Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Role of the brand in marketing'
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Coleman, Megan K. "Untangling the Role of Brand Affect and Brand Trust in Marketing Research." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/994.
Full textSimelane, Tekhaya. "Exploring the role of consumer brands In shaping employer brand attractiveness." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44449.
Full textDissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
lmgibs2015
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
Unrestricted
Kwan, Man Ching. "A self-based perspective for consumer-brand relationship : understanding the role of brand attachment in brand equity creation." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2011. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1261.
Full textSultan, Abdullah J. "The relationship between new brand information exposure and future purchase intention the moderating role of brand implicit image /." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2008. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Dissertations/Fall2008/a_sultan_11609.pdf.
Full textBerčíková, Michaela. "Výskum image značky L'Oréal v segmente študentov v Belgicku." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2009. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-11475.
Full textKarpasitis, Christos. "Brand video virality : the role of audio, visual and plot characteristics." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2017. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/20467/.
Full textMulyanegara, Riza Casidy. "Church marketing : the role of market orientation and brand image in church participation." Monash University. Faculty of Business and Economics. Department of Marketing, 2009. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/74962.
Full textDalstam, Malin, Hedvig Nordlöf, and Daniella Holmgren. "The NA-KD Truth About Influencer Marketing : Exploring influencer marketing through integrated marketing communication and the influencer’s role in strengthening a brand." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-39986.
Full textKobolková, Edita. "Role prémiové značky v produktovém portfoliu vybrané tabákové společnosti." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2009. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-15762.
Full textAurimas, Mickus, Zhou Pengshuo, and Guo Xiang. "The Role of Paid and Earned Social Media on Consumer Behavior for Apparel Brands in China’s Market." Thesis, Jönköping University, Internationella Handelshögskolan, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-48901.
Full textRivera, César, and Fredrik Byström. "Brand equity through rollercoasters and rabbits : Understanding the role of part-time marketers in enhancing the brand equity of an amusement park." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-105764.
Full textAxelsson, Daniel, and Henrik Nordberg. "The Role of PR : In the Introduction Stage of a New Brand." Thesis, Jönköping University, JIBS, Business Administration, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-161.
Full textAbstract
The reality of today is that companies are spending more and more money on commercial spots. The “highlight” of the year is Super Bowl, where a 30-second ad costs more than $2 million to run. Advertising agencies are using their role as communicators by competing with each other with no interest in the product. The marketing guru Al Ries released a controversial book called “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR” (2002) together with his daughter Laura Ries. In this book they are at-tacking the traditional advertising industry and claim that it has lost its credibility and above all, public relations is a more effective tool in brand building. The Rieses also favors PR in the in-troduction phase of a new brand.
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate agencies’ view of public relations role relative to traditional advertising in the intro-duction phase of a new brand.
The authors have used a qualitative study where the purpose will be achieved by performing in-depth face to face interviews with three respondents, which has a deep knowledge within the PR and the traditional advertising industry.
Whether PR as a promotional tool is viewed as more effective relative to traditional advertising in the introduction of a new brand one has to consider different variables. PR is more effec-tive when it comes to credibility, cost, and clutter. However, a major drawback is the control. Also, one has to consider the at-tributes of the brand since there are brands that are more PR “friendly” than others.
Čápová, Lenka. "Sponzoring v umělecké oblasti: Význam a role Sponsorship fitu." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2013. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-197818.
Full textFrieden, Laura Rose. "The Role of Consumer Gender Identity and Brand Concept Consistency in Evaluating Cross-Gender Brand Extensions." Scholar Commons, 2013. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4488.
Full textHardie, Kirsten. "Fictitious people as food brand icons : their role and visual representation in contemporary international food packaging." Thesis, University of Brighton, 2014. https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/32fd3047-c4e1-4133-a4f0-e0457a0ce4d0.
Full textHilgenkamp, Heather. "Contrasting multiple models of brand equity’s role in consumer decision making." Diss., Kansas State University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/18711.
