https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437241275927

Abstract

Many mobile app providers offer their apps for free and base their business models on user engagement. However, declining app usage over time threatens the ability of apps to add business value. To keep users engaged, app providers use gamification, i.e., they use game elements (e.g., levels, points) in their non-game apps. Complementing traditional loyalty strategies that reward value-added activities (e.g., purchases) through value rewards, gamification rewards ongoing engagement through game elements. Thus, reward architectures of many apps have become hybrid, with value- and game-reward pursuit simultaneously driving engagement. However, it is unclear to what extent gamification helps to drive user engagement and add business value. To address this question, the authors study unique data from a gamified market research app comprising daily individual-level app usage observations of 18,952 users. The findings show that game rewards increase engagement significantly over and above value rewards, leading to a lift in business value, especially when users are in closer proximity to both types of rewards. However, the analysis also shows a dark side of gamification: when users enter a state of flow in the game, game engagement has a weaker effect on value-added engagement. The authors discuss implications for gamified reward architectures.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00222429231213011

Abstract

This research introduces behavioral labeling as the use of names or tags that reflect an associated activity, and it proposes that this can induce corresponding behavior. Contrary to the common intuition that descriptions of behaviors emerge as markings for popular actions (i.e., the label is a consequence of the behavior), the authors propose that a description itself might also induce the corresponding action (i.e., the label is an antecedent of the behavior). Building on linguistic relativity theory and based on five studies conducted in the lab and field, the authors show that merely attaching a fictitious name to a behavior can induce that very behavior. The authors also explore a potential explanation for this finding by showing that a behavioral label can evoke mental imagery regarding the associated behavior, which enhances the implementation of the behavior. The results contribute to marketing theory by introducing behavioral labeling and highlighting how language can shape behaviors. Marketers can use behavioral labels to promote their offerings based on the associated behaviors, while public policy makers can use behavioral labels to encourage prosocial and proenvironmental behaviors.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10949968231215362

Abstract

Companies spend large amounts of money to induce word of mouth (WOM) and spread it among consumers. This research introduces the concept of “WOM relevance,” which measures the importance of WOM for consumers’ purchase-decision process in a specific category. It uses three studies to develop and validate a parsimonious scale to measure WOM relevance at the consumer level across various product categories and different types of WOM, and applies the scale in an additional set of five studies. Specifically, this research disentangles the consumer-level and category components of WOM relevance; shows that the consumer-level variation is (much) larger than the category-level variation; and provides insights into differences in WOM relevance across categories, consumers, and WOM types. It also empirically shows that electronic WOM relevance relates to consumers’ search behavior and consideration-set formation in an online-shopping environment. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the proposed scale predicts choices as well as a more sophisticated choice model does. Finally, this research shows that WOM relevance influences not only consumers’ own purchase-decision process but also their intentions to retransmit others’ WOM messages.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00957-z

Abstract

Brand alliances are becoming increasingly complex, as marketers have begun to combine not only two but multiple brands to foster spillover effects. A particularly complex brand-alliance strategy is team brands, which combine various brands under a team-brand name. Using data from the Marvel brand universe, we examine contingency factors of sales spillover effects between team brands (e.g., Avengers) and their constituent brands (e.g., Hulk). We investigate the moderating role of key network characteristics, describing the team-brand networks and the constituent brands’ roles within these networks from both a firm perspective (brand-brand networks reflecting managers’ decisions about which constituent brands to combine) and a consumer perspective (brand-association networks reflecting consumers’ team-brand associations). The results show that network characteristics strongly affect spillovers and, more importantly, that their effect depends on both the direction (spillover from constituent brands to team brands or vice versa) and the network (brand-brand vs. brand-association network).

https://doi.org/10.1080/08997764.2023.2224302

ABSTRACT

Investments in new marketing offerings are notoriously risky, as they require firms to make judgments about an uncertain future. The authors develop an option-thinking framework for valuing and selecting new marketing offerings that combines real-options theory with virtual markets. They apply the framework and demonstrate its power empirically in the context of experiential content, where valuing marketing offerings constitutes a particularly challenging issue. Specifically, they test the proposed option-thinking framework in two experiential settings (movies and professional team sports) and compare it to current managerial practice. Each experiential setting deals with a common managerial marketing challenge. Study 1 examines extending a brand into a new category, and Study 2 investigates ingredient branding. The proposed framework provides managers with an empirical approach that enables them to consider the “value of waiting” when making investment decisions that involve uncertainty regarding future market developments.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00222429231164654

