[RELATIONSHIP OF BRAND PERSONALITY WITH CONSUMERS]

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Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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Abstract

Four of the dimensions that combine to contribute to chain restaurants' brand equity are brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. A test of a structural model connecting these four attributes of brand equity was based on data collected from 188 patrons of five chain restaurant brands in Korea. The resulting data analysis demonstrates that the four dimensions of brand equity are interrelated. The model indicates that the foundation of brand equity is brand awareness. However, while brand awareness influences brand loyalty formation, its impact is mediated by the effects of brand image and perceived quality. In addition, although brand awareness is a prerequisite of brand loyalty, brand image and perceived quality bear a stronger impact on the development of brand loyalty. On balance, the implications of these findings support the restaurant industry's practices of constant promotion, quality assurance, and process improvement.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Chapter 2: Literature Review4

Exploration5

Government- and Nonprofit-Sponsored Communications6

Government7

Nonprofit8

Business Communications Tied to Social Issues10

Brings Good Things to Life11

Cause Marketing12

Alignment Advertising14

Brand Advertising17

Market Advocacy Advertising21

Policy Development Theory22

Leadership, Corporate Communications, and the Policy Development Realm26

Applications, Future Directions, and Remaining Questions28

Brand Power and Legitimacy28

News and Information Sources29

Civic Education30

Consumption and Public Issues30

Brand Image32

Perceived Quality33

Brand Loyalty34

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY35

Research Method35

Sample35

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS40

Mediation Testing40

Testing the Rival Model40

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION45

REFERENCES49

Chapter 1: Introduction

One critical component in the achievement of chain restaurants and other service companies is the development of a powerful brand (Sheth and Parvatiyar 2000). Service companies with powerful brands—or high brand equity—enjoy smaller cost elasticity, smaller advertising-to-sales ratios, and larger trade leverage than lower emblems, endowing these businesses to accomplish higher earnings (Keller 1998).

Other things identical, a powerful brand also encourages brand loyalty and allows ascribing premium charges (Hoeffler and Keller 2003; Keller 2000). Brand equity, characterized as “a set of brand assets and liabilities connected to a emblem, its title, and emblem that add to or subtract from the worth supplied by a merchandise or service to a firm and to that firm's consumers” (Aaker 1991, 15), is advised an indisputably significant source of capital in the bistro commerce (W. Kim and Kim 2004).

A kind of schemes is engaged to construct chain restaurants' brand equity, and the chains' expenditures to evolve brand equity should not be underestimated. For demonstration, the Applebee's chain invested $126 million in advocating in one year, the largest advocating allowance amidst casual dining restaurants (Advertising Age 2006), and T.G.I. Friday's expended $71 million in a year in advocating to enhance its brand perception and brand equity. Despite the significance of brand equity to ...