Full textDepartment of Psychological Sciences
Gary Brase
Brand Equity is a common phrase in consumer research, but there is still a lot of ambiguity surrounding the measurement of this concept (Keller, 2008). Several methods of measurement have been proposed over the years, but no one method has been adopted as the ideal way to predict purchase intent and measure brand equity. The current research tested three theories—Social Exchange Theory (SET), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Yoo and Donthu model—to see which is the best predictor of purchase intent and brand equity. SET assumes consumers weigh the costs and rewards of purchasing the product. TPB uses consumers’ attitudes over purchasing the product, subjective norms of what others would do, and the perceived behavioral control consumers have in actually purchasing the product. The Yoo and Donthu model has been used most often of the three theories in measuring brand equity and includes measures of brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness/associations, and overall brand equity. Study 1 assessed consumer durable products (TV and athletic shoes) and Study 2 assessed consumer non-durable products (soap and toothpaste). Consumers evaluated these products online based on a picture of the product, the brand name, price, customer reviews, quality ratings, and an advertisement and then indicated their likelihood to purchase the product. Theory of Planned Behavior was the best predictor of purchase intent across all four products assessed indicating that consumers look at external factors such as what others would do as well as how much control they have over purchasing the product as much as they consider their own attitudes.
Carberry, Mary. "The role of branding within an integrated supply chain : a case study of naturally coloured wool." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/4203.
Full textEwing, Douglas R. "When Does Brand Matter? An Empirical Examination of the Roles of Attachment, Experience, and Identity within Consumer-Brand Relationships." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1275917499.
Full textBuddle, Richard. "The dyadic brand : a systematic enquiry to explore the confusion embedded in brand literature, and to inform the development of a simpler brand model that clarifies the roles of the consumer and custodian /." full text via ADT, 2007. http://erl.canberra.edu.au/public/adt-AUC20080829.120412/index.html.
Full textGlynn, Mark Selwyn. "The role of brands in manufacturer-reseller relationships." Thesis, University of Auckland, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3156559.
Full textBuddle, Richard, and n/a. "The Dyadic Brand A systematic enquiry to explore the confusion embedded in brand literature, and to inform the development of a simpler brand model that clarifies the roles of the consumer and custodian." University of Canberra. School of Professional Communication, 2007. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20080829.120412.
Full textBinkowska, Barbara. "The New Zealand hotel industry: the role of image as a medium influencing company's competitiveness and customer loyalty towards brand." AUT University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10292/170.
Full textCasteran, Gauthier. "An empirical investigation of antecedents of brand loyalty : the role of product category, marketing mix and consumer related characteristics in the light of niche brands proliferation." Thesis, Toulouse 1, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016TOU10028/document.
Full textFirms invest heavily in building and maintaining relationships with their customers. This is due to loyal customers being among the most profitable ones for firms. It is thus essential for managers and researchers to understand what drives customers to become loyal. Researchers have investigated brand loyalty antecedents at great length. These antecedents can be divided in three classes: product category, marketing mix and customer-related ones. Despite the large body of research on these antecedents, an update is necessary as markets have been changing in the last decades. One of the major changes has been the apparition and proliferation of niche brands (such as organic and private label brands) that are positioned to serve segments of consumers with specific needs. The aim of this Ph.D. research is to fill these gaps and get a better understanding of what influences brand loyalty in the light of niche brands’ development. We specifically focus on two types of niche brands: organic and private label brands. This Ph.D. research is comprised of four studies, each one investigating one class of antecedents. Our results first enable us to reassess the effect of certain antecedents of brand loyalty using recent panel purchase data. It also gives us some insights on the role of niche brands. It shows that the proliferation of niche brands and more specifically the proliferation of private label brands has an effect on brand loyalty at an aggregate level. In the same way, niche brands have a moderating effect on the impact of some antecedents of brand loyalty. Theoretical, methodological and managerial implications of these findings are discussed
Hlophe, Nthabiseng. "The role of local context in the local strategies of global brands." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29785.
Full textDissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted
Roswinanto, Widyarso. "Belief Transfers in Co-branding and Brand Extension and the Roles of Perceptual Fit." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc801896/.
Full textLe, Roux Alta S. "Establishing the role of branding in social enterprises." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/32391.
