Measuring industrial brand equity: unpacking the role of actual and potential customers’ evaluations
(A2025-125805)

AUTHORS

Sara Giacomelli, Politecnico di Milano; DEBORA BETTIGA, POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF MILAN

ABSTRACT

Developing and managing brand equity is crucial for B2B firms. To provide a better understanding of industrial brand equity, grounding on brand equity theories, we propose and validate an original model of focal firm’s brand equity (FFBE) encompassing both actual and potential customers appraisals. More specifically, we identify and empirically demonstrate which are the main drivers of brand equity in B2B contexts and how it is shaped by both current and potential customers’ evaluations. PLS-SEM was used to test the proposed model on a sample of 351 industrial customers of a B2B company. The results show that the proposed model is suitable to measure FFBE, highlighting the relevance of brand awareness to potential customers and the pivotal role played by brand loyalty for existing customers.