Magne Supphellen

Building foreign brand personalities in Russia: the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism

Based on a survey of Western brands in Russia, three contributions are offered to the literature on international brand-building. First, the Aaker brand personality scale (Aaker 1997) was tested in a Russian context. Important similarities and differences between Western and Russian brand personality perceptions were identified. Second, the results show that brand personalities of Western brands also have an impact on brand attitudes among Russian consumers. Third, and most importantly, it is demonstrated that the effect of Western brand personalities is heavily moderated by consumer ethnocentrism. Specifically, only low-ethnocentric consumers are influenced by foreign brand personalities.

Consumer Participation in Coproduction: "I Made It Myself" Effects on Consumers' Sensory Perceptions and Evaluations of Outcome and Input Product

Consumers engage in self-production when they play an active role in the creation of end products, such as preparing a meal or assembling a piece of furniture. In three experimental studies of self-production involving a branded input product, the authors show that consumers’ active engagement in the value creation process (preparing a meal) positively biases their evaluations of an outcome (a dish) and an input product (a dinner kit). A positive evaluation bias for the input product occurs despite increased self-attribution due to self-production. In support of an associative self-anchoring explanation and the notion of self-generated validity, self-producing consumers bias their sensory perceptions (e.g., perceived level of saltiness and spiciness) so that they match a positive evaluation of the outcome. Mediation analyses show that perceived self-integration (perceived link between self and outcome) partly mediates the positive effect of self-production on outcome evaluation. The authors conclude that branded input products may benefit from the evaluation bias caused by self-production.

Developing, exploring, and validating a typology of private philanthropic decision making

Previous research on charitable giving has devoted little attention to the fundamental question of how consumers actually respond to charitable donation requests via direct mail. Specifically, researchers have relied on the untested assumption that consumers engage in fairly extensive evaluations of requests. The present research challenges this assumption. By means of a simple scenario-technique, cognitive and behavioural responses to donation requests were first elicited from a sample of 90 consumers. A qualitative constant comparative analysis of responses resulted in the discovery of three different donor categories with different styles of decision-making: analysts (ANA), relationists (REL) and internalists (INT). ANA were characterised by high involvement and thorough evaluations of both the organisation behind a request and the specific cause promoted. REL were loyal to specific organisations and seldom attended to other information than the organisation behind the request. Interestingly, consumers in the final category, INT, neither evaluated the organisation nor the cause promoted. For these consumers, recognition of the requesting organisation was usually enough to trigger a positive response. In a follow-up survey including responses from more than 400 consumers, the typology of response styles was further explored and validated. In line with predictions from study 1, significant differences were observed in the ways ANA, REL and INT perceive, evaluate and give money to charitable organisations. The findings offer important implications for consumer psychology, public policy and charity marketing.

Drivers of Intention to Revisit the Websites of Well-Known Companies: The Role of Corporate Brand Loyalty

Due to the increasing importance of the internet as a channel of marketing and distribution, companies are now concerned with the question of how to design attractive websites. Correspondingly, market researchers have started to examine the determinants of attitudes towards websites and potential reasons for consumers visiting or rejecting to visit the sites of companies. Several drivers of attitudes and intentions have been identified. In this article, we focus on the importance of the corporate brand in studies of websites for well-known companies. The underlying assumption is that the intention to revisit a website is decided on much broader a basis than the attributes of the site. Specifically, we hypothesise that affective brand loyalty is a powerful determinant of intentions to revisit the website of an airline company besides attitudes towards the site per se. This contention is empirically tested and supported by a study of the SAS company.

Elicitation of product attributes in an evaluation context: A comparison of three elicitation techniques

Research on method effects in attribute elicitation suggests that different techniques may elicit different attribute sets, which in turn are differentially associated with self-reported attitudes and purchase intentions. However, past research has failed to distinguish between elicitation of perceptual and evaluative attributes. In this paper we focus on elicitation of evaluative attributes. Since evaluation processes typically involve a set of few, but salient, attributes, substantial elicitation method effects are not expected. The present paper reports the results of an experimental comparison of three different techniques (including two variants of one of the techniques) in which the elicitation context was held constant across techniques (product evaluation context). The performance of the different elicitation techniques is compared on common output-dimensions (e.g., attribute importance and predictive ability) and procedural dimensions (task ambiguity and task congruity). The results indicate that method bias is not a serious problem in the elicitation of evaluative attributes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

In search of the sources of brand personality

Since Aakers (1997) seminal article, in which a general measurement scale of brand personality was developed and tested, research on brand personality has burgeoned. However, there are still important gaps in the literature. The primary focus of previous studies has been either on understanding the effects of brand personality or on measurement issues. There is little research on how brand personalities are formed, a fundamental issue for marketers. To fill this gap, we identify in two studies the potential sources of brand personality, and assess their relevance for forming different brand personality dimensions. The pattern of results across studies provides a general framework for selecting the most relevant sources for each of five dimensions of the Aakers brand personality concept: sincerity, competence, sophistication, excitement and ruggedness.

