Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study in China

Xiaoling (Martine) Guo

Department of Marketing, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

Andy Wei Hao

University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut, USA, and

Xiaoyan Shang
Department of Marketing, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers perception of brand functions in an emerging market: China. The study also aims to investigate the impact of brand functions on brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach A two-phase study was conducted. The rst phase consisted of 15 personal in-depth interviews while the structured questionnaires were used to collect data in the second stage and a total of 256 consumers participated in this study. Findings The study nds general support that consumer perceives both utilitarian and expressive functions of the brand. Specically, the results of the research show that for Chinese consumers, brands accomplish various functions such as recall of past experiences, quality sign and identify. Moreover, recall of past experiences is a unique brand function for Chinese consumers and has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Originality/value To the authors knowledge, this paper is the rst to shed light on examining consumer perceptions of brand functions in the Chinese market. Keywords Brand functions, Utilitarian function, Expressive function, Chinese culture, Brand awareness, Consumers, Perception, China Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.

1. Introduction
Numerous branded products are now penetrating into each corner of consumers daily life. Consumers attach various important meanings to brands when making a purchase decision. Loyal consumers only purchase products or services of certain brands. Therefore, rms are making huge investments in building up brand loyalty and brand equity. Only if the brand can satisfy consumers special needs and fulll special functions, are consumers willing to pay a premium for branded products, to show sensitivity to the brand, and further, to build a loyal relationship with the brand. As a result, brand functions lay out the foundation for brand sensitivity and brand loyalty (Kapferer and Lauren, 1992; Keller, 1998; Keller and Lehman, 2006). However, in the brands and branding literature, there are few studies about brand functions, not to mention even the studies on the comparisons of brand functions across different cultural contexts. In fact, consumers perception of brand
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functions is likely to be inuenced by their cultural contexts since the brand is just a cultural vehicle (Keller, 1998; Aaker et al., 2001). Thus, it is important and interesting to contribute to the literature of brands and branding by examining consumers perception of brand functions in emerging markets and developing countries. Considering the growing importance of the Chinese market, it is worthwhile to investigate the differences between Chinese consumers and Western consumers. In short, the main objectives of this study are to: . examine the dimensionalities of brand functions based on the perceptions of Chinese consumers; . compare the differences in the perceptions of brand functions between Chinese consumers and Western consumers; and . investigate the relationship between brand functions and brand loyalty. With these objectives in mind, the article is organized as follows. The next section presents a brief overview of brand functions literature regarding the dimensionalities of brand function and the utilities and values the brand provides to the consumer. Then, we describe the process of a two-phase study. The rst phase consisted of 15 personal in-depth interviews while a survey was conducted during the second phase. Finally, the discussion and managerial implications are provided.
The authors thank the Ministry of Education of China for funding this research (08JA630052).

Journal of Consumer Marketing 28/4 (2011) 269 279 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] [DOI 10.1108/07363761111143169]

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Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

2. Literature review
Consumer brand purchase and consumption behavior are driven by consumer needs. Researchers classied consumer needs into three basic categories (Park et al., 1986; Keller, 2003): 1 functional needs are dened as the needs of resolving current problems, avoiding potential problems, settling the disputes, reconstituting the normal situation, etc.; 2 experiential needs refer to the needs of experiencing excitement, pleasure and joy psychologically satised through consuming the services; and 3 symbolic needs are dened at desires for products that show the consumers success in the public, achieve the respect and admire of others, or demonstrate the social status belongingness. Mittal et al. (1990) further grouped the experiential needs and the symbolic needs and thus formed the dichotomy of consumer needs: functional needs and expressive needs. In their study, functional needs are dened as nding the favorable way to manage individuals physical environment and the physical attributes of product being stressed while expressive needs are dened as nding the favorable way to manage individuals social environment and thus the selfconcept, the communication with others and the expression of in-depth values, and preferred personality traits being accorded importance. Consumer needs are satised by the products, services and brands. Many brands are able to satisfy both the functional needs and the expressive needs (Park et al. 1986; Bhat and Reddy, 1998; Vazquez et al., 2002; Orth and Marchi, 2007) because brands can add symbolic meanings to physical goods and intangible services through multiple dimensions such as brand names, packaging, advertisement. A simple typology would suggest two types of brand functions: utilitarian functions and expressive functions. 2.1 The utilitarian functions Researchers have studied brand utilitarian function from different perspectives. Based on utility theory in economics and cognition theory in cognitive psychology, this stream of research aims at examining how brands can be utilized to help consumers make the optimal purchase decision, i.e., choose the products of high quality (e.g. Hoch and Ha, 1986; Monroe and Dodds, 1988; Leuthesser et al., 1995). For example, from the cognitive capacity perspective, brand was viewed as one extrinsic variable to infer the product quality and thus to reduce the purchase complexity (Monroe and Dodds, 1988). In the case of cognition distortion, consumers overall evaluation of certain brand could inuence the evaluations of its special attributes (Thorndike, 1920; Leuthesser et al., 1995). Regarding cognition shortcut and cognition heuristic, brand reputation and brand reference could help consumers make judgments when the quality of products is too subjective or too opaque (Hoch and Ha, 1986). From the perspective of information economics, the sellers, in a position of information asymmetry with the buyers, are likely to emit signs such as the brand to facilitate the consumers inference of otherwise unobservable quality (Erdem and Swait, 1998; Kirmani and Rao, 2000). To summarize, all the conceptual frameworks above demonstrate that brand is a product quality sign that facilitates consumers judgments about product quality and thus making a purchase decision. 270

