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This chapter aims to shed light on the role that a sustainable orientation plays in strengthening the relationships between global consumers and online brands. Despite many previous studies about the importance of sustainability considerations for national consumers’ brand commitments and purchase intentions, there is a lack of empirical studies focussing on this relationship from a global consumer perspective. A pre-study (consisting of focus group discussions) and a widely distributed international survey with responses from 74 countries show mixed results. Whereas the results from the focus groups imply that a sustainable orientation influences both global consumers’ purchase intentions and brand commitments towards online brands, the survey results imply that global consumers’ sustainable orientations do not affect purchase intentions directly, even though they influence brand commitments. An implication of these results is that an international online brand’s possibility to portray a sustainable orientation plays an important role in strengthening the relationship with global consumers, especially regarding brand commitment.

Researches on the impact brand equity have grown considerably in recent years, as it has been shown to have significant impact on a company’s financial performance. This paper aims to empirically test the relationships between brand concepts and brand equity, while exploring the mediating roles of emotional attachment and customer commitment.

The research investigates the effect of brand concept on the customer–brand relationship and brand performance. Additionally, it examines how the relationship between brand concept and brand equity is mediated by customer–brand relationships such as emotional attachment and commitment.

The results empirically demonstrate the important contribution of the three brand concepts to brand equity. The results empirically demonstrate the important contribution of the three-brand concept to customer commitment and to brand equity that has been predicted by prior research.

The main contribution of this study is to demonstrate the effects of the brand concepts related to aesthetic, functional and symbolic benefits on brand equity. From this, brand equity may be viewed as a link in the path of effects that indirectly connects brand concepts with market performance. Brand concept, emotional attachment and customer commitment are relevant constructs underlying brand equity, and commitment and loyalty are key mediating variables in relational exchanges.

Travel and tourism is an imperative economic activity in most countries around the world. The industry has momentous indirect and induced impacts apart from its direct economic impact. The purpose of this paper is to test the applicability of brand interaction and perceived quality theory in the formation of brand trust, and the impact of affective commitment and brand trust toward advocacy intentions in the context of the Indian hospitality industry. This study also examines how emotional, and experiential hospitality brand relationship with the consumers can be developed in the emerging economies.

A total of 430 respondents participated in the study. Empirical evidence from depth interviews and data were garnered into a conceptual model. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that perceived quality and brand interaction forms brand trust and trust is the key factor in establishing emotional (affective) commitment between the customer and the hospitality brand. The study also suggests that emotional commitment in customers help them in becoming brand advocates. The findings of the research will help hospitality brand strategists in developing successful branding strategies.

This research examines the advantage of customers’ relationship and their meaningful brand connections in the hospitality context. The study establishes a relationship among antecedents of trust, trust and commitment which can lead toward brand advocacy.

The findings provide insight for hospitality brand managers in developing effective branding strategies for their organizations. This study inspects the advantages of cultivating meaningful brand connections and relationships with consumers in the Indian hospitality sector.

On the basis of the social identity and congruity theories, the present research aims to propose that value congruity directly affects customer–brand identification (CBI), affective brand commitment and customer–brand engagement (CBE), which, in turn, paves the way for advancing consumer relationships with hospitality brands, as measured through brand loyalty. As such, this study serves to enhance existing insight into customer relationship management dynamics, with a particular focus on hospitality brands.

The present study develops a theoretical framework that is empirically investigated by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling analyses. Data were collected by using a self-administered questionnaire of 340 customers of four- and five-star hotel brands in India.

The results suggest value congruity as an important driver of CBI, affective commitment and CBE within hospitality brands. The results also reveal CBI to act as a significant predictor of affective commitment, CBE and brand loyalty. Furthermore, affective commitment and CBE are the significant drivers of loyalty to hospitality brands.

The research is exploratory in nature and is restricted to four- and five-star hotel customers, thereby reflecting important limitations of this study. Given these issues, ample opportunities exist for further research to further explore and/or validate the reported findings.

The current research provides new insights for marketing practitioners planning or implementing long-term customer relationship management strategi3es that centre on customer–brand identification, customer–brand engagement and brand loyalty.

Despite existing insights, empirical investigation into the proposed conceptual relationships remains limited to date, particularly in the hospitality industry. By offering empirical evidence in this area, this study adds to the extant body of knowledge on CBI/CBE-centric customer relationship management.

