The Impact of Brand Equity Drivers on Consumer-Based Brand Resonance in Multiple Product Settings Brian S

Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 The Impact of Brand Equity Drivers on Consumer-Based Brand Resonance in Multiple Product Settings Brian S. (Brian Scott) Gordon Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION THE IMPACT OF BRAND EQUITY DRIVERS ON CONSUMER-BASED BRAND RESONANCE IN MULTIPLE PRODUCT SETTINGS By BRIAN S. GORDON A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport and Recreation Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 Copyright 2010 Brian Gordon All Rights Reserved The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Brian Gordon defended on May 28th, 2010. __________________________________ Jeffrey D. James Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________________ J. Joseph Cronin Jr. University Representative __________________________________ Steven McClung Committee Member __________________________________ Michael J. Mondello Committee Member Approved: _________________________________________________________________ Jeffrey D. James, Chairperson, Department of Sport and Recreation Management The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my family. This goal would not have been achieved without your love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey James, my committee chair and faculty advisor, for taking a chance and bringing me into the Sport Management program at Florida State University. Your guidance and mentorship over the last four years has been instrumental in my development as a scholar and person as a whole. I am eternally grateful for the time and effort you have put forth on my behalf. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Dr. Joseph Cronin, Dr. Steven McClung, and Dr. Michael Mondello. Your contribution to my dissertation has been immeasurable. The time, effort, and expertise that you have provided has immensely improved the quality of my dissertation. A special thanks to Dr. Masayuki Yoshida, Dr. Bob Heere, and Dr. Stephen Ross for their continuing input into my research development. At various stages of this dissertation, you have provided instrumental guidance and expertise to “keep me on track”. I am also deeply indebted for the effort put forth by Jun Woo Kim, Yuko Sawatari, Mike Naylor, Michelle Brimecombe, Priscila Alfaro, Dusko Bogdanov, and Young Tae Kim. I am grateful for their time and effort during the focus group study as well as providing much needed support during this journey at Florida State University. I would also like to acknowledge and commend Dr. Taeho Yoh for his invaluable mentorship and support over the past six years. I never would have decided to seek a Ph.D degree if it was not for your guidance and input as my master‟s advisor. I am grateful to my parents for their love and support. They consistently reinforced the value of education and learning. Without their tireless effort, sacrifice, and encouragement, I never would have gotten to this point. I look forward to returning the love and support they have given me. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to express my eternal love and gratitude to my beautiful wife, Kristina Gordon. She has been the most consistent source of encouragement and support over the past four years. The completion of this dissertation would not have been achieved without her support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLE vii LIST OF FIGURES ix ABSTRACT x INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 3 Significance of the Study 4 Purposes of the Study 6 Conceptual Framework 6 Research Questions 10 Theoretical Framework 11 Limitations of the Study 13 Definition of the Terms 13 Overview of the Chapters 14 LITERATURE REVIEW 16 Introduction 16 Definition of Brand Equity 17 Brand Equity and its Components 21 Measurement of Brand Equity 40 Keller‟s (2003) Consumer-based Brand Equity Model 61 Conceptualization of Brand equity for Sport Services 63 The Brand Superiority Literature 67 The Brand Affect Literature 73 The Brand Equity Outcome Literature 77 METHODS 87 Introduction 87 Research Design 90 Scale Development 91 Stage 1 – Specify the Construct Domain 92 Stage 2 – Generate Sample Items 93 Stage 3 – Collection of Data for Pilot Study and Scale Purification 95 Stage 4 – Scale Purification 95 Stage 5 – Collection of Data for Main Study 97 Stage 6 – Assessing Reliability and Validity 98 Stage 7 – Examination of Research Hypotheses 99 The Operationalization of the Proposed Consumer-based Brand Equity Model 107 v RESULTS 120 Introduction 120 Stage 2 Results – Generation of Sample Items 120 Stage 3 Results – First Data Administration 126 Stage 4 Results – Scale Purification 127 Stage 5 Results – Second Data Collection 146 Stage 6 Results – Reliability and Validity Assessment 147 Stage 7 Results – Examination of Research Hypotheses 155 Summary of Results 161 DISCUSSION 164 