Joint Role of Digital Media and MNCs’ Communication Budgets for Corporate Brand Effects
(A2020-62972)

AUTHORS

Nadine Batton, Trier University; Bernhard Swoboda, Trier University; Katharina Freude, Trier University

KEYWORDS

Corporate brand equity; Global communication budget; Digital media penetration

ABSTRACT

Multinational corporations (MNCs) face challenges in adjusting communication budgets across nations due to the penetration of new media in a changing digital environment. However, whether media penetration exposes consumers to global stimuli and strengthens respective effects across nations remains unclear. Moreover, how communication budgets adjusted to country-specific media penetration strengthens brand effects is unexplored. This study links consumer behavior (i.e., perceived corporate brand equity (CBE) effects on loyalty), media contexts and managerial decisions. It refers to hierarchical data on 32,760 evaluations of an MNC in 44 countries and uses three-way interactions and multilevel modeling. Results underline corporate brand effects but no moderating ones of internet/social media penetration (u-shaped for TV). However, this changes in three-way interactions when incorporating budget decisions. Curvilinear joint moderations offer interesting mere-exposure theoretical insights.