Building human brands: the role of critical reviews
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 16 February 2023
Issue publication date: 20 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study evaluates the factors related to the creation of a human brand in the brand inception stage.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing content analysis of expert reviews, we establish the role played by valence (positiveness), depth (number of statements) and timing of subjective and objective critical reviews for human brands. To address these issues, we employ generalized estimating equations to model numerical ratings of celebrity reviews evaluating a nascent human brand.
Findings
The findings show that subjective reviews have the potential to influence the probability of survival of a human brand in the brand inception period, are increasingly consequential during the inception period stages and are more influential than objective reviews. We also found that the valence of objective reviews can negatively and significantly relate to human brands in their late inception stage.
Originality/value
This is the first research to demonstrate the importance of critical reviews in building human brands, with a focus on the first moment of a brand's inception. More importantly, this research enriches our understanding of the larger process of personal brand building as it may emerge over time.
Keywords
Citation
Pomirleanu, N., Chennamaneni, P.R., John-Mariadoss, B. and Schibrowsky, J.A. (2023), "Building human brands: the role of critical reviews", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 681-697. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-05-2022-0133
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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