Title: Do high brand equity and very high brand equity require different conditions? An empirical study using fsQCA

Authors: Pedro Torres; Mário Augusto; Pedro Godinho

Addresses: CeBER and Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av. Dias da Silva, 165, 3004-512 Coimbra, Portugal ' Institute of Systems and Robotics, CeBER and Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av. Dias da Silva, 165, 3004-512 Coimbra, Portugal ' CeBER and Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av. Dias da Silva, 165, 3004-512 Coimbra, Portugal

Abstract: This research was performed to investigate the necessary and sufficient conditions to obtain different degrees of brand equity. The results show that different configurations and different levels of the antecedent conditions are necessary and sufficient when analysing high and very high levels of consumer-based brand equity. Although brand loyalty could be sufficient to achieve high consumer-based brand equity, to obtain very high consumer-based brand equity the joint presence of very high brand loyalty and very high perceived quality is necessary. These findings show that the phenomenon of brand equity is complex and that a linear approach could be insufficient to understand it fully. Furthermore, the findings enable marketing managers to be more effective and efficient in the pursuit of their goals, by shedding some light on the necessary and sufficient conditions to obtain different levels of brand equity.

Keywords: brand equity; brand loyalty; perceived quality; brand awareness; fsQCA; qualitative comparative analysis; fuzzy sets; configurational analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2018.094021

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2018 Vol.16 No.2, pp.263 - 279

Received: 02 May 2017
Accepted: 24 Jul 2017
Published online: 13 Aug 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article