Sobre la base de los planteamientos teóricos de las Teorías de la identidad social y de la congruencia, este trabajo propone que la congruencia de valores afecta directamente a la identificación del consumidor con la marca, al compromiso afectivo y vínculo emocional con la misma, lo cual clarifica la manera con la que construir relaciones de los consumidores con las marcas hoteleras, aproximado a través de la lealtad. Es por ello que este estudio sirve para poner en valor las dinámicas existentes actualmente en la gestión de las relaciones con los clientes con un particular énfasis en el mercado hotelero.

Este trabajo desarrolla un marco teórico que es empíricamente contrastado a través del análisis de ecuaciones estructurales. Los datos fueron recogidos a partir de cuestionarios auto-administrados a una muestra de 340 clientes de hoteles de 4 y 5 estrellas en la India.

Los resultados sugieren que la congruencia de valores es un importante factor explicativo de la identificación del consumidor con la marca, el compromiso afectivo y el vínculo emocional con las marcas de hoteles. También se demuestra que la identificación con la marca actúa como un significativo predictor del compromiso afectivo, el vínculo emocional y la lealtad a la marca. Adicionalmente, el compromiso afectivo y el vínculo emocional ejercen un efecto significativo en la lealtad con la marca.

Esta investigación tiene una naturaleza exploratoria y sus resultados se limitan al contexto de los hoteles de 4 y 5 estrellas. Sobre la base de los resultados obtenidos, se abre un amplio número de oportunidades para el desarrollo de futuras investigaciones que confirmen validez de los resultados obtenidos.

Los resultados obtenidos proporcionan interesantes líneas de actuación para que los directivos de marketing planifiquen e implementen sus estrategias de desarrollo de relaciones con los clientes en torno a la identificación con la marca, el vínculo emocional y la lealtad hacia la misma.

Las evidencias empíricas existentes hasta la fecha son bastantes limitadas hasta la fecha, en particular en la industria hotelera. En este sentido, el presente trabajo proporciona evidencias empíricas en este ámbito y enriquece la literatura existente sobre la gestión de las relaciones con los clientes bajo un enfoque de identificación y vínculo emocional con la marca.

Salesperson performance is accepted as a relevant factor of retailing success. However, scarce studies reveal the relationship between sales performance and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is both, from one side, to empirically demonstrate the impact of salesperson brand attachment (SBA) on sales performance and, on the other side, to identify the mediators of this relationship in small retailing.

A survey was conducted with a sample of 206 small retailers from different sectors of an emerging country. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS3.

The results demonstrated that SBA is relevant to driving sales performance through two relevant paths – one following SBA–satisfaction–performance and one path following the SBA–commitment–performance. The model was able to explain 63% of the outcome performance.

Regarding small retailers, where the owners, employees and managers have higher levels of interaction than the large national retail chains, the marketing executives must invest in improving the attachment to the brand and create emotional bonds and cognition between marketers and the brand. They must develop strategies to promote job satisfaction and organizational commitment because they determine performance.

Despite the relevance of small businesses for economies worldwide and the importance of salesperson brand relationships, no study has been developed to demonstrate the impacts of such relationships on salesperson performance in retailing. Furthermore, in addition to the central role of organizational commitment in the sales research, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore how to mediate the relationship between brand attachment and sales performance.

El rendimiento del vendedor se acepta como un factor relevante para el éxito del comercio minorista. Sin embargo, los estudios que revelan la relación entre el resultado de las ventas y la relación con la marca son escasos. El propósito de este estudio es, por un lado, demostrar empíricamente el impacto del apego a la marca del vendedor (SBA) en el resultado de las ventas y, por otro lado, identificar los mediadores de esta relación en el comercio minorista.

Se realizó una encuesta con una muestra de 206 vendedores de pequeños minoristas provenientes de diferentes sectores de un país emergente. El modelo estructural se analizó mediante ecuaciones estructurales basada en mínimos cuadrados (PLS-SEM) utilizando SmartPLS3.

Los resultados mostraron que el SBA es esencial para impulsar el resultado de las ventas a través de dos caminos relevantes: uno siguiendo el SBA-satisfacción-rendimiento y la otra dirección siguiendo el SBA-compromiso-rendimiento. El modelo fue capaz de explicar el 63% del rendimiento.

