Estimating the Value of Brand-Image Associations: The Role of General and Specific Brand Image

Abstract

The authors present a Bayesian simultaneous choice factor model that measures consumers' willingness to pay for brand-image associations. Previous research has found that general brand effects influence a brand's scores on specific image dimensions. To investigate the value of general versus specific brand image, the authors specify a higher-order factor model in which a set of correlated factor scores arise from a general brand factor and a set of orthogonal residual scores that measure the specific dimensions of brand image. The general brand factor is consistent with the concept of a halo effect, which theory ascribes to either an overall evaluative effect or errors in cognition. The authors apply the model to stated preference data on branded midsized sedans accompanied by data on consumer brand-image associations. The authors find that there is substantial value for the specific dimensions of brand image, but only after controlling for the general brand effect with the higher-order factor decomposition.