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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Karpova, A. (2018). The personality of luxury brands: scale development and consequences. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City, University of London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/20882/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Personality of Luxury Brands: Scale Development and Consequences Alexandra Karpova A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Management Cass Business School City University of London London 5 July 2017 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………p.13 1.1 Current State of Luxury Research………………………………………………....p.14 1.2 The Gap and Present Research…………………………………………………….p.15 1.3 Research Contribution……………………………………………………………..p.17 Chapter 2 Literature Review…………………………………………………….…..p.19 2.1 An Interdisciplinary Overview of Prior Research on Luxury: Theories of Signalling and Conspicuous Consumption……………..……………………………...p.19 2.1.1 Conceptualising the Luxury Construct…………………………………………..p.19 2.1.2 Conceptual Differences Between Luxury, Status, and Conspicuous Consumption………………………………………………………..…...p.25 2.1.3 Evolution of Luxury Research: Temporal Analysis of Different Perspectives.…p.26 2.1.3.1 Macro-level and Beyond: Luxury Research Foundations……………………..p.28 2.1.3.2 Meso-level: Signalling and Economic Views……………………………….…p.30 2.1.3.3 Return to the Macro Outlook: Cultural Focus………………………………....p.33 2.1.3.4 Micro-level: Luxury Consumers, Producers, and Luxury Essence…………....p.34 2.1.4 Orientations to Luxury: Prevalence of Social yet Growing Recognition of Personal………………………………………………………...….…….……….....p.36 2.1.5……………………………………………………………………………….…...p.46 2.2 Brand Personality Construct……………………………………………………....p.46 2.2.1 Human Personality……………………………………………………………....p.46 2.2.2 Brand Identity, Brand Image, and Brand Personality……………………….…..p.48 2.2.3 Introduction of Anthropomorphism Theory into Branding Research…………...p.51 2.2.4 Existing Brand Personality Frameworks………………………………………...p.52 2.2.5 Recognising the Limitations of Existing Brand Personality Frameworks……....p.58 2.3 Developing a Conceptual Model of Antecedents, Mediators, and Consequences of Brand Personality Using Self-Congruence Theory…………………………………....p.61 2.3.1 Brand Personality Antecedents……………………………………………….....p.61 2.3.2 Brand Personality Consequences……………………………………………..…p.64 2 2.3.3 The Role of Self-congruence Theory in Brand Personality Research…………..p.69 2.3.4 Development of the Conceptual Model and Statement of Hypotheses………….p.71 2.3.4.1 Antecedent: Perceived Member Group Fit…………………………………….p.74 2.3.4.2 Consequences: Purchase Intention, Word-of-Mouth, and Purchase Loyalty…p.76 2.3.4.3 Mediators……..……………………………………………………………….p.78 2.3.4.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………p.82 Chapter 3 Methodology……………………………………………………………...p.84 3.1 Methodology and Validity/Reliability Tests in Existing Brand Personality Scales…………….……………………………………………………….p.85 3.2 Step 1: Conceptualisation of the Brand Personality Construct…………………...p.88 3.3 Step 2: Generation of Items Representing the Construct………………………....p.92 3.3.1 Text Mining……………………………………………………………………..p.94 3.3.2. Interviews………………………………………………………………………p.95 3.4 Step 3: Assessment of the Content Validity of the Items…………………………p.97 3.5 Step 4: Formal Specification of the Measurement Model…………………….......p.98 3.6 Step 5: Data Collection for Pretest……………………………………………….p.100 3.6.1 Sample………………………………………………………………………….p.101 3.6.2 Selection of Luxury Brands……………………………………………………p.102 3.6.3 Survey Pre-test…………………………………………………………………p.107 3.6.4 Procedure………………………………………………………………………p.108 3.7 Step 6: Scale Purification and Refinement………………………………………p.109 3.7.1 Factor Analysis………………………………………………………………...p.110 3.7.2 Goodness of Fit of the Measurement Model…………………………………..p.111 3.7.3 Elimination of Problematic Indicators…………………………………………p.113 3.7.4 Assessment of the Validity and Reliability of the Set of Indicators at the Construct Level……………………………………………………………………....p.114 3.7.5 Assessment of Individual Indicator Validity and Reliability………………….p.114 3.7.6 Comparative Model Testing…………………………………………………...p.115 3.8 Step 7: New Sample and Re-examination of Scale Properties…………………..p.116 3.8.1 Sample…………………………………………………………………………p.116 3.8.2 Selection of Luxury Brands……………………………………………………p.117 3 3.8.3 Procedure……………………………………………………………………...p.118 3.8.4 Test-Retest Reliability………………………………………………………...p.122 3.9 Step 8: Scale Validity Assessment……………………………………………..p.122 3.9.1 Experimental Manipulation of the Construct………………………………....p.123 3.9.1.1 Brand Choices……………………………………………………………... p.123 3.9.1.2 Tests of Factorial Invariance………………………………………………..p.125 3.9.1.2.1 Sample and Procedure…………………………………………………..p.125 3.9.2 Discriminant Validity of the Scale in Comparison with Other Brand Personality Scales………………………………………………………..