IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v140y2022icp533-545.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why and when is older better? The role of brand heritage and of the product category in the evaluation of brand longevity

Author

Listed:
  • Pecot, Fabien
  • Merchant, Altaf

Abstract

Different streams in marketing literature report a positive effect from longevity claims (e.g., ‘since 1840’) on perceptions of quality. This paper integrates these different streams under the framework of the existence bias and its corollary, the ‘longer is better’ effect, in order to advance knowledge about this positive bias in consumer decision-making. Four experiments and one survey of a representative sample reveal the following: (1) the ‘longer is better’ effect is non-linear, as increasing the intensity of the claim does not translate into higher perception of quality above a certain point related to the average longevity of the product category; (2) it is mediated by perceived longevity and brand heritage; (3) it is stronger for brands younger than their category’s average longevity, and when consumers believe that there is more competition in the product category. These results have implications for research on the meaning and value of longevity.

Suggested Citation

  • Pecot, Fabien & Merchant, Altaf, 2022. "Why and when is older better? The role of brand heritage and of the product category in the evaluation of brand longevity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 533-545.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:140:y:2022:i:c:p:533-545
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321008286
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Huaman-Ramirez & Maaninou Nada & D. Merunka & Veronique Cova, 2020. "How Do Consumers Perceive Old Brands? Measurement and Brand Equity Consequences of Brand Oldness Associations," Post-Print hal-03082949, HAL.
    2. Fabien Pecot & Altaf Merchant & Pierre Valette-Florence & Virginie de Barnier, 2018. "Cognitive outcomes of brand heritage: A signaling perspective," Post-Print hal-01831914, HAL.
    3. Pecot, Fabien & Merchant, Altaf & Valette-Florence, Pierre & De Barnier, Virginie, 2018. "Cognitive outcomes of brand heritage: A signaling perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 304-316.
    4. Fabien Pecot & Pierre Valette-Florence & Virginie de Barnier, 2019. "Brand heritage as a temporal perception: conceptualisation, measure and consequences," Post-Print hal-03497144, HAL.
    5. Kunz, Werner & Schmitt, Bernd & Meyer, Anton, 2011. "How does perceived firm innovativeness affect the consumer?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 816-822, August.
    6. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    7. Rinaldo Evangelista & Tore Sandven & Giorgio Sirilli & Keith Smith, 1998. "Measuring Innovation in European Industry," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 311-333.
    8. Rose, Gregory M. & Merchant, Altaf & Orth, Ulrich R. & Horstmann, Florian, 2016. "Emphasizing brand heritage: Does it work? And how?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 936-943.
    9. Baumert, Thomas & de Obesso, María de las Mercedes, 2021. "Brand antiquity and value perception: Are customers willing to pay higher prices for older brands?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 241-254.
    10. Richard Huaman-Ramirez & Nada Maaninou & Dwight Merunka & Véronique Cova, 2020. "How do consumers perceive old brands? Measurement and consequences of brand oldness associations," Post-Print hal-03513377, HAL.
    11. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fabien Pecot & Gregory Rose & Altaf Merchant & Sunmee Choi, 2023. "Brand heritage across cultures: U.S.A., France and South Korea," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(1), pages 49-60, January.
    2. Pecot, Fabien & Celhay, Franck & Kacha, Mathieu & Lombard, Gautier, 2022. "Expressions of the past: A practice-based approach of brand longevity visual translation in advertising," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 121-133.
    3. Liu, Xiaotian & Popkowski Leszczyc, Peter T.L., 2023. "The reference price effect of historical price lists in online auctions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    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. Volpert, Johanna & Michel, Géraldine, 2022. "Brand resurrections: How past and present narrations impact consumer reactions towards resurrected utilitarian brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 479-493.
    2. Magnoni, Fanny & Valette-Florence, Pierre & De Barnier, Virginie, 2021. "Modeling the effects of place heritage and place experience on residents’ behavioral intentions toward a city: A mediation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 428-442.
    3. Fabien Pecot & Gregory Rose & Altaf Merchant & Sunmee Choi, 2023. "Brand heritage across cultures: U.S.A., France and South Korea," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(1), pages 49-60, January.
    4. Olof Brunninge, 2023. "Invented corporate heritage brands," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(2), pages 157-169, March.
    5. Pedro Mir Bernal & Fabien Pecot & Bradford Hudson & Virginie Barnier, 2023. "Inducing omni-temporality: product heritage appropriation in corporate heritage brand construction," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(2), pages 144-156, March.
    6. Martin Heinberg & Constantine S. Katsikeas & H. Erkan Ozkaya & Markus Taube, 2020. "How nostalgic brand positioning shapes brand equity: differences between emerging and developed markets," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 869-890, September.
    7. 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.
    8. Thanh-Thao Nguyen & Bianca Grohmann, 0. "The influence of passion/determination and external disadvantage on consumer responses to brand biographies," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-14.
    9. Korzynski, Pawel & Mazurek, Grzegorz & Haenlein, Michael, 2020. "Leveraging employees as spokespeople in your HR strategy: How company-related employee posts on social media can help firms to attract new talent," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 204-212.
    10. Thanh-Thao Nguyen & Bianca Grohmann, 2020. "The influence of passion/determination and external disadvantage on consumer responses to brand biographies," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(4), pages 452-465, July.
    11. Zheng Shen, 2022. "How Small Brands Survive the Social Media Firestorm Through Culture Heritage: A Case Study of Irish Fashion Microblogging," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    12. Angela Bargenda, 2023. "Styling the corporate heritage brand: identity building through architectural design," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(2), pages 116-128, March.
    13. Aurélie Hemonnet-Goujot & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2022. "“All you need is love”. From product design value perception to luxury brand love: An integrated framework," Post-Print hal-03562015, HAL.
    14. Al-Amad, Amjad H. & Balmer, John M.T., 2023. "Augmented role identity saliency of CSR in corporate heritage organizations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    15. Hemonnet-Goujot, Aurélie & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2022. "“All you need is love” from product design value perception to luxury brand love: An integrated framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1463-1475.
    16. Yi He & Qimei Chen & Dana L. Alden, 2016. "Time will tell: managing post-purchase changes in brand attitude," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 791-805, November.
    17. Anwar Sadat Shimul, 2022. "Brand attachment: a review and future research," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 400-419, July.
    18. Cambier, Fanny & Poncin, Ingrid, 2020. "Inferring brand integrity from marketing communications: The effects of brand transparency signals in a consumer empowerment context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 260-270.
    19. Hussain, Shahzeb & Melewar, T.C. & Priporas, Constantinos-Vasilios & Foroudi, Pantea & Dennis, Charles, 2020. "Examining the effects of celebrity trust on advertising credibility, brand credibility and corporate credibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 472-488.
    20. Johnson, Clark D. & Bauer, Brittney C. & Kelting, Katie & Jankuhn, Nicolas & Sim, Woojong, 2021. "Location, location … mailing location? The impact of address as a signal," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 326-337.

    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:eee:jbrese:v:140:y:2022:i:c:p:533-545. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.