Current Issue

korean management review - Vol. 53 , No. 1

[ Article ]
korean management review - Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 1359-1380
Abbreviation: kmr
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Oct 2021
Received 20 Jan 2021 Revised 09 Jun 2021 Accepted 16 Jun 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2021.50.5.1359

Heritage Associations of the Corporate Brand: Compensating Effect for Weakness in Brand Credibility
Hyerin Ryu ; Jaewook Jo ; Hwa-jin Lee ; Sunkyu Jun
(First Author) Sungkyunkwan University (hyerin421@skku.edu)
(Co-Author) KC University (0f34@kcu.ac.kr)
(Co-Author) Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (hjlee@ips.or.kr)
(Corresponding Author) Sungkyunkwan University (skjun@skku.edu)

기업상표의 헤리티지 상표연상: 상표 신뢰성의 약점에 대한 보완효과

Copyright 2011 THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Firms increasingly employ heritage-related marketing activities to associate heritage to an individual or a corporate brand to enhance consumer support. However, establishing the heritage association demands much effort and costs despite the uncertainty of success, opening up when and how the benefits of heritage association are augmented. We suggest that the effect of heritage association on the consumer’s purchase behavior is more significant for a brand suffering a lower level of credibility. In a study conducted in the Korean context, we found that the effect of heritage association compensated for low brand credibility in increasing purchase intention. In another study conducted in the American context, we replicated the previous findings. Further, the compensatory effect of heritage association was indirect through the consumer’s self-identification with the corporate brand associated with heritage.


Keywords: heritage association, corporate brand, self-identification, brand credibility