Full textThesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2013
Information Science
unrestricted
Scopelliti, Maria. "Gatekeepers No More: Redefining the Roles of Journalism and PR in the Age of Digital Media and Content Marketing." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30547.
Full textTrudeau, Hamidi Sabrina. "The journey from brand's social currency to superior customer-brand relationships : the intermediary roles of experiential and transformational benefits." Mémoire, Université de Sherbrooke, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11143/6773.
Full textPagani, Margherita. "The Role of consumer experiential engagement in new media based social networks environnments : implications for marketing strategies." Thesis, Lyon 3, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2014LYO30091.
Full textThe thesis aims to understand how companies can leverage on consumer experiential engagement in new-media based social media environments (using video on the web, handheld devices and web 2.0) in order to stimulate active behavior and redefine commercial marketing strategies. We structure our analysis on a three studies approach. The first study describes how Personal Engagement with the content and Social-Interactive Engagement (resulting from the perceived sense of community, intrinsic enjoyment and participation experience) differently influence both active and passive behavior. We test hypotheses with survey data from a sample of 814 US and EU social TV users. In study 2 we examine the influence of privacy intrusiveness on the relation between Experiential Engagement (Personal and Social-interactive Engagement) and active and passive use and we test it (n=379) with reference to mobile location-based social networking applications in EU and US. In study 3 we develop a conceptual model in which social-interactive engagement influences social identity directly and brand love indirectly through the mediating effect of social identity. The model was empirically validated (n=387) on the Facebook fan pages of 20 leading international brands in EU and the US. Findings emerging from the three studies show that Experiential Engagement has positive effects on the consumer behavior online (active and passive) and it may contrast the negative effect of privacy intrusiveness. The results obtained show also a positive effects of social-interactive engagement on consumer-brand affective relationships (brand love) and the full mediating effect of social identity. More specifically advertisers, leveraging on experiences that influence social-interactive engagement can influence the social identity and the relationship with the brand
WANG, Wei. "The effect of word-of-mouth on the purchase of genuine and counterfelt luxury brands : the roles of attitude functions." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2011. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/mkt_etd/3.
Full textLamb, Keith Whitaker. "The Role of Brand Equity in Reputational Rankings of Specialty Graduate Programs in Colleges of Education: Variables Considered by College of Education Deans and Associate Deans Ranking the Programs." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28447/.
Full textMurray, John. "The specification of store environments : the role of store design-architecture in the consumer perception of retail brands." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/20860.
Full textGAO, Xue. "The effects of perceived brand globalness on consumer responses to brand failures." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2010. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/mkt_etd/1.
Full textMao, Huifang. "Brand referencing." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3215188.
Full textSource: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-04, Section: A, page: 1442. Adviser: Shanker Krishnan. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 9, 2007)."
Pogacar, Ruth. "Marketing Language: A Conceptual Framework and Examination of How Brand Name Linguistics Influence Brand Loyalty." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin15302704284269.
Full textGraham, Johnny Langston. "CONSUMER CORRUPTION OF BRAND MEANING: A MULTI-METHOD EXPLORATION OF BRAND APPROPRIATION." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2016. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/410546.
Full textPh.D.
This dissertation centers on the study of brand appropriation, the altering of brand meaning by non-target market consumers who belong to a subculture. Although oftentimes referenced within the social sciences, appropriation is a scantily explored construct within the context of marketing, and specifically branding. Using a multi-method approach, this research establishes a conceptual framework for brand appropriation, develops an in-depth understanding of why and how it occurs, and examines its effect on consumers and their relationships with brands. Overall, this work builds a theoretical foundation for this phenomenon, contributing to literature involving the role of brands within subcultures, the process and effects of non-target market adoption, and gives consideration to uninvited co-creation behavior. Furthermore these studies gives insight for firms which encounter this unexpected consumption behavior, providing understanding that can help inform strategic response.
Temple University--Theses
Martin, William Carroll. "Investigating the antecedents and consequences of perceived connectedness to brand users brand communities versus brand collectivities /." Diss., Mississippi State : Mississippi State University, 2009. http://library.msstate.edu/etd/show.asp?etd=etd-03262009-122935.
Full textHassey, Roseann V. "Stand By Your Brand: How Brand Personality and Brand Failure Type Shape Brand Forgiveness." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470045358.
Full textSoni, Mayur. "Building corporate brand orientation through cross-functional integration within marketing brand orientation through cross-‐functional integration within marketing." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26355.
Full textDissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted
Bruggemann, Ben G. "How We Decide When We Can't Decide: A Study OF Brand Dependency and Brand Sensitivity." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1492613032364565.
Full textGoodwin, Jill Suzanne. "Creating Brand Communities| A Phenomenological Study on Media and the Psychology of Brand Magic." Thesis, Colorado State University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10599404.
Full textUnderstanding the complexities of the consumer-brand relationship is an ongoing area of study in multiple fields. Stemming from the notion that brands convey cultural meaning, brand community studies focus specifically on the process of meaning creation. The traditional focus of brand community research has been on social interaction. However, newer research points to the psychological formation of brand communities in the absence of social interaction. The psychological sense of brand community (PSBC) model was created to account for this newer area of research. Mental models are the cognitive model individuals form to interact with the world around them. Based in psychology, mental model research postulates that individuals must first be able to internally represent their external world in order to interact with it. Mental model theory provides a foundation for insight to the individual’s reality of the brand community relationship at the social and psychological level. Thus, this study will use a qualitative phenomenological approach to elicit and explore the expressed mental models of members that self-identify with a brand community when exposed to branded media. In particular, this study centers around the Disney brand and how Disney’s use of video advertisements activates PSBC among a loyal following. By using a brand exemplar to study this phenomenon, common themes of the consumer-brand relationship are revealed that give insight to the types of internal representations of external reality elicited by branded media exposure. By gaining a better understanding of the difference between psychological and social brand communities, media communication scholars can gain a deeper understanding of how the types of messages created for a brand can foster a sense of relationship with the brand.
Sekhon, Tejvir Singh. "The role of brand attachment in brand-related bragging." Thesis, 2016. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/17101.
Full text2021-06-30T00:00:00Z
Wongsrikun, Thotsaporn, and 翁日華. "The role of affect in Brand marketing on Twitter." Thesis, 2016. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24819174624985719179.
Full text國立臺灣科技大學
資訊管理系
104
Social media has gained increasing importance in online brand marketing. This study aims to explore the role of affect, both positive and negative, in social media brand marketing. Based on the Mehrabian-Russell model, we propose that general positive affect exhibited by Twitter brand accounts is positively related to followers’ positive responses such as retweets and favorites, as well as the overall follower counts; general negative affect, however, is negatively related to followers’ retweets, favorites, and overall follower counts. Data was collected from the most recent tweets of each brand Twitter account, whereas the target brand accounts were selected from top brand finance global companies ranked by most brand value in the year 2014. The data was analyzed using linear regression. The results reveal that positive affect is positively related to the number of retweeted tweets, the number of favorited tweets, and follower counts. Negative affect, however, is negatively related to the number of retweeted tweets and the number of favorited tweets, but not significant related to follower counts.
Tesařová, Veronika. "Role sémiotiky vizuálního marketingu při budování značky." Master's thesis, 2018. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-388741.
Full textSankaranarayanan, Ramesh. "Role of Online Brand Communities in Making Strategic Marketing Decisions." Thesis, 2011. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/7440/1/Sankaranarayanan_MSc_S2011.pdf.
Full textBilro, Ricardo Jorge Godinho. "The role of consumer-brand engagement in a digital marketing era." Doctoral thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/15736.
Full textO objetivo desta tese é o de compreender o papel do compromisso entre o consumidor e a marca nesta nova era de marketing digital. Exploramos nesse sentido o constructo do compromisso entre o consumidor e a marca, sendo o consumidor o sujeito do compromisso e a marca (isto é, marcas ou empresas) o objeto desse compromisso. É nosso objetivo contribuir para o avanço teórico do conhecimento sobre esta área do saber, bem como fornecer novos conhecimentos que possam ser úteis e utilizados pelos gestores nas empresas, nomeadamente no que diz respeito a empresas que utilizem plataformas interativas para criar relacionamentos entre os consumidores e as marcas.
Park, Hyejune. "The Role of Social Network Websites in Consumer-Brand Relationship." 2011. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1214.
Full textApostolopoulou, Artemisia. "The role of parent brand strength, perceived fit, and fan identification on consumers' evaluation of brand extensions in the sport setting." 2002. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3068535.
Full textCebisa, Zwelakhe Erick. ""The role of brands in the advertising of beauty products."." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1477.
Full textThesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.
Portal, Sivan-Rachel. "The role of brand authenticity in the development of brand trust in South Africa." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23049.
Full textBrand trust has been in decline for a number of years (Eggers, O’Dwyer, Kraus, Vallaster, & Güldenberg, 2013; Gerzema, 2009; Gilmore & Pine, 2007; Schallehn, Burmann, & Riley, 2014). According to Eggers et al., (2013), this has been attributed to many possible causes; the most prevalent being a breakdown between the promises made by brands and what they actually deliver. As a result, consumers are growing increasingly sceptical and they find themselves unable to believe brand claims (Eggers et al.,, 2013). Brand authenticity has been referred to as the perfect antidote to this problem (Gerzema, 2009). It is synonymous with honesty (Morhart, Malär, Guèvremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2015), sincerity (Beverland, 2005a; Fine, 2003; Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014; Pace, 2015), and trust (Eggers et al.,, 2013); and is a key success factor for brands today (Brown, Kozinets, & Sherry, 2003; Gilmore & Pine, 2007). Authentic brands are deeply committed to their values and to delivering on their promises (Eggers et al.,, 2013; Morhart et al.,, 2015). Morhart et al., (2015) state that to enhance the perception of authenticity, brands should come across as more “human”, as doing so makes it easier for consumers to recognise the inherent values of the brand. Due to a rebirth in traditional, wholesome values, consumers are growing increasingly fond of humanised brands and they now even relate to brands in the same way they relate to people (Brown, 2010; Fournier, 1998; Kervyn, Fiske, & Malone, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013). It has been said that brands that are succeeding in a time when brand trust is at an all-time low, are those that are fostering meaningful relationships with their customers by coming across as “human” (Kervyn et al.,, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013; Marshall & Ritchie, 2013). This research set out to examine the humanisation of brands, particularly in a world where authenticity is becoming increasingly popular and brand trust, increasingly rare. It was hoped that an empirical investigation would help to define the implications of this growing trend in brand management. The study was conducted in South Africa, where historically there has been a major breakdown of trust between its citizens and the institutions that have been entrusted to lead them (Lekalake, 2015; Marais, 2011; Moeng, 2015; Steenkamp, 2009). The study was grounded in theory that has roots in the field of social psychology. In interpersonal relationships, Cuddy, Fiske, and Glick (2007) found that people make judgements about others based on the evaluation of two dimensions: warmth and competence. The Brands as Intentional Agents Framework (BIAF) (Kervyn et al.,, 2012) theorises that this is consistent with people and brands. Consumers evaluate brands on the same basis of warmth and competence: where warmth is the belief that the brand has good intentions, and competence, the belief that the brand has the ability to carry out those intentions. (Kervyn et al.,, 2012). Expressions of warmth and competence enhance the perception that a brand is humanlike (J. Aaker, Vohs, & Mogilner, 2010; Kervyn et al.,, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013). An extensive literature review was conducted on brand authenticity, perceived warmth, perceived competence and brand trust - revealing strong connections between these four constructs. The research problem was three-fold. First, the intention was to establish and evaluate the dimensions of brand authenticity in South Africa, postulated as originality, continuity, credibility and integrity (according to recent studies in the literature). Second, the intention was to then determine whether brand authenticity has a positive impact on brand trust. Brand trust was postulated as having two dimensions, brand intentions and brand reliability, as per Delgado-Ballester (2004). Third, the intention was to resolve whether perceptions of warmth and competence then mediate the relationship between brand authenticity and brand trust. This study adopted a quantitative methodology whereby a self-completion questionnaire was distributed using face-to-face data collection procedures. The sampling frame consisted of frequent flyers of one of seven domestic airlines that fly within South Africa’s borders, namely: South African Airways (SAA), Mango, British Airways (BA), Kulula, Safair, Blue Crane and Cemair. The study used a convenience sample of passengers at Bidvest airport lounges in four major cities, and at Lanseria, a smaller airport in Johannesburg. The questionnaire design included a construct measurement section where respondents were asked to rate their perception of the selected brand’s authenticity, warmth, competence and trust. The data collection returned an impressive 355 usable responses, made up predominantly of business travellers. