The impact of culture on brand perceptions: a six‐nation study

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine how cultural differences affect the perception of a brand. Design/methodology/approach -A study was carried out in six countries among different involvement groups. The study uses Hofstede's cultural dimensions and Aaker's brand personality dimensions to see if brand perceptions of a product are similar among all six countries. Findings -This study provides clear evidence that a same brand is perceived differently in different cultures in spite of its identical positioning. This means that if a firm wishes to achieve the same brand perception in different countries, the firm needs to create brand positioning strategies that emphasize the characteristics that enable consumers to perceive the product in a similar way. Originality/value -This paper examines the perception of a single brand in the context of cultural dimensions in a global setting -in particular in six countries on three continents.

How Global are Global Brands? An Empirical Brand Awareness and Image Analysis

“…The realized sample size with 722 respondents is comparable to research studies with similar scope (Esch et al 2006) or even exceeds these (Foscht et al 2008;Lee et al 2008).…”

“…The results of this research are also supported by the findings of other researchers. For instance Foscht et al (2008) using Aaker's brand personality dimensions found significant differences for the Red Bull brand personality across six different countries. Also, Hsieh (2002) found clusters of countries that share similar brand image perceptions among one cluster for car brands but different image perception in relation to a different cluster.…”

“…-Consumers are familiar with the brand -since it is the world's best selling MP3 player -and are therefore able to describe and comment on the brand image dimensions asked in the quantitative research (Reppel 2006). -Global brand awareness and image research has so far included globally known brands, such as Hugo Boss (Matthiesen and Phau 2005), Red Bull (Foscht et al 2008) or Kentucky Fried Chicken (Witkowski et al 2003). However, the iPod brand has never been used in such an investigation.…”

Is Sport Sponsorship Global? Evidence from the United States, the United Kingdom, and India

“…In high power distance cultures, as in collectivist cultures (i.e., India), one's clothes, shoes, and posture define position in the social hierarchy, and external appearance is important to acquire respect from others . In addition, the greater pressure to conform to the in-groups that prevails in collectivist countries can affect consumer behavior, while members of individualist cultures are less likely to be pressured to buy brands that are not meaningful to them (Foscht et al, 2008). So, since sponsors can be considered in-group members, and there is a greater pressure to agree to the in-group when it comes to consumer behavior in collectivist cultures (Foscht et al, 2008;Gwinner, 2005), Indian sport fans have the potential for higher purchase intentions values than American and British sport fans.…”

“…For example, respondents that are more educated can provide more accurate responses regarding purchase intentions (Sun & Morwitz, 2010). Moreover, considering national differences, in masculine cultures (i.e., the United States, the United Kingdom, and India) the decisions on larger purchases are usually made by males (Foscht, Maloles, Swoboda, Morschett, & Sinha, 2008), and, as a result, they can sustain higher purchase intentions across countries than females. Therefore, five demographic control variables (i.e., age, gender, education, household income and the household's decision maker) were also considered as they may influence the intensity of purchase intention across nations.…”