A comparative study of creation of self-brand connection amongst well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands

Abstract

Brand managers are wary of consumers who are either unaware of new brands or have an unfavorable attitude toward their brands. In this study, we investigate the creation of a self-brand connection with new and unfavorable brands in comparison to well-liked brands. Our empirical study reveals that consumers could form a self-brand connection with new and unfavorable brands when the brand serves as a self-presentational strategy—self-presentation by brand. In particular, first, we find that brand attitude predicts self-brand connection positively and significantly for a well-liked brand, but not for a new brand, and second, when consumers hold favorable (unfavorable) attitudes toward a familiar brand, the self-brand connection can exist (be diluted). Thus, the self-brand connection can vary depending upon consumers' favorability toward the brand. The current study suggests that one-on-one marketing, including customization and personalization, is relevant to new and unfavorable brands.

Introduction

A self-brand connection serves as an important element of the brand relationship as it refers to the way consumers establish a sense of oneness with a brand (Park, MacInnis, Priester, Eisingerich, & Iacobucci, 2010). Until recently, research on the self-brand connection has centered on well-liked brands (Dennis, Papagiannidis, Alamanos, & Bourlakis, 2016; Merchant & Rose, 2013) and unfavorable brands (Ferraro, Kirmani, & Matherly, 2013). There is limited research on the linkage between the creation of self-brand connection and consumers' favorability toward the brand. To this end, Chatzipanagiotou, Veloutsou, and Christodoulides (2016) called for research focusing on a comparison between the well-liked and unfavorable brands to extend an understanding of a holistic brand relationship. In this study, we explore such a brand relationship in the context of the self-brand connection amongst well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands using theories from customer-based brand equity and self-presentation by brand (SPB).

Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) is defined as “the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand” (Keller, 1993, p. 8). Research on CBBE is essential in order to capture the self-brand connection, as consumer attitude toward the favorability, strength, and uniqueness of the brand moderates the creation of self-brand connection. Such favorable (unfavorable) consumer attitudes, in turn, establish a sense of oneness (discord) with a brand that is positively (negatively) linked to building the brand relationship (Escalas, 2004; Park et al., 2010). Given the importance of CBBE in understanding the brand relationship with the consumer, Keller (2016) called for an investigation of consumers' brand association with newly introduced brands with which consumers have little or no interest. Such an investigation will provide a comparative understanding of the brand relationship amongst a well-liked brand, an unfavorable brand, and a new brand.

A well-liked brand is defined as a brand that consumers have a positive feeling about or that they have had a positive experience with (Keller, 1993). An unfavorable brand¹ is viewed as a brand that consumers have a negative attitude toward, which results from dissatisfaction or fairness violations (Grégoire & Fisher, 2008). A new brand² relates to a brand that consumers are not familiar with and thus have little knowledge with which to form either a favorable or an unfavorable association (Keller, 1993). As consumers have a certain level of familiarity and a favorable attitude toward a well-liked brand, then they become the drivers of the self-brand connection (Schmitt, 2012). However, the development of self-brand connection might be nonexistent in the case of a new brand to which consumers have limited exposure (Park et al., 2010). If a brand is viewed unfavorably, consumers associate the brand with their negative attitude, making it irrelevant to try to develop a self-brand connection. In addition, a love-becomes-hate effect may exist when consumers start forming a negative attitude toward a familiar brand (Grégoire, Tripp, & Legoux, 2009), and this effect may dilute the self-brand connection. For these reasons, it is essential to investigate the predictive value of brand attitude and brand familiarity regarding the self-brand connection with well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands.

SPB has been an important driver of self-brand connection, in addition to brand attitude and brand familiarity (Tan, Salo, Juntunen, & Kumar, 2017). The critical role of SPB is due to the fact that when consumers perceive a brand as an identity signal, the brand functions as a means of maintaining a positive impression in front of others and such symbolic benefits allow consumers to connect themselves with the brand. The literature on the relationship between SPB and self-brand connection is very scant. Therefore, in this study, we address the following research questions: How do well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands moderate the relationships of brand attitude, brand familiarity, SPB, and self-brand connection?

To address our research questions, we develop a conceptual framework for moderating the effects of well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands on brand attitude, brand familiarity, SPB, and self-brand connection. We empirically test our framework using clothing and consumer electronics product brands. Our findings reveal that brand attitude, brand familiarity, and SPB are relatively vital to the creation of self-brand connection for well-liked brands. However, if the brand is viewed unfavorably or if it is new, only SPB is found to have a positive effect on the self-brand connection. The current study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, we address the calls of Chatzipanagiotou et al. (2016) and Keller (2016) to extend research on the creation of self-brand connection by comparing new, unfavorable, and well-liked brands. Second, we integrated the consumer psychology model of brands (Schmitt, 2012) with SPB by testing its predictive ability for the self-brand connection. In the next section, we review the relevant literature used in developing our conceptual framework, followed by presenting two studies that test the hypotheses, and finally conclude with the current research's contributions, managerial implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.