The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses
Abstract
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i.e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents’ CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
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- Authors
- Brown, T. J., & Dacin, P. A.
- Affiliations
- Southern Methodist University (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- ORCID
- Brown, Tom J.
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1997-01
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 68-84
- ISSN
- 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7185
- OpenAlex
- W2329745760
- Cited by
- 4,197
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 99 · 2025: 124 · 2024: 131 · 2023: 192 · 2022: 197 · 2021: 184 · 2020: 259 · 2019: 223 · 2018: 258 · 2017: 246 · 2016: 282 · 2015: 254 · 2014: 264 · 2013: 245 · 2012: 233
- FWCI
- 50.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Identity and Reputation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
- Keywords
- business associations, corporate ability, corporate social responsibility, brand knowledge, consumer perception
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