-famous lingerie manufacturer and retailer (Mosely v. V. Secret Catalogue 2003). The owners of th

Consumer evaluation of reference price advertisements: Effects of other brands\u27 prices and semantic cues

Although consumer behavior and policy researchers have contributed to legislation and legal decisions for reference price advertising, there is hardly any research on how other external price information may influence the effects of reference prices and associated semantic cues. The authors study these issues with two 3 × 2 × 2 experiments. Results of the first study indicate that consumer evaluations are influenced by other external price information within a plausible reference price range. In addition, presence of other external price information results in more positive perceptions of the offer when respondents are exposed to an abstract semantic cue. The results of the second study show that other external price information has no effect when the respondents are exposed to implausible or highly implausible prices, but the reference price level affects consumers\u27 perceptions of value, attitude toward the deal, and search intentions. The authors discuss the possible public policy and managerial implications

Developing and validating measures of facets of customer-based brand equity

This article presents four studies that develop measures of core/primary facets of customer-based brand equity (CBBE). Drawing from various CBBE frameworks, the facets chosen are perceived quality (PQ), perceived value for the cost (PVC), uniqueness, and the willingness to pay a price premium for a brand. Using numerous advocated scale developmental procedures, the measures of these facets showed evidence of internal consistency and validity over 16 different brands in six product categories. Results also suggest that PQ, PVC, and brand uniqueness are potential direct antecedents of the willingness to pay a price premium for a brand, and that willingness to pay a price premium is a potential direct antecedent of brand purchase behavior. © 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved