مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد دانش برند و عملکرد برند غیر مالی – الزویر 2020

The restaurant business has been increasingly recognized for its ability to help mitigate many negative environmental impacts. To develop a competitive advantage, green restaurants may adopt an innovative branding strategy. Marketing management recognizes that understanding brand attitude is critical for marketing strategies. Studies have examined the relationship between brand knowledge and non-financial brand performance. However, it remains unclear how the green restaurant brand attitude affects this relationship. This study aims to fill this research gap by identifying the composition and structure of the brand attitude in Taiwan’s green restaurants and examining the mediating effects of brand attitude on the relationship between brand knowledge and brand performance. The findings of this study broaden and deepen the current knowledge of the role of brand attitude in Taiwan’s green restaurant industry. In practice, it is suggested that green restaurant management should develop well-known brand knowledge to form brand attitudes and foster brand performance.

Introduction

In this increasingly globalized and uncertain market, the restaurant industry is facing tremendous competitive pressure. The consumer’s selection decision presents a difficult situation for restaurant operators to differentiate from seemingly the same restaurant choices. From the marketing perspective, being “green” has been a critical factor to survive for some businesses (Schubert et al., 2010). The restaurant business also has been increasingly recognized for its ability to help mitigate many negative environmental impacts (e.g., reducing solid waste or conserving water and energy). The attention of this particular issue of environmental and social considerations coincides with the growth and development of green restaurants (Horovitz, 2008). Some evidence has shown that consumers choose green products based on whether they are less harmful to the environment (Han et al., 2009; DiPietro et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2015; Susskind, 2014). Recent studies have also suggested that green practices can reduce operational costs (Schubert et al., 2010; Susskind, 2014), improve a business’ corporate image and customer ratings (Hu et al., 2010; Namkung and Jang, 2013; PeiróSignes et al., 2014), increase consumers’ satisfaction, purchasing and word-of-mouth intentions (Barber and Deale, 2014; Wu et al., 2016), and more importantly foster the long-term success of a company’s financial performance (Singal, 2014). Hu et al. (2010) also suggested that it exist a growing trend that consumers gradually increase their environmental awareness towards the concept of “green” restaurants. Therefore, it is logical to believe that green restaurants can possibly use “green” branding as a competitive strategy to differentiate from rivalries in the market. Many scholars in brand management studies (Kapferer, 2008; Keller, 2008; Post, 2008) argued that branding has been a widely acknowledged company strategy for many years. Keller (2003a,b) stated that “branding involves the process of endowing products and services with the advantages that accrue to building a strong brand (p. 595).” He observed that the application of brand attitude to marketing practice has drawn much industry attention.