Showing papers by "Cheng Lu Wang published in 2019"

Hallowed be thy brand: measuring perceived brand sacredness

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to capture the strength of consumer’s perceived brand sacredness. The authors developed and validated a measurement scale composed of three related dimensions: supremacy, mesmerization and communitas.,Six empirical studies were conducted to identify the brand sacredness construct domains, develop and validate the measurement and test the nomological network between brand sacredness and it antecedent and outcome variables.,Results from a series of studies provided robust supports for the scale structure and demarcated the construct domains from other consumer–brand relationship measures. Testing of nomological validity of the scale further showed that brand sacredness is influenced by brand love, emotional brand attachment and brand loyalty and, meanwhile, provides explanatory power to predict theoretically related outcome variables, including transcendent consumer experience, defense of brand, incorporation brand in extended-self, brand ritualism and brand evangelism.,This study is based on cross-sectional survey data obtained from respondents belonging to well-established brand communities. A longitudinal study involving recent and emerging brand communities could provide an enhanced understanding of the evolution of brand sacredness with time, including brand sacralizaton process as well as possible de-sacralization process.,The study provides significant insights for brand managers to create an enduring brand and ascertain that consumers find their affiliations with the brand and make it the sacred core of their lives by fandom management through brand evangelism.,This study adds to the theory on consumer–brand relationship realm by delineating the domains of brand sacredness with its defining feature of extraordinary experience transcending an ordinary brand. It contributes to the existing body of branding and customer-based brand equity literature by incorporating the spiritual aspects of faith, passion and devotion into measuring the value of a brand.

Effect of B2B advertising on firm’s market value: CSR as a strategic complement

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the B2B advertising effect on firm’s market value and whether/how its effectiveness can be enhanced with corporate social responsibility (CSR) strengths.,The authors propose that CSR can be a strategic complement to advertising and reinforce the latter’s positive effect on a firm’s performance in two logics: signaling mechanism and defensive mechanism. Using the Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini database and final data obtained from Compustat, the authors applied fixed effect regression analysis to test the interaction effect of advertising expense and CSR strengths on firms’ market performance as operationalized in Tobin’s Q.,The result confirms that CSR moderates the B2B advertising effect on a firm’s market value. More importantly, the authors find that internal CSR activities that are closely related to a firm’s core business, compared to external CSR activities, more significantly enhance the advertising effectiveness on a firm’s market value.,This research provides guidelines for B2B firms to better prioritize resource allocation to CSR practices for achieving a better financial outcome.,The current study on the joint effect of advertising and CSR has important theoretical and managerial implications, given both tools are commonly used by most B2B firms but not necessarily integrated into one corporate marketing strategy.

Examining consumer affective goal pursuit in services: When affect directly influences satisfaction and when it does not

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers’ affective goal pursuit influences the relationship between their affect and satisfaction in services. In particular, it examines when affect can directly influence satisfaction and when such an impact is mediated by perceived service quality.,This research explores consumers’ consumption goals in three different service contexts, i.e., a primarily pleasure-seeking hedonic service context, a primarily arousal-seeking hedonic service context and a utilitarian (non-affect-seeking) service context.,Results from two studies show that the primary affective consumption goal determines which specific affect can directly influence satisfaction. Other desirable non-primary affect influences satisfaction through the mediation of perceived service quality.,This research focuses on the service contexts in which consumers’ primary consumption goals vary. Further research may focus on the priority and strength of a consumer’s various consumption goals in different services and study how the priority and strength of different consumption goals determine how affect influences quality and satisfaction.,The study provides several insights for service providers and retailers to recognize that consumers’ primary consumption goals may vary in different service contexts, for different consumers, and even at different usage situations. Accordingly, marketers need to develop different strategies for consumer with different goal pursuit in services.,While the literature has documented that consumer affect influences consumer satisfaction in general, it is unclear how different consumption goals influence the impact of affect on satisfaction. This research contributes to the consumer goal literature by demonstrating the importance of primary consumption goals in the post-consumption evaluation of services.