Con respecto a los pequeños minoristas, donde los propietarios, empleados y gerentes tienen niveles más altos de interacción que las grandes cadenas minoristas nacionales, los ejecutivos de marketing deben invertir en mejorar el apego a la marca y crear vínculos emocionales y cognitivos entre los vendedores y la marca. Deben desarrollar estrategias para promover la satisfacción laboral y el compromiso organizacional ya que determinan el rendimiento.

A pesar de la relevancia de las pequeñas empresas para las economías de todo el mundo y la importancia de las relaciones de marca en los vendedores, no se ha desarrollado ningún estudio para demostrar los impactos de tales relaciones en el rendimiento de los vendedores en el comercio minorista. Además, aparte del papel central del compromiso organizacional en la investigación en ventas, este es el primer estudio que explora cómo media la relación entre el apego a la marca y el resultado de las ventas.

This paper aims to operationalise and juxtapose variables related to identity, strategy and communications, and then examine the impact of such integration on organisational stakeholders’ trust, loyalty and commitment by using commitment/trust theory.

This research design utilises explanatory research at the preliminary stage, as informed by the literature and conceptual framework. The subsequent model was examined via a positivist survey carried out among stakeholders in high-end retail stores in London. Structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS was conducted to gain insight into the various relevant influences and relationships.

The results indicate that identity and strategy are key drivers of integrated corporate communication, and they serve to build stakeholder trust, loyalty and commitment.

The paper shows that while practitioners have indicated that integrated marketing communication is important for organisations, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to trust, loyalty and commitment, especially in a retail context. This paper empirically examined relationships between these constructs by validating a conceptual model by using SEM.

The growth in the number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide has led to increased competition for donations. A stronger NGO brand equity will make donors more attracted to an organization, compelling them to increase both their donations and their commitment. The goal of this study is to propose a novel donor-based brand equity model. The present study takes into consideration the special characteristics that donors confer to NGOs—specific examples of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that demand higher moral capital. The suggested framework considers the donor's perspective of NGO brand equity and identifies new dimensions: familiarity (recall, brand strength and brand identification), associations (authenticity, reputation and differentiation) and commitment (attitudinal, emotional) by building on previous NPOs and consumer-based brand equity models.

Based on the analysis of the literature, the authors propose an NGO donor-based brand equity model, which the authors test with a convenience sample of 137 individuals through partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results of this study demonstrate the positive effects of brand reputation, brand differentiation, brand identification and brand commitment on donor-based brand equity.

The novel proposed model will help NGO managers better understand the sources of brand equity from the donor's perspective and more efficiently manage their resources and activities to strengthen their NGO's brand equity.

This paper provides a novel, multidimensional NGO donor-based brand equity model that is oriented to the specific characteristics of NGOs; this orientation distinguishes it from previous NPOs and commercial brand equity models.

隨著全球的非政府組織的數目不斷增加, 爭取捐款的競爭也日趨激烈。一個強大的非政府組織品牌資產, 會吸引捐款者、使其對該組織更為關注, 因而驅使他們增加捐助和支持。本研究擬提出一個新穎的、以捐助者為基礎的品牌資產模型。我們這個建議, 考慮了捐助者賦予非政府組織的一些特徵, 而這些非政府組織是一些強烈要求更高道德資本的特殊例子。我們建議的框架, 考慮了捐助者如何從其角度看待非政府組織的品牌資產, 亦建立了新的層面, 這包括熟悉度 (回憶、品牌強度、品牌識別) 、關聯 (真確性、聲譽、差異化) 、以及支持度 (在態度上的、或在情感上的); 建立這框架, 是透過研究以往的非政府組織、以及以消費者為基礎的品牌資產模型, 並以此為基礎而完成的。

我們分析有關的文獻, 並以此為基礎, 提出一個以捐助者為基礎的非政府組織的品牌資產模型。我們使用偏最小平方法的結構方程模型, 並測試了隨便抽樣的137個獨立個體, 來試驗這個新模型。

