Abstract
This research makes three contributions to the literature on brand strength. First, it examines a variety of antecedents that influence brand strength. Second, it investigates the inter-dimensional influences among brand strength's three dimensions. Third, it examines the influence of brand strength on word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior, and how brand preference mediation influences this relationship. Data were collected using an online survey approach and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) methods. The results reveal that all but one of our proposed antecedents had a significant influence on our target brand strength dimensions. We found that brand familiarity has an antecedent influence on brand attitude and brand remarkability, and that the influence of brand strength on WOM is partially mediated by brand preference.
1. Introduction
There has been an increased interest with respect to research comprising brand strength (Capatina et al., 2018; Divakaran, 2018; Lin et al., 2018; Naidoo and Abratt, 2018; Wiedmann et al., 2018). It is a common assumption that strong brands lead to desired outcomes such as increased sales, increased brand loyalty, greater market share, and increased brand equity (Keller, 2003).
Most prior research which included brand strength in the investigation typically positioned brand strength as a dichotomous moderator. Brand strength was not measured as a continuous variable. Instead, investigators generally identified two industry brands (weak vs strong) based on sales or similar criteria (Glynn, 2010; Ho-Dac et al., 2013; Lin et al., 2018; Tsao et al., 2018). Researchers used examples of strong versus weak brands to examine the influence of a two-category brand strength moderator on the focal antecedent-consequent relationships under investigation.
4.3. Limitations and future research directions
All research by necessity has limitations. We collected cross-sectional data from U.S. survey panels. Hence, interpretations of our findings and the application of our findings to other contexts should be done with due consideration, given the limitations of this work. Future studies could test the validity of our model using other techniques such as experimental design or secondary data analysis. Linking brand strength perceptions to actual sales data and WOM behavior would further strengthen our findings.
