Driving Brand Communion through Brand Agency and Brand Conservative-Progressive Beliefs: The ABC Model of Consumer Stereotypes about Brands
(A2022-106454)

AUTHORS

Petar Gidakovi?, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Mateja Kos Koklic, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Mila Ze?evi?, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Vesna Zabkar, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

ABSTRACT

In examining consumers' beliefs regarding the conservative-progressive orientation of brands, we apply the ABC model of social perception to the context of corporate branding. The proposed ABC model of consumers' stereotypes about brands consists of three main dimensions that explain consumers' perceptions of brands and predict their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward brands: brand agency (A), conservative-progressive beliefs (B), and brand communion (C). We test the conceptual model in two studies: a 2 (high vs. low brand agency) x 2 (conservative vs. progressive brand beliefs) between-subjects experiment with a fictitious corporate brand (Study 1) and a survey with 677 participants who evaluated 48 real corporate brands (Study 2). Our results indicate that conservative-progressive beliefs play an important role in consumer brand perceptions and we show how brands can leverage corporate political activism to develop positive brand attitudes and increase purchase intentions.