Image is everything Personality and image of financial banks during times of adversity

1. Image is everythingPersonality and image of financialbanksduringtimes of adversity Tim Smits KULeuven & Northwestern University Natalie Van Hemelen KULeuven

2. Personality @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

3. Image @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

4. Personality vs. Image Welldebated issue ifit concerns humans Particularlyfocalduringadolescence Personalitycharacteristics Situationalcharacteristics @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

5. Corporations? Theytoo have both a personality and an image (Konecnik & Go, 2008): • Identity – Personality = senderside • Image = receiverside ~ Brand as a speech flowingfrom a sender to a receiver (Kapferer, 2008) Oftentensionbetweenboth (e.g., Keller 2008; Plummer 2000) Interest in bothconstructs has a long history, butoftenconceptualconfusionbetweenthemwhenit comes to empirical research @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

6. Conceptualconfusion • In Psychology: Personalityis self-perceived, self-assessed Image is socialperceptionbyothers • In Marketing and Market Research: Brand personalityis socialperceptionbyothers; stillintrinsicallylinkedwithsenderidentitybut questionnaires focus onperceivedpersonality Brand personalityassessmentused as a market research tool; feedback loop to management to reposition @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

7. IMAGE (other-perceived) EXPLICIT Brand Behavior IMPLICIT Brand Behavior DESIRED PERSONALITY (self-perceived) PERSONALITY (self-perceived) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

8. Personality Big Five (Costa & McCrae, 1992): • Fivepersonalitytraits (underlyingfacets) fullydescribingone’spersonality • (Almost) universal (McCrae et al. 2005) • Assessment: questionnaires (NEO-PI-R 240 items … Shortest Big Five questionnaire 10 or even 5 items) • Openness to Experience • Extraversion • Conscientiousness • Neuroticism • Agreeableness @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

9. Brandpersonality • Definition: “the set of humanpersonalitytraitsthat are bothapplicable and relevant forbrands” (Azoulay & Kapferer, 2003) • Measures: • Aaker (JMR, 1997): 44 item forfivedimension • Sincerity • Excitement • Competence • Sophistication • Ruggedness @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

10. Aaker’sscale and otherattemptsrecentlycriticized • Geuens, Weijters & Dewulf (IJRM, 2009, p.103) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

11. IMAGE (other-perceived) EXPLICIT Brand Behavior IMPLICIT Brand Behavior DESIRED PERSONALITY (self-perceived) PERSONALITY (self-perceived) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

12. Research questions • RQ1: Match betweensender’s & receiver’sperceptions of personality? CASE: Belgianfinancialbanks • UsingGeuens et al measuresamongkeyinformants • Using the samemeasure to assesperceptionsbyothers @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

13. RQ2: Shouldn’ttherebe a 6th dimension/trait: regional versus international scope? • Adding to bothinstrumentsquestionsaboutthis scope • Mightbe a decisivepersonality factor in specificmarketcircumstances: saturatedmarkets; adversemarkets; … • RQ3: How do the personalitymeasures and the tensionbetweenbothrelate to brand attitudes and expected brand attitudes? • Is personalitypredictive of overall value of brand? Whichdimension? • Do keyinformants have an accurate expectation of attitudes in the target audience? @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

14. @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

15. Measures • 10 Belgianbanks, ranging in size and sales volume; split intotwo subsets (each participant ratedonly 5 banks) • Personality: 15-item questionnaire; Howmuch does [adjective] apply to X; 7 point Likertscale • Attitude: 4-item questionnaire bipolarsemanticdifferential; 7 points @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

16. Results • Factor analyses on brand image questionnaires • Differencesbetweenbanks; factor structurenotfullyrobust, despite claims in Geuens et al. (2009) • Overall factor structure: • Responsibility • Activity • Emotionality, including the Aggressiondimension • Simplicity • No contribution of regionalcharacter (RQ2) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

17. Results (RQ1) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

18. Results • Predictingrespondents attitudes forbanks (RQ3; regression analyses) • Best predictor, for all banks = responsibility image (seemsratherobviousnowadays – adversetimes) • Possiblybanks do know the importance of thisdimension: Empiricalrelationbetweenexpected attitudes and self-assessedresponsibility; r = .64; However, reverserelationbetweenself-assessedresponsibility and actual attitudes; r = -.45! @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

19. IMAGE (other-perceived) EXPLICIT Brand Behavior IMPLICIT Brand Behavior DESIRED PERSONALITY (self-perceived) PERSONALITY (self-perceived) @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

20. Results • Attitudes: sendervsreceiver • Note: r = -.43 ! @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

21. TAKE HOME MESSAGE Itseems as ifbanksknewwhat the keypersonalitydimension was in adversetimes However, theydidnot manage to self-perceivetheirpersonalityadequately Procedure in thisstudy is a tool to aidthisintrospectiveactivity @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

22. Further project plans • Apply more rigorouslyamongst different type of stakeholders: • Management • Actualcustomers • Potentialcustomers • Non-customers • Applyfor different brandson the product – service continuum • Apply in a B2B brand setting @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

23. Questions and suggestions? and Thanks! foryourattention @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image

24. Answering research questions • RQ1: Match betweenself- & other-perception • Low match • Toopositiveself-viewonkeydimension • RQ2: Sixthdimension ~ regional focus? • No data supporting the necessity of thisdimension • RQ3: Personalitypredictive of attitudes? • Credibility was most predictive of attitudes • Seems as ifkeyinformantsdid have anideaaboutthis • Toopositive attitude expectations @ABCEurope2012: Personality - Image