Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the antecedents of consumers’ purchase intention toward local dairy products. In doing so, this article delves into the relationships between perceived quality, perceived price, customer satisfaction, brand image, and customer purchase intention in the context of developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, the research model was tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with a questionnaire applied to 731 respondents from Saudi Arabia.

Findings: The results showed that perceived quality, consumer satisfaction, and brand image have a positive impact on purchase intention, whereas perceived price could not explain purchase intention. Moreover, consumer satisfaction and brand image appeared to significantly mediate the relationships in the research model.

Research limitations/implications: This article studies a specific country and local dairy consumption. One should be careful when generalizing the results to other food and country contexts.

Originality/value: This study investigates consumer purchase intention specifically toward local dairy products, which was a matter underexplored in the literature as opposed to studies on a variety of other local products. Moreover, the article contributes to an extension of the SOR framework onto the body of literature regarding local products.

Purpose: The article sought to answer research questions regarding investigated branded content generated by players in simulation video games. How does the process work in video games? What are the characteristics of branded user-generated content in video games? To what extent players are willing to participate in branded content creation?

Methodology: I conducted 20 in-depth interviews among Polish players, with the application of snowball sampling. The study participants were adult users of chosen simulation video games: The Sims, Second Life, and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Findings: We can distinguish content based on game mechanism, official add-ons, or game modding. Players frequently check some brands from a set offered by game developers and create content (e.g. in The Sims users can design house interiors with IKEA furniture). Some players are not satisfied by what a game offers and generate content based on modding (e.g. DHL trucks or McDonald’s restaurants inside the Euro Truck Simulator 2). In this respect, the article refers to Smith’s, Fischer’s, and Yongjian’s content dimensions. Branded game modifications described by respondents are characterized by a high level of similarity towards real brands and positive brand sentiment (valence). I noted no statement about player and marketer (brand) communication in gathered material. The biggest challenge for practitioners in the field of UGC in video games is how to manage brand messages.

Practical Implications: Brand-related user-generated content is an important phenomenon in terms of the brand-building process and its impact on brand reception, which all require marketers’ attention. For game developers, such a content is a source of information about customer expectations. Players show their personal expectations by game modding.

Originality/Value: Brand-related content generated by users is frequently associated with social media. The scholarship shows a lack of knowledge of branded user-generated content in video games.

Purpose: This study aims to empirically present the process of personal branding of CEOs. Building on the theoretical model proposed by Wojtaszczyk and Maszewski (2014), the study illustrates how CEOs build their personal brands.

Methodology: The study is based on twelve semi-structured interviews with the CEOs of Poland’s strongest brands. Results were coded and analyzed with the use of MAXQDA software.

Results: The research allowed us to understand the process of creating a personal brand by CEOs. Moreover, interviews revealed that the personal brand reflects the true self of CEOs. However, it is also adjusted to the target audience; consequently, CEOs show diverse identities to the outside world.

Implications: Through the empirical investigation of the branding process, the findings fill a certain research gap. Insights gained in the process may prove useful for practitioners.

Originality/value: The article explores the subject of the personal brand, which continues to be the focus of many researchers, particularly in the CEE region. This research gave voice to CEOs, who explained how they build their personal brand and shared detailed information whose scope greatly exceeds what they present in the media.

Purpose: Drawing from attachment theory and categorization theory, the present study aims to investigate the effects of brand attachment and brand passion on consumer purchase intention, and to explore the moderation effect of product involvement (i.e.a low-involvement convenience product vs. a high-involvement shopping product) in these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach: To bridge this gap, we recruited n = 205 young consumers to test the hypotheses using AMOS 24.0 and SPSS 24.0. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and moderation analysis techniques were used as data analysis methods.

Findings: Results show that when brand attachment and brand passion were assessed, the brand passion has the highest effect on purchase intention. Moreover, our data reveal that brand attachment is more likely to lead to consumer purchase intention for convenience products, while brand passion is more promising for increasing consumer purchase intention for high-involvement shopping products. Finally, we provide a detailed discussion of how these results can be applied to both research and practice.

Implications: This study offers recommendations for how practitioners can strengthen purchase intentions of convenience and shopping brands in emerging markets.

Originality/value: This study is the first to prove that brand attachment is a driver of purchase intention of low-involvement convenience brands, whereas brand passion is a more prominent predictor of the purchase intention of high-involvement shopping brands.