Abstract

Given the high failure rates of brand extensions, insights into the drivers of brand extension success are critical for marketing practitioners and scholars. Prior research has inferred that parent brand equity and extension fit are the two key success drivers; however, empirical findings are mixed. Drawing on signaling theory, categorization theory, and a large database of 2,134 effect sizes from research spanning 1990–2020, the authors address these mixed findings through a meta-analysis to develop empirical generalizations. The results show that parent brand equity and extension fit positively influence extension success. However, the multifaceted dimensions of these two drivers have differential effects. For example, among the fit dimensions, usage fit has the weakest effect. While the results suggest an overall positive interaction effect between the two drivers, a fine-grained perspective that considers the drivers’ various dimensions reveals differences. For example, brand familiarity appears to have a lower interaction effect with extension fit than the other dimensions of parent brand equity. Furthermore, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of five groups of moderators: contextual factors (parent brand, extension, communication, and consumer factors) and research method factors. The authors offer managerial and future research implications for the design of brand extension strategies.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2022.03.002

Abstract

Although gamification has received considerable attention from both researchers and practitioners, its influence on consumers remains ambiguous. This paper proposes that a negative process through decreased attention and a positive process through increased enjoyment explain the effects of gamification on different outcome variables. Study 1 examines these two processes and gamification’s downstream consequences on purchase intention and product information recognition. For purchase intention, the two processes operate in parallel and produce a null effect of gamification. For product information recognition, only the negative process emerges, resulting in a negative effect of gamification. Studies 2 and 3 focus on the negative effect of gamification on product information recognition and show that the negative effect disappears in gamification designs that link the game elements with meaningful information about the product (Study 2) or make consumers aware of the distraction potential of game elements (Study 3). The studies’ findings provide managerial insights into why not all gamification endeavors yield the desired results; they also specify two boundary conditions (i.e., meaningfulness and disclosure) that may help managers avoid potentially detrimental effects of gamification.

Abstract

This article proposes that managers may use local consumer culture (LCC), orthe culture of one’s home country, in their brand-building activities by adapting thebrand’s positioning to the country image the brand targets. It introduces the concept ofbrand image–country image (BICI)fit, which measures the extent to which consumers in aspecific country perceive a brand image as being congruent with their home country’simage. Using more than 350,000 brand-respondent observations across three countries, wedevelop and empirically illustrate a multiattribute methodology for operationalizing BICIfit and provide robust evidence that BICIfit is positively associated with consumers’brandevaluations. A large number of validity and robustness tests support the proposed BICIfitmetric and thefindings derived from it. For example, wefind that age, education, beingfemale, and need for structure enhance the BICIfit effect, whereas materialism diminishes it.Furthermore, BICIfit matters more in categories that are closely tied to a local culturalcontext or that are characterized by high purchase risk. Given its multiattribute nature, theproposed BICIfit metric identifies concrete image attributes and thereby provides managerswith an effective way to develop or revise LCC positioning plans for their brands.

Link to pubsonline here.

Highlights

• The digital age requires new digital HRM approaches to recruiting and employer branding.

• One approach is gamifying employer branding via serious games.

• Serious games and employer branding share the common goal of facilitating learning.

• This paper develops a conceptual framework based on a novel learning-based extension of the affective events theory.

• It derives propositions for future research regarding gamified employer branding.

Abstract

The digital age calls for digital HRM approaches, as the “digitized” workforce confronts companies with changing requirements regarding their human resource practices. Most importantly, companies need to build strong employer brands to attract, motivate, and retain employees. One promising approach to employer branding in the digital age is to gamify companies' employer branding activities by means of serious games (i.e., digital games with an educational purpose). Both serious games and employer branding share the key characteristic of facilitating learning to create knowledge. Despite existing research on employer branding and serious games in separate streams, virtually no research addresses their relationship, albeit its strong relevance for researchers and practitioners alike. The authors discuss both domains and their relation, propose a conceptual framework building on a novel learning-based extension of the affective events theory, and derive directions for future research to advance the understanding of gamifying employer branding in the digitized economy.

