Table Of ContentA study of Brand Personality construct and
development of a scale to measure product
Brand Personality in the Indian context
Thesis submitted to
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
for the award of the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
Management
by
JIJO GEORGE
(Reg. No. 141170008)
under the supervision of
Dr. S. VICTOR ANANDKUMAR
Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
PUDUCHERRY – 605014. INDIA
MARCH 2014
JIJO GEORGE [Reg. No. 141170008]
Ph. D. Research Scholar (Full–Time)
Department of Management Studies
School of Management
Pondicherry University
Puducherry – 605 014
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DECLARATION
I, JIJO GEORGE, hereby declare that the thesis titled “A study of Brand
Personality construct and development of a scale to measure product
Brand Personality in the Indian context”, submitted to Pondicherry
University in fulfilment of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in
MANAGEMENT, is a record of original research work done by me under the
guidance and supervision of Dr. S. VICTOR ANANDKUMAR, Associate
Professor, Department of Management Studies, School of Management,
Pondicherry University.
I further declare that the thesis has not previously formed the basis for the
award of any Degree/ Diploma/ Associateship/ Fellowship or any other similar
title.
Place: Puducherry JIJO GEORGE
Date:
ii
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
PUDUCHERRY – 605014. INDIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. S. VICTOR ANANDKUMAR
Associate Professor
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis titled “A study of Brand Personality
construct and development of a scale to measure product Brand
Personality in the Indian context” submitted to Pondicherry University in
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY in MANAGEMENT, is a record of original and bonafide
research work done by Mr. JIJO GEORGE [Reg. No.141170008] during the
period 2010-2014, at the Department of Management Studies, School of
Management of Pondicherry University, Puducherry, under my supervision and
guidance. This thesis has not previously formed the basis for the award of any
Degree/Diploma/Associateship/ Fellowship or similar titles and it represents
independent work on the part of the candidate.
I further certify that the work is worth submitting for the award of the said
degree.
Place: Puducherry Dr. S. VICTOR ANANDKUMAR
Date: Research Supervisor
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. S. Victor Anandkumar, my research supervisor, for
his guidance, encouragement, patience and friendship throughout this research. His
influence on me has had a great effect on my learning experience. Throughout my
doctoral studies, he has provided encouragement, sound advice, good teaching and
lots of good ideas. I owe him lots of gratitude. Your guidance and mentorship over the
last four years has been instrumental in my development as a scholar and person as a
whole. I am eternally grateful for the time and effort you have put forth on my behalf.
I would also like to thank my doctoral committee members Dr. G.
Anjaneyaswamy (Professor, Department of Tourism Studies, Pondicherry University)
and Dr. T. Nambirajan (Professor & Head, Department of Management Studies,
Pondicherry University). Your contribution to my research work has been
immeasurable. The time, effort, and expertise that you have provided have immensely
improved the quality of my research.
A special thanks to Dr. R. Prabhakara Raya (Dean, School of Management),
Dr. K. Chandrasekara Rao (Professor & Head, Department of Banking Technology,
Pondicherry University), Dr. P. Natarajan (Professor & Head, Department of
Commerce), Dr. P. Sridharan (Head, Department of International Business), Dr.
Yedla Venkata Rao (Head, Department of Tourism Studies), Dr. Binu Zachariah
(Assistant Professor, Department of English), Dr. Lakhimai Mili (Assistant Professor,
Department of English), Dr. S. Visaka Devi (Assistant Professor, Department of
English), Dr. Bushan D. Sudhakar (Associate Professor, Department of International
Business), Dr. B. Rangaiah (Associate Professor, Department of Applied
Psychology), Dr. Surendra Kumar Sia (Associate Professor, Department of Applied
Psychology) and Dr. Pradeep Krishnatray (former Dean, School of Media &
Communication, Pondicherry University) for the assistance and support they
rendered at different levels of my research work.
I am also indebted to my many research scholar colleagues for providing a
stimulating and fun environment which helped me a lot to learn and grow. I thank
each of you for the valuable suggestions and contributions in my research.
iv
I am grateful to my parents (Mr. George P.V. and Mrs. Annamma George) and
my sister (Ms. Jisha George) for their love and support. My parents consistently
reinforced the value of education and learning. Without their tireless effort, sacrifice,
and encouragement, I never would have reached this point. I look forward to returning
the love and support they have given me. I would also like to thank my relatives who
motivated and prayed for the successful completion of my PhD work.
