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Evaluative and descriptive response patterns to negative image attributes.

Article Excerpt
While investigations into brand image have been plentiful, the study of negative brand image attributes has been rare. Replicated multi-brand studies are rare in any academic publication, but extremely rare in the consideration of the study of negative image attributes. Expanding on Barwise and Ehrenberg (1985), we examine the relationship between negative brand image attributes and usage replicated over different brands and attributes, in business and consumer markets, using different questioning techniques both in repertoire and subscription markets. In this paper, we report on 18 attributes for 35 brands in six separate studies. Previous research has offered conflicting evidence about the patterns one may observe between negative image attributes and brand usage. We identified the presence of three different patterns. While three different patterns were evident, the most negative image attributes studied across brands displayed a descriptive pattern. That is, users and non-users were equally likely to asso ciate the brand with a negative image attribute. Of those that did not, a small number displayed an evaluative pattern, where users of a brand were more likely than non-users. In only one instance were non-users more likely to mention a negative image attribute than users of the brand (referred to as a reverse evaluative pattern). The implications of the study indicate that responses to negative brand image attributes are not driven by brand usage or non-usage, and that negative image attributes do not behave in an opposite pattern to positive image attributes. It is suggested that there are other factors which may drive responses to negative image attributes, such as consumer expertise level, which need further research. The findings of this study also lead us to question attitudinal models that suggest consumers evaluate brands both on positive and negative attributes in making purchase decisions. We request that further research be conducted to further understanding of the drivers of response to negative b rand image attributes.

Introduction

Brand image attributes are those pieces of information that are linked to the brand in consumer memory and thus make up part of the brand's image (Keller 1993). These attributes may take the form of anything that is experienced in the same context as the brand, and can come from a variety of sources, including consumer experiences with the brand, marketing communications or word of mouth (Krishnan 1996). Particular types include descriptive information (e.g. has four doors), benefits (e.g. low in fat) and usage situations (e.g. can eat when I am walking) (Joyce 1963; Holden & Lutz 1992). Anything that is encountered with the brand may, if sufficiently processed, become linked to the brand name in memory and thus become part of that brand's image.

Given the wide variation in substance, many researchers have attempted to classify these attributes into useful categories. For example, de Chernatony (1993) classifies brand attributes on two dimensions of functional or representational, while Biel (1991) refers to the implicit and explicit aspects of a brand's image. In this research, we focus on one particular classification of image attributes; that derived by Barwise and Ehrenberg (1985). Their study classified attributes as following 'evaluative' or 'descriptive' patterns. The advantage of this classification is that there is an empirically derived way to determine if an attribute is displaying evaluative or descriptive patterns, rather than relying simply on researcher judgement. This empirical method involves comparing the percentage of users who associate the brand with the attribute, with the percentage of non-users who associate the brand with the attribute (Barwise & Ehrenberg 1985). Attributes that display descriptive patterns have a high level o f similarity between the proportion of users who associate a brand with an attribute relative to non-users. In contrast, attributes that display evaluative patterns have a much higher proportion of users associating the attribute with the brand than is evident for nonusers. In this research, we apply the empirical tests to determine if negative image attributes which are, by their nature, 'evaluative' (as they are negative evaluations of the brand) do indeed follow expected evaluative patterns. Establishing expected empirical patterns is of importance, since it allows future researchers to employ prior knowledge in an aid to understanding what to expect when measuring the perceptions that consumers hold. Given that we know very little about the negative perceptions about brands that people hold and how these negative perceptions influence decision making, this application of prior knowledge is an important foundation step.

Therefore, in this research we have conducted analysis over multiple markets and attributes. The aim is to obtain an idea of (1) which patterns are evident in negative image attribute responses, and (2) the relative prevalence of these attributes.

Negative image attributes

For the most part, in both academic and commercial research, it is predominantly positive (e.g. good customer service) or neutral (e.g. is red) attributes that get measured. Given the rising interest in areas such as customer dissatisfaction (as opposed to customer satisfaction), it is perhaps surprising that, in the same vein, more attention has not been...

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