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The purpose of this paper is to examine how the perception of CSR influences different aspects of consumer behaviour, specifically focussing on the antecedents of perceived value, customer support and loyalty.

A total of 418 completed responses were obtained and provided the data to analyse and test the hypothesised research model. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling using PLS was employed.

Findings reveal that customer awareness of the current CSR initiatives to different stakeholder groups significantly influences their perceptions of what social initiatives are actually undertaken by firms for their economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibility. In addition, customer views of what firms actually do in respect to social initiatives are significantly related to their level of CSR expectations. This indicates that the customers will always expect more from banks compared to what they actually do. Surprisingly, CSR perception is not directly related to customers’ loyalty, which contradicts the majority of previous studies indicating that CSR perception influences consumer behaviour.

This study provides an original contribution to the CSR body of knowledge, especially for developing countries where the awareness level is low. It also provides a deep understanding of the influence of CSR into consumer behaviour, as it investigates the influence of the full construct of CSR into customer loyalty. Finally, the study investigated the relationship between the perception and the expectation of CSR; this relationship has been neglected in previous studies, where either CSR perceptions or CSR expectations have been examined separately.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a consumer-based virtual brand personality (CBVBP) concept by examining its sub-dimensions in the context of online banking, thus extending existing brand personality research. In addition, it examines the relationship between CBVBP with customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

A survey method was employed and data were collected from 219 online banking users in Malaysia. A series of hypotheses were tested using both multiple and hierarchical regression analyses to determine the direct and mediating effects of CBVBP, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

The dimensions that comprise CBVBP are found to include Excitement, Sophistication and Competence. These dimensions help online bankers to strategise, communicate and position their online banking sites better in order to compete against other online banking services. The study confirmed positive relationships between CBVBP, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Specifically, in the online banking context, customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between CBVBP and brand loyalty, extending the current understanding of online branding, consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

The major contribution of this study lies in the development of the CBVBP concept and to study its direct and mediating effects with customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The study emphasises the importance of measuring the virtual brand personality traits as part of an overall online banking brand strategy in the virtual environment in order to better understand how to position against competitors.

This study aims to investigate how marketing communication (MC) and nascent corporate communication (CC) strategies are juxtaposed in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) setting.

A qualitative research method based on a multiple case study approach is elaborated in a South-East Asian emerging economy.

The key findings show that MC and nascent CC strategies coexist in SMEs, and are frequently closely interwoven, enabling the introduction of an integrated hybrid communication (IHC) theoretical perspective in this context. Four requisites inform IHC management: communicate the identity/roots; establish and communicate the relationship with multiple stakeholders; communicate the product/service to customers; and communicate other activities of the firm (e.g. corporate social responsibility and brand identity). SME managers were predisposed to use at least three communication channels among the following: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and/or personal selling. Furthermore, managers generally preferred internet-enabled communication.

This study provides fresh insights into how SMEs could integrate their communication strategies to increase their survival chances and business growth. However, the need to develop SMEs is required in every economy. Thus, the present findings could be seen as relevant to various audiences (academic, practitioners and/or policy-makers) such as for managers from Western and/or European settings who are interested in operating in the Malaysian economy.

By using the four requisites that inform IHC, owners/managers of SMEs can adopt a more holistic approach, by strategically planning communication activities using both communication typologies (i.e. product and firm level). Thus, SMEs will be able to enhance clarity and consistency in their communication strategy and achieve brand equity across relevant stakeholders in the long run.

This study introduces the IHC theoretical perspective and reveals the communication tools used by SMEs to communicate product and brand-related messages to multiple stakeholders. These messages tend to stem from and are shaped by the identity/roots of the firm embedded in managerial personality/values.

Despite consumers' widespread use of social media platforms, there is scant research on the underlying factors that influence their willingness to share digital footprints on social media. The purpose of this study is to address this research gap by examining consumers' cognitive and affective attitudes simultaneously.

This research used quantitative method by using online survey administered to a sample of 733 social media users.

