Digital branding adoption by specialty eatery start-ups in the post-pandemic environment in India

Figures & data

Figure 1. Extended VAM model with mediation effect.

Table 1. Constructs and items extracted from the previous studies

Constructs	Questions	Sources
Perceived Targeting (PT)	Digital branding is customer-focused Digital branding is area focused Digital branding more specific to the target market Digital branding is more specific to the customers	Iyer et al. (2005)
Perceived Promotion (PP)	(5) It helps to improve brand visibility (6) It helps to reach the wider audience	Appel et al. (2020) and Alkasasbeh (2020)
Perceived ROI (PROI)	(7) Digital brandings give better returns (8) Digital branding is more profitable (9) Overall ROI is very high (10) My sales will increase after digital branding (11) Revenue will be increase after digital branding	Nikhil’s (2021) and Miklosik et al. (2019)
Perceived Risk (PR)	(12) My information can be shared with the third party (13) My idea of business can be copied (14) My transactions maybe not secure (15) My customer data can be leaked	Choe et al. (2021) and Paxton (2020)
Perceived Cost (PC)	(16) The cost of digital branding is very high (17) The digital branding services don’t fit my budget (18) I am happy to spend money on digital branding	Bala and Verma’s (2018)
Perceived Distrust (TR)	(19) I don’t trust digital branding professionals (20) The digital branding professionals are not reliable (21) I don’t trust digital branding professionals due to unethical practices	Al-Ahwal et al. (2022)
Perceived Value (PV)	(22) Digital branding is value for money (23) Digital branding is beneficial for my business (24) Overall digital branding has good value for me	Abbas and Mehmood (2021), Isohella et al. (2017) and Jayashankar et al. (2018)
Adoption Intention (ADP)	(25) I am planning to use digital branding for my business (26) I am more intent on using social media to boost my business (27) I will use digital branding in the future for my business (28) I am interested in getting associated with a digital branding supporter for my business	Odoom et al. (2017), Gavino et al. (2019), Venkatesh et al. (2003) and Nawi et al. (2017)
Awareness (AW)	(29) I am not aware of digital branding (30) I am not aware of the digital branding platforms (31) The digital supporters are not accessible	Sivasankaran (2017)
Digital Support (DS)	(32) I need support to learn more about digital branding (33) I need more handholding to manage the digital business (34) I need guidance for making effective branding strategies (35) I need to learn more about digital branding supporters	Akeel and Gubhaju (2020)

Figure 2. Measurement model.

Table 2. Summary statistics of the measurement model

Construct	Items	Factor loading
Perceived targeting (PT) (AVE= 0.51, CR=0.80, α=0.82)	Digital branding is customer-focused	0.68
	Digital branding is area focused	0.58
	Digital branding more specific to the target market	0.76
	Digital branding is more specific to the customers	0.81
Awareness (AW) (AVE= 0.56, CR=0.72, α=0.74)	I am not aware of digital branding	0.69
	I am not aware of the digital vendor	0.68
	The digital vendors are not accessible	0.67
Perceived Promotion (PP) (AVE= 0.54, CR=0.71, α=0.61)	It helps to improve brand visibility	0.647
	It helps to reach the wider audience	0.739
Privacy risk (PR) (AVE= 0.53, CR=0.78, α=0.78)	My information can be shared with the third party	0.59
	My idea of business can be copied	0.52
	My transactions maybe not secure	0.72
	My customer data can be leaked	0.80
Perceived ROI (PROI) (AVE= 0.63, CR=0.89, α=0.89)	Digital brandings give better returns	0.68
	Digital branding is more profitable	0.80
	Overall ROI is very high	0.81
	My sales will increase after digital branding	0.80
	Revenue will be increase after digital branding	0.85
Perceived Value (PV) (AVE= 0.52, CR=0.76, α=0.75)	Digital branding is value for money Digital branding is beneficial for my business Overall digital branding has good value for me	0.79 0.75 0.60
Perceived cost (PC) (AVE= 0.57, CR=0.79, α=0.76)	The cost of digital branding is very high	0.48
	The digital branding services don’t fit my budget	0.85
	I am happy to spend money on digital branding	0.86
Perceived distrust (TR) (AVE= 0.63, CR=0.87, α=0.88)	I don’t trust digital branding professionals	0.86
	The digital branding professionals are not reliable	0.89
	I don’t trust digital branding professionals due to unethical practices	0.72
	Digital marketing professionals are not transparent	0.69
Digital Support (DS) (AVE= 0.55, CR=0.83, α=0.83)	I need support to learn more about digital branding	0.80
	I need more handholding to manage the digital business	0.76
	I need guidance for making effective branding strategies	0.72
	I need to learn more about digital branding professionals	0.69
Adoption (ADP) (AVE= 0.51, CR=0.81, α=0.81)	I am planning to use digital branding for my business	0.70
	I am more intent on using social media to boost my business	0.74
	I will use digital branding in the future for my business	0.74
	I am interested in hiring a digital branding professional for my business	0.67

Figure 3. Structural model.

Table 3. Discriminant validity

	DS	PT	AW	PP	PR	PROI	PV	TR	PC	ADP
DS	0.745
PT	0.349	0.714
AW	0.173	0.179	0.680
PP	0.239	0.384	0.566	0.664
PR	0.368	0.376	0.345	0.344	0.653
PROI	0.392	0.363	0.493	0.566	0.226	0.792
PV	0.483	0.348	0.089	0.475	0.500	0.446	0.719
TR	−0.031	−0.091	0.073	0.007	0.085	−0.011	−0.185	0.796
PC	−0.063	−0.041	0.140	0.031	0.071	0.002	−0.063	−0.142	0.752
ADP	0.630	0.316	0.367	0.436	0.506	0.516	0.524	0.066	0.050	0.711

Table 4. Direct effects

Path			B	SE	P-value
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived Targeting	.134**	.042	.003
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived ROI	.242	.053	***
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived Promotion	.228	.068	***
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived Risk	.335	.065	***
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived Distrust	−.103**	.048	.033
Perceived Value	<—	Perceived Cost	−.161	.035	***
Adoption Intention	<—	Perceived Value	.355	.088	***

Notes: ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.05; CMIN/DF = 1.344 (p < 0.001), CFI = 0.94, GFI = 0.90, AGFI = 0.86, NFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04. CFI = comparative fit index; GFI = goodness-of-fit index, AGFI = adjusted goodness of fit index, NFI = normed fit index, TLI =Tucker-Lewis index, RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation.

Table 5. Mediation effect of digital support and awareness

Hypothesis	Effect		Result
PV -> AW -> ADP	Direct	0.355	No mediation
	Indirect	0.030
PV -> DS -> ADP	Direct	0.355	Partial mediation
	Indirect	0.142

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