Building the connection between nation and commercial brand: an integrative review and future research directions
International Marketing Review
ISSN: 0265-1335
Article publication date: 8 July 2020
Issue publication date: 12 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an integrative review on nation branding literature and to identify new avenues for future research on embedding nation equity into commercial brands.
Design/methodology/approach
Integrative review and analysis with conceptual development and future research directions.
Findings
The authors firstly identify conceptualizations and measurements of nation brand as national identity and as national image. Consistently, three theoretical perspectives investigating nation branding were given: first, the macro view focusing on nation brand broadly as political and cultural identity; second, the micro view focusing on nation brand as a country image; and finally, the integrative view using the emerging construct of nation equity. Inspired by the last theoretical view, the authors discuss four research foci that examine nation equity in commercial brands for future research.
Originality/value
The paper provides an integrative understanding of nation branding and identifies novel research opportunities to study this research field – building the connection between nations and commercial brands through nation equity.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Cheng Lu Wang, Jiaxun He and Yi Wu contributed equally to the article.This article was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 71372177; 71072152) and sponsored by the Shanghai Pujiang Program (13PJC029).
Citation
He, J., Wang, C.L. and Wu, Y. (2021), "Building the connection between nation and commercial brand: an integrative review and future research directions", International Marketing Review, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-11-2019-0268
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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