The findings indicate both cognitive and affective attitudes jointly influence consumers' behavioural intentions with trust as a key construct mediating the relationship between attitudinal antecedents and consumers' willingness to share digital footprints on social media.

This study contributes to the information systems (IS) literature by offering a comprehensive framework constituting the joint attitudinal components as antecedents to consumers' behavioural intention for sharing digital footprints while trust works as a mediator.

This paper has important managerial implications. It helps marketers and IS managers in profiling consumers, understanding consumption patterns, sharing of digital footprints, which are useful for effective market segmentation, product development and future design of social media platforms. It informs social media providers of the importance of not only focussing on functional aspects but also underscores the essence of paying attention to consumers' affect towards social media platforms, especially trust.

The paper presents an original framework that explains the influence of joint attitudinal components on behavioural intention, with trust as a mediator.

The purpose of this paper is to present a compendium of small research studies that have been conducted in Malaysia. Issues of branding and its related constructs have gained widespread recognition amongst practitioners and academics in this country.

Inter alia, this paper examines six facets of branding across different industries and contexts. The first study examines issues of branding in the Islamic financial services. The second paper investigates airline brand reputation. The third paper explores employer branding in the context of hotels. The fourth study explicates online brand personality in the banking sector. The fifth project evaluates the aspect of brand loyalty in the telecommunication industry and the final paper unfolds the industrial brand loyalty and ethical brand.

The paper highlights six findings across six different industries in Malaysia.

The paper gives a Malaysian perspective on branding in Asia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore brand equity from multiple perspectives (tangible and intangible) and their joint consequences, namely, on industrial buyers’ brand loyalty and their long-term commitment. The aim is to provide a more comprehensive framework of the buyer’s behavioral response in the business-to-business context by integrating both trust elements and industrial brand attributes (brand performance and industrial brand image). In addition, the study explores the mediation effects of trust and brand attributes on industrial buyers’ responses such as loyalty and long-term commitment.

Using a survey approach, the study includes respondents working in the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry in Malaysia, and data are collected in the industrial air-conditioning segment. The research model was tested with SEM.

Findings show that brand performance and industrial brand image directly affect brand trust but with different effects on buyers’ commitment and loyalty. Interestingly, industrial brand image only mediates the responses via brand trust, while brand performance has a direct effect. Thus, both brand performance and industrial brand image build buyer trust. But in this context, it is brand performance rather than industrial brand image that influences long-term commitment and loyalty. The study concludes that in the HVAC industry, brand performance, industrial brand image, buyer trust, industrial loyalty and commitment build brand equity.

Significant research reveals that, in business-to-business contexts, brand equity depends on the supplier’s brand trust and attributes of the brand such as brand image and brand performance. While useful in guiding a supplier’s or industry’s brand strategy, the study of both brand trust and brand attributes has led to only a partial explanation of the supplier’s or industry’s brand equity. The present research explores industrial brand equity, focussing on tangible assets (performance) and intangible assets (brand image), and their joint consequences.

The main aim of the present study is to empirically test a model of antecedents and consequences of corporate brand image (CBI) in two book retailers, one selling exclusively online, and the other selling exclusively offline in a British context.

The study employed a survey to investigate the relationships of the antecedents and consequences of the CBI. The sample (n=511) comprised experienced customers of these two bookstores (visitors and shoppers of the site or bookstore). The antecedents of CBI which were the functional aspects of brand attributes (such as ease of use, secured web site, interactivity/building relationship, customer care and reliability) were combined with the CBI itself (emotional aspects of the corporate brand or personality traits of the company) and, further, the consequences of these emotional aspects such as customer satisfaction and loyalty were tested using a cross‐sectional study.

Using two separate structural equation models, the study found an empirical relationship between the brand attributes and the corporate brand image (the emotional values). This relationship in turn influences the customer's responses (loyalty).