研究結果顯示, 品牌信譽、品牌差異化、品牌識別和品牌忠誠度, 均會對以捐助者為基礎的品牌資產帶來正面的影響。

我們提出的新模型, 讓非政府組織的管理人員能從捐助者的角度、去進一步瞭解品牌資產的來源, 從而更能有效地管理資源和組織的活動, 以便強化組織的品牌資產。

研究提供了以非政府組織特徵為導向的一個、以捐助者為基礎的新穎而俱多層面的非政府組織品牌資產模型。這個研究取向、有別於過往的非營利組織或商業性的品牌資產模型。

This study aims to draw on cue utilization and irradiation theories to: determine the extent to which country-of-origin image and its sub-dimensions exert an aggregate and relative influence on consumer brand evaluations; and identify the contextual and methodological factors that account for between-study variance in the focal relationship.

A random-effects model was used to examine 166 empirical articles encompassing 499,563 observations, and 282 effect sizes from 1984 to 2020 using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.

Results show that country-of-origin image has a positive, moderate effect on consumer brand evaluations. Moreover, findings reveal that each dimension of country-of-origin image – general country image, general product country image, specific product country image and partitioned country image – significantly influences consumer brand evaluation, but the effect of general product country image is the largest. What’s more, the aggregate impacts of country-of-origin image on consumer brand evaluation – brand commitment, brand-specific associations and general brand impressions – show that the effect on brand commitment is the largest. Finally, findings show that contextual factors (brand source, product sector, culture [individualism vs collectivism], brand origin continents and respondents’ continent) and methodological factors (cues, sampling unit, publication year and sample size) significantly account for between-study variance.

This study provides the first meta-analytic review of the relationship between country-of-origin image and consumer brand evaluation to help clarify mixed findings and balance out the literature, which has only seen quantitative reviews on product evaluation and purchase decisions.

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test a lovemark measure that can be used to identify how brands of wireless-enabled computing devices are classified based on customers’ respect and love toward them.

On evidence drawn from 1,016 consumers of wireless-enabled computing devices (e.g. netbooks and tablets) in Greece, partial least squares method is used to test the validity of the proposed hierarchical model.

Results show that a lovemark measure can be conceptualized as a third-order reflective construct having respect and love as its second-order dimensions. In turn, respect reflects on brand performance, trust and reputation, and love reflects on brand commitment, intimacy and passion. The proposed measure presents a very good external validity as it can explain big portions of variance in consumer responses including repurchase intentions, positive WOM and willingness to pay a price premium. Finally, the proposed measure is used to classify eight well-known devices as products, fads, brands and lovemarks and identify the love styles associated with brand relationships.

This paper provides empirical evidence for measuring and identifying lovemarks using a hierarchical model, which can be further used to develop a more effective strategy for managing the functional and emotional aspects of brands to strengthen consumer-brand relationships.

El objetivo de este estudio es el desarrollo metodológico y validación empírica de una escala para clasificar las marcas de productos tecnológicos en base a las dos dimensiones que caracterizan a las marcas Lovemark: el respecto y amor.

Con una base de datos recogidos de una muestra de 1.106 consumidores de productos tecnológicos (e.g., tablets y portátiles pequeños) en Grecia, se usa PLS para testar la validez del modelo jerárquico propuesto.

Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que el concepto Lovemark puede ser conceptualizado como un constructo reflectivo de tres dimensiones siendo el respeto y el amor hacia la marca las dimensiones de segundo orden. A su vez, el respeto hacia la marca refleja el desempeño, la confianza y reputación de la marca mientras que el amor queda reflejado en conceptos tales como el compromiso, la intimidad y la pasión. La medida propuesta presenta una aceptable validez externa pues es capaz de explicar mayor porcentaje de la varianza de las intenciones de compra, la comunicación boca-oreja positiva y la disposición a pagar un mayor precio por la marca. Finalmente, se demuestra la utilidad de la medida propuesta para clasificar ocho marcas conocidas según los niveles de amor y respeto que los consumidores manifiestan hacia las mismas así como identificar los estilos de amor asociados a la relación que los consumidores mantienen con estas marcas.

Este trabajo ofrece evidencias empíricas para medir e identificar las Lovemark usando un modelo jeráquico que puede ser utilizado posteriormente para desarrollar una estrategia más efectiva en la gestión de los aspectos funcionales y emocionales de las marcas como medio para fortalecer las relaciones marca-consumidor.