IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i11p8908-d1161186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability and Brand Equity: The Moderating Role of Brand Color and Brand Gender

Author

Listed:
  • Minjae Sun

    (School of Business Administration, Kyung-Hee University, Seoul 02453, Republic of Korea)

  • Joonseok Kim

    (School of Business Administration, Kyung-Hee University, Seoul 02453, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Green color priming has been introduced as a cue for consumer perceptions of sustainability. Nevertheless, the color green is not necessarily effective in every brand’s sustainability strategy. This study aims to understand the impact of a brand’s color and gender in an investigation of the relationship between sustainability and brand equity, including perceived quality. This study examined Interbrand’s Best Global Brands, conducted an international online survey of more than 400 participants, and demonstrated the relationship between brand color, brand gender, and sustainability using the process macro analysis method. In study 1, it was found that the use of the color green in sustainability color strategy is limited depending on the brand gender of the Best Global Brands through case analysis. In the empirical analysis of study 2, it was discovered that a majority of brands created higher brand equity in the color green than in iconic colors when implementing sustainability strategies. However, brands with a high level of feminine personality with graceful and tender characteristics created a higher level of brand equity when implementing their sustainability strategies with iconic colors than with green. These findings suggest that iconic colors are more effective than the color green in sustainability strategies when the masculine personality level is low, and the feminine personality level is high.

Suggested Citation

  • Minjae Sun & Joonseok Kim, 2023. "Sustainability and Brand Equity: The Moderating Role of Brand Color and Brand Gender," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8908-:d:1161186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8908/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8908/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sally Baalbaki & Francisco Guzmán, 2016. "A consumer-perceived consumer-based brand equity scale," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 229-251, May.
    2. Jean-Noël Kapferer & Anne Michaut-Denizeau, 2020. "Are millennials really more sensitive to sustainable luxury? A cross-generational international comparison of sustainability consciousness when buying luxury," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, January.
    3. Jean-Noël Kapferer, 1995. "Brand Confusion: Empirical Study of a Legal Concept," Post-Print hal-00784110, HAL.
    4. Ethan Pancer & Lindsay McShane & Theodore J. Noseworthy, 2017. "Isolated Environmental Cues and Product Efficacy Penalties: The Color Green and Eco-labels," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 159-177, June.
    5. Lauren Labrecque & George Milne, 2013. "To be or not to be different: Exploration of norms and benefits of color differentiation in the marketplace," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 165-176, June.
    6. Joana César Machado & Beatriz Fonseca & Carla Martins, 2021. "Brand logo and brand gender: examining the effects of natural logo designs and color on brand gender perceptions and affect," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 152-170, March.
    7. Frauke Sander & Ulrich Föhl & Nadine Walter & Vera Demmer, 2021. "Green or social? An analysis of environmental and social sustainability advertising and its impact on brand personality, credibility and attitude," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(4), pages 429-445, July.
    8. Stacey M. Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski, 2018. "Roses are red, violets are blue, sophisticated brands have a Tiffany Hue: the effect of iconic brand color priming on brand personality judgments," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 384-394, July.
    9. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Ying Lin & Chia-Sui Weng, 2015. "The Influence of Environmental Friendliness on Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Satisfaction and Green Perceived Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-18, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernanda Muniz & Francisco Guzmán, 2021. "Overcoming the conflicting values of luxury branding and CSR by leveraging celebrity endorsements to build brand equity," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 347-358, May.
    2. Lee, Michael T. & Raschke, Robyn L. & Krishen, Anjala S., 2022. "Signaling green! firm ESG signals in an interconnected environment that promote brand valuation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1-11.
    3. Per Åsberg & Henrik Uggla, 2019. "Introducing multi-dimensional brand architecture: taking structure, market orientation and stakeholder alignment into account," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(5), pages 483-496, September.
    4. Andrzej Falkowski & Justyna Olszewska & Joanna Ulatowska, 2015. "Are look-alikes confusing? The application of the DRM paradigm to test consumer confusion in counterfeit cases," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 461-471, December.
    5. Tuğba Yeğin & Muhammad Ikram, 2022. "Analysis of Consumers’ Electric Vehicle Purchase Intentions: An Expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-27, September.
    6. Silvia Ranfagni & Wilson Ozuem, 2022. "Luxury and Sustainability: Technological Pathways and Potential Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-12, April.
    7. Martinez, Luisa M. & Rando, Belén & Agante, Luisa & Abreu, Ana Maria, 2021. "True colors: Consumers’ packaging choices depend on the color of retail environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Jana Kliestikova & Pavol Durana & Maria Kovacova, 2019. "Naked Consumer's Mind Under Branded Dress: Case Study of Slovak Republic," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(1), pages 15-32.
    9. Munten, Pauline & Swaen, Valérie & Vanhamme, Joëlle, 2024. "Exploring rebound effects in Access-Based services (ABS)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    10. Bachmann, Kremena & Meyer, Julia & Krauss, Annette, 2024. "Investment motives and performance expectations of impact investors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    11. Sarker, Moniruzzaman & Mohd-Any, Amrul Asraf & Kamarulzaman, Yusniza, 2021. "Validating a consumer-based service brand equity (CBSBE) model in the airline industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    12. Lang, Le Dang & Lim, Weng Marc & Guzmán, Francisco, 2022. "How does promotion mix affect brand equity? Insights from a mixed-methods study of low involvement products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 175-190.
    13. Shu Wang & Ying-Kai Liao & Wann-Yih Wu & Khanh Bao Ho Le, 2021. "The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions in Brand Equity, Brand Credibility, Brand Reputation, and Purchase Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    14. Beatriz Moliner-Velázquez & María Fuentes-Blasco & Irene Gil-Saura, 2019. "Effects of value and innovation on brand equity in retailing," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(6), pages 658-674, November.
    15. Henderson, Geraldine R. & Iacobucci, Dawn & Calder, Bobby J., 1998. "Brand diagnostics: Mapping branding effects using consumer associative networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 306-327, December.
    16. Hyunsoo Kim & Chang Won Lee, 2018. "The Effects of Customer Perception and Participation in Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Smartphone Industry Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Joon Yong Seo & Debra L. Scammon, 2017. "Do green packages lead to misperceptions? The influence of package colors on consumers’ perceptions of brands with environmental claims," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 357-369, September.
    18. R. V. ShabbirHusain, 2022. "Green offering: more the centrality, greater the scepticism," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(4), pages 819-834, December.
    19. Bian, Xuemei & Wang, Kai-Yu & Smith, Andrew & Yannopoulou, Natalia, 2016. "New insights into unethical counterfeit consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4249-4258.
    20. Renata Kazimierczak & Justyna Obidzińska & Bartosz Szumigaj & Hubert Dobrowolski & Ewa Rembiałkowska, 2024. "Sustainable Foods: Consumer Opinions and Behaviour towards Organic Fruits in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-21, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8908-:d:1161186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.