Keywords

• Human resource management
• Gamification
• Serious games
• Employer branding
• Learning

View full text here.

Abstract

Across industries, companies operate open innovation platforms that encourage users to share ideas and become product designers. Likewise, companies explicitly promote products based on user ideas as “user-designed” (e.g., McDonald’s MyBurger, LEGO Ideas). This paper introduces and empirically investigates two managerially relevant factors that can influence the effect of user-designed products on consumers’ reactions. Specifically, Studies 1a and 1b reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between the share of user-designed products in a company’s product portfolio and consumers’ purchase intentions, which is mediated by consumers’ perceptions of the company’s innovation ability. Study 2 examines the role of the market entry strategy for user-designed products. While the inverted U-shaped effect holds for followers, the relationship between the share of user-designed products and consumers’ purchase intentions becomes U-shaped for first movers. These results suggest that user-designed products can have unexpected consequences that managers need to be aware of and consider in their actions.

Keywords:

• User-designed products
• user innovation
• open innovation
• market entry strategy

See more here.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007

This study introduces the concept of attractiveness similarity, empirically examines its main effect and whether it moderates the effect of endorser attractiveness on consumer responses to advertising. The results show a positive main effect of attractiveness similarity over and above the mere effect of endorser attractiveness. In addition, a consistent moderating effect of attractiveness similarity on the effect of endorser attractiveness emerges: attractiveness similarity buffers against the less positive effects of lower levels of endorser attractiveness (i.e., it compensates for lower levels of endorser attractiveness). Overall, these findings reveal attractiveness similarity as a new variable in endorser advertising, which has important managerial implications. Advertising campaigns employing averagely attractive endorsers should pay special attention to attractiveness similarity.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.08.005 

In colloquial speech, people frequently link emotions to temperature (e.g., “warm love” or “cold fear”). Likewise, in the business world, the use of emotionally warm and cold appeals reflects an ongoing trend in advertising. However, the conditions in which emotionally warm versus cold appeals are more effective remain unclear. Drawing on homeostasis theory, the authors investigate whether and why feeling physically warm versus cold influences the effectiveness of emotional advertising appeals. Using both laboratory experiments and field data, they show that emotions play a homeostatic role. Specifically, they demonstrate that the effects of particular emotional stimuli depend not only on physical temperatures per se but on homeostasis/thermoregulation. Namely, when consumers are below their homeostatic optimum (i.e., physically cold), they perceive emotionally cold stimuli less favorably (than emotionally warm stimuli) as these stimuli bring them further away from the optimum. Likewise, when consumers are above their homeostatic optimum (i.e., physically hot), they perceive emotionally warm stimuli less favorably (than emotionally cold stimuli) as these stimuli bring them further away from the optimum. Finally, once consumers are at their homeostatic optimum, they perceive both emotionally warm and cold stimuli similarly favorably. These results have implications for a wide range of marketing activities (in particular advertising) across seasons and international markets.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.08.006 

Movie industry experts continuously debate whether the industry's enormous investments in stars pay off. Although a rich body of research has addressed the question whether stars are critical to the success of movies, previous research does not provide a consistent picture of the impact of stars on the economic success of the respective product. To derive empirical generalizations, the authors (1) provide a meta-analysis of the relationship between star power and movie success based on 61 primary studies reporting 172 effects of star power on movie success and (2) analyze a comprehensive dataset from that industry with n = 1545 movies using two different types of star power measures (commercial and artistic success), while controlling for selection effects of stars. Based on these two studies, four empirical generalizations emerge. First, when ignoring selection effects of stars, the impact of star power on box office revenues is strongly upwards biased. Second, artistic star power (cf. commercial) is associated with significantly lower box office revenues. Third, on average, movies with a commercially successful star (cf. without a commercially successful star) generate 12.46 million US$ additional box office revenues. In contrast, artistic star power does not result in a statistically significant revenue premium. Fourth, commercially (artistically) successful stars have a statistically significant “multiplier effect” of 1.127 (1.083) on other characteristics that influence a movie's box office revenues.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11573-017-0850-z

