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Prior research has identified that brands have a differential impact on consumer evaluations across various brand benefits. This paper investigates whether these effects are stable over time, or evolve in a consistent way.

Consumer evaluations of brand benefits into overall brand and detailed attribute-specific sources through a standard confirmatory factor analysis approach have been decomposed. Two unique datasets have been analyzed; the first contains cross-sectional data from Kodak across four different consumer goods categories, and the other is a longitudinal dataset from the USA and Canada in the surface-cleaning category, covering seven brands over five years (2007-2011).

A systematic evolution in brand effects has been demonstrated: a general trend is that over time and with experience, consumers rely more heavily on overall brand information to develop their evaluations. However, early in a brand’s life, or later when circumstances compel consumers to actively consider the attributes, ingredients or features of a brand, consumers may rely more heavily on, detailed attribute-specific information to evaluate brand benefits.

The systematic evolution in consumers’ use of information from attribute to brand is hypothesized in this paper and is found to occur contrary to the speculation of Dillon et al. (2001) regarding the direction of such an evolution. Further, our results indicate the sensitivity of our approach to detect changes in consumers’ use of the two sources that should be expected, given the various exogenous factors.

Brand managers can use the results from our procedure to alter their messages to more strongly emphasize either overall brand information or detailed attribute-specific information, depending on the consumer segment or key benefit in question. The research offers insights for the kind of information managers should communicate for brands trying to extend into new categories. The research also raises interesting questions regarding the extent to which brands can own a strong position on a particular benefit over time.

No prior work has evaluated brand effects (i.e. the relative use of brand vs attribute sources) to evaluate brand benefits over time. Our results demonstrate the value of the decompositional procedure we recommend and the importance of knowing which source is relied upon more heavily as consumers evaluate brands.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether brands impact consumer evaluations in ways other than a consistent halo and the degree to which consumers use both overall brand information along with detailed attribute-specific information to construct their evaluations.

The authors decompose consumer evaluations of brand benefits into overall brand and detailed attribute-specific sources through a standard CFA approach. Data cover 55 brands in four product categories sold in nine global markets.

Halo effects are rare in global CPG markets. The authors identify the presence of differential brand effects in eight of nine global markets tested. Application of an extended model to a market where several competing family brands are present demonstrates the ability of the model to identify relationships among brand offerings within a family brand and to differentiate between family brand sets.

The finding of differential effects calls into question the assumption of a consistent brand effect assumed in past research; future models should accommodate differential effects.

The ability to decompose consumer brand-benefit beliefs into overall brand and detailed attribute-specific sources provides managers with insights into which latent mental sources consumers use to construct their brand beliefs. As such, the methodology provides useful descriptive and diagnostic measures concerning the sources of suspicious, interesting, or worrisome consumer brand beliefs as well as a means to determine if their branding, positioning and/or messaging is having the desired impact on consumer evaluations so that they can make and evaluate required changes.

A significant contribution of this research is the finding that many times the brand source differentially impacts consumers' evaluations of brand-benefits, a finding that is contrary to a consistent halo effect that is assumed in prior models.

The multiple performance measures in strategic performance measurement systems should be selected to represent a set of causally linked strategic drivers and outcomes. The pattern of results thus can provide information concerning the proper execution of the strategy (i.e., the performance evaluation role) and the strength of the cause-and-effect linkages assumed by the strategy (i.e., the strategy evaluation role). Unfortunately, managers’ tendency to re-evaluate the strategy when performance falls short of target is low in practice. Possible explanations include motivational and cognitive biases. We experimentally examine two decision aids, an attribution aid, and a decomposition aid, designed to help managers ease these challenges. Study 1 shows the decision aids, individually and in combination, increase managers’ tendency to re-examine a problematic strategy. Study 2 demonstrates the effectiveness of the two decision aids, when used together, under a different pattern of results and among a sample of more experienced managers.

This article reviews the quantitative marketing literature on artificial intelligence (AI) through an economics lens. We apply the framework in Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence to systematically categorize 96 research papers on AI in marketing academia into five levels of impact, which are prediction, decision, tool, strategy, and society. For each paper, we further identify each individual component of a task, the research question, the AI model used, and the broad decision type. Overall, we find there are fewer marketing papers focusing on strategy and society, and accordingly, we discuss future research opportunities in those areas.

This study empirically investigates consumers’ use of five heuristics (conjunctive, disjunctive, lexicographic, linear additive, and geometric compensatory) in the consideration set formation, a critical first phase before actual choice behavior. Data were collected on the selection of beer brands and fast food outlets by real consumers. Using a decomposition approach in determining the consumers’ choice heuristics, it was found that the conjunctive heuristic is the most often used decision model in the consideration set formation for the two product classes. Implications for brand managers and future research directions are developed.

This paper focuses on customer value analysis and measurement, framing customer value management as one of the main antecedents of the company value-creation process. The paper builds on three main pillars. First, the paper highlights the critical role of customer value in business-to-business markets, focusing on the links between the company's ability to manage customer value-creation processes and the positive financial and economic outcomes generated by loyalty effects. Secondly, the paper develops key analytical stages for an understanding of customer value. The focus is on the customer value-chain concept, including consideration of the customer information and acquisition process and its decision rules. Third, the paper illustrates the measurement process, offering an organizational framework for selecting the most suitable method for measuring perceived customer value. The methodological alternatives range from desk measures (e.g., technical computation of the total cost of ownership (TCO)) to field analysis, like those considered under both compositional and the decomposition approaches (e.g., conjoint analysis). The paper concludes with remarks on the managerial implications of these measures, as well as offering suggestions for further research on value for the customer.