There are some empirical studies that examined the quality signal function of the brand. For example, Dawar and Parker (1994) found that brand name was a quality guarantee, more powerful than other extrinsic variables such as price, physical appearances and store reputation. The results were also found invariant across different cultural contexts. In other crosscultural study, it was demonstrated that compared to Western consumers, Chinese consumers are more likely to depend on the brand name to infer the product quality (Nisbett et al., 2001). This phenomenon was rooted in the synthetic thinking pattern of the Chinese, in contrast with the analytic thinking pattern of those in the West. Kapferer and Lauren (1992) conducted an exploratory research through a focus group and proposed six generic brand functions as in the following: 1 Simplication. The brand allows the consumer to identify quickly different products under the same product category and to buy directly the regularly purchased brand without evaluating again the alternatives, as a result, the time can be saved and the purchase process can be simplied. 2 Guarantee. The consumers are more likely to buy the known brands, particularly in case of insufcient cognition capacity and high perceived risk. 3 Specialty. Certain brands are synonyms of particular physical or imagined attributes and constitute a somewhat unique offering available in the market. 4 Personalizing. Consumers express their social position through the choice of certain brands and these brands represent both their personality and their social belongingness. 5 Affective function. Consumers feel excitement, joy and satisfaction through the shopping activities. 6 Differentiation. The brand can differentiate a great amount of products and is able to reveal the otherwise implicit quality of services. Among the six functions, only the personalizing and the affective functions can be attributed to the expressive function. Globally, it can be assumed that this study derived principally brand functions that satisfy consumers functional needs and the major brand functions are to guarantee the product quality and simplify the purchasing process. 2.2 The expressive functions With the change of consumption pattern, nowadays the consuming process is no longer regarded as a process of possessing and using up of products that satisfy only the functional needs. Rather, the consuming process is becoming more and more a process of experiencing the various feelings related to the products and brands. The classical brand decision process of attributes evaluation, attitude formation, and purchase behavior seems limited in explaining various consumer behaviors such as experience consumption, conspicuous consumption and impulsive purchase which are omnipresent nowadays. In fact, consumer attitude itself is becoming one subset of feelings, and the traditional marketing paradigm with the optimal function as the ultimate objective is turning into a new one with stress more on feelings and relationships (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). Brands satisfy higher level expressive needs and possess affective and symbolic functions in addition to the utilitarian one. Thus from the perspective of customer values (benets), the

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

functional value is just one of the various values that consumers seek through the process of purchasing and consumption of the brands. In general, the individuals value can be classied into two categories: instrumental values and ultimate values (Rokeach, 1973). The ultimate values represent the nal state of being (belongingness, self-respect, achievements, social identication, pleasure, etc.) that consumers prefer, while the instrumental values signify the preferred behavior pattern taken by consumers in order to obtain their ultimate values. According to the means-end theory, the product attributes and the resulting consumer behaviors are a means to achieve the consumer values, which are, in turn, the original driving force of consumer behavior. Further, the instrumental values are means to the end of ultimate values (Valette-Florence and Rapacchi, 1991). Based on value theory, the utilitarian and the expressive function of brands nd their foundations respectively in the seeking of instrumental and ultimate values. The brand expressive functions are essential in explaining consumer behavior. Fournier (1998) provided a seven-dimensional picture about the consumer-brand relationship which basically reects the brand expressive functions: love and passion, self-concept connection, interdependence, commitment, intimacy, partner quality and nostalgic attachment. Heilbrunn (2001) found various types of affective attachment between the consumer and the brand, such as feeling stabilization, interpersonal connection, value crystallization, identity expression, pleasure stimulus and psychological shock. Consumers expressive needs (including experiential needs and symbolic needs) also nd their roots in self-concept theory, which suggests that the self is formed through consumption and the congruity between the self and the consumption is a learned process (Grubb and Grathwohl, 1967; Malhotra, 1981; Onkvisit and Shaw, 1987; Graeff, 1997). As early as 1969, Dolich proposed that the purchase and consumption of symbolic products and brands could help reinforce the consumers self-image (Dolich, 1969). The interaction between the self and the environment is pursued to protect and improve the self-concept. Consumer behavior was considered in line with the congruity seeking between the self-concept and brand image and the brands reecting selfimage were preferred by consumers. The higher the degree of congruity was, the higher the degree of satisfaction of consumers was, and the more positive the consumers attitude toward the brand and the closer the consumer-brand relationship (Heath and Scott, 1998). The consumer generally seeks brands with the same image as him/herself which are protect, develop and reinforce self-concept (Belk, 1988). Briey, the brand expressive functions focus on the expressive attachment and relationship between the consumer and the brand. Moreover, the brand is considered more a consumer partner than a vehicle exploited by the latter. In the partnership, the quality is no longer the major concern but the social and psychological meanings carried by the product are put in place. In other words, the importance of the brand does not lie in its use but in its being. The existing studies about brand functions were carried out in Western countries and reected the perception of Western consumers (e.g. Kapferer and Lauren, 1992; Bhat and Reddy, 1998). In order to throw light on the similarities and particularly, the differences between the brand function 271

