The role of group identification in the perception of brand coolness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47058/joa12.4Keywords:
Coolness, brand, Marketing, groupAbstract
The perception of coolness in products, services, or brands is a relevant variable for market differentiation and for generating positive emotions in consumers, clients, or users. This study examines the perception of coolness in Nike's Jordan Air sneaker brand through a group-level analysis that considers cultural identification and the impact of belonging to subcultures on this perception, as these variables have explanatory potential for the phenomenon. Using the brand coolness scale, its different dimensions were analyzed, focusing on cultural identification as a group-level attribute. The results reveal that cultural identification is the dimension with the greatest variability explained by group membership, with an ICC1 of 0.1908 and an ICC2 of 0.6723, suggesting group-level consistency in perception. This indicates that 19.08% of the variability in cultural identification in the perception of coolness is due to differences between groups, confirming that group membership influences this variable. Thus, including between-group variability would improve research models, suggesting that differences in group membership are relevant to the cultural identification variable of the coolness construct. The contribution of this study highlights that cultural identification is a collective factor influenced by group belonging, justifying the use of multilevel analysis to capture the cultural dynamics that underpin the perception of brand coolness.
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