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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.

This research aims to examine how credence, search and experience attributes compete with suggestive brand names that are incongruent with the attributes they cue (e.g. expensive EconoLodge Motel, short-lasting Duracell battery and joint-stiffening JointFlex pill).

This study relies on experimental studies, together with analyses of variance, t-tests and logistic regressions.

Incongruent suggestive brand names can distort product evaluations and alter perceptions of product performance in joint product judgments involving contradictory credence attributes; they can misdirect product evaluations even if the search attributes conflict with competitor brands. Furthermore, they are more likely to backfire if contradictory experience attributes are readily available to consumers.

This test of the role of incongruence between suggestive brand names and actual product features includes key concepts that can inform continued studies, such as search attributes that consumers can readily observe, experience attributes that can be observed only after product use and credence attributes that might not be observed even after use.

This study provides applicable guidelines for managers, consumers and policymakers.

The findings expand beyond prior literature that focuses on memory-based, separate evaluations of advertised benefits and inferences or expectations of unavailable attributes. Specifically, this study details the implications of congruence between the suggestive brand names and different types of attributes observable at different consumption stages.

The purpose of this paper is to take the neglected influencing factors in brand alliance research into account based on consumer characteristics theory and discuss the influencing factors' interactive effects on brand alliance.

Based on the theory of consumer characteristics and the S&R model of brand alliance, an experimental design was conducted to examine the relationship among the various variables and moderators, which can test the changes of the dependent variables by controlling and manipulating one or more single variables. The sample includes 400 college students.

The results demonstrate that brand knowledge positively moderates the relationship between brand equity and consumer brand alliance, but not significantly affect the relationship between alliance evaluation and joint fit; in contrast, product involvement individually plays a positive moderating role on the relationship between joint fit, brand equity and consumer brand alliance evaluation.

Two consumer characteristic, brand knowledge and product involvement moderate the relationship between brand equity, joint fit and consumer brand alliance evaluation. Several empirical studies on brand alliance have documented mostly positive effects of brand alliance on consumer brand evaluations. Two important consumer characteristics' effect on brand alliance evaluation, brand knowledge and product involvement, were testified to expand the scope of influential factors of brand alliance evaluation on the basis of consumers' characteristic theory.

This study aims to examine how brands attempt to extend their customer set not through the typical route of adding brands, but through the strategic extension or enlargement of their target customer set. Building on theories from both reference group perceptions and brand identification, this research explores the impact of strategic customer extensions on current target market consumers.

Two scenario-based experiments explore strategic customer extensions for a packaged goods brand and a well-known retail brand. The analysis involves both analysis of variance and SEM methods.

Current target market consumers’ evaluations of strategic customer extensions are informed by reference group perceptions relating to the proposed customer extension. When current target market consumers perceive strategic customer extensions as potentially attracting a dissociative reference group, consumers have weaker evaluations and brand identification measures and, subsequently, weaker future intentions towards the brand.

The brand identification literature is augmented by incorporating theories from the reference group literature to demonstrate how to reference group perceptions drive a current target market consumers’ evaluations of strategic customer extensions to affect the strength of the identification that current target market consumers have with a brand. Brand identification is also demonstrated as mediator customer evaluations and subsequent intentions towards the brand.

This paper aims to examine to what extent congruity between ethical attributes (i.e. product attributes with positive implications for the environment, human rights, social issues and animal welfare) and brand concept (i.e. the unique meaning associated with a brand in consumers’ minds) influences consumers’ evaluations of brands offering ethical attributes.

Four studies involving North American consumers empirically tested the moderation effect of brand concept on consumer evaluations of ethical attributes and the mediating role of perceived congruity.

This research finds an interactive effect of ethical attribute type and brand concept on brand evaluations, such that congruent ethical attribute–brand concept pairings (i.e. a utilitarian [symbolic] ethical attribute offered by a brand with a utilitarian [symbolic] brand concept) result in more favorable brand evaluations (Studies 1, 2, 3 and 4). Consumers’ perceptions of congruity between ethical attributes and brand concepts mediate this interactive effect (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, a positive congruity effect of ethical attributes and brand concepts emerges at higher levels of conspicuous brand consumption (Study 4).

It is important to acknowledge that the current research did not specifically consider the case of utilitarian and symbolic ethical attribute offerings by luxury brands. This is a question that is left to future investigations.

For marketing managers, findings indicate that brands gain from ethical attribute introductions only when these attributes are congruent with the brand concept. In addition, brands benefit to a greater extent from offering congruent ethical attributes when brand consumption is conspicuous.

The findings of this research contribute to the literature on the effect of ethical attributes on consumers’ responses to brands and highlight the importance of brands’ choice of ethical attributes.

