Understanding Brand Equity by Metro and Non-metro Consumers and its Impact on Consumer Attitude: A Comparative Study in Indian Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to find out the components of brand equity through review of literature and then develop a simple and precise model of brand equity. Further, this paper measures the impact of brand equity on consumer attitude and comparative study of understanding the same in metro and non metro consumers in India. Since, Metro and non-metro customers are different in their consumer behaviour in many ways, the conceptual framework of factors affecting brand equity – including Brand Awareness, Brand Image, Brand Loyalty, Brand Association, Perceived Quality, Corporation Ability Association, Price Sensitivity, Brand Trust, Brand Knowledge, Competitive strength–is developed by examining the theoretical foundation for brand equity. Linear regression and z-test are used to measure the impact of these attributes on consumer attitude and difference in metro and non-metro customers respectively. Paper identifies ten different antecedents of brand equity through extensive review of literature and then a simple model of brand equity is developed for the study. Furthermore, understanding of, brand equity information of positive consumer attitude is found to be same in the metro and non-metro consumers. Regression results for consumer attitude and brand equity clearly explain that the higher level of understanding towards brand equity provides higher level of positive consumer attitude among customers of both the metro and non-metro city. Marketers have to understand the various components of brand equity in order to enjoy the substantial competitive and economic advantages provided by brand equity. Since consumer behavior and their purchase intentions are influenced by brand equity, marketers need to understand what constitutes brand equity. Author(s) are grateful to the anonymous referee for comments and suggestions for improving the text and contents of the paper. This is the first time in India to find out the impact of understanding brand equity on consumer attitude. Theoretically, the proposed brand equity model is an extension of the model proposed by Keller.

Keywords: Brand Equity, Price Sensitivity, Consumer attitude, Brand Image

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