The impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes: the moderating role of power distance belief
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes, as mediated by brand warmth and brand competence, and moderated by power distance belief.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs two one-factor (brand strategy: open branding vs closed branding) between-subject experimental designs and a 2 × 2, namely (open branding vs closed branding) × (power distance belief: high vs low) between-subject experimental design to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The study indicates that open branding can enhance consumer brand attitudes, and that brand warmth and brand competence mediate the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes. Furthermore, power distance beliefs (PDB) moderated these relationships. Specifically, the impact of open branding on consumers brand attitudes is stronger for consumers with low PDB than for those with high PDB.
Practical implications
Brand managers should consider adopting an open branding strategy to enhance consumers brand attitudes when encountering consumers’ unauthorized use of brand-related intellectual property. Additionally, when implementing an open-branding strategy, brand managers should use appropriate language to enhance consumers’ perceptions of brand warmth and brand competence.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the interactive marketing literature by empirically examining the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes. Furthermore, it investigates the underlying mechanism of how and the boundary conditions when open branding increases consumer brand attitudes, enriching the current knowledge.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BGL116) and Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (23YJC630265).
Citation
Li, Y., Zhang, C. and Zhou, M. (2024), "The impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes: the moderating role of power distance belief", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-03-2024-0133
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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