perceptions of Western and Eastern consumers, we attempted to conduct an exploratory research in examining Chinese consumers perceptions of brand functions and the possible relationship between brand functions and brand loyalty. A two-phase study was conducted. The rst phase consisted of 15 personal in-depth interviews while the structured questionnaires were used to collect data in the second stage.

3. Phase one: in-depth interviews of brand functions in China

3.1 Research design and process In line with the literature, we conducted individual in-depth interviews to examine the brand functions perceived by Chinese consumers. This approach is appropriate in getting otherwise hidden information with the aid of a relaxing setting. In terms of product category, fruit juice (the degree of mixture equals or greater than 10 percent) was chosen because of its popularity and there exist numerous competing brands in the market. In addition, fruit juice is considered as possessing the utilitarian function (thirsty easing), experiential function (inner pleasure and excitement) and to some extent symbolic function (healthy self-concept). Refer to the denition of product symbolic status proposed by Wright (2005), fruit juice is not located in the extreme position in terms of self-concept, impression management, lifestyle and social visibility and such a choice is believed to be able to increase the external validity of our research. A convenience sample of 15 was selected to participate in the individual interview. The sample consisted of seven men and eight women with an average age of 29 and various professional backgrounds (Table I). They were contacted by telephone to set up an appointment. The interview was carried out in a friendly environment such as cafe bar or teahouse. The interviewees were asked to name at least three fruit juice brands and they had to consume fruit juice during the last 15 days. The screening process allowed us to identify most qualied respondents who were considered appropriate in terms of brand knowledge and possible brand relationships. Two trained interviewers (graduate assistants in the same university) and the researchers conducted the interviews within two months. A detailed semi-directive interview guide was prepared by the researchers. The interviewers guided the participants to talk about brands functions, the importance attached to the brands and whether they were loyal to certain brands. The interview took about 32 minutes on average. With the consent of the participants, the interviews were recorded and the vocal documents were turned into written documents within three days. Based on the thematic analysis, the major themes were derived and the contents related to brand functions and brand loyalty were identied. 3.2 Research results about brand functions In a descending order of citation frequency, the following dimensions of brand functions for Chinese consumers were brought to light. 3.2.1 Quality sign Chinese consumers view the famous brands as a sign of high quality. They perceive less risk in choosing these brands and are willing to pay a higher price. Owing to the rising concern

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

Table I Sample characteristics

Interviewees 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Gender Female Female Male Female Male Male Male Female Female Female Female Male Male Female Male Age 31 29 23 32 27 20 22 40 24 40 27 25 34 39 27 Occupation Assistant to general manager Employee of joint venture Director of MBA program Lawyer Employee of Bank of China Undergraduate student Undergraduate student Manager of trading company Graduate student Professor Project manager Graduate student Professor Manager of joint venture Employee of state-owned company Contact Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Telephone interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Face-to-face interview Telephone interview Telephone interview Telephone interview

of food security, in general Chinese consumers prefer established brands to unknown or local brands.
It [the brand] matters. It tells me the product quality and whether the product is environmentally friendly or not. Brand name is always one of the important factors for me to decide which one [fruit juice] to buy (04). For fruit juice products, the brand is very important and it is an indicator of product quality and a guarantee of nutrition contained. Less known brands/ unknown brands may have similar taste but the ingredients may be different and less nutritious. When I am not sure about the quality of the fruit juice, I prefer known brands to unknown ones and the brand name is a choice criterion for me (06). I trust known brands [fruit juice]. I do not need to worry about the product quality if I buy these brands. There are some inferior brands that may be cheaper but I am concerned about the ingredients contained, some of which may be not as healthy as those of the known brands (07). I do not purchase private label fruit juice. I think the product quality of private label is not good enough (10). I do not buy unknown brands of fruit juice. The product quality is not guaranteed, and it might be not healthy. If I cannot nd the brands I prefer, Id rather buy some other types of juices (11).

juice brands are younger generation, the following adjectives such as fashionable, open, young were often cited:
The brand A is tender, kind, natural, like a rural girl (01). I think the brand Xianchengduo is very young, aged 25-26, a little immature. By contrast, the brand Huiyuan is more rational and consistent, less promoted, less ostentatious, like a city guy (04). Xianchengmeiri C is fresh, fashionable, healthy, pure and lively. It seems more feminine (07).