I would also like to thank the experts and respondents who helped me to
produce this research. I owe a great thanks to more than 1000 respondents who spent
their valuable time to give their response. A big ‘thanks’ to all of you.
When it comes to friends, I am indebted to many, both inside Pondicherry
University and outside. However, I cannot bring my acknowledgements to an end
without mentioning to Mr. Biju M.A, Mr. Prince Alex and Ms. Lincy P.T.
A word of thanks to the faculty members of the Department of Management
Studies for their kind support and suggestions rendered at various stages of this work;
especially during different presentations of this work in the department. I would like
to extend my thanks to the administrative staff at the Department of Management
Studies, for their kind help and assistance. I would like to thank all whose direct and
indirect support helped me to complete my thesis in time.
Last but most important, I want to thank my Lord who surely planned it all-
from its humble beginning to its fruitful end. To my fellow brothers and sisters who
intend to embark on this academic journey, I say: “Put all your trust in the Lord and
do not rely on your own understanding. At every step you take, keep the Lord in mind
and He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, The Revised English Bible).
Place: Puducherry
Date: JIJO GEORGE
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
No. TOPIC PAGE
No.
Declaration of authorship ii
Certificate of authorship iii
Acknowledgements iv
List of tables x
List of figures xi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction 1
1.2. The concept of brand personality 1
1.2.1. Sources of Brand Personality 2
1.2.2. A Brief Review on Brand Personality Measurement 2
1.2.3. Importance and significance of Brand Personality 3
1.2.4. Objectives and scope of the study 4
1.2.5. Need for the Study 4
1.2.6. The need for a brand personality scale in the Indian 5
context
1.2.7. Significance of the study 5
1.2.8. Original contributions 6
1.2.9. Scope of the Research 6
1.2.10. Period of the study 7
1.3. Overview of the scale development process 8
1.3.1. Phase1: Construct Definition 10
1.3.2. Phase 2: Content Validity 10
1.3.3. Phase 3: Measure Purification 11
1.3.4. Phase 4: Checking the reliability of the scale 11
1.3.5. Phase 5: Confirming brand personality dimensions 12
1.3.6. Phase 6: Validity and reliability 12
1.3.7. Phase 7: Developing a short version of the scale 12
1.3.8. Naming of factors 13
1.4. Discussion and conclusion 13
1.4.1. Limitations and delimitations of the study 13
1.5. Structure of the thesis 14
Chapter 2 THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL
BACKGROUND
2.1. Introduction 16
2.1.1. Creating brand personality 17
2.1.2. Brand personality as a relationship builder 17
vi
2.1.3. The position of brand personality in marketing 18
2.1.4. Brand personality in brand building 20
2.2. Conceptualisation of brand personality 20
2.2.1. Demarcating Brand personality 21
2.3. Theories related to brand personality 23
2.3.1. Brand Equity 23
2.3.2. Anthropomorphism Theory 25
2.3.3. Self Concept Theory 25
2.3.4. Self Congruity Theory 26
2.3.5. Personality Theory 27
2.4. Review of select Brand Personality literature 29
2.4.1. Review of select Brand Personality literature 29
2.4.2. Measuring Brand Personality 31
2.4.3. Brand Personality Scales 32
2.4.4. A review of the applications of brand personality 58
concept
2.4.5. Brand Personality Researches in the Indian Context 77
2.5. Chapter discussion and conclusion 78
2.5.1. Gaps considered for the present study 79
2.6. Summary of the literature review 79
Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. The concept of measurement 80
3.2. Approaches to brand personality measurement 80
3.2.1. Qualitative Vs. Quantitative approaches to Brand 81
Personality Scale development
3.3. A review of methodology of building brand 87
personality scales
3.3.1. Research approaches 87
3.3.2. Research methods adopted in Brand Personality scale 90
development
3.3.3. Generation of Items 94
3.3.4. Initial item reduction 97
3.3.5. Assessment o f dimensionality 98
3.3.6. Reliability and Validity of the Scale 100
3.4. Proposed scale development procedure 102
3.4.1. Sources of data 102
3.4.2. Brand selection 104
3.4.3. Methodology design for Item Generation 105
3.4.4. Methodology design for Language expert opinion 106
survey
3.4.5. Methodology design for Expert opinion survey 106
3.4.6. Methodology design for identifying the brand 107
vii
personality dimensions
3.4.7. Methodology design for confirming the brand 108
personality dimensions
3.5. Developing a short version of the scale 109
3.6. Research framework 110
3.7. Chapter conclusion 111
