Exploring Service Brand Associations: A Consumers' Perspective in Rising Service Economy

Abstract

Across the globe, the importance of the service sector is flourishing as a result of which significance of research to understand the characteristics and attributes of services is rising exponentially. Poor understanding of service characteristics has led to an undue reliance on branding models previously designed for tangible products. Although most of the researches have tried to modify their branding models to cater to the requirements of service branding, most of them are largely based on managerial and organizational perspectives. Few researches have attempted to highlight consumer’s perspectives of what they consider important in a service brand. This study focuses on consumers’ perceptions of important service brand associations and aims to be a stepping stone in the process of developing a specialized model for service branding. The qualitative information garnered for this research allowed digging deeper into the consumer’s mind through in-depth personal interviews. The analytical method of coding, sorting, and sifting assisted in discovering the service brand associations. The results indicate salience of brand associations for consumers of service brands. The most frequently identified service brand associations include service environment and facilities, staff behavior, word-of-mouth communication, price, core service quality, experience (of the service provider and consumers), and advertising of the service brands.