Abstract

Extensive research on global branding has mainly adopted a behavioral perspective (e.g., consumer information processing, self and identity theory, and consumer culture theory). This study focuses on the dual tradeoff between distinctiveness and conformity with their mainstream peers for emerging brands in the global marketplace from a legitimacy perspective. Building on the optimal distinctiveness theory, this study investigates the effect of brand isomorphism level on brand evaluation by several empirical studies. Results indicate that brand evaluation shows an inverted U-shaped trend of rising first and then declining as the degree of isomorphism increases. Furthermore, this study also explores the contingent condition of our proposed effect by introducing a moderator of cognitive distance, which demonstrates consumers higher in cognitive distance should perceive more conformity to be legitimate relative to consumers lower in the cognitive distance in the global marketplace. Implications for theory and the practice of this work are discussed.

摘要

对全球品牌的广泛研究主要采用行为视角（如消费者信息处理、自我和身份理论、消费者文化理论）。本研究从合法性的角度关注全球市场上新兴品牌的独特性和与主流同行的一致性之间的双重权衡。本研究以最优独特性理论为基础，通过多项实证研究探讨了品牌同构水平对品牌评价的影响。结果表明，随着同构程度的增加，品牌评价呈现先升后降的倒U型趋势。此外，本研究还通过引入认知距离的调节器来探索我们提出的效果的条件条件，这表明，在全球市场上，认知距离较高的消费者相对于认知距离较低的消费者而言，应该认为更多的从众是合法的。讨论了对这项工作的理论和实践的影响。