“How brand personality can assist in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries”

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in a nation’s economy, particularly in developing countries. Brand personality has been studied extensively in the literature and adopted almost exclusively by major global brands of large corporations in developed countries. A well-established brand personality allows firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, brand personality is not widely used across SME product categories, partially because investment in brand personality requires a long-term commitment. Drawing upon anthropomorphization theory and customer-brand relationship theory, this paper proposes two major ways that brand personality plays a key role in fulfilling the SDGs, including 1) building customer-brand relationships and 2) developing competitive advantage for SMEs in developing countries. Implications for future research and managerial practice are provided. Corresponding author: Piyaporn Auemsuvarn Email addresses for the corresponding author: piyaporn.auemsuvarn@gmail.com First submission received: 28th February 2019 Revised submission received: 5th May 2019 Accepted: 9th May 2019 Introduction In an ever-changing world economy, businesses struggle to gain an advantage over the competition. To help maintain economic stability, the United Nations included two specific goals in the 2030 plan for Sustainable Development (UNSDGs, 2019a). Goal 8 promotes work and economic growth (sustainable competitive advantage), to achieve higher levels of economic productivity (higher company/brand performance) through diversification (differentiation) that focuses on a high valueadded activity (creating brand personality). Goal 9 aims to increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, especially in developing countries, to fundamental factors affecting capability and sustainability. Given that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 70 percent of total manufacturing establishments in much of the developing world (Chittithaworn, Islam, Keawchana, and Yusuf, 2011; Jenkins, 2009; Krake, 2005), these entities are vital to a nation’s economy (Arbor and Quartey, 2010; Bakiewicz, 2005; Jenkins, 2009; Poole, 2018; Sakolnakorn, 2010). If the world economy is disrupted, the nation’s economy would be disrupted as well. Therefore, the high failure rate among well-established small businesses and enterprises is a matter of major concern (Bekele and Worku, 2008). SMEs’ competitive advantages are often promoted in marketing strategies such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Jenkins, 2009) and brand equity (Selase Asamoah, 2014). However, discussion of how brand personality may enhance competitive advantages for SMEs is very limited. Brand personality is a marketing strategy to humanize a brand (Aaker, 1997; Azoulay and Kapferer, 2003; Geuens, Weijters, and Wulf, 2009). When consumers attribute human characteristics to a brand, they bond and connect better with the brand; and thus, tend to favor the brand more (Fournier, 1998; Khan and Ahmed, 2018). In turn, consumers develop and establish a stronger relationship with brands (Caprara, Barbaranelli, and Guido, 2001; Chaplin and Roedder, 2005; Fournier, 1998). A wellestablished brand personality allows firms to sustain a competitive advantage by providing a means of Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Volume 13, Special Issue May 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 64 differentiation in the midst of tough competition ever as products are increasingly indistinguishable in terms of their attributes and functions (Aaker 1996; Chu and Sung, 2011; Crask and Laskey, 1990; Kim, Han, and Park, 2001; Rutter, Chalvatzis, Roper, and Lettice, 2018). Brand personality has been welladopted and implemented by large enterprises and major global brands, but not by their smaller-sized counterparts. This is partly because investment in brand personality requires a long-term commitment (Agostini, Filippini, and Nosella, 2015; Odoom, Narteh and Boateng, 2017; Ogilvy, 1986). Consequently, brand personality is not widely used across SME product categories. The aim of this paper is to study how the adoption of brand personality specifically related to building customer-brand relationships and developing competitive advantages strongly assists in achieving SDGs 8 and 9, particularly for SMEs in developing countries. Picture 1. Conceptual Framework of achieving SDGs 8 and 9. Literature Review Brand Personality Advertising experts (e.g., creative and copywriter) and marketing practitioners were the first groups to devise the term ‘brand personality’ (Azoulay and Kapferer, 2003). Over the years, research scholars who are interested in brand personality, have been trying to conceptualize what brand personality is actually referring to. While Plummer (1985) suggested that the characterizational aspects of the brand, such as lively/exotic or modern/old-fashioned, are what we call brand personality; the most widely agreed-upon definition of brand personality was proposed by Aaker (1997, p. 347). She defined brand personality as “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand.” In a slightly different vein, Fournier (1998) stated that brand personality can be thought of as a set of trait inferences that cohere into a role perception of the brand as a partner in the relationship dyad (Fournier, 1998). Brand personality can be based on the brand-as-person perspective (Aaker, 1996). According to King (1970), people choose brands the same way they choose their friends. Through interactions with market offerings and marketing communications, customers have come to personify brands as having personality traits (Rutter et al., 2018). Animism, anthropomorphization, and personification are concepts and terms that potentially explain and clarify how a brand can resemble human personality (e.g., Aaker, 1997; Clancy and O'Loughlin, 2002; Davies, Chun, Silva, and Roper, 2004; Gilmore, 1919; Ogilvy, 1983; Plummer, 1985). Hence, the symbolic use of brands is possible because customers often imbue brands with human characteristics or personality traits (Aaker, 1997). Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also known as the Global Goals, the SDGs are a universal call to action by all countries (developed and developing) to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity (UNSDGs, 2019a). The goals and targets took effect on 1 January 2016 and would guide the UN decisions for the next 15 years (UNSDGs, 2019b). The SDGs consist of 17 global goals and 169 targets that are interconnected and attest that sustainable development in a country requires multifaceted Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Volume 13, Special Issue May 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 65 policy developments (Tangcharoensathien, Mills, and Palu, 2015). In addition, achieving the SDGs requires collaboration of the public and private sectors, including large and small enterprises (ISO, 2019; UNDP, 2019). Proposed Methodology Search process This study systematically reviewed brand personality scales and factors that impact the SDGs that were published in databases, including Science Direct, Springer link, Emerald Management, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library, Scopus, JSTOR, SJR (Scimago Journal and Country Rank), and Business Source Ultimate. To identify brand personality dimensions, the author gathered key studies about brand personality scales published between 1997 and 2019, as described below. Study criteria The articles included in this study focused on the following topics: • Empirical research articles published in academic journals. • Empirical research articles that developed brand personality scales in and across product categories and countries. The articles excluded in this study focused on the following topics: • Empirical research articles published in non-international journals. • Empirical research articles that included brand personality scales as independent variables. Data selection The data obtained from the selected articles focused on brand personality scale, which vary widely across product categories in developed and developing countries. The data can be observed in Table 1. Propositions The aim of this article is to research brand personality that impacts the SDGs; particularly Goals 8 and 9. To that end, the researcher developed two propositions, as follows: Proposition 1: Developing brand personality through customer-brand relationship will enhance sustainable competitive advantages for a firm. Proposition 2: Brand personality, as an innovative marketing tool, will enhance SMEs’ performance in developing countries. Analysis and Findings In this section, the researcher analyzes and describes how brand personality can assist in achieving SDG 8 by building customer-brand relationship. The Role of Brand Personality toward Sustainable Competitive Advantage As products are increasingly indistinguishable (Kim, et al., 2001; Rutter et al., 2018), a wellestablished brand personality allows firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by providing a means to differentiate a brand in a product category (Aaker 1996; Chu and Sung, 2011; Crask and Laskey, 1990; Kim et al., 2001). More importantly, it is suggested that when customers identify brands with human characteristics, they can bond and connect better with the brand; and thus, tend to favor the brand more (Khan and Ahmed, 2018). Improved customer-brand connections result because anthropomorphizing brands, in general, aids customers’ emotional engagement, which in turn can help create and cultivate a stronger relationship between customers and brands. Numerous research finds that customers are enthusiastic to recog