Discussion of Pilot Study Results 164 Discussion of Main Study Results 172 Contributions of Current Study 184 Limitations and Directions for Future Research 186 Conclusion 189 APPENDIX A 193 APPENDIX B 196 APPENDIX C 199 APPENDIX 201 APPENDIX E 204 APPENDIX F 206 REFERENCES 212 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 222 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Title of Table Page Number 1.1 Definition of Terms 14 2.1 Definitions of brand Equity 20 2.2 Measures of Brand Equity 41 3.1 Construct Definitions, Dimensionality, and Items 104 3.2 Global Fit Indices Criteria 106 3.3 Measures of Brand Awareness 108 3.4 Measure of Brand Awareness 108 3.5 Proposed and Existing Measures of Brand Associations 109 3.6 Dimension Names and Descriptions (Ross et al., 2006) 111 3.7 Measures of Brand Superiority 113 3.8 Measures of Brand Affect 114 3.9 Keller‟s (2003) Brand Resonance Dimensions and Items 117 3.10 Measure of Brand Resonance 118 4.1 Brand Association Items for Goods and Services Context 124 4.2 Variance Explained for each Factor by Exploratory Factor Analysis 127 4.3 Pattern Matrix for Exploratory Factor Analysis 128 4.4 Goods and Services Factor Names and Items 130 4.5 Variance Explained by Factors from Exploratory Factor Analysis 131 4.6 Pattern Matrix for Exploratory Factor Analysis 132 4.7 Cronbach‟s Alpha and Item-to-total Correlations for Services Context 134 4.8 Variance Explained by Exploratory Factor Analysis 136 4.9 Pattern Matrix of Rotated Factor Solution 137 4.10 Variance Explained by Exploratory Factor Analysis 138 4.11 Pattern Matrix of Exploratory Factor Analysis for Goods vii Context 140 4.12 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model Comparison for Brand Resonance in Goods Context 141 4.13 Scale Statistics for Brand Resonance in Goods Context 142 4.14 Cronbach‟s Alpha and Item-to-total Correlations for Goods Context 143 4.15 Goods and Services Items for Main Study 144 4.16 Scale Statistics for Goods Context 148 4.17 Scale Statistics for Services Context 152 4.18 Direct and Indirect Effects of Brand Association on Brand Resonance in Goods Context 157 4.19 Direct and Indirect Effects of Brand Association on Brand Resonance in Services Context 160 4.20 Hypothesis Testing in Goods and Services Context 163 5.1 Hypothesis Testing in Goods and Services Context 184 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title of Figure Page Number 1.1 Consumer-based Brand Equity Pyramid 7 (Keller, 2003) 1.2 Conceptual Framework 9 1.3 Model for Current Study 22 2.1 Aaker‟s Model of Brand Equity 24 (Aaker, 1996) 2.2 Keller‟s Model of Brand Equity (Keller, 1993) 27 2.3 Dimensions of Brand Awareness 30 2.4 Dimensions of Brand Associations 42 2.5 Consumer-based Brand Equity Pyramid (Keller, 2003) 62 2.6 Model of Consumer-based Brand Equity 67 2.7 Targets of Brand Attitudes 71 2.8 Measure of Brand Resonance 83 2.9 Measure of Brand Awareness 85 3.1 Model for Current Study 88 3.2 Churchill‟s Stages of Scale Development 92 (Churchill, 1979) 3.3 Hypothesized Causal Model 100 4.1 Scale Development Procedures 121 4.2 Scree Plot for Exploratory Factor Analysis for Services 131 Context 4.4 Goods Measurement Model 151 4.5 Services Measurement Model 154 4.6 Hypothesized Brand Equity Model 156 4.7 Goods Hypothesis Testing 158 4.8 Services Hypothesis Testing 161 ix ABSTRACT The importance of brand equity to a firm has been well-documented by previous literature. Brands with high equity allow a firm to charge a premium price as well as garner a larger market share in relation to competitors (Simon & Sullivan, 1993). From the consumer‟s perspective, previous research has failed to explain precisely how consumers perceive and become loyal to specific brands. Most of the scholarly work in this area has been conceptual in nature. Therefore, this study established a consumer-based brand equity model based on Keller‟s (2003) brand equity pyramid that explains how consumer perceptions influence brand resonance. The consumer-based brand equity scale was comprised of five constructs related to brand equity: brand awareness, brand associations, brand superiority, brand affect, and brand resonance. This dissertation represents one of the first attempts to operationalize Keller‟s pyramid. The measurement items were established based upon an extensive review of the literature and in the case of brand associations, by examining data collected from consumers by means of a qualitative elicitation. A pilot test in both the goods and services context (n = 288; n = 231) provided initial validation of the measurement items constructed in the item generation stage. More specifically, results from an exploratory factor analysis showed that brand associations was comprised of two dimensions in the goods context (attributes and benefits) and three dimensions in the services context (attributes, benefits, and service personnel).

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