………….p.126 3.9.3 Nomological Validity Testing………………………………………………...p.126 3.9.4 Test of Response Bias………………………………………………………...p.129 3.10 Step 9: Scale Cross-Validation………………………………………………...p.129 3.11 Step 10: Scale Norm Development…………………………………………....p.130 3.12 Summary……………………………………………………………………....p.130 Chapter 4 Results………………………………………………………………….p.131 4.1 Analysis and Results From the Measure Development Stage (Steps 2 and 3)....p.131 4.2 Scale Purification and Refinement (Step 6) …………………………………....p.141 4.2.1 Factor Analysis: Item Refinement……………………………………………p.141 4.2.2 Goodness of Fit of the Measurement Model………………………………….p.149 4.2.3 Elimination of Problematic Indicators………………………………………..p.150 4.2.4 Validity and Reliability of the Set of Indicators at the Construct Level……...p.152 4.2.5 Individual Indicator Validity and Reliability…………………………………p.154 4.2.6 Comparative Model Testing…………………………………………………..p.155 4.3 Re-examination of Scale Properties (Step 7).…………………………………..p.156 4.3.1 Goodness of Fit of the Measurement Model………………………………….p.156 4.3.2 Validity and Reliability of the Set of Indicators at the Construct Level……...p.156 4.3.3 Individual Indicator Validity and Reliability…………………………………p.158 4.3.4 Comparative Model Testing…………………………………………………..p.159 4.4 Scale Validity Assessment (Step 8) ……………………………………………p.160 4.4.1 Experimental Manipulation of the Construct: Tests of Factorial Invariance Across Different Brand Groups…………………………………………………….p.160 4 4.4.2 Discriminant Validity………………………………………………………….p.167 4.4.3 Nomological Validity Testing…………………………………………………p.169 4.4.3.1 Antecedent…………………………………………………………………...p.169 4.4.3.2 Consequences………………………………………………………………..p.170 4.4.4 Incremental Validity…………………………………………………………...p.177 4.5 Development of Scale Norms (Step 10)………………………………………....p.187 4.6 Summary……………………………………………………………………...…p.199 Chapter 5 Discussion and Implications…………………………………………...p.201 5.1 Summary of the Research………………………………………………………..p.201 5.1.2 Discussion of Comparisons with Existing Scales……………………………..p.203 5.1.3 Brand Symbolism: Brand Personality vs. Human Personality………………...p.209 5.2 Theoretical Implications ………………………………………………………...p.212 5.3 Managerial Implications…………………………………………………………p.215 5.4. Limitations……………………………………………………………………...p.216 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………p.219 References…………………………………………………………………………..p.222 5 List of Tables Table 1. Key Brand Personality Typologies……………………………………..pp. 57-58 Table 2. Reliability and Validity Testing in Key Brand Personality Frameworks……p.88 Table 3. Initial Pool of Luxury Brands………………………………………….…..p.104 Table 4. Final Set of Luxury Brands Across Different Luxury Levels and Product/ Service Categories…………………………………………………………………...p.107 Table 5. Different Luxury Level and Product Category CFA Models………...pp.120-121 Table 6. Measures included in Nomological Validity Tests………………….……..p.124 Table 7. Identified Clusters………………………………………………………….p.136 Table 8. Luxury Brand Personality Taxonomy……………………………………...p.137 Table 9. Differences Across Existing Scales………………….…………….....pp.139-140 Table 10. Luxury Brand Frequencies……………………………………….....pp.141-142 Table 11. Factor Loadings of the items retained after the first reduction (R1)..pp.148-149 Table 12. Fornell-Larcker Test (Survey 1)…………………………………..............p.153 Table 13. HTMT Ratio of Correlations (Survey 1)………………………………….p.154 Table 14. Model Fit Indices for Competing Measurement Models (Survey 1)……..p.155 Table 15. Fornell-Larcker Test (Survey 2)………………………………….…….…p.157 Table 16. HTMT Ratio of Correlations (Survey 2)……………………………….…p.159 Table 17. Model Fit Indices for Competing Measurement Models (Survey 2)….…..p.159 Table 18. Testing Factorial Invariance………………………………………...pp.160-161 Table 19. Testing for Factorial Invariance Across Two Groups: Luxury and Non-Luxury……………………………………………………………………….…p.163 Table 20.