Brand alliances represent a popular business strategy in many industries, because firms hope to evoke positive consumer evaluations of both the alliance’s product and the partner brands. However, extant research offers mixed findings regarding the effects of a brand alliance on its partner brands (i.e., spillover effects). In response, this study separates spillover effects into the effects of the alliance product on the partner brands (brand alliance effects) and the effects between partner brands (brand contrast effects), while also noting the potential moderating impact of perceived attitude- and product-based fit between partner brands on resulting spillover effects. Two experimental studies consistently reveal the existence of brand contrast effects; furthermore, the partner brand’s attitude-based fit reduces undesired brand contrast effects and positively moderates spillover effects in brand alliances, whereas product-based fit does not. Therefore, a third study identifies relevant drivers of partner brand’s attitude-based fit for different brand alliances (i.e., co-branding, ingredient branding, and joint advertising). The findings have notable implications for the design and management of brand alliances.

doi:10.1080/10864415.2016.1061792

Online consumer-generated product reviews are a growing phenomenon and have led to the posting of colossal amounts of data by consumers on the Web. These data include consumers’ thoughts, opinions, and feelings about brands and offer firms the opportunity to “listen in” on consumers to get a better understanding of the topics discussed about their brands. Using the human associative memory model as the theoretical framework, the authors introduce an approach to convert online product reviews into meaningful information about brand images using a novel combination of text mining and network analysis methodologies. Following a network-based understanding of brand image, the authors use online product reviews to extract consumers’ brand associations and their interconnections as well as to depict and characterize the network of brand associations. In an empirical study, the authors test the approach and illustrate its managerial usefulness. The suggested approach allows managers to effectively monitor and detect strengths and weaknesses of brand image. Moreover, the proposed approach is one of the first attempts to measure brand image using consumer-generated content by applying text mining and network analysis.

doi:10.1007/s11002-014-9299-9

Mixture regression models are an important method for uncovering unobserved heterogeneity. A fundamental challenge in their application relates to the identification of the appropriate number of segments to retain from the data. Prior research has provided several simulation studies that compare the performance of different segment retention criteria. Although collinearity between the predictor variables is a common phenomenon in regression models, its effect on the performance of these criteria has not been analyzed thus far. We address this gap in research by examining the performance of segment retention criteria in mixture regression models characterized by systematically increased collinearity levels. The results have fundamental implications and provide guidance for using mixture regression models in empirical (marketing) studies.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1650149581?accountid=10218

Some retailers use their chain names to identify their private labels. We find that chain labeling increases the likelihood that consumers correctly recognize a private label as belonging to a specific retailer, and that on average, chain labeling improves consumers' attitudes toward private labels. We also identify two boundary conditions for this effect: chain labeling helps for standard, but not for economy private labels, and it improves consumers' attitudes toward private labels in categories with low brand relevance. These results have important implications for managers on whether and when to use chain labeling for their private labels.

http://misq.org/discovering-unobserved-heterogeneity-in-structural-equation-models-to-avert-validity-threats.html

A large proportion of information systems research is concerned with developing and testing models pertaining to complex cognition, behaviors, and outcomes of individuals, teams, organizations, and other social systems that are involved in the development, implementation, and utilization of information technology. Given the complexity of these social and behavioral phenomena, heterogeneity is likely to exist in the samples used in IS studies. While researchers now routinely address observed heterogeneity by introducing moderators, a priori groupings, and contextual factors in their research models, they have not examined how unobserved heterogeneity may affect their findings. We describe why unobserved heterogeneity threatens different types of validity and use simulations to demonstrate that unobserved heterogeneity biases parameter estimates, thereby leading to Type I and Type II errors. We also review different methods that can be used to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in structural equation models. While methods to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in covariance-based structural equation models (CB-SEM) are relatively advanced, the methods for partial least squares (PLS) path models are limited and have relied on an extension of mixture regression — finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) and distance measure-based methods — that have mismatches with some characteristics of PLS path modeling. We propose a new method — prediction-oriented segmentation (PLS-POS) — to overcome the limitations of FIMIX-PLS and other distance measure-based methods and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the ability of PLS-POS and FIMIX-PLS to discover unobserved heterogeneity in both structural and measurement models. Our results show that both PLS-POS and FIMIX-PLS perform well in discovering unobserved heterogeneity in structural paths when the measures are reflective and that PLS-POS also performs well in discovering unobserved heterogeneity in formative measures. We propose an unobserved heterogeneity discovery (UHD) process that researchers can apply to (1) avert validity threats by uncovering unobserved heterogeneity and (2) elaborate on theory by turning unobserved heterogeneity into observed heterogeneity, thereby expanding theory through the integration of new moderator or contextual variables.

doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2013.09.004

Special Issue on Social Media and Marketing.

