•Death awareness can have a uniquely negative impact on exciting brands’ evaluations.•Exciting (vs. other) brands are more closely associated with the notion of change.•Mortality salience can ...increase consumers’ tendency to avoid change.•Reducing the association between exciting brands and change can mitigate the effect.•The effect holds across 27 product/service categories.
From deadly disease outbreaks to crimes and terrorism, consumers often experience mortality salience (MS). This research examines how MS-inducing events impact brand evaluations. We propose that under MS, consumers avoid experiencing change. Because consumers perceive brands with an exciting personality to be more closely associated with the notion of change than brands with other types of personality, the onset of MS is more likely to hurt the evaluations of exciting brands than those of other brands. Study 1, a large-scale secondary data study, showed that the 9/11 terror attacks degraded consumers’ evaluations of exciting brands but not of other types of brands. Subsequent studies demonstrated causality and the underlying mechanism. In Study 2, experimentally inducing MS decreased evaluations of an exciting brand but not of a control brand. Using a process-by-moderation approach, Study 3 showed that manipulating consumers’ perception of the extent to which an exciting brand was associated with the notion of change moderated the negative impact of MS on brand evaluations. Studies 4a-4b demonstrated that consumers’ tendency to avoid experiencing change mediated the detrimental effect of MS on the evaluations of an exciting brand but not of a control brand. These findings add to the literature on branding and offer practical insights for brand management during crises.
This study examines how a celebrity endorser’s key associations can complement and help improve a brand’s low corresponding associations. By conducting three studies, we find that when consumers have ...no prior knowledge about the benefits of a brand, a celebrity’s enabling, enticing, and enriching (3E) associations get transferred to the brand. However, when consumers know that a brand has low 3E benefits, only the celebrity endorsers’ enriching associations are transferred to the brand. Thus, from the current study the importance of a celebrity’s enriching benefits is emphasized for both unknown and well-known brands. Furthermore, we theorize and demonstrate consumer elevation as the underlying mechanism whereby the enriching benefits of a celebrity endorser are transferred to a brand. The current findings extend the extant literature on celebrity endorsement management and provide valuable managerial insights for developing effective celebrity endorsement strategies.
While artificial intelligence products are widely used in the market, their anthropomorphic appearance design is becoming a frontier issue in product strategy and consumer behavior research. The aim ...of this study was to investigate the influence of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. It was conducted in China, a new but rapidly-growing country in the field of Internet, AI technology and AI product consumption. This study conducted four situational experiments with a 2 (anthropomorphic design: anthropomorphic vs. non-anthropomorphic) × 2 (product type: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between subjects’ experimental design. Data was collected from 1172 Chinese “Digital Natives” by using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that for hedonic AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived entertainment, and intelligence level significantly moderates the mediating effect of perceived entertainment; while for practical AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived usefulness, and intelligence level does not significantly moderate the mediating effect of perceived usefulness. There is no significant moderating effect of intelligence level on perceived usefulness. The study contributes to development and validation of a more comprehensive understanding and theoretical foundation of anthropomorphism, and furthermore explores the impact of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. This study also provides insights for companies to apply anthropomorphic strategies.
This study develops and empirically tests an integrative model of what happens when consumers learn about brand origin misperceptions (BOM). The proposed model suggests that learning about the true ...origin of a previously misclassified brand influences consumers’ purchase intentions through cognitive and affective brand re-evaluations and that these effects are subject to certain boundary conditions. An empirical study conducted in the United States involving multiple product categories and brands provides empirical evidence for the hypothesized moderated mediation model. The findings indicate that consumers adjust both their cognitive and affective brand evaluations to true brand origin information, but for affective brand evaluations, this is only the case if the true origin has a worse country image than the initially assumed (incorrect) origin. In addition, while several consumer- and brand-related factors moderate the cognitive consequences of becoming aware of BOM, only consumers’ confidence in brand origin moderates its affective consequences.
Brand crises, defined as well-publicized claims of unsubstantiated or false brand propositions can do severe damage to brands. Yet, the damaging effects of brand crises may not always be uniform. In ...other words, the effects of crises may be subject to moderators such as the relevance of the crisis to the brand and brand familiarity. We propose a framework that helps us understand the effects of brand crises on consumers' brand evaluations. We test the hypotheses that crisis relevance interacts with familiarity in its effect on brand evaluations, and that this effect is mediated by perceptions of the seriousness of the crisis. Results from two experiments support these predictions.
The present study investigates paradox brands, which incorporate contradictory brand meanings, and explores the influence of residential mobility on consumers’ evaluations of these brands from a ...socio-ecological perspective. This research presents three experimental studies conducted in two distinct markets: China and the United States. The findings reveal that consumers who experience residential mobility (vs. stability) are more likely to positively appraise paradox brands and prefer them over traditional brands without contradictions. This preference is attributed to a stronger dialectical self among consumers with greater residential mobility. Furthermore, a stronger dialectical self is associated with more positive evaluations and preferences for paradoxical brands. This study highlights the role of residential mobility in fostering paradoxical brands and emphasizes its significance in both residential mobility and brand development domains.