Can advertisements for brand extensions revitalise flagship products? An experiment

Previous research on brand extension has been much concerned with the potentially negative backfire effects of unsuccessful extensions. The present research focuses on the upward potential of positive transfer effects from successful extensions. Of special interest is positive transfer effects on flagship products, these being the products most closely related to the brand name in consumer memory. Whereas the branding literature indicates that brand extension could be a viable strategy for brands in need of revitalisation, little is known about the effect of extensions on flagship products. The study object was a real flagship product in the soft-drink category with serious image problems. Transfer effects on this flagship were studied from ads displaying either line extensions (new products in the same category) or concept extensions (new products in a new category). All extensions were profiled in such a way as to signal a more updated and favourable image than that of the flagship product. Transfer effects on the image of the flagship were measured immediately after exposure to extension advertisements and again one week later. Immediately after exposure, both line and concept extensions had positive effects on the image of the flagship product. The positive effect of concept extensions remained even after one week. When combined with previous research, the present findings suggest that ads for concept extensions have greater upward potential in terms of positive transfer effects and less downward risk in terms of dilution, than ads for line extensions.

SMBs in search of international strategic alliances: Perceived importance of personal information sources

Abstract This study addresses the issue of how small- and medium-sized companies seek information about potential international partners for cooperation. In particular, we focus on two sources of information: direct personal information (DIRPI) and indirect personal information (INPI). We argue that the use of these sources is related to how closely related the planned alliance is to the strategic core of the company, the degree of dissimilarity among potential partners, the degree of expected opportunism from potential partners and prior experience with cooperation. Our hypotheses were tested on a sample of small- and medium-sized companies. The results indicate that the planned alliances closeness to the strategic core of the company and partner dissimilarity are important predictors for how managers seek information about potential partners.

Attitudes towards assisted dying are influenced by question wording and order: a survey experiment

BackgroundSurveys on attitudes towards assisted dying play an important role in informing public debate, policy and legislation. Unfortunately, surveys are often designed with insufficient attention to framing effects; that is, effects on the respondents’ stated attitudes caused by question wording and context. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate and measure such framing effects.MethodsSurvey experiment in which an eight-question survey on attitudes towards assisted dying was distributed to Norwegian citizens through a web-based panel. Two variations of question wording as well as two variations of question order were employed. Respondents were randomized to receive one of four questionnaire versions.ResultsThree thousand and fifty responses were received. There were moderate to large question wording and question order effects. A majority of Norwegian citizens favour the legalization of assisted dying for patients with terminal or chronic disease.ConclusionsStakeholders in the assisted dying debate need to acknowledge potential framing effects, and accordingly should interpret survey results with caution. The same holds for researchers who conduct attitude surveys in the field of bioethics.

Slavic Brothers or Rivals

Abstract Since the advent of the market economy in the former Soviet Union, the trade between old union members has developed gradually. However, the scant market research from this area has focused exclusively on the trade between Western countries and selected former members of the Union, typically Russia. Very little is known about the nature and dynamics of the trade within the old Union area, between the new independent countries. This study addresses the role of consumer ethnocentrism in the trade between Russia and Ukraine, the two largest countries of the former Union. Due to their common historical background, consumers in the two countries could be expected to define each other as part of their “national in-groups.” If this were the case, consumer ethnocentrism would have a positive effect on evaluations of imports from one country to the other. However, there are also historical reasons to expect the opposite effect. To some extent there are different ethnicities in the two countries, and due to the historical dominance of Russia, Ukrainian consumers might perceive Russians as imperialistic and paternalistic, whereas Russians might consider Ukrainians as provincial and less sophisticated. Such attitudes would lead to national “out-group” perceptions and negative effects of consumer ethnocentrism on the trade between the two countries. These rival hypotheses on the effects of consumer ethnocentrism were tested on data from a survey of University students in St. Petersburg (Russia) and Kiev (Ukraine). This study is the first to present empirical evidence on the existence and nature of consumer ethnocentrism in trade relationships within the former Soviet Union.