Copyright by Di Wu 2016
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Copyright by Di Wu 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Di Wu Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Understanding Consumer Response to the Olympic Visual Identity Designs Committee: Thomas M. Hunt, Supervisor Matthew Bowers Darla M. Castelli Marlene A. Dixon Tolga Ozyurtcu Janice S. Todd Understanding Consumer Response to the Olympic Visual Identity Designs by Di Wu, B.MAN.S.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2016 Dedication To my beloved daughter Evelyn. Acknowledgements I want to thank my parents, Weixing Wu and Jie Gao, for their unconditional love and support. I appreciate everything you have done for me. To my husband Andy Chan, thank you for your support through this journey! You are a great husband and father! To my baby girl Evelyn, you are the light and joy of my life. I love you all very much! Dr. Hunt, I can’t thank you enough for your help, encouragement, and advice that helped me to carry on and complete this long journey. Your advice and guidance of being a scholar and a parent mean so much to me. Thank you for believing in me. I am very fortunate to have you as my advisor. I also want to thank my dissertation committee members— Dr. Matt Bowers, Dr. Darla Castelli, Dr. Marlene Dixon, Dr. Tolga Ozyurtcu, and Dr. Jan Todd, for their encouragement and valuable advice. I want to thank Dr. Laurence Chalip for bringing me to the field of sport management. You are a great mentor and have been very supportive of my research interest. I have learned so much from you. Your wisdom and inspiration will always encourage me to study what I am truly interested in. Dr. Chris Green, thank you so much for your help and advice in my research, I am very lucky to learn so much from you. I also want to thank Dr. Nancy Kwallek for her great advice and help on this journey. Last, I want to thank my dearest grandpa, my role model, Dinghua Gao, who fought with a disease for two years and passed away recently. You are the best person that I had ever known. You were so kind, generous, and responsible. Your talent and v passion for art were the reason for me to be interested in and study visual design. I miss you very much, grandpa. vi Understanding Consumer Response to the Olympic Visual Identity Designs Di Wu, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 Supervisor: Thomas M. Hunt Abstract: Visual identity designs are frequently used as branding tools to build or modify images of sport event and its host destination and to help consumers to identify the event and its host destination. To measure the effectiveness of the Olympic Games visual identity designs regarding their branding values, this study focused on logo design and built a framework based on design studies, image formation studies, and information transfer studies to capture the effects of design messages on consumer evaluations of event image, destination images, and logo representativeness. A 2 (absence and presence of event design message) x 2 (absence and presence of destination design message) x 2 (absence and presence of athletic movement design message) x 2 (nationality) x 2 (gender) experimental design was employed to test the effects of design messages on evaluations of the Olympic Games image, the host destination image, as well as the logo representativeness. The research findings show that the effects of design messages on event image and the host city image were asymmetrical and were limited to certain image dimensions. Design messages of the event, the host city, and athletic movement didn’t significantly influence consumer evaluation of the host city image, but design messages of the event and the host city did affect event type image vii dimension. Moreover, in general, design messages of the event and the host city can also benefit consumer evaluations of logo representativeness. This study also tested the relationships between evaluations of event image, destination image, logo representativeness and consumer behavioral intentions regarding the event and its destination. Findings suggest that effects of design messages on evaluations of event and host city images are limited and asymmetrical. In general, both event design message and destination design message contributed to logo representativeness of the event and destination. The importance of evaluations of event image, destination image, and logo representativeness on consumer behavioral responses vary depends on consumer behavioral intentions are destination related or event related. Furthermore, the moderating effects of culture and gender were found in this study on evaluations of event image and destination image, as well as consumer decision-making process. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ........................................................................................................xv Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Literature Review ..................................................................................10 The Olympic Visual Identity Designs ...........................................................10 Emblem ................................................................................................11 Mascot ..................................................................................................14 Sport Pictogram ...................................................................................17 Marketing Value of Semiotics in Design ....................................................19 Semiotics in Visual Design ..................................................................19 Semiotic Function of Logo Design ......................................................21 Studies about Logo Design Effects on Brand Evaluation ....................22 Effect of Consumer Interpretation of Design Messages on Brand Image Evaluation ...................................................................................24 Effect of Logo Design on Brand Image Evaluation ......................................26 Destination Image ................................................................................26 Destination Image Formation based on Logo Design .................29 Destination Image Measurements ...............................................30 Event Image .........................................................................................33 Sport Event Image Evaluation ....................................................33 Brand Image Evaluation based on Single and Multiple Design Information Cues.............................................................................................35 Behaviroal Intentions Based on Brand Image Evaluation ............................38 Effect of Logo Design on Logo Representativeness Evaluation ..................39 Cultural Influence on Consumer Interpretation of Visual Identity Design ..............................................................................................................41 Gender Influence on Consumer Interpretation of Visual Identity Design ..............................................................................................................44 ix Pre-existing Knowledge and Pre-existing Attitude toward the Event and the Host Destination ...................................................................................47 Summary and Research Hypotheses .............................................................48 Chapter 3 Method ..................................................................................................52 Measures .......................................................................................................52 Development of Destination Image Scale ............................................52 Development of Event Image Scale .....................................................57 Participant Screening ....................................................................................59 Instrument .....................................................................................................60 Logo Representativeness Scale ............................................................61 Consumer Behavorial Response towards the Olympic Games ............61 Consumer Behavorial Response towards the Host City ......................62 Pre-existing Knowledge and Pre-existing Attitude ..............................63 Demographics ...............................................................................................64 Study Design .................................................................................................64 Advertisment Design ...........................................................................65 Procedure ......................................................................................................66 Data Analysis ................................................................................................68 Chapter 4 Results ...................................................................................................70 Effects of Destination Design Message, Event Design Message, Athletic Movement Design Message, Nationality, and Gender on Destination