Brand Management in Hospitality: An Empirical Test of the Brisoux-Laroche Model

Abstract

Consumers’ brand selection process, purchase behavior, and their impact on brand management are least understood in the hospitality literature. This problem is complicated further by the fact that many hospitality companies prefer to develop and manage multiple brands for growth purposes. This study explores the selection process adopted by consumers in choosing a hospitality brand in multibrand situations. The Brisoux-Laroche’s (B-L) consumer behavior model of brand categorization was tested with 16 quick service restaurant brands. The B-L model was supported empirically. Further support for the model was provided by the assessment of net utility values for quality and price for the included brands. Results indicated that consumers use evoked, hold, foggy, and reject set in categorizing the available brands. Each of the awareness sets was further analyzed according to three subgroups of brands: leading, intermediate, and low market share. The findings supported the independent nature of these subgroups. Results are discussed in light of brand management in the hospitality field, and consumers’ brand choice process and managerial implications are presented.