References
1. Aaker, J. L.(1999), “The Malleable Self: The Role of Self-Expression in Persuasion,” Journal of Marketing Research, 36, pp.45-57.
2. Aaker, J. L.(2004), “Leveraging the Corporate Brand,” California Management Review, 46 (3), pp.6-18.
3. Agrawal, N. and D. Maheswaran(2005), “The Effects of Self-Construal and Commitment on Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), pp.841-849.
4. Ahluwalia, R.(2000), “Examination of Psychological Processes Underlying Resistance to Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (2), pp.217-232.
5. Ahluwalia, R., R. E. Burnkrant, and H. R. Unnava (2000), “Consumer Response to Negative Publicity: The Moderating Role of Commitment,” Journal of Marketing Research, 37(2), pp. 203-214.
6. Alexander, M. and K. Hamilton(2016), “Recapturing Place Identification through Community Heritage Marketing,” European Journal of Marketing, 50(7/8), pp.1118-1136.
7. Atasoy, O. and C. K. Morewedge(2018), “Digital Goods Are Valued Less Than Physical Goods,” Journal of Consumer Research, 44, pp.1343-1357.
8. Balmer, J. M. T., S. A. Greyser, and M. Urde (2006), “The Crown as a Corporate Brand: Insights from Monarchies,” Journal of Brand Management, 14(1-2), pp.137-161.
9. Balmer, J. M. T.(2011), “Corporate Heritage Identities, Corporate Heritage Brands and the Multiple Heritage Identities of the British Monarchy,” European Journal of Marketing, 45(9/10), pp.1480-1398.
10. Balmer, J. M. T.(2012), “Corporate Brand Management Imperatives: Custodianship, Credibility, and Calibration,” California Management Review, 54(3), pp.6-33.
11. Balmer, J. M. T.(2013), “Corporate Heritage, Corporate Heritage Marketing, and Total Corporate Heritage Communications: What Are They? What of Them?” Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(3), pp.290-326.
12. Balmer, J. M. T. and M. Burghausen(2015), “Explicating Corporate Heritage, Corporate Heritage Brands and Organizational Heritage,” Journal of Brand Management, 22(5), pp.364-384.
13. Barney, J.(1991), “Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage,” Journal of Management, 17(1), pp.99-120.
14. Baum, J. A. C. and C. Oliver(1991), “Institutional linkages and organizational mortality,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, pp.187-218.
15. Baumeister, R. and M. R. Leary(1995), “The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation,” Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), pp.497-529.
16. Beck, J. T., R. Rahinel, and A. Bleier(2020), “Company Worth Keeping: Personal Control and Preferences for Brand Leaders,” Journal of Consumer Research, 46, pp.871-886.
17. Belk, R. W.(1988), “Possessions and the Extended Self,” Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), pp.139-168.
18. Bergkvist, L. and J. R. Rossiter(2008), “The Role of Ad Likability in Predicting an Ad’s Campaign Performance,” Journal of Advertising, 37(2), pp.85-98.
19. Bergkvist, L. and J. R. Rossiter(2007), “The Predictive Validity of Multiple-Item versus Single-Item Measures of the Same Construct,” Journal of Marketing Research, 44(May), pp.175-184.
20. Blombäck, A. and C. Scandelius(2013), “Corporate Heritage in CSR Communication: A Means to Responsible Brand Image?” Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(3), pp.362-382.
21. Brown, S., R. V. Kozinets, and J. F. Sherry, Jr. (2003), “Teaching Old Brands New Tricks: Retro Branding and the Revival of Brand Meaning,” Journal of Marketing, 67(3), pp. 19-33.
22. Brumbaugh, A. M.(2002), “Source and Nonsource Cues in Advertising and Their Effects on the Activation of Cultural and Subcultural Knowledge on the Route to Persuasion” Journal of Consumer Research, 29(2), pp. 258-269.
23. Byrom, J. and K. Lehman(2009), “Coopers Brewery: Heritage and Innovation within a Family Firm,” Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 27(4), pp.516-523.
24. Chandy, R. K. and G. J. Tellis(2000), “The incumbent’s curse? Incumbency, size, and radical product innovation,” Journal of Marketing, 64(July), pp.1-17.
25. Chang, C.(2002), “Self-Congruency as a Cue in Different Advertising-Processing Contexts,” Communication Research, 29(5), pp.503-536.
26. Chaudhuri, A.(2002), “How brand reputation affects the advertising-brand equity link,” Journal of Advertising Research, 42(3), pp.33-43.
27. Cheng, S. Y. Y., T. B. White, and L. N. Chaplin (2012), “The Effects of Self-Brand Connections on Responses to Brand Failure: A New Look at the Consumer-Brand Relationship,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(2), pp. 280-288.
28. Cohen, G. L. and J. Garcia(2005), “ “I Am Us”: Negative Stereotypes as Collective Threats,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(4), pp.566-582.
29. Cooper, H., B. Merrilees, and D. Miller(2015), “Corporate Heritage Brand Management: Corporate Heritage Brands Versus Contemporary Corporate Brands,” Journal of Brand Management, 22(5), pp.412-430.
