The antecedents and consequences of brand personality: a systematic review

Abstract

PurposeThe topic of brand personality (BP) has received extensive research attention in the last 2 decades, with a particular focus on examining its antecedents and consequences. This study, therefore, systematically reviews and synthesizes extant research on antecedents and consequences of BP of consumer products.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review approach is used to identify and analyze relevant studies from five major databases and a search engine. This review identified 62 articles from 43 journals published during 1997–2018. The relevant literature germane to the research objectives is extracted from these articles.FindingsThis study identifies and classifies antecedents and consequences of BP of consumer products, along with key mediators and moderators underlying these relationships. Additionally, the study reveals pertinent characteristics of BP literature, including conceptualizations, measurements, methods, theories and research settings. Finally, this study develops an integrative conceptual model and presents avenues for future research.Practical implicationsThis study provides insight to practitioners that create and develop brand personalities. The study would inform managers concerning the outcomes of BP.Originality/valueTo the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first systematic review that synthesizes existing empirical research on antecedents and consequences of BP of consumer products.

Consumers’ brand personality perceptions in a digital world: A systematic literature review and research agenda

“…In particular, the review has drawn attention to the previously neglected differences Finally, another implication relates to the methodological approaches of prior research. The review has revealed that digital BP, like the overarching field of general BP (Saeed et al, 2021), is dominated by empirical, quantitative studies. To address the significant theoretical and empirical gaps, we suggest that future research at first aims for theoretical, conceptual, and qualitative contributions.…”

“…Following the TCCM framework (Paul & Rosado-Serrano, 2019) While BP has traditionally been more strongly associated with consumer product brands (Saeed et al, 2021), the dominant presence of non-physical brands was somewhat surprising, yet this may be explained by the fact that in a digital world, all (types of) brands require a strong digital presence and may opt to position their brand using humanlike attributes to engage consumers at different digital channels.…”

“…One example is signaling theory (Spence, 1973), which has its origins in economics and postulates that the asymmetry of information between two parties can be overcome through communicative signals. Recently, signaling theory has also been suggested as an alternative theoretical foundation for general BP theory (Davies et al., 2018; Saeed et al., 2021). Similarly, the review reveals that four digital‐based articles also drew on signaling as the underlying mechanism through which consumers absorb and interpret BP cues in online communication (e.g., Carpentier et al., 2019).…”

“…In terms of research contexts, the review has revealed that studies on digital BP have been carried out across a wide range of industries and brands (see Appendix ), whereby product brands (Aguirre‐Rodriguez et al., 2015), digital‐native brands and e‐stores (Poddar et al., 2009), service brands (Shi & Shan, 2019), and tourism/destination brands (Borges‐Tiago et al., 2021) were most dominant. While BP has traditionally been more strongly associated with consumer product brands (Saeed et al., 2021), the dominant presence of non‐physical brands was somewhat surprising, yet this may be explained by the fact that in a digital world, all (types of) brands require a strong digital presence and may opt to position their brand using humanlike attributes to engage consumers at different digital channels.…”

“…Thus, a detailed synthesis of key constructs and their relationships will serve as a knowledge base and springboard for future research. Indeed, a number of recent reviews on the overall field of BP literature has identified BP in digital contexts as a rapidly emerging research domain (Llanos‐Herrera & Merigo, 2019; Saeed et al., 2021). Yet, to date, there has been no attempt at integrating research findings from the numerous online‐based BP studies.…”