Nabil Ghantous
Lecturer, Université de Savoie, France.Services Brand Personality’s Impact on Customers’
Brand Relationship
As services’ companies compete to attract new customers and to
build long term relationships with current clients, branding can offer an
important competitive edge, as it allows the company to differentiate its
offerings on other than the functional aspects that are easily imitated by
competitors. An interesting way is hence to develop a clear and
distinctive brand personality that embodies the symbolic image of the
company and its offerings. In turn, the services brand would play as a
relationship fulcrum and act as a partner to the customer in a dyadic
interpersonal-like relationship.
This paper investigates the impact of brand personality on
consumers’ brand relationship in a services’ setting. More precisely, it
addresses the impact of five services brand personality dimensions that
are the competent, agreeable, chic, ruthless and innovative character on four
relational variables: customer-brand self-congruity, brand credibility,
cumulated satisfaction and brand loyalty. Based on a literature review,
a conceptual model is first presented. It postulates a series of mediating
effects related to some of the relational variables, mainly highlighting
the role of self-congruity and brand credibility as mediators of the
impact of brand personality dimensions on customers’ satisfaction and
loyalty.
The conceptual model is then empirically tested with structural
equation modeling and mediation analysis, using empirical data
collected from a retail setting (N=688). The results validate most of the
initial hypotheses. More specifically, in accordance with previous
research for both services and tangible offerings, different brand
personality dimensions seem to trigger different aspects of brand
relationship. Furthermore, brand credibility appears to play a central
role in services’ settings as it bridges the impact of the perceived
symbolic image on customers’ cumulated satisfaction and loyalty to the
brand.
The paper is concluded by pointing out the main limitations and
future research venues.