The dynamic, ubiquitous, and often real-time interaction enabled by social media significantly changes the landscape for brand management. A deep understanding of this change is critical since it may affect a brand's performance substantially. Literature about social media's impact on brands is evolving, but lacks a systematic identification of key challenges related to managing brands in this new environment. This paper reviews existing research and introduces a framework of social media's impact on brand management. It argues that consumers are becoming pivotal authors of brand stories due to new dynamic networks of consumers and brands formed through social media and the easy sharing of brand experiences in such networks. Firms need to pay attention to such consumer-generated brand stories to ensure a brand's success in the marketplace. The authors identify key research questions related to the phenomenon and the challenges in coordinating consumer- and firm-generated brand stories.

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.11.007

Price has two distinct effects on consumers' evaluations of products, namely sacrifice and informational effects. No pricing models exist that explicitly account for this dual effect of price. This article combines insights from behavioral research on the dual effect of price with a model of market segmentation and price discrimination among segments. The authors propose a method for market segmentation that is based on the degree to which consumers attend to the informational and sacrifice effects of price and combine the segment-level parameter estimates with a model of price optimization. An empirical study using seven different product categories provides evidence in support of the robustness and relevance of the proposed approach. The results show that the dual effect-based approach captures consumers' price preference structures more precisely than a segmentation on the basis of the commonly measured total effect of price and thereby enables sellers to increase their profits.

doi:10.1509/jm.11.0349

Foreign branding—or using brand names that evoke foreign associations through, for example, spelling a brand name in a foreign language—is a popular means in both developed and emerging countries of suggesting a specific country of origin (COO) in the hope that it will evoke certain product qualities. As a result, consumers increasingly encounter products with brand names that imply a COO that differs from the actual COO (where the product is manufactured). In four experiments, the authors find support for the hypothesis that incongruence between the actual COO and implied COO decreases purchase likelihood asymmetrically. Incongruence backfires in hedonic categories but has hardly any effect in utilitarian categories. Furthermore, incongruence decreases purchase likelihood more if the actual COO is an emerging rather than developed country. The authors address the psychological process underlying the asymmetric effect of incongruence by showing that consumers apply different information-processing strategies to hedonic versus utilitarian products. These results have important implications for (foreign) branding decisions.

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2039229

This study compares the effects of brand extension success drivers across attitude-based and choice-behavior-based measures of extension success within the FMCG sector. Previous research considers different success measures in separate studies, focusing mainly on attitude-based measures. We suggest and empirically test different effects of commonly applied success drivers on one attitude-based and three choice-behavior-based extension success measures. Our findings imply that fit and parent brand strength may not be dominant success drivers in the context of choice-behavior-based success measures. Instead, marketing support for the extension product drives choice-behavior-based brand extension success.

doi:10.1007/s11002-012-9174-5

Firms often partition a product’s price into two mandatory parts (e.g., the base price of a mail-order DVD and the surcharge for shipping and handling) instead of charging one all-inclusive price. This study examines whether and to what extent partitioned pricing (compared to one all-inclusive price) influences the informational and sacrifice effects of price. We empirically show that partitioned pricing oppositely affects these two distinct roles of price: the informational effect of price (i.e., price as an indicator of quality) increases, while the sacrifice effect (i.e., price as a measure of sacrifice) becomes more negative. In product categories with substantial price–quality inferences, the positive impact of partitioned pricing on the informational effect can overcompensate for its negative impact on the sacrifice effect, making partitioned prices the preferable strategy.

