The brand relational schema: A cognitive approach to consumer-brand relationships

The objectives of this dissertation are to conceptualize the elements of consumer-brand relationships and to test selected elements empirically. Specifically, the dissertation addresses three questions that have not been answered previously: (1) what is the content and structure of the representation of a consumer-brand relationship? (2) what factors influence this representation? (3) what role does a brand personality trait play in building a consumer-brand relationship?; To answer these questions, constructs and models from the marketing and interpersonal relationship literature are reviewed. The concept of the brand relational schema (BRS), a cognitive structure which represents regularities in patterns of consumer-brand relatedness, is introduced and developed. Specific research hypotheses are generated to address how the portrayal of a socially-appealing brand personality trait in an advertisement impacts the BRS and how a social expressive goal moderates this relationship.; Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses that were framed. The first study included the conduct of two computer-based experiments. In these experiments, the following two factors were manipulated: the brand personality trait (and the set of target and non-target attributes) portrayed in the test print advertisement for a car, and the presence of a social expressive goal in the viewing situation. Dependent measures include the accessibility (i.e., reaction time) of various elements in the BRS and consumers' attitudes toward the brand of car. ANOVA and repeated measures MANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results of the experiments provide general support for the hypotheses and suggest that a brand personality trait appears to play an important role in building consumer-brand relationships.; For the second study, a similar computer-based experiment was conducted to examine whether a less socially-appealing trait operates differently in the development of the BRS. The results show that a less socially-appealing trait operates similarly to a socially-appealing trait in influencing the accessibility of public self. It does not, however, have any impact on the development of the associations among elements in the brand schema.; The theoretical and practical implications of the findings from the three experiments are addressed and the limitations of the dissertation discussed. Directions for future research on consumer-brand relationship phenomenon are provided.