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to examine the data and factor analysis revealed four important findings. First, the analysis showed three new factors, different to the four postulated dimensions of brand authenticity. They were Original, Ethical and Genuine. Second, brand trust was found to be one-dimensional, and not two-dimensional as postulated. Third, although a revised model of six constructs (original, ethical, genuine, warmth, competence and brand trust) displayed both internal reliability and convergent validity, discriminant validity could not be proven due to critically high correlations between the constructs. The high levels of similarity rendered the constructs indistinguishable in a causal model and as a result, the hypotheses could not be tested using the data that was collected. Finally, an additional analysis showed significant differences between the results of South African Airways (SAA) and some or all of the other airlines on all the constructs. As SAA was not viewed in a positive light, this study identified SAA as an outlier brand. The findings of this research proved to be very interesting, and have major theoretical and managerial implications. As brand authenticity was measured as a second-order construct, it could not be said with certainty that original, ethical and genuine are dimensions thereof. However, the literature certainly suggested that they might be. Authenticity has been linked to any semblance of originality (Vann, 2006); an honourable set of values (Beverland, Lindgreen, & Vink, 2008); and that which is genuine, real and true (Arnould & Price, 2000; Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Molleda & Jain, 2013). Moreover, a recent study by Akbar and Wymer (2016) proved originality and genuineness to be dimensions of brand authenticity and their findings strongly support those of this study. The unexpected results of this research also confirm that brand authenticity is highly contextual and subjective – its meaning is dependent on the consumer’s personal experiences and their unique understanding of what is authentic (Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Bruhn, Schoenmüller, Schäfer, & Heinrich, 2012; Fritz, Schoenmueller, & Bruhn, 2017; Leigh, Peters, & Shelton, 2006; Molleda & Jain, 2013). This study reiterates that brand managers wishing to enhance perceptions of authenticity, must adapt their approach for their specific brand in specific contexts and be very cognisant of their customers unique interpretation of authenticity. The lack of discriminant validity between the six constructs in the revised path model (original, ethical, genuine, warmth, competence and brand trust) was the most noteworthy finding of this research, as it has serious theoretical and managerial implications. This finding indicates that consumers view these constructs as one and the same, and they are deeply interconnected. This could be attributed to the strong literary overlaps between them, as many of these constructs have almost identical definitions and key traits (for example: honesty, sincerity, benevolence, capability, and reliability). As a result, this research makes an important contribution to advancing the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework (BIAF) (Kervyn et al.,, 2012). It suggests that the BIAF should be expanded to include constructs beyond warmth and competence, as expressions of all six constructs contribute equally to the perception that a brand is human. This research concludes with the Human Brand Model (HBM); a model that provides practical guidelines as to how managers can use the insights from this study to build human brands. To enhance the perception that a brand is more human, managers must use expressions not only of warmth and competence, but of originality, ethicality, genuineness and trust as well. The six dimensions work along a continuum: if one is elevated, so too are the others; but if one is tarnished, the others are negatively impacted too. The result is that no single dimension can be ignored in this process. Brand managers must understand that efforts to build a human brand far surpass the marketing team. This process requires the mobilisation of every department in the organisation and the commitment of the highest levels of leadership. This research set out to establish whether the human brand is simply a buzzword in marketing, or an idea that has both academic and managerial value. The idea that brands have evolved into animate entities is not yet widely accepted in academic literature. However, this research makes an important contribution to advancing the existing theory on brand perception and current views on brand anthropomorphism. It also provides some guidance as to the exact mechanisms that can be used to build human brands. The findings demonstrated that the human brand is an idea that is real, and one with value for both academics and practitioners, leaving room for much further research.
MT2017