Extant research has largely treated country image (CI) as an exogenous variable, focusing mostly on its consequences for consumers’ evaluations and purchases of products or brands originating from a country. Scant research has examined the instrumental role of a country’s brands and products in the evaluations of CI. This study aims to investigate how the brands of a country contribute to CI ratings and the conditions underlying their effect on CI.

Three experimental studies test the hypotheses, one pertaining to the effect of brands on CI (N = 227), the second to the effect of products on CI (N = 116) and the third to the effect of brands and products on industry image (N = 215). The experimental approach overcomes the limitations of cross-sectional surveys commonly used in CI studies to detect the direction of the observed effects. Furthermore, respondents (British consumers) were allowed to determine the brands and products associated with a country.

Drawing on memory schema theory, across three studies, the authors identify two types of reverse inferences: from brand to CI and from product category to CI. The reverse inference from a brand to a superordinate image is stronger for industry image than for CI.

This research focuses on consumers’ evaluations from only one country (the UK). Further research could replicate the studies across different countries and with different countries of origin (COOs). Researchers could also examine the influence of brands misidentified with the wrong COO and mistakenly stored as such in consumers’ memories.

The results are relevant for managers and consultants working with country- (place-) branding campaigns. Brands and industries can help strengthen the evaluations of the economic dimension of different countries; however, these assets are underdeveloped in country-branding campaigns. Linking countries with brands and industries in campaigns could result in positive associations, which, in turn, could enhance the reputational rating of the countries.

This research extends previous studies on the effects of a country’s products and brands on CI by incorporating the mediating role of industry image between brands/products and CI, separating the effects of brand and product category on CI, allowing consumers to determine, which brands and products are associated with a country and adopting an experimental methodology to ascertain the causal direction of the effects.

This study aims to examine the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and idiosyncratic risk in the restaurant industry. The study also explores whether brand diversification magnifies the risk reduction effect of CSR in the restaurant industry.

The study uses an unbalanced panel of 274 firm-year observations for 43 restaurant firms over the period 1995–2015. Models are estimated via fixed effect regression with robust standard errors.

The study finds that CSR involvement reduces idiosyncratic risk and this risk reduction is intensified when restaurant firms operate a portfolio of brands.

The study’s findings are limited to restaurant industry, therefore, generalization of the findings to other industries requires delicate care. Brand diversification is a simple brand count due to a lack of brand sales data.

CSR activities are not cost burden for restaurant firms. Indeed, CSR could be a viable strategy to reduce the volatility in future expected cash flows, hence the idiosyncratic risk. This risk reduction could help owners/managers access to capital with lower cost. Moreover, the study suggests that CSR practices should not be implemented in isolation from firm marketing strategy such as portfolio of brands.

Although prior hospitality research puts forth some evidence using systematic risk as the measure of firm risk, this measure may not best suit the purpose in CSR context given that CSR is a direct, firm-specific strategy. Hence, the current study provides both new evidence with firm-specific, idiosyncratic risk and introduces an important contingency situation when the risk reduction effect of CSR would become more profound for restaurant firms.

This paper aims to report two studies with the purpose of demonstrating and establishing the efficacy of using an alternative method of operationalizing relative brand attitudes based on Cheung's latent congruence model (LCM).

Data are collected concerning brand attitudes related to their product (study 1) and retailer (study 2) preferred and best alternative brands. Structural equation modeling is used to demonstrate and validate the LCM model, as well as to relate relative brand attitudes to satisfaction judgments and loyalty behaviors.

Two separate samples of respondents across two unique marketing settings (product and retailer brands) support the LCM‐based view of relative brand attitude proposed herein. In addition, results suggest that preferred brands are most strongly related to satisfaction with the preferred brand, however, relative brand attitudes are alternatively related to preferred brand loyalty. Thus, relative brand attitudes appear to have both direct and indirect (through satisfaction) influences on brand loyalty.

Practical implications include the availability of a usable method of operationalizing relative brand attitudes in a way that fully utilizes hedonic/utilitarian attitude scale for absolute and relative brand attitudes measures and can control for measurement error. The proposed method thus provides a means to strengthen measurement models associated with relative brand concepts.

The reported studies offer an alternative and practical method of measuring relative brand attitudes in a way that results in practical insights about consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

The purpose of this study is to propose a unified model to connect the three subcomponents of the country of origin (COO) with price, quality and consumer perceptions of or intentions regarding a product. COO refers to the country with which a manufacturer’s product or brand is associated. COO can be broken down into three subcomponents: the country of design, the country of assembly and the country of parts.

This study reviews the COO research that has been conducted in recent decades. These studies have primarily examined the correlation of COO’s broken-down components with marketing factors (such as price, quality and brand equity or loyalty) and consumer purchase behavior. These correlations are portrayed in a single model. This theory-building model is drawn using a philosophical conceptualization approach.

This study concludes that, as a result of globalization and advancement in technology, consumers are more aware of and have more access to product/brand information, and they evaluate brands according to the COO and its subcomponents. Variables such as price and quality are of high importance and should be considered during a purchase decision, whereas brand equity/loyalty is of low importance.

This research requires further investigation, especially in developing countries, to develop a more comprehensive picture. In addition, not all marketing factors are incorporated in the model.

When international marketers devise plans to serve consumers, they must consider differentiation between developed and developing nations from the point of COO subcomponents and their effects on purchase intentions and consumer evaluations, when moderated by price, quality and brand loyalty/equity.

Prior to this study, no unified model had been proposed to connect the three subcomponents of COO with price, quality and consumer perceptions of or intentions regarding a product.