越老越好吗——品牌命名中流行人名出生年代的刻板印象对消费者品牌偏好的影响机制研究

The Older the Better-The Influence of Consumers'Stereotypes about the Birth Years of Popular Names on Brand Preference

社会学研究发现人们的名字会引发个体关于刻板印象的联想,例如人们通常会把“建国”这个名字和“20世纪50年代”联系起来。消费者是否会将对人们出生的年代的刻板印象投射到名称里包含这些人名的品牌上呢?感知品牌年龄是否会进一步影响消费者对相应品牌的偏好呢?由此本文通过5项子研究,详细探讨了品牌年龄线索(流行人名)影响消费者感知品牌年龄和消费者品牌偏好的内在机制。研究结果表明:消费者在选购日常商品时,的确会受流行人名出生年代刻板印象的影响,消费者通常会对感知年龄更长的品牌产生更加积极的偏好,并且在企业客观年龄已知的情况下,这一效应随之减弱;相对现代型产品而言,当传统型产品以听起来年长的人名命名时,会给消费者带来更高的感知能力和感知温暖;此外,以听起来年长的人名命名的品牌能给那些具有较低创新能力的消费者带来积极的后果,但是该结论不适用于具有较高创新能力的消费者。本研究成果能够为企业在进行品牌命名和作出品牌延伸等决策时提供一定的理论借鉴和实践参考价值。

Sociological research has found that personal names can trigger individuals'stereotypes.For example,people often associate"Jianguo"with the 195Os.Do consumers project stereotypes about birth years onto brands containing these names?Does perceived brand age further influence consumers'preferences for the corresponding brands?Therefore,this paper explores in detail the underlying mechanism of how brand age cues(popular personal names)affect consumers'perception of brand age and brand preferences through five sub-studies.The results show that consumers are indeed influenced by stereotypes about the birth years of popular personal names when purchasing everyday goods.Consumers generally have more positive preferences for brands perceived to be older,and this effect diminishes when the objective age of the enterprise is known.Compared to modern products,traditional products named after older personal names bring consumers higher perceived competence and warmth.In addition,brands named after older personal names have positive influence on consumers with lower innovativeness,but this conclusion does not hold for consumers with higher innovativeness.The research findings can provide theoretical insights and practical reference for companies in making decisions on brand naming and brand extension.