Purpose
– This paper aims to examine whether the strength of positive brand relationship can either mediate between trust, satisfaction, attitude towards the brand and loyalty or moderate the link ...between these variables. Existing research has established that trust, satisfaction and the attitude towards the brand contribute to the development of brand loyalty. However, recently, there is a growing stream of research indicating that the brands are not only facilitating transaction but companies can also use them to develop and maintain links with their customers. The exploration of the role of brands in the development of bonds with the customers is still very limited.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected from 189 women who are using lipstick in Glasgow, Scotland. Respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire keeping in mind their preferred brand.
Findings
– The findings revealed that the strength of the consumer brand relationship is a very strong predictor of brand loyalty. They also suggested that brand relationship does not moderate the relationship between brand trust, satisfaction and brand loyalty, but it mediates the link amongst these constructs.
Research limitations/implications
– One product category was examined. The data were collected from females in a big city with non-probabilistic sampling. Most of the respondents were younger consumers, who may have different behavior compared to older consumers.
Practical implications
– Managers are constantly looking for ways to increase brand loyalty. They need to appreciate the importance of consumer engagement with their brand through positive brand relationships. Therefore, they need to try to develop brand identities and project brand images that will make the brands look as appealing to the consumers as relationship partners.
Originality/value
– This paper supports the view that brands are not only facilitating transactions but can also develop and maintain links with their customers, especially engaged customers, and the exploration of these bonds is still limited. This paper is adding to the literature on brand engagement and brand relationships from a quantitative perspective and is contributing to theory building, as there is no clear theoretical view on whether the brand relationship has a direct effect, i.e. either mediates or moderates the link between these variables.
Although posting food photos has become a pervasive phenomenon on social media platforms and has significant marketing implications for restaurants, there is not much evidence concerning why this ...practice has such implications. Building on research into self-expression and social influence, we hypothesize that posting food photos serves as a form of self-expression, which in turn leads to an enhanced dining experience. A field study, a laboratory experiment, and archival data from a popular Chinese social media platform provide support for our hypotheses. Specifically, Study 1 indicates that posting photos of food enhances consumers' dining experiences and leads to positive evaluations of restaurants. Study 2 identifies self-expression as the underlying mechanism and tests the moderating role of supportive interactions. Study 3 is a follow-up investigation into the real-time interactions examined in Study 2, using archival data from a popular social media platform.
•This study aims to investigate the effects and underlying mechanisms of the pervasive phenomenon on social media, namely the effects of posting food photos on consumers' dining experiences and brand evaluation.•The empirical results show that posting food photos has a positive impact on consumers' dining experiences and brand evaluation.•Self-expression mediates the positive relationship between posting food photos and dining experiences.•Supportive interaction on social media moderates the relationship between self-expression and dining experience, specifically, supportive interaction increases the association between self-expression and evaluation.•The archival data from a popular Chinese social media confirmed the pattern of results found in the lab.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of three green information quality dimensions – persuasiveness, completeness and credibility – on green brand evaluation and whether this is mediated by ...green brand credibility. It also examines the moderating effects of eco-label credibility and consumer knowledge on green information quality dimensions and green brand credibility relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a structured questionnaire on environmentally-friendly electrical goods/electronics, cosmetic and apparel product advertisements, involving an elaboration task, this study collected usable data from 1,282 Indian consumers across 50 cities. It also undertook an assessment for three different product groups using structural equation modelling to examine proposed hypotheses and assessed moderated mediation using the Hays process model.
Findings
The study indicates that: green brand credibility mediates the effects of green information quality dimensions on green brand evaluation; consumer knowledge moderates the effects of persuasiveness and completeness on green brand credibility and eco-label credibility moderates the effects of persuasiveness and credibility on green brand credibility.
Research limitations/implications
In green information processing, this study supports the relevance of the elaboration likelihood model and the mediation effect of green brand credibility. It also presents evidence that credible eco-labels enhance green information processing. While the results are broadly consistent across the three product categories, the results may only generalizable to the environmentally-aware urban populations.
Practical implications
Help brand managers to design advertisements that add brand credibility in environmentally-aware urban markets.
Originality/value
It helps to define green information quality and the interacting effects of eco-label credibility and consumer knowledge in green information processing.
As an indispensable platform for the interaction and relationship marketing in China, the systematic discussion about the impact of WeChat interaction on brand evaluation is still not well ...understood. Based on para-social interaction theory, this study examined the relationships between WeChat interaction, para-social interaction, brand evaluation and affiliative tendency, utilizing valid survey data of 216 Chinese users of WeChat. The findings of this study revealed that there is a positive relationship between WeChat interaction and brand evaluation, and para-social interaction plays a mediation role for its virtual intimacy. Compared to the high affiliative tendency, low affiliative tendency enhances the positive effect of para-social interaction on brand evaluation and the mediating path. Through detailed analyses, the conclusions identified para-social interaction as a mediator and affiliative tendency as a moderator in the relationship between WeChat interaction and brand evaluation. On the basis of these results, the practical implications for enterprises are discussed.
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