مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد تاثیر اصالت برند بر دلبستگی برند، وفاداری برند – الزویر 2024

Abstract

Despite the corona-virus pandemic, Korean cosmetics maintain brand attachment in the Chinese market. This study identifies critical influencing and outcome factors of brand attachment within this consumer phenomenon. Specifically, it investigates the relationship between Chinese consumers’ perceived brand authenticity and brand attachment, brand loyalty, willingness to pay a premium, and forgiveness. To this end, it uses AMOS 21.0 to analyze data collected through a questionnaire, testing the research model. The study reveals several key findings. Firstly, it assesses brand authenticity based on the following five sub-factors: consistency, naturalness, originality, advertisement truthfulness, and reliability. According to the assessment results, originality shows the most significant impact, followed by reliability, consistency, and naturalness. Furthermore, brand attachment significantly enhances brand loyalty, willingness to pay a premium, and forgiveness toward the brand. Higher levels of brand attachment lead to increased brand loyalty. In addition, greater brand attachment correlates with consumers’ increased willingness to pay more for products and greater forgiveness towards the brand.

Introduction

1.1 Practical background
Economic development, income improvement, and cultural factors, such as valuing beauty, have significantly influenced consumers’ purchasing behavior [1,2]. In China, consumption behaviors have considerably changed due to rapid economic growth and improved income levels. In particular, in the Chinese cosmetics market, the overall interest in beauty has increased alongside the middle class’s income growth, enhancing purchasing power. For example, while the Chinese cosmetics market plunged in February 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19, it demonstrated a sharp recovery since March 2020 [3,4]. Specifically, the skincare market has shown an upward trend, with the sales of Korean cosmetics brand Huwa SK-II increasing by about 300 % in 2019. Simultaneously, mask pack sales also grew dramatically [5].

The Chinese cosmetics market promotes thousands of products using various pricing strategies, brand positioning, and unique functional ingredients [6]. This market involves premium and mid-to low-end segments. As of 2018, premium brands accounted for about 29.9 % of the total cosmetics market in China, with major global beauty brands leading the premium segment [5]. The remaining 70 % constitutes the mid-to low-end general market, where many Chinese native brands have launched new products. Recently, local Chinese brands have started closely following imported premium brands regarding price competitiveness and product quality, intensifying market competition. According to a survey of Chinese consumers’ use of cosmetics, 57 % of consumers use foreign cosmetics brands, showing their marked preference for overseas brands [7]. A survey of preferences for overseas cosmetic brands, based on the number of searches on Baidu in 2016, revealed that all top 10 brands were international. LANCOME and Estee Lauder ranked first and second in this list, respectively. Korean brands in the top 10 included Innisfree, Sulwhasoo, and Laneige [7]. To survive in the competitive Chinese cosmetics market, which has become a battleground for global brands, more than simple functional differentiation, pricing policies, and exaggerated image advertisements are required. In an era of distrust toward excessive commercial messages, cosmetics brands must emphasize authenticity. Consumer awareness of brand authenticity is a critical element of brand authenticity and differentiated competitive advantage as it expands into the realm of truth, introducing brand value as a critical factor for products and services.

Conclusions

4.1 Implications
4.1.1 Theoretical implications
Even during the COVID-19 crisis, the cosmetics market in China has demonstrated a continuous growth trend. In particular, Chinese consumers’ brand attachment to Korean cosmetics has steadily increased. The results of this study offer the following theoretical implications:

First, our results demonstrate that four sub-factors of Korean cosmetic brand authenticity (consistency, naturalness, originality, and reliability) positively affect brand attachment. These findings suggest that maintaining the intrinsic value of a cosmetic brand fosters positive consumer emotions. Specifically, higher consistency in the brand’s core values and attributes significantly influences consumer attachment. Moreover, greater naturalness in non-artificial cosmetics enhances brand attachment. Brand originality is crucial in capturing consumer attention, while brand reliability significantly precedes and influences brand attachment. Once established through consistent positive experiences, trust becomes a critical factor in strengthening the consumer-brand relationship and positively impacts attachment.

However, our results indicate that advertisement truthfulness could be more effective in the authenticity of Korean cosmetic brands. This finding suggests that excessively high levels of advertisement truthfulness may decrease consumers’ brand attachment.