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Focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are characterized by resource restrictions, this paper aims to explore consumer segment profiles by considering demographic, personality and creativity traits to determine whether consumers with different profiles exhibit distinct affective reactions to different logo design types (organic, cultural and abstract).

This exploratory study incorporates recent methodological developments, such as the novel response style correction method, to account for response style effects in evaluations of affect toward logo design. In separate analyses, respondents are segmented according to response style–corrected logo affect and personality and creativity items. The segmentation analysis relies on reduced k-means, a joint dimension and cluster analysis method, which accounts for dependencies between items while maximizing between-cluster variability. A total of 866 respondents from the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal: n = 543; Spain: n = 323) participated.

Based on a study using unknown logos (proxy for lower levels of budget communication, characteristics of SMEs), results reveal that there are three segments of consumers based on their affective response toward logo design: logo design insensitives, cultural logo dislikers and organic logo lovers. These segments are associated with different personality traits, creativity and biological sex (although biological sex is not a discriminant variable).

The decision not to control logos by color, to increase external validity, could limit the study’s internal validity if this aspect interacts with relevant study variables. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence can be used to further test associations between consumer profiles and responses to logo design.

Findings highlight the relevance of considering complex profile segments, combining demographics, psychographics and creativity to predict affective consumer responses to brand logo design. This research provides guidelines for SMEs when choosing or modifying their logo design to appeal to different consumer segments.

This study provides managers of SMEs (less present nowadays in empirical studies) with evidence suggesting that complex customer profiles help to understand differences in affective responses to natural logo designs. Furthermore, it relies on the use of a novel methodological development that improves the accuracy of the exploratory study developed.

This paper aims to investigate the commonalities and asymmetries between consumer responses to different types of natural designs across countries.

Data were gathered through a survey in three European countries ranking differently in what concerns Hofstede’s (1981) uncertainty avoidance dimension (UAD). Respondents can vary strongly in the way they interpret and use rating scales, exhibiting a variety of response styles. In the analysis of consumers’ preferences for logo design, this article apply constrained dual scaling (CDS) to account for response styles in categorical data.

Results demonstrate the broad appeal of natural logo designs, suggesting that design preferences are similar within countries with different cultural orientations. However, findings indicate that cultural dimensions influence how consumers respond to different types of natural logo designs. Indeed, the positive effects of organic designs are even more salient in countries with higher UAD. Thus, when managers prepare to launch their brands in countries that exhibit more discomfort with uncertainty, they should consider incorporating organic visual identity elements into their logos to achieve the maximum positive affect.

Companies invest extensive time, research and money in generating, promoting and modifying their logos. This paper provides important implications for international brand managers aiming to build a consistent and favorable brand image. From a methodological perspective, the results come from the analysis of clean data – that is, data after applying CDS, which increases the validity of the cross-country comparison.

Social network sites are key marketing tools that allow brands to connect and engage with consumers. However, there is still a lack of evidence of their value for football brands. This research aims to understand the motivations for fans to engage with their favourite football brands on Facebook and Instagram.

An online survey was performed, resulting in 214 valid responses. As the social media strategy followed by the football brand analysed was built around games, the authors divided fans into two groups based on the main method in which the club's games are watched: in stadium versus mediated. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between motivations and fans' engagement, through content consumption and contribution, on Facebook and Instagram. Analysis was performed first with the whole sample and then by group (stadium attendance vs mediated attendance fans).

The findings show that social influence, entertainment, searching for information and rewards are the most relevant motivations for consumers to engage with brand-related content on Facebook. Entertainment, rewards and social influence are the main motivations influencing consumer interactions on Instagram. Group moderation was only confirmed in the impact of social influence on Facebook page content consumption.

The results provide valuable insights into the social media marketing activities of sports brands, which will assist brand managers to develop strategies for effectively stimulating engagement with the different groups of fans.

In the context of a merger, the management of corporate identity – in particular of corporate names and logos – assumes a critical role. This paper aims to explore how name and logo design characteristics, and specifically figurativeness, influence consumer preferences in the context of a brand merger, in the banking sector.

This study develops a typology of the alternative corporate identity structures that may be assumed in the context of a brand merger by drawing on a literature review and secondary data, as well as an exploratory study analyzing consumers' preferences regarding alternative branding strategies.

