Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to obtain perceptions from three distinct millennial segments about human and nonhuman brands related to travel. Specifically, inter and intra relationships between human and nonhuman brand credibility and equity constructs were investigated.Design/methodology/approachThree millennial generational segments representing 571 respondents familiar with human and nonhuman brands, were investigated to explore their human and nonhuman brand credibility and equity perceptual issues. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the study hypotheses. Multi-group analysis was used to observe group differences.FindingsSelected millennial segments were found to have differences in their behavior pertaining to human and nonhuman brand constructs. All hypotheses of the overall model were accepted. For group differences, a significant difference was observed. Gen Z was found to be different in emulating humans and their linked nonhuman brands when compared to both younger and older Gen Y segments.Research limitations/implicationsStudy findings contribute to the marketing and tourism branding literature, as do findings related to generational differences.Practical implicationsThe authors suggested implications for hospitality and tourism marketing professionals under the headings of emotional attachment, entertaining content, use of social media and exploring brands online. Implications including multicultural, brands with strong values and engaging with brands can be helpful for hospitality managers in attracting millennials.Social implicationsSocial implications suggest behavioral differences related to three sub-groups of generational cohorts involving millennials.Originality/valueThis is the first study dedicated to observing millennial perceptions for human and nonhuman brands.
Highlights
A specific name, sign, symbol or logo of any product is known as a brand
Implications for researchers These study findings offer significant contributions to the existing literature addressing branding as related to millennials, and especially when applied within the context of the hospitality and tourism field
Take for example, the first and forth hypotheses, where the first hypothesis confirmed that a relationship exists between credibility of human and nonhuman brands and the forth hypothesis demonstrated the impact of human brand equity and nonhuman brand equity
Summary
A specific name, sign, symbol or logo of any product is known as a brand. Hotels and restaurants are products, while brands are represented by Hilton, Marriott, Westin, Outback, Capital Grille and The Cheesecake Factory. Media houses/Channels are news products, while CNN, The Travel Channel and ESPN are some popular news channel brands. The main purpose of branding is to allow products to stand out from their competitors by adding credibility, meaning and value. The branding literature has transformed into various shapes, which. Very few studies have addressed humans as brands (Thomson, 2006; Close et al, 2011). Marriott Hotels, a nonhuman brand is linked with many human brands such as its employees, guests and Stakeholders
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