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Generation Z makes up 20% of China’s population, and accounts for the highest share of household spend at 13% (vs. 3% for the United Kingdom and 4% for the United States). To advance marketers’ understanding about this group of consumers and capitalise on China’s booming market, this chapter uses rich statistics and information to show that China’s Generation Z has distinct behaviour patterns, which can be attributed to the unique background in which they grew up: (1) rigidity of social stratification, (2) abundance of materialism, (3) digital era, (4) limited (vs. extended) family, and (5) heavy schoolwork. Growing up in such a background, Generation Z’s lifestyle and consumption-related attitudes and behaviour are distinct from their predecessors. The chapter presents specific actions that marketers can take when targeting this distinct group of consumers in China, along with useful guidelines to HR managers for hiring them.

Coffee shops are becoming more aware that brand loyalty can be an effective strategy for securing a competitive edge in business. To supplement current understanding of the importance of coffee shop branding, this study investigates the role of personality traits and congruity in the formation of brand loyalty. This study finds that personality traits have direct effects on congruity and customer satisfaction, the two defining factors of brand loyalty. Overall, our results suggest that the interaction of personality traits, congruity, and satisfaction is essential to the process of influencing coffee shop customers’ brand loyalty.

Purpose of this study was to understand intention of tourists to visit a destination by exploring factors related to destination image and self-congruity of tourists with destination image. A quantitative survey-based methodology was employed for gathering data. Study used a convenience sample of 225 students and faculty members from a leading university in India. Regression analysis was carried out for testing the main effect and moderation impact. The results revealed that cognitive destination image and self-congruity had a direct impact on destination image. However, the results did not establish a moderating effect of self-congruity on relationship between destination image and return intention. The study findings have direct implication for destination marketing managers for drafting a positioning strategy for their destinations.

Destination brand personality has been considered as an emotional relationship between a branded destination and its visitors (Ekinci, 2003). Previous studies exclusively focused on the match between visitor’s personality and destination personality (Sirgy & Su, 2000; Usakli & Baloglu, 2011). However, there is a lack of investigation centered on tourism industry professionals (TIPs). This chapter is to assess the congruity between TIPs’ self-assessed personality, their perceived brand personality of Macau as a destination as well as the brand personality of their tourism/hospitality-related organizations. Findings of this study reveal that TIPs’ perceived Big Five dimensions of self, Macau, and organization tend to match with each other in certain dimensions. Neither their own nor their organizations’ Big Five dimensions “Openness” and “Conscientiousness” matches their perceived brand personality of Macau. This chapter provides empirical evidence which may suggest to Macau policy makers to further develop branding strategies through strengthening its brand personalities.

Prior research has documented that product failures can be among a firm's worst nightmares. In this research, we examine if retailers are also held accountable by consumers when products that they sold, but did not manufacture, fail. In two studies, we show that consumers not only blame multiple parties when product failures occur – including the retailer – but also that manufacturer brand equity and retailer store image serve as important contextual cues in the blame assignment process. Specifically, building on congruity theory, we show that retailers are especially susceptible to being held responsible for failure if the equity of the failed product and the retailer store image are incongruent. Our findings also indicate that value-oriented retailers are particularly vulnerable to being blamed when high-equity products fail. Our findings suggest measuring attribution of blame between the manufacturer and retailer involved in a product failure event – instead of only the manufacturer as has been the norm in extant research – facilitates our understanding of consumer responses when product failures occur.

To introduce the concept of cultural equity and provide a theoretical framework for managing cultural equity in multi-cultural markets.

Recent research on the social psychology of globalization, cross-cultural consumer behavior, consumer culture, and global branding is reviewed to develop a theoretical framework for building, leveraging, and protecting cultural equity.

Provides an actionable definition for a brand’s cultural equity, discusses consumer responses to brands that relate to cultural equity, identifies the building blocks of cultural equity, and develops a framework for managing cultural equity.

Research conducted mainly in large cities in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. Generalizations to less developed parts of the world might be limited.

A very useful theoretical framework for managers interested in building cultural equity into their brands and for leveraging this equity via new products and the development of new markets.

The paper integrates past findings across a variety of domains to develop a parsimonious framework for managing cultural equity in globalized markets.

We explore how marketers can manage brand meaning through the use of celebrity endorsements. We theorize that consumers look to celebrity endorsements for brand symbolism, which they appropriate to construct and communicate their self-concepts by forming self-brand connections (SBC).

This research employs an experimental paradigm, with two empirical studies examining whether marketers can create meaning for their brands through the use of celebrity endorsements.

Study 1 finds that celebrity endorsement enhances SBC when consumers aspire to be like the celebrity, but harms them when consumers do not; furthermore, this effect is more pronounced when the brand image is congruent with the celebrity’s image. The effect is further moderated by the degree to which a brand communicates something about the user, with more symbolic brands having stronger effects than less symbolic brands. Study 2 finds that the effect of celebrity endorsement on SBC is augmented when consumers’ self-esteem is threatened. Consumers self-enhance by building connections to celebrities with favorable images or distancing themselves from those with unfavorable images.

These findings can help marketers’ decisions regarding when and whom to use as a celebrity endorsers by taking into account how consumers use meaning appropriated from celebrities when constructing the self.

This research aims to explore the differences in destination image owing to culture and travel distance among international tourists to northern Norway. A self-administrated survey with a structured questionnaire is deployed at North Cape – the most popular Arctic destination in Northern Norway. Concerning cultural influences on destination images, this study examines the similarities and differences in perceived images among seven cultural groups. For evaluating geographic influences, this study uses six travel regions distinguished by the distance of travel to the study site as the base for the data analysis. Similarities and differences in destination imaged owing to above two factors are revealed by correspondent analyses. For example, Reindeers and Northern Light are the two greatest reflections of Northern Norway in the mind of all respondents. Misconceptions on tourism offerings in the study region transpire among the Japanese. Lastly, this study suggests that the distance of travel may evoke a moderating effect on the destination images. That is the farther the distance traveled the further image distortion exhibited.