Chapter 4 SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION
4.1. Introduction 112
4.2. Defining the Construct 112
4.3. Content Validity 112
4.4. Stimuli Selection 113
4.5. Item Generation 114
4.5.1. Qualitative Study: Free Association Test 115
4.5.2. Items from Literature Review 117
4.6. Language Expert Opinion Survey 121
4.7. Expert Opinion Survey 121
4.8. Consumer Survey 122
4.8.1. Measure Purification: Exploratory Factor Analysis 123
4.8.2. Scale Reliability 124
4.9. Confirming Product Brand Personality Scale (PBPS) 127
dimensions
4.9.1. Construct Validity 130
4.10. A short version of the PBPS 133
4.10.1. Checking the reliability of the short version of PBPS 134
4.10.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for short version 135
of PBPS
4.10.3. Construct validity 137
4.11. Naming of seven factors 140
4.12. Chapter conclusion 141
Chapter 5 FINDINGS, DISCUSSION OF RESULTS AND
CONCLUSION
5.1. Introduction 142
5.2. Major findings 143
5.3. Originality and novelty 146
5.4. Implications 146
5.4.1. How a brand manager may use the PBPS 147
5.4.2. Implications for Academics 147
5.5. A critical discussion on PBPS 148
5.6. Comparison of PBPS dimensions with other scales 151
5.7. Limitations 153
viii
5.8. Future research 154
5.9. Chapter conclusion 158
REFERENCES 159
APPENDICES 177
I Free elicitation questionnaire
II Language Expert Opinion Survey
III Expert Opinion Survey
IV Questionnaire for consumer survey
V Questionnaire for holdout sample survey
VI Statistical Outputs
A Exploratory factor Analysis Results
B Cronbach’s Alpha value Calculations of full version of
the scale
C Test Re-test Results of Full version PBPS
D Confirmatory factor analysis outputs of Full version of
PBPS
E Results of Short version of the scale
ix
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE-2. 1 BRAND PERSONALITY SCALE (BPS) DEVELOPED BY AAKER (1997) ............. 35
TABLE-2. 2 BOSNJAK, BOCHMANN, AND HUFSCHMIDT’S BPS – FACTORS AND
ITEMS (2007) ............................................................................................................................... 43
TABLE-2. 3 SUMMARY OF BRAND PERSONALITY SCALES ............................... 49
TABLE-2. 4 COMPARISON OF BRAND PERSONALITY SCALES .............................................. 54
TABLE- 4. 1 BRANDS SELECTED FOR THE STUDY ................................................................. 114
TABLE- 4. 2 LIST OF ADJECTIVES FROM FREE ASSOCIATION TEST .................................. 116
TABLE- 4. 3 LIST OF ADJECTIVES FROM LITERATURE SURVEY ........................................ 117
TABLE- 4. 4 EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS RESULTS ................................................. 124
TABLE- 4. 5 FACTOR WISE TEST RE-TEST CORRELATION VALUES .................................. 125
TABLE- 4. 6 VARIABLE-WISE TEST RE-TEST CORRELATION VALUES .............................. 126
TABLE- 4. 7 EVALUATION OF MODEL FIT ............................................................................... 129
TABLE- 4. 8 AVERAGE VARIANCE EXTRACTED .................................................................... 130
TABLE- 4. 9 CONSTRUCT RELIABILITY VALUES .................................................................... 131
TABLE- 4. 10 EVALUATION OF DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY .................................................. 132
TABLE- 4. 11 SHORT VERSION OF THE PRODUCT BPS (PBPS) ............................................. 133
TABLE- 4. 12 CRONBACH’S ALPHA VALUES OF THE SHORT SCALE ................................. 134
TABLE- 4. 13 TEST RE-TEST CORRELATION VALUES OF THE FACTORS IN THE
SHORT SCALE .......................................................................................................................... 135
TABLE- 4. 14 - FIT INDICES FOR THE EVALUATION OF CFA MODEL OF THE
SHORT PBPS ............................................................................................................................ 137
TABLE- 4. 15 AVERAGE VARIANCE EXTRACTED VALUE IN THE CASE OF SHORT
PBPS ........................................................................................................................................... 138
TABLE- 4. 16 - CONSTRUCT RELIABILITY VALUES OF SHORT PBPS DIMENSIONS ........ 139
TABLE- 4. 17 EVALUATION OF THE DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY OF THE SHORT
PBPS ........................................................................................................................................... 140
TABLE- 4. 18 NAMES OF SEVEN FACTORS IDENTIFIED ........................................................ 140
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