Student questions
1 Which scientific tradition is associated with the relational approach?
2 Which philosophical tradition is associated with the scientific tradition?
3 Describe the difference between life themes, life projects and current concerns.
4 What is animism?
5 Which factors influence brand relationship quality?
6 Which are the most important methods in the scientific tradition of the relational
approach?
7 How does the perception of validity in this approach differ from a positivist
validity perception?
8 Should you as a researcher attempt to base your study on as many respondents
as possible?
9 How should you avoid becoming the enemy in the eyes of the consumer?
10 Explain why the relational approach indicates a paradigm shift.
References and further reading
Key readings are in bold type.
Aaker, J. L. (1997) ‘Dimensions of brand personality’, Journal of Marketing Research, 34
(August): 347–56
Aaker, J. and Fournier, S. (1995) ‘A brand as a character, a partner and a person: three perspec-
tives on the question of brand personality’, Advances in Consumer Research, 22: 391–5
relationship contract that was in place. These signals controlled inferences
and relationship strength levels. Sometimes the consumers’ received view
of the relationship was not what the managers thought they had in play.
The relationship perspective was powerful in that it forced marketing
researchers and practitioners to acknowledge important principles
governing consumers’ engagements with brands. Co-creation. Personal and
Cultural Resonance. Implicit Contracts. Relationship Norms. Brand
Relationship Quality and Strength. Consumer Relationship Management.
These constructs and essential tenets have helped us to better understand,
measure, and manage our brands. Recent research continues to build upon
basic relationship fundamentals, exploring, for example, the rules and
biases associated with communal versus exchange relationship templates,
accommodation and tolerance processes in relationship development, rela-
tionship transgressions, relationship dissolution processes, personal rela-
tionship styles and their influence in the brand relationship space,
sociopolitical brand relationships, ethnic and cultural differences in brand
relationship behaviours, methods for relationship strength measurement,
and the functions and provisions of relationships with brands. I am
honoured to have participated in this paradigm shift in marketing thought.178 Seven brand approaches