3.2.4 Interpersonal connection For Chinese consumers, brand is one part of their social life, which helps them connect with each other:
We all drink Huiyuan fruit juice in parties with friends, which makes us feel closer to each other (01). We like to have some fruit juice when we are together with friends or with the family during the festivals/holidays. The brands make us feel that we are connected with each other (02).

3.2.2 Recall of past experiences Chinese consumers show strong feelings of attachments toward the brands and these feelings are closely related with their families and their past experiences. The brands make them recall the joyful time they have had with their friends and families:
The fruit juice brands remind me of the parties that I had with my friends. I offered them delicious food and drinks including the juice brands I prefer. I often associate these fruit juice brands with some past experiences (02). I do care about the quality of my life and my health. I like the brand Xianchengmeiri C, which is rich with nutrition. I drink this since I was a kid because my mom told me to do so (07). After I graduated from college and got a job, I chose Dahu fruit juice more frequently than before. Part of the reasons was the inuence from peers. It is a pleasure for me to drink it, especially when I was hanging out with my friends. It makes me to recall those good memories (09). I drink fruit juice since my childhood. My mother does not allow me to drink Coca-Cola, which she thinks is not healthy and would make me fat. Drinking Meizhiyuan fruit juice is becoming one of my habits. When we had parties at my high school or with university classmates, we all drank it and I felt very happy. These memories are always there (12).

3.2.5 Pleasure stimulus The brand is one of the sources of pleasure for Chinese consumers. Some fruit juice brands are able to arouse strong pleasure feelings, especially the feelings in accordance with Chinese culture, such as tranquil, peacefulness, gentleness, etc.:
I feel happy when I drink Xianchengduo. I am enjoying the life. Just imagine the feeling that you are drinking the fruit juice in a crowded bus during the hot summer. It makes you feel that you are free from the crowd and the hotness (06). I feel the life is sweet when I drink Dahu or Huaqi. It provides me the hope for a better life (05).

3.2.6 Product identication The brand enables Chinese consumers to identify different products more easily and simplify the decision process:
The brands make it easier for me to recognize the product, which is convenient for me because I am very busy with my work and have no time for shopping (02).

3.2.3 Personalization Chinese consumers presented no difculties in exploring brand personalities. Since the major target market of fruit 272

3.3 Findings about brand loyalty The exploratory research also enables us to examine whether Chinese consumers are likely to develop enduring loyalty toward the brands, both behaviorally and affectively. This is illustrated by the following four aspects.

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

3.3.1 Repeated purchases The interviewees showed a strong and positive attitude toward the preferred brand and intended to purchase or actually repurchased the same brand:
Ill buy the same brand next time. It is possible that I may try some new brands, but Ill stick to the same brand for a while (03). I wont switch to other brands. I like new things so Ill try new products. If satised, the new brands will be added to my current choice set, which keeps growing (05). I choose Huiyuan whenever I buy fruit juice. I never try unfamiliar brands (10).

3.3.2 Positive attitude toward the extensions of the same brands Chinese consumers demonstrate a positive attitude toward the extension products of the preferred fruit juice brand and would like to try the new extension products:
For any new product launched by Kangshifu, I feel the quality is guaranteed. It is the same with Huiyuan, I would like to try the new products of this brand (01). If I like a brand, I would also like to buy their extension products. For example, I like Kangshifus original orange juice but also their extension product: grape juice. I like both of them (02).

3.3.3 Insensitivity to the price of the preferred brand For their preferred brands, Chinese consumers are price insensitive. They tolerate a certain degree of price increase and price differences, which indicates the enduring preference and brand loyalty:
I like Huiyuan although its price is 50 percent higher than those of other brands (07). A price difference of 30 percent is Ok for me. I am willing to pay more for my preferred brand (11). The current price of Guolicheng is a little higher than their competitors. Even they increase the price a little bit more in the future, I still stay with it (12).

3.3.4 Recommendations to others The interviews revealed that Chinese consumers intended to recommend their preferred brands to others. A commitment was established between the consumers and their preferred brands:
Ill recommend the brand to my girlfriend. It is desirable that we like the same brand. Ill invite her to try it when we eat out. Once married, hope this will be one of the items purchased very frequently (07). When having parties with friends, we like to drink fruit juice. I often recommend to girls this brand, Meizhiyuan, which indicate friendship and intimacy (12). I often buy Huiyuan for my family, including my children. I also recommend it to my colleagues when we have dinner together (14).

