Relationships among Brand Equity Components: An Exploratory Study of the Moderating Role of Product Type

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Research on the construction, measurement, and management of brand equity has been extensive since David A. Aaker (1991) and Kevin Lane Keller(1993) first advanced the concept. Recently, much attention has been devoted to the components of brand equity: brand awareness, perceived quality, brand image, and brand loyalty. This study explores the relationships among these components, focusing particularly on the moderating role of product type (utilitarian vs. hedonic) in their causal relationships.
A model to study the relationship among components of brand equity, particularly the moderating role of product type, is featured in Figure 1. The hypotheses of the study are proposed as follows: that consumers' brand awareness has a positive influence on brand loyalty and brand image; that consumers' perceived quality has a positive influence on brand loyalty and brand image; that consumers' brand image influences brand loyalty positively; and that relationships among components of brand equity will be moderated by product type. That is, in the case of utilitarian products, the impact of perceived quality on brand loyalty will be relatively stronger, whereas with hedonic products the impact of brand image on brand loyalty will be relatively stronger.
To determine the products for the study, a pre-test of 58 college students in the Seoul metropolitan area was conducted based on the product type scale (Park and Moon 2000; Vaughn 1986). As a result, computers were selected as the utilitarian product and blue jeans became the hedonic product. For each product type, two brands were selected: Samsung and HP for computers, and Levis and Nix for blue jeans.
In the main study, 237 college students in the metropolitan area were surveyed to measure their brand awareness, perceived quality, brand image, and brand loyalty toward the selected two brands of each product type. The subjects were divided into two groups: one group (121 subjects) for computers, the other (116 subjects) for blue jeans. The survey questionnaires for the study included four parts: five questions on brand awareness and four questions each on perceived quality, brand image, and brand loyalty. All questions were to be answered using 7-point Likert scales.
The data collected by the survey were processed to assess reliability and validity, and the causal relationships were analyzed to verify the hypotheses using the AMOS 7 program, a tool for analyzing structural equation modeling. A confirmatory factor analysis assessed the appropriateness of the measurement model, and the fit indices denoted that the model was satisfactory (Hu and Bentler 1999). The relationships among the components of brand equity were also analyzed using AMOS 7. The fit indices of the structural model denoted that it was also satisfactory.
The paths in the structural model as will be seen in Figure 2 show that perceived quality affects brand image positively, but that brand awareness does not affect brand image. Moreover, it shows that brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand image are positively related with brand loyalty, and that this relationship is moderated by product type. In the case of utilitarian products, perceived quality has relatively more influence on brand loyalty. Conversely, in the case of hedonic products, brand image has relatively more influence on brand loyalty.
The results of this empirical study contribute toward the advancement of our understanding of the relationships among the components of brand equity and expand the theoretical underpinnings for brand equity measurement. It also helps further our understanding of the effect of product type on customer-based brand equity. In a marketing management practice perspective, these results may provide managerial implications for building and maintaining brand equity effectively.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

对于品牌资产的组成，测量和管理的研究开始于David A. Aaker (1991) 和Kevin Lane Keller(1993)。最近，很多的研究都集中于品牌资产的组成：品牌意识，质量预期，产品形象和品牌忠诚度。本文主要针对于这些成分间相互关系，而且特别主意产品种类（实用或者享受）的调节作用。基于以上所提及的关系所建立的模型可以参看图1。本文的假设如下：顾客的品牌意识对于顾客的忠诚度和品牌形象有积极的影响；顾客的质量预期对于品牌忠诚度和品牌形象有积极的影响；品牌形象对于品牌忠诚度有积极影响；这些品牌资产成分间的关系可以被产品种类所调节。具体说明就是，对于实用性产品，质量预期对于品牌忠诚度的作用会增强，而对于享受产品品牌形象对于品牌忠诚度的作用会更强。为了确定适用于本研究的产品，58名首尔的大学生参加了前测 (Park and Moon 2000; Vaughn 1986)。结果是计算机被选择成为实用性产品，而牛仔裤被选定成为享受产品。每一种产品各选择了两个品牌：三星和惠普以及李维斯和NIX。在研究中，首尔地区的237名大学生回答了问卷。研究对象被划分为两组：一组（121名）回答关于计算机的问卷，其他的116名回答关于牛仔裤的问卷。搜集的数据通过AMOS 7来验证可信度，效度以及变量间的相互关系。验证性因子分析证明本研究的模型是可以用来进一步研究的(Hu and Bentler 1999)。品牌资产成分间的相互关系也通过AMOS 7 来验证。结果模型的结果展现在图2中。质量预期对于品牌的形象有积极的影响，但是品牌意识却没有。但是品牌意识，质量预期，以及品牌形象都对品牌忠诚度有积极的影响。并且，这些关系受到产品种类的调节。本文的研究结果可以增进我们对于品牌资产成分间相互关系的了解，并且可以支撑对于品牌资产的测量。本文也对于产品种类的作用进行了阐述。在现实的营销管理中，这些结果可以提供一些建议来有效保持品牌资产。

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