Purpose: Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this article aims to examine the impact of customers’ intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on purchase intentions for luxury brands. Moreover, this study delves into the moderating effect of customer brand loyalty in these relationships.

Methodology: To this end, we tested our hypotheses with a student sample (N = 169) from Pakistan. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and moderation analysis techniques were used to analyze the data using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0.

Findings: The results of data analysis indicated that a customer’s purchase intention for luxury brands is significantly influenced by extrinsic religiosity, while intrinsic religiosity has trivial influence in boosting purchase intention for a luxury brand. Our results for moderation analysis further show that customer purchase intention for a luxury brand is reinforced by intrinsic religiosity when customer brand loyalty is high but not when customer brand loyalty is low, whereas purchase intention for a luxury brand is fortified more by extrinsic religiosity when customer brand loyalty is low than when customer brand loyalty is high.

Research Limitations: As with any set of cross-sectional studies, our research is not without limitations. For instance, the sample size in the current study is purposefully small. This limits the generalizability of findings across a wider population.

Implications/originality/value: This study has provided a framework to explain how customers’ intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity affected the purchase intentions of luxury brands in the emerging market.

Purpose: This paper focuses on the effects of positive and negative online reviews (eWOM) on the metrics of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) in the context of the Polish restaurant sector.
Methodology: The dedicated online survey was completed by 777 consumers, which we then analyzed with structural equation modeling. Each catering outlet was to allow to order meals online. We used descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis to test the hypotheses.
Findings: The findings suggest that positive online reviews affect each CBBE variable in the online catering outlet’s context. In the case of known catering establishment’s offering in the option of placing orders via online platforms, negative eWOM only affects the perceived quality and brand loyalty. However, it does not change brand awareness and brand association.
Implications: This paper contributes to the body of literature on eWOM, which to date offers very little understanding of the topic of positive and negative online reviews and CBBE dimensions. Moreover, in terms of practical and managerial applications, this study can be used to delineate strategy in terms of management of eWOM to optimize brand strategies.

Purpose: This research explores the application of Aaker’s brand personality scale on human brands in surf sports. It investigates the potential for detecting differences in the brand personality profile used on human brands. Aaker (1997) developed a brand personality framework consisting out of five dimensions of brand personality and fifteen brand personality attributes. This framework has been used in several studies; however, it has been criticized by researchers for its lack of applicability as a general scale. This paper addresses this issue by testing all forty-two original brand personality attributes, used by Aaker, on professional surfers as human brands. A second objective was to establish an ultra-short scale for practical reasons since brand personality is often only one of several measures in a questionnaire.

Methodology: In order to determine what attributes were the most appropriate when describing a professional surfer, a web survey with a 7-point Likert scale was conducted, which resulted in a convenience sample of n=219 respondents. In this study, the author conducted principle factor analysis and compared the results of an oblique rotation with Aaker’s results in order to investigate whether Aaker’s brand personality scale provides similar results on human brands as it does on product brands.

Findings: This paper concludes that partially different facets than Aaker’s (1997) brand personality framework apply to human brands in the surf context. The more appropriate facets for human brands in the surf context include: real, wholesome, good-looking, secure, Western, and up-to-date.

Research Limitations/Implications: Further research on specific athletes in different contexts is needed. It could incorporate other brand personality scales e.g. Geuens et al. (2009), Braunstein and Ross (2010) and Tsiotsou (2012) scales.

Practical Implications: The findings of this study are useful for sports marketers to better understand athletes as human brands as well as their facets, in order to develop target positioning with specific marketing strategies.

Purpose: This article concerns the attitudes of Polish consumers toward the country of origin of the brand. The aim is to describe the characteristics of cosmetics brands depending on the country of origin according to the opinions of Polish consumers.

Methodology: The study covers several types of cosmetics: creams, shampoos, soaps, and lotions. The text analyzes twelve characteristics of brands and twelve countries of origin. The quantitative study bases on the Web Panel Interview method. The survey is representative of Polish adult internet users.

Findings: The study shows significant differences in the perception of the characteristics of cosmetics brands depending on the country of origin. Companies may use the positive features associated with the country of origin of the brand in the process of creating value for customers.

Research limitations: The results are valid for all brands of cosmetics from the selected country but not for individual brands. The research analyzed twelve characteristics of brands and twelve countries of origin. Thus, future research should address other characteristics and countries of origin. The opinions of Polish consumers may differ from those of other countries.