for expressive function: recall for past experiences, personalization, interpersonal connection and pleasure stimulus. Quality sign and recall for past experiences are two most frequently cited brand functions. In China, the product quality is of great concern and Chinese consumers rely heavily on brand name to infer the quality and avoid counterfeits, especially for consumer packaging products. It is interesting that Chinese consumers address more expressive brand functions. In fact, during the interviews we asked the participants to talk about brand functions in a general way without focusing on individual values. However, the results show that for Chinese consumers brand is more an expressive media than a utilitarian tool. More specically, recall of past experiences emerged as a unique brand function to Chinese consumers which never appeared in the branding literature. This might be explained by the Chinese culture which stresses the continuity of time and believes that the past, the present and the future are inseparable. In peoples daily life, they do not plan everything precisely and each moment of time is not as important as the continuity of time, which is poly-chronology time oriented in contrast with the Western peoples mono-chronology time orientation (Hall, 1983; Usunier, 1991) that emphasizes the moment of time and each moment corresponds to one special task. From the cultural point of view, it is possible that Chinese consumers develop a strong attachment to their preferred brands because these brands witness their past life experience and to some extent become a symbolic link between the past, the present and the future as well as a powerful vehicle of the time continuity. Recall of past experiences reects the importance of continuity in consumer-brand relationship in Chinese cultural context. It is expected that this brand function has a positive impact on consumers brand loyalty both affectively and behaviorally. During the interviews, Chinese consumers present a strong commitment towards their preferred brands such as longterm preference, willingness to buy extension products, price inelasticity, and recommendations to others. This is also in line with the long-term orientation of Chinese culture (Hofstede, 1991), which indicates that Chinese consumers tend to develop a long-term relationship with their preferred brands. In sum, two hypotheses are formed based on the exploratory research results and will be further tested in the following survey study: H1. Recall of past experiences is one dimension of Chinese consumers perception of brand functions. H2. Recall of past experiences has a positive inuence on consumers brand loyalty.

3.3.5 The unpleasant feeling if the preferred brand disappears Chinese consumers show unpleasant feelings if their preferred brands are disappeared or not available. They will make the efforts to buy it somewhere else:
It is sad if my preferred brand disappears (02). I feel disappointed if I cant nd Huiyuan in the store I frequently visit. Probably Ill go to other stores to get it if they are close, for instance, within 10 minutes walk (04).

4. Phase two: survey study of brand functions in China

Whether the brand functions perform differently in China, as suggested by the results of exploratory research, was assessed by the following survey study. The objective of phase two study lies in two aspects: 1 identify the structure of brand functions for Chinese consumers; and 2 examine the relationship between brand functions and brand loyalty. 273

3.4 Discussion of qualitative study Table II summarizes the results of exploratory research with a descending order of citation frequency. The same as western consumers, both brand utilitarian and expressive functions exist for Chinese consumers but the latter is dominant. There are two dimensions for the utilitarian function: quality sign and product identication while there appear four dimensions

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

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Table II Summary of the in-depth interviews

Information categories Themes entailed from content analysis Quality sign Recall of past experiences Personalization Interpersonal connection Pleasure stimulus Product identication Repeat purchase Willingness to buy the extension products Price inelasticity Recommendation Feeling of loss with disappearance Citation frequency (%) 73 47 47 27 20 10 73 53 47 33 27

Brand functions Utilitarian function Expressive function Expressive function Expressive function Expressive function Utilitarian function Brand loyalty

4.1 Procedure Mobile phone, a product category that is different from phase one study, was selected for the survey research. Unlike fruit juice, mobile phone is considered as a durable good. Incorporation of both durable and nondurable goods into our project helps increase the robustness of research results. A pretest with 28 students was conducted and then the questionnaire was improved accordingly. In the main study, a convenience sample of university students participated in our questionnaire survey. The questionnaires were delivered during the last class of the semester. It took about 30 minutes for the students to nish the questionnaire. They were given some extra credits for the participation. Totally 256 questionnaires were collected and 217 were useful. The sample was comprised of 38.8 percent male and 61.2 percent female and the average age is 21. 4.2 Scale development and test An initial brand function scale of 30 items was developed based on the interview results and literature review. A process of item deletion, scale purication, reliability and validity assessment was followed to identify the factor pattern of brand function. Three items were eliminated because of ambiguity with the pretest. A series of analysis were undertaken with the remaining 27 items. Principal component analysis was used to purify the scale and explore the factor structure of brand functions. Test of Barlett (, 0.001) and the value of KMO (0.769) indicated the appropriateness of data for exploratory factor analysis. With a vari-max rotation, a clear factor pattern emerged, comprising three dimensions and nine items. In total, 69.678 percent of the variance was explained. All item communities are higher than 0.50 and all factor loadings are higher than 0.70. As expected, recall of past experiences emerged as one of the major factors of brand functions in China. In addition to the utilitarian function of quality guarantee, the symbolic function of identity was also revealed (Table III). In the following step, structural equation modeling was employed for conrmatory factor analyses and path analyses. A two-step approach recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was followed. In the rst step, the measurement model was examined to ensure the reliability and validity of the proposed constructs. In the second step, the hypotheses of the relationship between constructs were tested. 274

