What and how to communicate about a corporate brand with the consumers: An exploratory study

Abstract

The present exploratory study investigates the differential impact of various relevant corporate brand associations on consumers' cognitive (product attitude and purchase intention) and affective responses (affective corporate commitment) in the three sectors, namely durables, services and fast moving consumer goods. The findings reveal that corporate brand associations can be categorised into two categories – universal associations, which are influential in all the sectors, and sector-specific associations, which have a differential effect on consumers in different sectors. Thus, this study reveals that corporate branding is important to consumers in all the sectors, but a single corporate brand story does not work in all the sectors. Further, corporate associations do not always have a positive effect on the consumers; under certain circumstances, these might either have no effect or have a negative effect on the consumers. Finally, there are two routes by which corporate brand associations can influence consumers – by affecting their cognitive responses or by influencing their affective responses towards the company. The recognition of the important corporate brand associations in the three sectors, and the routes (cognitive or affective) through which these associations influence consumer choices would enable marketers to develop more sophisticated corporate communication strategies.

Keywords::

• corporate branding
• corporate brand associations
• consumer product attitude
• affective corporate commitment
• purchase intention

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and insightful comments.

Notes

^1. The sources of the statements and the complete details of the statements are available with the authors on request.

^2. The detailed scale development can be found in our article, Mann and Ghuman (2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bikram Jit Singh Mann

Bikram Jit Singh Mann is an Associate Professor in the University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. He has a Ph.D. in Brand Management and his areas of teaching and research interest are brand management and strategic management. He has published research papers in national and international journals of repute.

Mandeep Kaur Ghuman

Mandeep Kaur Ghuman is an Assistant Professor in the University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. She received her Ph.D. in Brand Management. Her research interests include brand management, consumer behaviour, and cross-cultural consumer research. She is also a 2012–2013 Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral and Professional Research Fellow.