doi:10.1509/jmkr.47.5.823

This article focuses on the measurement of the overall importance of brands for consumer decision making—that is, brand relevance in category, or BRiC—across multiple categories and countries. Although brand equity measures for specific brands have attracted a large body of literature, the questions of how important brands are within an entire product category and the extent to which BRiC differs across categories and countries have been neglected. The authors introduce the concept of BRiC (a category-level measure, not a brand-level measure). They develop a conceptual framework to measure BRiC and the drivers of BRiC, test the framework empirically with a sample of more than 5700 consumers, and show how the construct varies across 20 product categories and five countries (France, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The results suggest a high validity of the proposed BRiC measure and show substantial differences between categories and countries. A replication study two-and-a-half years later confirms the psychometric properties of the suggested scale and shows remarkable stability of the findings. The findings have important implications for the management of brand investments.

doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2010.08.005

Research into brand extensions has mainly focused on consumers’ extension evaluations without considering an important financial implication: the ability of the extension product to charge a price premium. This study analyzes (1) the extent to which consumers are willing to pay a price premium for the extension product and (2) the impact of potential success drivers on consumers’ attitudes toward the extension and the extension price premium. The results show, for example, that perceived advertising support positively influences consumers’ attitudes toward the extension, but it does not directly affect the magnitude of the brand extension price premium. Furthermore, this study reveals monetary effects associated with these success drivers (i.e., parent brand quality, perceived fit, marketing support for the brand extension, and consumer experience with the extension category), which offer important information regarding how to allocate resources to various success drivers. For example, brand investments that increase perceptions of parent brand quality by one unit (seven-point scale) tend to enhance the brand extension price premium of typical fast moving consumer goods (average price of €2.04 in the study sample) by €.208, all else being equal.

doi:10.1177/1094670510370054

Although substantial differences between product quality and service quality have spurred service research for the past 30 years, studies of brand extension success drivers in a services context measure the core driver of parent brand quality, using scales developed for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). This study instead assesses parent brand quality with a context-specific measure, drawn from service quality research, and analyzes the relative effects of key brand extension success drivers for services. Partial least squares (PLS) modeling offers diagnostic information about the impact of three dimensions of perceived parent brand quality on the perceived service quality of an extension product, a key success metric for service brand extensions. In contrast with previous studies, the dominant success driver is parent brand quality rather than the perceived fit between the parent brand and the extension. Moreover, all three dimensions of parent brand quality constitute distinct drivers that should be considered when managers assess the chances of service brand extension success, with outcome quality having the strongest impact on service brand extension success. An importance performance analysis of the PLS estimates for 27 hypothetical service extensions demonstrates the diagnostic value of this approach and charts a ‘‘priority map’’ for managerial decisions.

doi:10.1007/s11747-007-0076-7

Price plays two distinct roles in consumers’ evaluations of product alternatives: as a measure of sacrifice and as an informational cue. This article merges two streams of empirical research into the effects of price on consumers’ product evaluations by combining stated preferences, obtained from conjoint measurement, with data on self-reported measures in the form of beliefs or attitudes. It thus offers new, substantive insights into the dual role of price. Specifically, it differentiates between the informational and sacrifice effects of price using a choice-based conjoint approach and differentiates further among different subcomponents of these two main effects by combining choice-based measures with self-reported measures that pertain to potential sources of the dual role of price (price response drivers) and underlying consumer characteristics. Thus, this article presents a general procedure to quantify the impact of the dual role of price on choice shares for product alternatives within a market simulation. This procedure enables managers to simulate the choice share effects of changes in price response drivers, as well as modifications in segmentation and targeting strategies that involve changes in the levels of the price response drivers and thus the levels of the informational and sacrifice components of the price response of demand.

doi:10.1007/s11002-007-9028-8

This paper examines the issue of image feedback effects and potential drivers of these effects by analyzing real-world extensions that have been introduced successfully in the market, using a longitudinal field study. Within the context of typical FMCG extensions, the authors find strong evidence that even for successful extensions, negative image feedback effects can occur, particularly when the perceived quality of the extension fails to meet the quality level of the parent brand. Strong brands tend to be more vulnerable to negative image feedback effects because consumers have a higher reference level for their extensions than for those of weaker brands. The likelihood of negative feedback effects decreases as the level of perceived fit and consumers’ perceptions of the general extendibility of the parent brand increases. But managers cannot, at least in the short run, mitigate negative image feedback effects through increased advertising support. Finally, the findings demonstrate that the feedback effects of a new extension product on parent brand image diminish over time.