Having established the three dimensions of brand functions in China, we conducted a conrmatory factor analysis to examine the good-of-tness of the measurement model. At this stage, the construct of brand loyalty with three sevenpoint Likert items were also included in the measurement model. The results of conrmatory factor analysis indicate an acceptable t of the model: x2 48 1:83, p , 0:5, goodnessof-t index GFI 0:94, adjusted goodness-of-t index AGFI 0:90, root mean square error of approximation RMSEA 0:062, SRMR 0:056 (Hoyer and Panter, 1995; Hu and Benter, 1999). Next, the reliability and validity of these constructs were tested. Cronbach a and Jo reskog r were calculated to evaluate the reliability in the measurement of latent variable. In particular, Jo reskog r was added to Cronbach a because the latter tended to underestimate the reliability for three reasons: the value increase with item number, measurement errors not being taken into account and assumption of identical factor loadings (Roussel et al., 2002). These results appear in Table IV. Taking into account that values over 0.6 are considered acceptable (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Nunnally, 1978), the reliability of the scale is veried. The convergent validity is also supported as the factor loading of each item is signicant (t . 1:96) and higher than 0.5, and the overall t of the model is good (Steenkamp and van Trijp, 1991). The discriminant validity of the three dimensional scale was investigated by xing the correlation among the factors to 1 and then comparing the difference of x2 against the difference of degree of freedom. Six comparisons were undertaken successively. As indicated by Table IV, the differences of x2 were all signicant with the value Dx2/Ddf being principally over the critical value of 3.841 (p , 0:05). Thus the discriminant validity was conrmed. In conclusion, it can be afrmed that the proposed scale of brand functions is reliable and valid. The analysis of brand function scale veried H1 that recall of past experiences is one important factor of brand functions for Chinese consumers. 4.3 Structural model According to our hypotheses, a structural equation modeling was developed to assess the statistical signicance of the proposed relationships between brand functions and brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is endogenous construct and three factors of brand function are taken as exogenous constructs, the structural model aims at examining the predictive powers

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

Table III Principal component analysis of brand functions in China

Factor loadings 0.717 0.806 0.828 0.799 0.923 0.923 0.704 0.773 0.748 Explained Cumulative variance variance (%) (%) 29.103 29.103

Factors Factor 1: recall of past experiences

Items With this brand, I feel like the past and the present of my life are closely connected This brand carries some happy episodes of my past experiences There are some stories about my life behind this brand This brand often reminds me of friends I made in the past For mobile phone product, this brand signies an overall high quality. For mobile phone product, I think there is quality guarantee for this brand It seems that some attributes of this brand correspond with my values Using this brand, I can make a good impression on my friends This brand matches my social identity

Factor 2: quality guarantee Factor 3: identity

20.793 19.782

49.896 69.678

Table IV Reliability and validity test of the scale of brand functions

Reliability Convergent validity Factor loading 0.64 0.79 0.77 0.75 0.8779 0.8842 0.82 0.95 0.58 0.56 0.73 0.75 0.89 0.79 Discriminant validity Equality setting of correlation between pairs of constructs Dx2 quality guarantee identity brand loyalty identity brand loyalty brand loyalty 17.61 8.63 8.13

Factors Recall of past experiences

Items A15 A19 A20 A22

Cronbach a 0.8235

Joreskog r 0.8278

t
9.01 8.87 8.68 14.39 5.69 6.12 12.61 11.40

p
, 0.001 , 0.01 , 0.01

Quality guarantee

A1 A3 A8 A9 A10 A24 A25 A26

20.10 3.05 11.30

, 0.001 , 0.10 , 0.001

Identity

0.6560

0.6589

Brand loyalty

0.8409

0.8515

of brand function factors upon brand loyalty. The path coefcients were presented in Table V. The model explained as high as 68 percent of the variance. It was demonstrated that brand functions are good predictors of brand loyalty. Two of the three regression coefcients are positive and signicant. The quality guarantee is the most powerful explanative factor of brand loyalty (b 0:75, p , 0:001) and the recall of past experiences follows with a less important coefcient but similarly signicant (b 0:20, p , 0:01). However, the inuence of identity toward brand Table V Parameter estimates of the structural model and signicance
Models and paths Model Recall of past experiences ! brand loyalty Quality guarantee ! brand loyalty Identity ! brand loyalty

loyalty is limited (b 0:01, p . 0:1). The results provided strong support for H2. The recall of past experiences, a unique factor of brand function for Chinese consumers, has a positive effect on consumers brand loyalty.