Many fashion brands employ growth strategies that involve strategically aligning with a retailer to offer exclusive co-brands that vary in duration and perceived fit. While growth and publicity are enticing, pursuing collaboration may change consumers' evaluation of the brand. Utilising commodity and categorisation theory, this research tests how a brand may successfully approach a co-brand with a retailer.

Three experimental studies manipulate and test the effect of co-brand duration (limited edition vs ongoing) (Study 1), the degree of brand-retailer fit (high vs low) (Study 2), and its combined effect (Study 3) on changes in consumers' brand evaluation.

Results reveal that consumers' evaluations of brands become more favourable when: (1) brand-retailer co-brand make products available on a limited edition (vs ongoing) basis (Study 1), (2) consumers perceive a high (vs low) degree of brand-retailer fit (Study 2) and (3) both conditions are true (Study 3).

In light of commodity and categorisation theory, this study helps to understand the effectiveness of a brand-retailer co-branding strategy.

To increase brand evaluations, brands should engage in a limited edition strategy, rather than ongoing when collaborating with retailers. It is also important to select an appropriately fitting retailer for a strategic partnership when creating a co-brand.

While previous studies highlight the importance of perceived fit upon extension, perceived fit between brand and retailer co-brand had yet to be investigated. Additionally, this research investigates changes in brand evaluations to more accurately understand how co-branding strategies impact the brand.

Little research on brand extension observes the role of technological levels between parent brand and brand extension on consumers' attitudes toward brand extension. The present study aims to explore how consumers evaluate technology‐based brand extension and how technologic direction interacts with brand loyalty and fit in affecting brand extension evaluation.

A field experiment (n=200) was conducted. Participants were assigned to two equal‐number groups that differed in the technological direction of brand extension (i.e. upward extension versus downward extension).

This field study finds that downward brand extension is generally evaluated more favourably due to its positive effect on perceived fit; technological direction moderates the effect of fit on brand extension – fit has stronger positive effect on downward brand extension than on upward brand extension; fit moderates the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension – when fit is high, brand loyalty's effect is positive, whereas when fit is low, brand loyalty can have negative effect on brand extension; and the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty is further moderated by technological direction of brand extension – for upward brand extension, the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty is as general, but for downward brand extension, fit enhances the effect of brand loyalty.

The results lend significant new insights to brand extension research by showing that the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension is moderated not only by fit but also by technological direction, and that the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty's effect on brand extension is further dependent on the technological direction.

For the management of upward brand extension – where a lower‐tech brand extends to a high‐tech product, more care and caution should be taken, since brand loyalty could have a negative effect if the upward brand extension is not perceived to fit the parent brand image. Thus, it becomes extremely important to manage the fit between the lower‐tech parent brand and the higher‐tech extended product.

This is one of few studies examining the effect of technology on brand extension. The major original finding of this study is that the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension is moderated by fit, whose moderating fit is further moderated by technologic direction of brand extension.

The goal of this study is to investigate the relationships among brand attachment, online source credibility, and severity of negative online information on perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk.

A 2×2×2 experiment was conducted to explore the effects of brand attachment (low or high), online source credibility (low or high), and online information severity (low or high) on perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk.

The results showed that the severity of negative online information affects perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk significantly. However brand attachment can reduce the effects of negative online information on perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk significantly. The results also showed that the effect of the severity of negative online information on perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk is moderated by online source credibility.

In addition to the main effects in the proposed research model, it is the first study to explore the moderating effects of brand attachment and online source credibility on the relationship between negative online information and perceived negative change in brand evaluation and perceived brand risk.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of experiential augmentation on product evaluation by consumers. An important distinction is made between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment. Furthermore, the research examines how brand familiarity moderates the effect of experiential augmentation.

In two experiments (N = 210 and N = 70), both product-related and environmental experiential augmentation were varied. Participants tasted and evaluated a new coffee product from either a well-known or a fictitious brand.

The findings of the first experiment indicate that product-related experiential augmentation contributes positively to product evaluation for both an unfamiliar and a familiar brand. Experiential augmentation of the environment influences product evaluation negatively, but only in the absence of product-related experiential augmentation. The second experiment tests some possible explanations for this negative effect and shows that it occurs only in the case of a familiar brand.

The findings offer implications for marketing managers seeking to positively influence consumer product evaluations through experiential augmentation. First, marketing managers are advised to make a distinction between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the evaluation environment, and, second, they should take brand familiarity into account when employing experiential augmentation of the environment.

This research contributes to the literature by showing that product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment differ in the impact they have on product evaluation and providing insight into the relationship between brand familiarity and experiential augmentation.