doi:10.1007/s11002-007-9013-2

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of study results on the price-perceived quality relationship published from 1989 to 2006. The findings show that the price effect on perceived quality has decreased. Furthermore, the price–quality relationship is stronger in studies that use a within-subjects design, investigate higher priced products, and use samples from European countries but weaker for services, durable goods, and respondents who are familiar with the product. A striking null result indicates that the number of cues does not affect the price-perceived quality relationship significantly.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2006.11.003

The authors investigated the empirical generalizability of existing brand extension research results. Using a comprehensive data set compiled from two large-scale consumer samples and panel data, they address the generalizability of empirical findings (1) beyond the lab to conditions with real extensions, (2) across fast-moving consumer goods product categories, (3) across different types of parent brands, (4) across respondents (students versus non-students), and (5) across success measures (attitude versus market-based success measures). Many important results of brand extension research generalize, to a certain extent, across all five areas of empirical generalization. However, some notable differences occurred (e.g., between different types of parent brands). Beyond its implications for brand extension research, this study underscores the need for the development of empirical generalizations that provide sound knowledge to practitioners and academics.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.70.2.18

The research presented in this article addresses the issue of the significance and relative importance of the determinants of extension success by simultaneously investigating ten success factors. The empirical analysis considers the direct relationships between success factors and extension success, the structural relationships among investigated factors, and moderating effects. The authors find that fit between the parent brand and an extension product is the most important driver of brand extension success, followed by marketing support, parent-brand conviction, retailer acceptance, and parent-brand experience. The authors also find several important structural relationships among the investigated success factors (e.g., marketing support → fit → retailer acceptance → extension success). Finally, the interaction terms of fit with the quality of the parent brand and with parent-brand conviction are statistically significant, albeit of relatively low importance.

http://dx.doi.org/10.15358/0344-1369-2005-JRM-1-5-1

Consumers use the price of a brand both as a signal for product quality and as a monetary constraint when choosing a brand. Consequently, price has an informational (signal) and an allocative (constraint) role. These two roles are conceptually distinct, yet measuring them becomes confounded due to the difficulties of empirically isolating their effects. In practice, only the total effect of price is estimated, particularly by using conjoint analysis. The three main objectives of our research are: (1) to present a new methodology in a choice-based conjoint setting that is designed to isolate and estimate separate effects of price. A segment level analysis and an individual level analysis are conducted using latent class and hierarchical Bayes procedures to account for respondents’ heterogeneity; (2) to quantify the different effects of price by calculating price elasticities for each effect; and (3) to test the validity of the proposed methodology in an empirical setting within the scope of a large representative sample.

http://dx.doi.org/10.15358/0344-1369-2008-2-93

In vielen Märkten, die durch hedonische Produktkomponenten geprägt sind, stehen Menschen als Stars im Fokus der Betrachtung. Diese Stars gelten als Marken und werden entsprechend auch so gemanagt. Hohe Investitionen der Markenrechteinhaber (in diesem Falle die Musiklabels) erfordern eine kontinuierliche Messung und Kontrolle der Markenstärke der Stars. Auf Basis des Konzepts von Keller (1993) zum Customer-Based Brand-Equity wird erstmals ein Markenstärkemodell für Künstler im Popmusikbereich entwickelt. Unter Verwendung einer großzahligen Stichprobe (n = 1077) werden die Parameter des Modells mittels PLS-Pfadmodellierung geschätzt. Die Ergebnisse der Modellschätzung zeigen die wesentlichen Treiber der Künstlermarkenstärke auf und bieten auf diese Weise konkrete Anhaltspunkte für die Steuerung von Künstlermarken.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/750493038?pq

A broad variety of methods for measuring brand image has been suggested in the literature. The validity of these techniques and their applicability for a comprehensive measurement and assessment of brand image often remains questionable. Against this background this article introduces and empirically applies a new method for measuring brand image. The method combines qualitative and quantitative measurement approaches and integrates network analysis - a rarely used technique in marketing contexts, which we present for the first time in detail and as an essential part of a comprehensive measurement tool for assessing brand image.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/208918694?pq

During the last 10 years, the research in business administration has dealt increasingly with the management of immaterial property objects, in particular brands. Brands show a prominent financial value of enterprise.