5. Discussion and managerial implications

This research makes several contributions to the literature on brands and branding. First, although the volume of scholarly research on brands and branding is quite large, little effort has

R2
0.68

Intervals (a 5 0.05) (0.44, 0.92)

b
0.20 0.75 0.01

Standard errors 0.10 0.09 0.13

t
2.60 9.42 0.02

p-value
,0.01 ,0.001 .0.1

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Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

been expended to examine consumers perceptions of brand functions. This study contributes to the extant brands and branding literature by investigating consumers perceptions of brand functions. The results suggest that consumer perceives both utilitarian/functional and expressive functions of the brand, which is consist with the literature (e.g. Bhat and Reddy, 1998; Kapferer and Lauren, 1992; Vazquez et al., 2002). Second, most of the studies related to brand functions have been conducted in developed countries, however, relatively little is known about variations in consumer perceptions of brand functions in emerging markets/developing countries. To the best of our knowledge, no studies appear to have been conducted in China and this study is the rst step towards a greater understanding of the Chinese consumers perceptions of brand functions. It is found that the brand functions perceived by Chinese consumer can be structured into three dimensions: quality guarantee, recall of past experiences, and identity. The results suggest that the proposed scale of brand functions exhibits strong internal consistency and a reasonable degree of validity. Third, the results presented strongly argue for the importance of examining the relationship between different brand functions and brand loyalty. Few researchers have conducted their examination from the perspective adopted in this research, which posits that consumer perceptions of brand functions may have a positive inuence on brand loyalty. More specically, the results suggest that two factors of brand functions, quality guarantee and recall of past experiences, have a positive impact on consumer brand loyalty. Moreover, quality guarantee has a stronger impact on brand loyalty when compared with recall of past experiences. Our ndings also offer valuable implications for researchers and managers. Consumer perceptions of brand functions represent a multidimensional concept. From the utilitarian point of view, the important inuence of product quality on brand loyalty was brought to light in our research. In fact, this factor has a stronger impact on brand loyalty. Being concerned with food safety, Chinese consumers tend to buy known brands. It has been observed that the price premium that the consumer is willing to pay for the brand depends positively on the quality of the brand. As a result, the quality issue must be put in the rst place. On the other hand, consumer perceives the expressive function of the brand. These observations suggest that rms should take this into considerations to improve the competitiveness of their products. For example, in brand communication, it is desirable to tackle the consumers affective connections with their family, their tradition, and their past experiences. Although the emotional appeals are widely used in commercials, the contents of the advertisements must cater to the local culture. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken in China made use of such appeals, combining Beijing Opera with modern culture in the context of a family meeting, which created the connections among three generations. Emotions such as pleasure, surprise, delight and satisfaction consumers attached to brands in the past facilitate the development of a long-term brand relationship. Thus, experiential marketing could be applied in the marketing practices in China. Marketing managers could reinforce the experiential step in the product launch and brand communication, design innovative experiential activities and strengthen the affective link between the consumer and the brand. For example, Haier, Chinese 276

electronic appliances brand, established numerous Haier E Home experience centers, and particularly launched more advanced experience centers before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where consumers could touch and feel the quick and effective intelligent home life of the future. A further implication to be partially derived from our research is that the youth market (teenagers and 20s) might be an attractive segment. Some of the consumption habits and purchasing preference formed in youth may be maintained throughout a persons whole life. In China, the youth market has a great potential. In particular, the one child one family policy means that children play an important role in the family purchase decision process. Consequently, even established brands are trying to rejuvenate their brand images to target this segment. For example, to compete with global brands like Adidas and Nike, the Chinese national brand Lining is repositioning its image from being national and sportive to being young, fashionable and sportive. Regarding the research limitations and future research, we only examined two product categories: fruit juice beverage and mobile phones, which limits the generalizability of this study. Future research should extend this research by examine some other product categories using the scale developed here. Along similar lines, external validity concerns require more attention. The sample size was relatively small in our study.

6. Conclusions
This study examined Chinese consumers perception of brand functions both qualitatively and quantitatively. The exploratory research revealed that as a cultural vehicle, brand functions perceived by consumers vary with different cultural contexts. Three dimensions of brand functions were identied and recall of past experiences is unique to Chinese consumers. We suggested that the emphasis on continuity and the long-term orientation of Chinese culture contribute to this interesting brand function. Moreover recall of past experience has a positive inuence on brand loyalty.

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Corresponding author
Andy Wei Hao can be contacted at: hao@hartford.edu

Executive summary and implications for managers and executives

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benet of the material present. Consumers select products and brands they believe will best satisfy their needs. According to some scholars, these needs