By combining two methodological approaches of brand image evaluation: cognition (assessed through tangible and intangible brand attributes) and affect/emotion (assessed through brand personality scale) this study intends to add to the current understanding of consumer brand knowledge, in particular when the consumer is assessing a company's brand image (the CBI) and also learn how important the effect of cognitive attributes (such as brand attributes of a store and web site) is in explaining the subsequent CBI, and the integration effect on consumer responses such as brand loyalty. Do cognitive evaluations drive conative, behavioural actions in retail buying decision making? Are cognitive evaluations directly related with satisfaction with the retailer and consumer loyalty?

Explicitly, the present study offers practitioners a research framework, aimed at guiding them as to how they could understand their defined or desired brand values (the corporate core values) among their consumers.

In general, the present study adds to the existing literature in cognitive and affective attributes in consumer judgement and corresponding conative or behavioural attitudes in branding and reputation management. It brings together the concept of functional brand attributes, emotional brand attributes (the CBI), and the dependent variables such as customer satisfaction and loyalty in a unique context (internet), and compares this with the bricks and mortar context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different segments of consumers in the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI) and their relationship with product/brand positioning for Islamic financial services (IFS).

In‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals in managerial positions among the key market players in the IFSI to explore the segmentation of consumers and their buying motives.

Four segments of IFS consumers emerged, namely, Religious conviction group; Religious conviction and economic rationality group; Ethical observant group; and Economic rationality group. These segmentation groups were appropriately categorized through a psychographic (value)‐based approach.

The empirical findings of this study pave the way for embarking on promising and relevant future research, which is needed to substantiate and enrich the academic understanding and managerial practice of linking market segmentation and brand positioning for IFS in the global market. Future research should focus on analysing these issues from the perspective of consumers of IFS to identify the purchase trend.

The study provides empirical evidence of the bases or initial dimensions of consumer segmentation for IFS. The findings are useful in guiding the management of institutions offering IFS in making decisions relating to the marketing communication and promotion strategy as well as product and brand positioning strategy.

For both academia and the IFSI, this study provides useful knowledge in strategically using market segmentation to position IFS in the global market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine which brand attributes need to be emphasised/addressed by retailers in order to achieve a positive representation of the corporate brand images in an online setting. Using bookstores as the research context, the research's main aim is to investigate the association between the functional brand evaluation (represented by brand attributes in this study) and emotional brand evaluation (represented by the corporate brand image). Specific research questions are: Are there any associations between the brand attributes and corporate brand image of an online e‐tailer?; What are the most important corporate brand attributes/drivers of online corporate brand image?

Using the brand triangle framework developed by de Chernatony and Christodoulides, the current study investigates the associations between brand attributes and corporate brand image of an online e‐tailer.

The findings show that factors such as ease of use, “personalisation”, security and customer care are significant in determining the corporate brand image of the online e‐tailer.

The practical contribution of the study and its managerial implications are in the provision of strategic directions and positioning the corporate brand in an online context.

It has been suggested by recent branding literatures that both functional and emotional brand characterizations should be adopted in order to better model consumer responses. Ailwadi and Keller pointed out that the priority of research should be to understand how corporate brand image and retailer brand attributes interact. The impact of corporate brands on the internet has been the object of study (e.g. Phillips; Lindstrom). The originality of the work is in linking online brand attributes and online corporate brand images and the role of functional and emotional attributes in brand evaluation in an online context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine differing attitudinal characteristics (attitude and subjective norms) and perceptions of coupon characteristics (coupon value and coupon expiration date) towards coupon redemption based on psychological and demographic segments of consumers who may well differ in their purchase motivations and accompanying decision making.

Following a detailed literature review, the characteristics are examined by means of a structured questionnaire administered via “mall intercept” to a convenience sample in major shopping areas in Malaysia.

Following a variety of statistical tests, the findings support the use of coupon proneness, value consciousness, price consciousness and brand involvement as separate variables underpinning coupon usage propensity and indicated the value of coupons if used judiciously in relation to pre-identified segments.

The limitations associated with convenience sampling apply here, that is the findings cannot be generalised.

The basis for sound parameters for the use of coupons are of value to marketing management.

The paper offers an unique insight into coupon propensity and usage from a little-known economy. Its value lies in the degrees of support offered to findings from more advanced economies and a basis for differentiation in the Malaysian context.