ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2014, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (7): 987-999.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2014.00987

• 论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

和品牌聊聊天 —— 拟人化沟通对消费者品牌态度影响

汪涛;谢志鹏;崔楠   

  1. (武汉大学 经济与管理学院, 市场营销与旅游管理系, 武汉 430072)
  • 收稿日期:2013-07-15 发布日期:2014-07-25 出版日期:2014-07-25
  • 通讯作者: 谢志鹏
  • 基金资助:

    国家自然科学基金项目(70902054、71272226); 武汉大学人文科学自主科研项目, 中国企业国际化战略研究:合理性视角。

Have A Good Chat with the Brand: The Impact of Personified Brand Communication on Consumer Brand Attitude

WANG Tao;XIE Zhipeng;CUI Nan   

  1. (Department of Marketing and Tourism Mangement, Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)
  • Received:2013-07-15 Online:2014-07-25 Published:2014-07-25
  • Contact: XIE Zhipeng

摘要:

“拟人化沟通”是一种随着互联网环境发展而出现的新兴品牌沟通模式。这种沟通模式不仅为传统的品牌沟通模式带来了新的含义, 更是帮助许多品牌获得了实际的收益。近几年来, 拟人化的研究逐渐成为热点。已有研究者对产品、广告外观等方面的拟人进行了关注, 但对于人类的最大特征:语言模式, 却鲜有研究涉及。因此, 对拟人化品牌沟通模式进行针对性的研究有其必要性。本研究通过3组实验回答了以下几个研究问题:拟人化品牌沟通有怎样的特征, 这些特征会怎样影响消费者的感知, 以及品牌拟人化的使用边界在哪里。实验结论显示, 拟人化沟通中的与品牌不相关的信息缓和了消费者接触品牌时的戒备情绪, 提供了更高的感知自由, 减少了消费者对品牌的心理抗拒, 最终导致品牌态度的上升。这种效应被消费者定向调节模式所调节。本文为希望采用拟人化的品牌提供了指导, 同时也加强了拟人化在营销中的理论深度。

关键词: 拟人化, 调节定向理论, 促进定向, 预防定向, 心理抗拒

Abstract:

The SNS (social networks) based personified brand communication not only differentiates the given brand from its competitors, but also alters the way the consumers perceive the brand. This study thus examines the outcomes of personified brand communication based on the theories of psychological reactance, which predicts that consumers are more willing to make shopping decision on their own, and thus avoid any possibilities of exterior interference. This paper proposes that the effects of personified brand communication are mediated by consumers’ perceived sense of freedom, which eventually leads to enhanced consumer attitude. Last but not least, this study examines the impact of regulatory focus on personification effectiveness. For the pre-test, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 21 participants randomly selected from Wuhan University. The purpose of the pre-test was to establish theoretical stability of personified communication. In Study 1, the researchers conducted 3 separated experiments to test the impact of personified communication on participants’ perception of a brand. The purpose of having multiple test groups was to eliminate the possible influence of brand name on consumer attitude. 91 participants participated in this study. The researchers used different versions of brand advertisement to manipulate the perception of personified/ non-personified brand communication style. 132 participants participated in Study 2. The study adopted a 2 (personified communication vs. non-personified communication) × 2 (promotion focus vs. prevention focus) between-subject design. The purpose was to determine the moderating effect of regulatory focuses. The researchers adopted Wan, Hong and Sternthal’s (2009) method to prime consumers’ different focuses (entertainment company vs. insurance company). Study 3 followed similar procedures as previous tests. The purpose of Study 3 was two-fold: firstly, it replicated the results of previous studies using different means to control the regulatory focuses (Hagtvedt, 2011); secondly, it tested the mediating effect of sense of freedom. The results of this study were three-fold: to start with, irrelevant information is a key dimension in personified brand communication; secondly, personified brand communication can give rise to consumers’ perceived sense of freedom, which then can enhance their attitude towards the brand; in addition, such effect is moderated by consumer regulatory focuses that is comparing to consumers who had prevention focus, personification has a more positive effect for consumers who have promotion focus. The results of this study enrich the theoretical value of personification in marketing in three ways: firstly, it focused on the key dimension of brand personification instead of treating personification as a single dimensional concept. In doing that, this study not only identified the mechanism underneath the personification effectiveness on consumer brand attitude based on psychological reactance theory, but also the circumstances where personification is most suitable (promotion focus). In addition, this study implies the importance of sense freedom in sustaining long-term consumer-brand relationship. Finally, this study provides feasible guideline for companies to personify their brands.

Key words: personification, regulatory focus theory, promotion focus, prevention focus, psychological reactance