Originality: The originality of this study consists in the analysis of many differences in the perception of the brands depending on the country of origin. This article shows that the selected country of origin may be associated with many different characteristics.

Purpose: The willingness of consumers to engage in co-creation activities is affected by multiple factors, including intrinsic motivation, firm-level factors, and expected outcomes of the participation in co-creation process. However, the final decision of customer engagement in co-creation is determined by the level of brand attachment and love experienced by customers, product category, and the type of needs satisfied with the object of co-creation. The current research proposes a holistic view of the abovementioned factors and variables by exploring their relationships and mutual influence.

Methodology: This study analyzes the results of qualitative research on the dynamics between positive client attitude toward a brand and the willingness to engage in co-creation activities.

Results/Findings: The study reveals that the willingness to engage in co-creation activities is strongly related to the level of brand attachment except for when people conduct such activities to experience the process itself. The level of customer satisfaction from participation in co-creation processes influences their future sense of brand love and attachment. Moreover, the way and strength of customer engagement in co-creative projects are affected by the product category. The authors especially stress the importance of a strategic approach toward designing and implementing co-creation projects and the key role of appropriate communication with participants.

Purpose: Since the higher education environment has become highly competitive, the application of marketing principles to the education environment becomes increasingly evident. In order to attract new students and continue business, the institutional brand also gains on importance. Considering the scant literature on the influence of the perceptions of service quality dimensions on brand equity in general and higher education in particular, this exploratory study seeks to determine whether the SERVPERF dimensions of service quality make significant influencers of the overall brand equity of select (South African) universities, and whether the overall service quality significantly influences the overall brand equity.

Design: The authors conducted a survey among a judgmental sample of 400 students from two selected university campuses, using the SERVPERF scale. The data were analyzed with inferential statistical methods, such as multiple regression analysis, with the help of SPSS.

Findings: Tangibles and Empathy were significant and positive influencers of the students’ perception of the institutions’ overall brand equity and the overall service quality as a significant predictor of the overall brand equity. It also became evident that the overall service quality has a significant and positive influence on the overall brand equity when it comes to the students’ perceptions of the surveyed universities.

Implications: Tangibles and Empathy must be closely monitored and carefully managed, while the important role that service quality plays in the overall sense in increasing brand equity perceptions implies that – in the branding efforts of higher education institutions – management and leadership should pay particular attention to offering high levels of service quality to increase the value of their brands.

Research limitations: Only two campuses from one public higher education institution in South Africa was included in the survey, thus any generalization of the research findings must be circumspect.

Originality/value: Management and leadership of higher education institutions must know the service quality dimensions which promote the brand of the institution and manage them to promote a positive image of the institution since these are the dimensions of quality emphasized by the students.

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to identify the importance of social media in e-WoM (electronic word of mouth) in relation to the two stages of consumer behavior, pre-purchase and post-consumption, in groups of different gender and countries. The article answers three research questions. Whether the frequency of using the most popular social media influences the range of using them in e-WoM among individual users? Which stage of consumer behavior process is more dependent on social media, pre-purchase or post-consumption? Do any differences exist between men and women in the scope under consideration?

Methodology: The analysis bases on literature studies and empirical data collected among 1246 respondents from four countries: China, Poland, the United States of America, and Turkey. Findings: General conclusions show differences between these countries in relation to the use of social media for e-WoM. Moreover, results confirmed the findings of literature analysis wherever consumers used social media at the stage of looking for information and advice about products (pre-purchase). Gender appeared as a significant differentiating factor that influences e-WoM behavior.

Research limitations: The design of the research (samples’ size and sampling method) could place some limits on the capacity of the study to generalize the results to other national contexts. Research implications: The results offer information for marketers who use social media communication to build brands’ loyalty in the international marketplace and individuals who rely on experiences shared through social media.

Originality: The content of the paper is important, timely, original, and focusses on the subject infrequently studied in the literature. The information from the paper applies to numerous groups of stakeholders.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to determine a structure of brand personality at an ecological level and to develop norms for positioning a particular brand in relation to other brands by means of brand personality scales.