Kaufentscheidungen sind häufig dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass Konsumenten im Vorfeld nicht sicher sein können, was für eine Qualität sie bekommen. Diese Unsicherheit wird bislang in Conjoint-Analysen als populärster Methode zur Messung von Konsumentenpräferenzen nicht berücksichtigt. Hierdurch kann es zu erheblichen Verzerrungen bei der Ermittlung von Gesamtnutzenwerten für alternative Angebote und somit bei der Prognose von Wahlanteilen und der Schätzung von Responsefunktionen kommen. Der Beitrag stellt ein Verfahren vor, mit dem die Ergebnisse von Conjoint-Analysen um Unsicherheitsaspekte korrigiert werden können und verdeutlicht in einer empirischen Studie das Ausmaß des vermuteten „Unsicherheits-Bias“
herkömmlicher Ansätze.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11573-006-0023-y

The author presents a comprehensive empirical study which investigates the conditions under which consumers tend to use prices as a signal of quality (informational role of price). The present study is the first which investigates the significance and relative importance of a large variety of potential determinants of the informational role of price and the first one that tests to which extent the findings can be generalized across consumer segments.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11301-006-0002-y

Price is one of the most important cues on the marketplace. The price cue is present in all purchase situations and at the very least represents to all consumers the economic outlay that must be sacrificed in order to engage in a given purchase transaction. The price of a product is a crucial determinant of a firm’s profit, which is why many firms focus their marketing strategies on pricing. A valid procedure for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) is essential for designing optimal pricing policies or for estimating demand for new products. A broad variety of methods for measuring WTP has been developed in the literature. This article provides a review of the state of the art in measuring consumer WTP. We systematize and discuss existing methods of consumer WTP measurement, discuss potential pitfalls in measuring WTP and identify directions for future research.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/208920497?pq

This paper presents the findings from a survey that investigates the role of intangible assets within German companies. The results provide evidence that managers, in line with the literature, regard intangible assets as important value drivers. However, the study also reveals that current practices in measurement, management, and reporting of intangible assets comply only to a limited extent with the requirements stated in the literature.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03371637

This paper is intended to investigate the empirical generalizability of prior findings concerning factors affecting consumer evaluations of brand extensions. We investigate the significance and relative importance of such brand extension success factors and test to which extent our findings can be generalized across consumer segments. Our study includes all major factors which have been proven by past research to be of significant relevance under a certain set of circumstances (i.e. factors that turned out to be significant at the p < 0.10 level in at least one empirical study). In total we analyze 66 existent fast moving consumer goods brand extensions stemming from leading German parent brands within a large variety of extension categories. Using an a priori segmentation as well as a latent class approach we found major differences between consumer segments. Our results show that prior research findings are considerably biased as a result of ignoring consumer heterogeneity.

http://dx.doi.org/10.15358/0344-1369-2003-3-147

Der Beitrag analysiert empirisch den Effekt verschiedener Erfolgsfaktoren auf den Markentransfererfolg kurzlebiger Konsumgüter. In die Untersuchung fließen insgesamt 95 Markentransfers von 48 Muttermarken aus 64 unterschiedliche Produktkategorien ein. Untersucht werden nahezu sämtliche Erfolgsfaktoren, die sich in vorangegangenen empirischen Studien mindestens einmal in einem bestimmten Kontext als signifikant erwiesen haben. Die Untersuchung stellt damit die bisher umfangreichste empirische Studie zu dieser Thematik dar. Gegenüber bisherigen Arbeiten kann die relative Bedeutung und Signifikanz von Erfolgsfaktoren wesentlich verlässlicher bestimmt werden. Zudem kann der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Produktkategorien und Marken auf die Wirkungen der Erfolgsfaktoren analysiert werden. Als zentrale Erfolgsfaktoren kristallisieren sich der fit in Form der globalen Ähnlichkeit zwischen Muttermarke und Transferprodukt sowie die Qualitätseinschätzung der Muttermarke heraus.