30. Cooper, H., D. Miller, and B. Merrilees(2015), “Restoring Luxury Corporate Heritage Brands: From Crisis to Ascendency,” Journal of Brand Management, 22(5), pp.448-466.
31. Desai, P. S., A. Kalra, and B. P. S. Murthi(2008), “When old is gold: The role of business longevity in risky situations,” Journal of Marketing, 72(January), pp.95-107.
32. DiMaggio, P.(1997), “Culture and Cognition,” Annual Review of Sociology, 23, pp.263-287.
33. Dion, D. and S. Borraz(2015), “Managing Heritage Brands: A Study of the Sacralization of Heritage Stores in the Luxury Industry,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.77-84.
34. Einwiller, S. A., A. Fedorikhin, A. R. Johnson, and M. A. Kamins(2006), “Enough Is Enough! When Identification No Longer Prevents Negative Corporate Associations,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34 (2), pp.185-194.
35. Erdem, T., J. Swait, and J. Louviere(2002), “The Impact of Brand Credibility on Consumer Price Sensitivity,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19, pp.1-19.
36. Erdem, T. and J. Swait(2004), “Brand Credibility, Brand Consideration, and Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), pp.191-198.
37. Fiol, C. M.(1991), “Managing culture as a competitive resource: An identity-based view of sustainable competitive advantage,” Journal of Management, 17(1), pp.191-211.
38. Fionda, A. M. and C. M. Moore(2009), “The Anatomy of the Luxury Fashion Brand,” Journal of Brand Management, 16(5/6), pp.347-363.
39. Gómez, Á., D. C. Seyle, C. Huici, and W. B. Swann Jr.(2009), “Can Self-Verification Strivings Fully Transcend the Self-Other Barrier? Seeking Verification of Ingroup Identities,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), pp.1021-1044.
40. Grimwade, G. and B. Carter(2000), “Managing Small Heritage Sites with Interpretation and Community Involvement,” International Journal of Heritage Studies, 6(1), pp.33-48.
41. Guèvremont, A. and B. Grohmann(2018), “Does brand authenticity alleviate the effect of brand scandals,” Journal of Brand Management, 25, pp.322-336.
42. Hall, E. T.(1976), Beyond Culture. Garden City, New York: Anchor.
43. Hakala, U., S. Lätti, and B. Sandberg(2011), “Operationalising Brand Heritage and Cultural Heritage,” Journal of Product and Brand Management, 20(6), pp.447-456.
44. Hannan, M. T.(1998), “Rethinking age dependence in organizational mortality: Logical formalization,” American Journal of Sociology, 104 (1), pp.126-164.
45. Hatch, M. J. and M. Schultz(2003), “Bringing the Corporation into Corporate Branding,” European Journal of Marketing, 37(7/8), pp.1041-1064.
46. Hayes, A. F.(2018), Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
47. Hudson, B. T. and J. M. T. Balmer(2013), “Corporate Heritage Brands: Mead’s Theory of the Past,” Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(3), pp.347-361.
48. Kunda, Z.(1990), “The Case for Motivated Reasoning,” Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), pp.480-498.
49. Leary, M. R.(2007), “Motivational and Emotional Aspects of the Self,” Annual Review of Psychology, 58, pp.317-344.
50. Lisjak, M., A. Y. Lee, and W. L. Gardner(2012), “When a Threat to the Brand Is a Threat to the Self: The Importance of Brand Identification and Implicit Self-Esteem in Predicting Defensiveness,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), pp.1120-1132.
51. Markus, H. R. and S. Kitayama(1991), “Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation,” Psychological Review, 98(2), pp.224-253.
52. McDonald, H.(2011), “Understanding the Antecedents to Public Interest and Engagement with Heritage,” European Journal of Marketing, 45(5), pp.780-804.
53. Merchant, A. and G. M. Rose(2013), “Effects of Advertising-Evoked Nostalgia on Brand Heritage,” Journal of Business Research, 66 (12), pp.2619-2625.
54. Micelotta, E. R. and M. Raynard(2011), “Concealing or Revealing the Family? Corporate Brand Identity Strategies in Family Firms,” Family Business Review, 24(3), pp.197-216.
55. Mohan, M., K. E. Voss, F. R. Jiménez, and B. S. Gammoh(2018), “Corporate Brands as Brand Allies,” Journal of Product and Brand Management, 27(1), pp.41-56.
56. Morhart, F., L. Malä, A. Guèvremont, Fl Girardin, and Bl Grohmann(2015), “Brand Authenticity: An Integrative Framework and Measurement Scale,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25 (2), pp.200-218.
57. Olsen, M., R. J. Slotegraaf, and S. R. Chandukala (2014), “Green claims and message frames: How green new products change brand attitude,” Journal of Marketing, 78(September), pp.119-137.
58. Onorato, R. S. and J. C. Turner(2004), “Fluidity in the Self-Concept: The Shift from Personal to Social Identity,” European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, pp.257-278.
59. Pecot, F., A. Merchant, P. Valette-Florence, and V. De Barnier(2018), “Cognitive Outcomes of Brand Heritage: A Signaling Perspective,” Journal of Business Research, 85, pp.304-316.