Methodology: We present the results of a study in which 1,642 participants aged 15 to 82 (mean 35.3; 51.9% females) were involved. Each respondent marked three to four brands from different categories of goods and services on a 20-item adjectival list for measuring brand personality. As a result, 6,548 descriptions of 224 brands from 46 categories were collected. Findings: Our analyses show that the structure of the differences among brand personalities on the Polish market can be described in terms of four dimensions: competence, spontaneity, subtlety, and egoism. The established dimensions explain 85% of the variance. A distribution of the results within the scales applied served as a basis for establishing specifc norms for each of the four scales.

Limitations: The norms established have a country-level character and are inclusively adequate and reliable for companies that purchase products and services on the Polish market.

Originality: Our study presents a new, ecological approach to thinking about brands. Namely, it enables a more precise determination of the position of a certain brand in relation to many other competing brands and allows for a more effcient use of the potential for constructing brand personality.

Purpose: Developing a strong, favourable employer brand of a retail chain may be regarded as an important means of creating a competitive advantage. Retail chains should attract personnel with desired competence required for their particular purposes. The retail sector in Poland is perceived as a strongly disliked employer. Thus employer branding can be an important element of strategies adopted by retail chains operating in Poland. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the development of employer branding strategies implemented by selected global retailers operating in Poland and the impact of such strategies on their respective competitive positions in the Polish market. The time frame for the analysis is the period of 2009–2014.

Research design and methods: In addition to a review of the literature on the development of employer brands, this paper includes a case study of a few global retail chains operating in Poland. The paper is based on the assumption that retail chains pursue competitive advantage by developing employer brand strategies.

Implications and recommendations: A continued engagement in strategic activities in the feld of employer branding is very important for retail chains. Decision makers need to pay special attention to the promotion of their retail chains as a good workplace, using employer branding techniques

Purpose: This article deals with the creation of the brand and what kind of value it creates for the owner and the customer.

Methodology: The article describes an insight on how to create strong brands, why many companies that based their success on a product now decide to create a branded product and how a brand adds value to both the owner of the brand as well as the customer.

Findings: The article presents that brands create value for the customers as well as the company or brand owner. Furthermore, the article deals with the creation of strong brands and the underlying factors.

Originality/value: This article helps to advance brand marketing theory as well as offers valuable implications and recommendations for practitioners, brand and marketing managers.

Purpose: The aims of the completed studies were: (1) systematization of perceived positive and negative changes in consumers’ self-image due to the usage of service brands and (2) development of multidimensional tool to measure these changes.

Methodology: To accomplish these aims qualitative and quantitative studies were held. In the qualitative study, total number of 318 people aged between 13 and 82 (M = 37,64, SD = 16,69; 47,2% women) were examined by individual interview method, which led to collection of a set of positive (benefi ts) and negative (loses) changes in self-image due to the usage of service brands. This set was later minutely categorized. Based on the results of the
categorization, a questionnaire in form of semantic differential was elaborated.

Findings: An analysis of the study results led to identifi cation of 9 dimensions of perceived changes in self-image due to the use of service brands. Based on the results, a multidimensional questionnaire to measure changes in self-image was developed, which has very good psychometric indices, taking into account reliability of measure and validity of predicting service brands preference.

Practical implications: An innovative, multidimensional tool, useful in practical service brand management was developed. The identified dimensions of perceived changes in consumers’ self-image can make a practical hint of what should be followed in marketing communication.

Originality: The results of the study and the developed scales are breaking a long-time deadlock in the theory and methodology of research into relations between self and the brand.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of corporate posturing and deception in the area of social and environmental responsibility, its main types and causes and to assess the actual scale of the problem.

Methodology: The paper discusses major issues with references to existing literature and practical examples.

Findings: The main fi nding of this paper is that environmental and social responsibility statements accurately represent corporate commitment in the majority of cases. There are a number of reasons for this state of affairs. The most important of them are: easy consumer and investor access to various sustainability ratings, the rising scale of external verifi cation of social responsibility reports by independent third parties and stakeholder groups, and the rising liability for corporate social responsibility frauds.

Research limitations: The paper explores issues related to the problems and challenges of fair and accurate corporate social reporting. Many questions remain to be addressed.
Practical implications: Social and environmental branding could give companies competitive advantage as a growing number of consumers become more sustainability-conscious. It could also help overcome the increasing skepticism of consumers towards corporate social responsibility practices.

Originality: The paper raises the importance of the different conditions of corporate disinformation in the field of social and environmental responsibility and adds value to the existing body of literature on corporate greenwashing.