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

can be divided into functional, experiential and symbolic types. Functional needs refer to the physical environment, while experiential and symbolic relate to such as excitement and pleasure in the rst type and issues that include respect from others and social status in the latter. Experiential and symbolic needs have subsequently been grouped together and identied as expressive needs. The impact of brands has been studied from various theoretical perspectives. Evidence suggests that brand serves as an indicator of quality and is more potent in this respect than other external variables like price, physical appearance and the reputation of the store. Brand helps reduce purchase complexity and enables consumers to make quality assumptions about attributes and evaluate products whose quality is too subjective or too opaque. It additionally provides sellers with an economical method of helping prospective buyers to infer quality when it is not discernible. Scholars also note that brand serves as a mechanism to help consumers identify and differentiate products within the same category and can signify the uniqueness of a particular offering. The above highlights the utilitarian brand functions. Increasingly, however, the consumption process is becoming more about experiencing the various feelings associated with products and brands. Expressive functions of a brand are therefore now increasingly more important. The functional value of brands is just one of the benets consumers seek from the purchase and consumption choices, and many are attracted to brands that can satisfy higher-order expressive needs through the affective and symbolic functions they possess. Some brands are able to equip products and services with additional symbolic value and are thus able to satisfy both functional and expressive needs. Theorists have connected the utilitarian and expressive functions of a brand with human desire to respectively attain instrumental and ultimate values. It is pointed out that ultimate values reect the nal state of being and incorporate achievement, self-respect and social recognition among other goals. Such values are seen to drive consumer behavior. Expressive functions indicate various types of attachment between consumer and brand relating to such as interpersonal connection, feelings and pleasure. Consumption is likewise regarded a key component of selfidentity and it has long been mooted that consumption of symbolic brands and products might serve to strengthen a consumers self-image. Certain studies found that congruity between consumer self-image and brand generated higher levels of satisfaction and greater positivity towards the brand in question. Previous studies into brand functions have been conducted in western societies. However, on the premise that consumer perception of brand functions may be inuenced by cultural contexts, Guo et al. conduct a study of Chinese consumers to see how they compare with their western counterparts. The growing importance of the Chinese market inuenced the choice of study context. The rst phase of the two-part study involved in-depth interviews with 15 consumers from various professional backgrounds and with a mean age of 29. Respondents were asked about their knowledge of fruit juice brands and their recent consumption of the product. Fruit juice was selected for the study because of its popularity and availability of different brands. The product is also perceived as having 278

utilitarian, experiential and symbolic functions in the respective guise of satisfying thirst, providing pleasure and beneting health. Study participants discussed brand functions, the importance attached to certain brands and brand loyalty. Findings suggest that Chinese consumers: . Generally prefer known brands and perceive an established name as indicating quality. They are willing to pay a higher price for such brands. . Believe that brand helps them to identify and differentiate products more easily. . Become attached to their favorite brands and see them as closely related to their families and past experiences. . Perceive that brands have personalities. With fruit juices being aimed at younger consumers, they are described using terms like young and fashionable. . See brands as helping them to connect socially with others. . Regard brand as a source of pleasure, inspiring feelings like tranquility and peacefulness, states valued within Chinese culture. In relation to loyalty, respondents indicated a strong, positive attitude toward their preferred brand and its extensions and this was further reected in their intended or actual purchase behavior. They are prone to recommending the brand to others, not price sensitive and get upset if their favorite brands become unavailable. The results show that Chinese consumers perceive that brands possess both utilitarian and expressive functions. Quality indicator was the most frequently cited utilitarian function. However, greater importance is afforded to expressive functions, of which recall for past experiences dominates among the four dimensions that occurred. This dimension was not evident within extant literature and the authors regard its importance as characteristic of Chinese culture whereby the continuity of time is emphasized. It appears that Chinese consumers develop a long-term relationship with preferred brands in the belief that they serve as a symbolic link between the past, present and future. This contrasts with the western tendency to view each moment in time separately. A second study was carried out to further assess the perception of brand functions among Chinese consumers. The authors used a mobile phone to contrast the nondurable orange juice product used in the rst-phase. A questionnaire was distributed to university students and a nal sample of 217 was obtained. Average age of respondents was 21 and 61.2 percent were female. Analysis corroborated the importance of the quality guarantee and recall of past experience dimensions, and the symbolic function of identity was also found to be signicant. The data revealed that brand functions inuence brand loyalty, with quality guarantee having the greatest effect. Recall of past experiences was slightly less powerful but the impact of identity was limited. Guo et al. point to concern among Chinese consumers about food safety and recommend marketers to highlight the quality of their products. They likewise suggest a focus on consumers affective connections to family, tradition and past experiences, with promotions tailored to the local cultural context. One idea is to use an experiential approach to generate feelings of pleasure, surprise, delight and satisfaction

Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study Xiaoling (Martine) Guo, Andy Wei Hao and Xiaoyan Shang

Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 28 Number 4 2011 269 279

to help nurture long-term attachment to the brand. The experiential focus should be integral to product launch and be a core part of how the brand is communicated. The youth market in China is important and the authors urge marketers to target this attractive and inuential segment. Revitalized brand images might help attract such consumers, who might then remain loyal over a signicantly longer period.

Future studies might examine products from other categories and use larger sample sizes to help further explore the relationship between various brand functions and brand loyalty. (A precis of the article Consumer perceptions of brand functions: an empirical study in China. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)

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