60. Preece, C., F. Kerrigan, and D. O’Reilly(2019), “License to assemble: Theorizing brand longevity,” Journal of Consumer Research, 46(2), pp.330-350.
61. Pullig, C., R. G. Netemeyer, and A. Biswas(2006), “Attitude Bias, Certainty, and Challenge Alignment: A Case of Negative Brand Publicity,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(4), pp.528-542.
62. Rao, V. R., M. K. Agarwal, and D. Dahlhoff (2004), “How Is Manifest Branding Strategy Related to the Intangible Value of a Corporation?” Journal of Marketing, 68(4), pp.126-141.
63. Ridgeway, C. L. and J. Berger(1986), “Expectations, legitimation, and dominance behavior in task groups,” American Sociological Review, 51(5), pp.603-617.
64. Rose, G. M., A. Merchant, U. R. Orth, and F. Horstmann(2016), “Emphasizing Brand Heritage: Does It Work? And How?” Journal of Business Research, 69, pp.936-943.
65. Ruef, M. and W. R. Scott(1998), “A multidimensional mode of organizational legitimacy: Hospital survival in changing institutional environments,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, pp. 877-904.
66. Sherman, D. K. and G. L. Cohen(2006), “The Psychology of Self-Defense: Self-Affirmation Theory,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, pp.183-242.
67. Simon, C. J. and M. W. Sullivan(1993), “The measurement and determinants of brand equity: A financial approach,” Marketing Science, 12(1), pp.28-52.
68. Sørensen, J. B. and T. E. Stuart(2000), “Aging, obsolescence, and organizational innovation,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 45(1), pp.81-112.
69. Suchman, M. C.(1995), “Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches,” Academy of Management Review, 20(3), pp.571-610.
70. Swaminathan, V., K. L. Page, and Z. Gürhan-Canli (2007), “ “My” Brand or “Our” Brand: The Effects of Brand Relationship Dimensions and Self-Construal on Brand Evaluations,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), pp. 248-259.
71. Tost, L. P.(2011), “An integrative model of legitimacy judgments,” Academy of Management Review, 36(4), pp.666-710.
72. Trump, R. K.(2014), “Connected Consumers’ Responses to Negative Brand Actions: The Roles of Transgression Self-Relevance and Domain,” Journal of Business Research, 67, pp.1824-1830.
73. Urde, M., S. A. Greyser, and J. M. T. Balmer (2007), “Corporate Brands with a Heritage,” Journal of Brand Management, 15(1), pp. 4-19.
74. Vecco, M.(2010), “A Definition of Cultural Heritage: From the Tangible to the Intangible,” Journal of Cultural Heritage, 11, pp.321-324.
75. Wang, C. Lu, T. Bristol, J. C. Mowen, and G. Chakraborty(2000), “Alternative Modes of Self-Construal: Dimensions of Connectedness-Separateness and Advertising Appeals to the Cultural and Gender-Specific Self,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(2), pp. 107-115.
76. Wiedmann, K., N. Hennigs, S. Schmidt, and T. Wuestefeld(2011), “The Importance of Brand Heritage as a Key Performance Driver in Marketing Management,” Journal of Brand Management, 19(3), pp.182-194.
77. Wolter, J. S. and J. J. Cronin Jr(2016), “Re-Conceptualizing Cognitive and Affective Customer-Company Identification: The Role of Self-Motives and Different Customer-Based Outcomes,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(3), pp.397-413.
78. Wuestefeld, T., N. Hennigs, S. Schmidt, and K. Wiedmann(2012), “The Impact of Brand Heritage on Customer Perceived Value,” der markt, 51(2), pp.51-61.
79. Zhang, C., S. Kashmiri, and M. Cinelli(2019), “How does brand age influence consumer attitudes toward a firm’s unethical behavior,” Journal of Business Ethics, 158, pp.699-751.

∙ The author Hyerin Ryu is graduated from the Graduate School of Sungkyunkwan University and is a Ph.D. candidate majoring in Marketing at Sungkyunkwan University. She specializes in consumer behavior and has research interests in sustainability, self-theory, and brand legitimacy.

∙ The author Jaewook Jo is an assistant professor at the KC University. He graduated from Hongik University and obtained his master's and doctoral degrees at the Graduate School of Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include consumer behavior, ICT marketing strategy, Metaverse, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

∙ The author Hwa-jin Lee is a researcher fellow at the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies and an adjunct professor at Seoul Business School, aSSIST. She obtained her master's degree from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Ph.D. from Sungkyunkwan University. Major areas of research are brand valuation, brand strategy, and design policy.

∙ The author Sunkyu Jun is graduated from Sungkyunkwan University and obtained Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a marketing professor at Sungkyunkwan University, with research interests in consumer behavior, consumer culture, and brand legitimacy.