摘要
众多品牌正致力于通过角色拟人的方式与消费者建立类人际关系,以此来加强品牌纽带。本研究探索了个体的主观地位对"仆人式"和"伙伴式"两种拟人品牌购买意愿的影响。通过三项实验,我们发现:(1)主观地位较低的个体对仆人品牌的购买意愿显著高于伙伴品牌;而主观地位较高的个体对两类拟人品牌的购买意愿没有显著差异;(2)有调节的中介分析显示,主观地位较低的个体感知到仆人品牌(vs.伙伴品牌)提供的地位感显著更多,从而对其的购买意愿更高;而主观地位较高的个体不会感知到两类拟人品牌提供的地位感存在差异,对两者的购买意愿也没有显著差异;(3)这一机制不受产品类型的影响,即无论是对于享乐品还是对于实用品,品牌拟人角色和主观地位对购买意愿的影响都遵循同样的路径。本研究推进了品牌拟人化与地位消费的研究,也为品牌拟人角色的设计和营销提供了策略参考。
Many brands work on strengthening brand bonds and building interpersonal relationships with consumers via anthropomorphism.However,different characters of brand anthropomorphism attract different consumers,and researches on this issue are rather limited.This study explores how a consumer’s subjective status influences his/her buying intention over two types of the anthropomorphic brand:"brand as a servant"and"brand as a partner".Through three experiments,we find that:(1)The"servant brand"makes consumers feel that they have higher status than the brand,whereas the"partner brand"makes consumers feel relatively equal with the brand.(2)Consumers’purchase intention to anthropomorphic brands is moderated by their subjective status:individuals with lower subjective status have significantly higher purchase intention to the"servant brand"than the"partner brand";while individuals with higher subjective status have no significant difference in the purchase intention on the two types of anthropomorphic brands.(3)The moderated mediator analysis shows that individuals with lower subjective status perceive that the"servant brand"(vs.the"partner brand")provides significantly stronger sense of status which in turn increases their purchase intention;this compensation mechanism does not exist among consumers with higher subjective status—they do not perceive the difference in the sense of status provided by the two anthropomorphic brands,and therefore show no significant difference in the purchase intention.(4)The actual change of the consumer status by anthropomorphic brands does not affect the purchase intention,what really matters is consumers’perception of the"sense of status provided"by anthropomorphic brands.(5)Such compensation mechanism is independent of the product type,that is,no matter the product is a hedonic or a utilitarian one,individuals with lower subjective status have significant preference on the"servant brand"(vs.the"partner brand").Theoretically,this paper focuses on the social attributes of brand anthropomorphism and its impacts,and the results provide new evidence for the social interaction effect brought by brand anthropomorphism.Moreover,this study not only extends the research on status consumption from the field of material consumption to service experience and brand relationship,but also extends the research on status management of consumers from luxury products to ordinary products.In practice,this study points out that the focus in consumer status management is to provide a sense of status,rather than bringing an actual change of the consumers status.Moreover,when marketers design brand anthropomorphism strategies,the"servant brand"will benefit more in the middle-or lower-class markets,in the second-or third-tier cities,and when consumers are in the situation of status threat.
作者
周懿瑾
毛诗漫
陈晓燕
Zhou Yijin;Mao Shiman;Chen Xiaoyan(School of Communication and Design,Sun Yat-sen University,Guangzhou 510006,China;Wenzhou Children’s Library,Wenzhou 325000,China)
出处
《外国经济与管理》
CSSCI
北大核心
2020年第2期43-58,共16页
Foreign Economics & Management
基金
国家自然科学基金青年项目(71602193).
关键词
品牌拟人化
角色拟人
主观地位
地位消费
补偿性消费
brand anthropomorphism
role-anthropomorphism
subjective status
status consumption
compensatory consumption
