Brand biographies trace a brand's evolution to position it as an underdog (i.e., passion and determination that lead to success despite limited resources) or a topdog (i.e., success based on abundance of resources) brand. This study examines how consumers’ risk perceptions associated with brand choice influence brand biography effects. It demonstrates that when perceived risk associated with brand choice is low, consumers process brand biographies narratively, experience greater narrative transportation into underdog (vs. topdog) brand biographies, and evaluate the underdog brand more favorably. When perceived risk associated with brand choice is high, consumers respond more positively to topdog (vs. underdog) brand biographies, due to topdog brands’ greater perceived ability to reduce risk. The topdog effect observed at higher levels of perceived risk reverses, however, when consumers have the opportunity to process the brand biography before receiving high risk information, as this allows for narrative transportation into the brand biography. This study contributes to research on moderators of brand biography effects and suggests that perceived risk should play a role in marketers’ decision to emphasize underdog or topdog characteristics in brand biographies.

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当巨人获胜而大卫失败时：感知风险在品牌传记效应中的调节作用

品牌传记追踪品牌的演变，将其定位为失败者（即，尽管资源有限，但仍能带来成功的激情和决心）或领先者（即，基于丰富资源的成功）品牌。本研究考察了与品牌选择相关的消费者风险认知如何影响品牌传记效应。它表明，当与品牌选择相关的感知风险较低时，消费者会以叙事方式处理品牌传记，体验更多的叙事传输到失败者（与顶级）品牌传记中，并更积极地评估失败者品牌。当与品牌选择相关的感知风险较高时，消费者对顶级（相对于弱势）品牌传记的反应更积极，因为顶级品牌具有更强的降低风险的感知能力。然而，当消费者有机会在收到高风险信息之前处理品牌传记时，在较高感知风险水平上观察到的顶级效应会逆转，因为这允许将叙事传输到品牌传记中。本研究有助于研究品牌传记效应的调节因素，并表明感知风险应该在营销人员决定强调品牌传记中的弱者或强者特征时发挥作用。