The results suggest that there is a clear preference for figurative logos. Furthermore, there is evidence that logos may be as important as the company name in a merger situation, in terms of assuring consumers that there remains a connection to the brand's past. The data show that the logo chosen by consumers reflects their aesthetic responses, whereas the selected name reflects their evaluation of the brand's offers or its presence in the market.

The paper uses an innovative research design which gives respondents freedom to choose their preferred solution; hence, the richness of the results is enhanced. The results should guide managers in their evaluation and choices regarding post‐merger branding strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the introduction of auditory sensory cues, through a human voice, affect children’s and parent’s shopping behaviour in a retail grocery setting. In the field of retailing and sensory marketing research, there is a paucity of knowledge on how auditory sensory cues impact on consumers’ shopping behaviour.

The empirical study was a field experiment and entailed direct observation of shoppers of the Swedish grocery retailer ICA. The observations were based on a convenience sample of shopping families assigned to a control group (n=200) and an experimental group (n=131). A new innovative Swedish audio story track system was to be tested in a hypermarket containing 13 different stories for children.

Auditory sensory cues affect children’s and parent’s shopping behaviour in a significant way. Children are quieter, more relaxed and do not move around and reduce the parental stress behaviour during the shopping process.

The findings demonstrate that auditory sensory cues through human voice have a positive effect on children’s and parent’s shopping behaviour. It is also obvious that parent’s perceived stress is significantly influenced by the children.

The study provides guidelines for grocery retailers who wish to offer children and their parents a more pleasant shopping trip by emphasizing the role of the children.

The research demonstrates that the introduction of auditory sensory cues through human voice in a significant way affect the children’s and their parent’s shopping behaviour in a retail setting.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the detailed human resource policies and practices that favor the expansion of consumer-brand relationships.

Due to the lack of studies in this specific field, this research leans toward adopting an exploratory and interpretative methodology. The data stems from 53 in-depth interviews spanning three case studies in the hotel industry.

The main contribution of this research is the identification and description of the human resource management (HRM) policies and practices which enable the development of consumer-brand relationships. The six policies and practices which this research considers key are: recruitment, promotion, training, communication, evaluation and compensation.

This is the first research that identifies and describes the HRM policies and practices which enable the development of consumer-brand relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to extend research on employer branding in the recruitment context. The authors develop a model that integrates research from employer branding, social identity theory, and person-organization fit in order to investigate the impact of company reputation and identity congruency between organizations and their job applicants on the attractiveness of an employer brand.

An online survey was conducted to test the theoretical model in a recruitment context in the Norwegian offshore industry. Structural equation modelling is employed in the data analysis.

A key finding is that a company’s reputation and identity congruence between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organization identity affect job applicants’ job pursuit intentions through mediation of cognitive social identity. Moreover, identity congruence predicts applicants’ cognitive identification with the company.

The study suggests that managers should try to map and understand central characteristics that describe job applicants’ identities and strive to provide applicants with access to necessary information about the company to form cognitive identification with the company.

The authors extend research on employer branding by incorporating social identity and attitude as mediators between symbolic and instrumental attributes of an employer brand and its attractiveness. This study also deepens research on social identity by including explicitly a comparison process between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organizational identity, which leads to applicants’ identification with the company.

Consumers dine at luxury restaurants for reasons beyond fulfilling basic needs; however, little is known about the factors that contribute to diners’ loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to examine diners’ luxury restaurant consumption behavior by incorporating product knowledge into a modified Mehrabian-Russell model.

Following exploratory qualitative research, 238 consumers who have dined at Hong Kong’s Michelin-starred luxury restaurants were recruited for the main study. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

The results show that luxury restaurants’ stimuli (i.e. food quality, service quality, and atmospherics) influence diners’ emotions, which in turn affect their brand loyalty. Furthermore, food quality can directly influence diners’ loyalty toward the restaurant. Third, diners’ product knowledge can moderate the relationships between restaurant stimuli and diners’ emotion.

This study offers new empirical support for the proposition that product knowledge has a role in building brand loyalty and thereby shades both theoretical and managerial understanding of the luxury restaurant consumption process.

This study is one of the first to conceptualize diners’ loyalty toward luxury restaurants by examining the influences of restaurants’ stimuli and diners’ knowledge toward luxury restaurants. In addition, this study puts forth some managerial implications for practitioners.