• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.13-22
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• 2022

Purpose: Brand hearsay refers to information that can be acquired from advertisement, media publicity, and word-of-mouth prior to experiencing products or services of brands. Previous information about brands obtained through brand hearsay affects consumer behavior in choosing brands. Moreover, brand hearsay is an effective communication method in promoting brands to consumers. Thus, bakery franchises need to improve strengths and differentiate characteristics of their brand, thereby attracting more consumers. Therefore, this study investigates relationships the effect of brand hearsay on consumers' brand attitude and brand loyalty in the context of franchised bakery brands. Research design, data, and methodology: A research model was proposed to examine structural relationships between brand hearsay (advertising, publicity, word-of-mouth), brand attitude, and brand loyalty. An online survey was conducted to consumers who had an experience of visiting a franchise bakery. A total of 513 responses were used for data analysis. SPSS 22.0 was used for analyzing general demographics, and SmartPLS 4.0 was used to test validity and reliability of the proposed model. Result: Among attributes of brand hearsay, advertisement and word-of-mouth had positively significant effects on brand attitude, but no significant effect was found between publicity and attitude. Advertisement had a positively significant impact on brand loyalty, while publicity had a negative effect on brand loyalty opposite to hypothesis. Moreover, brand attitude had a statistically significant effect on brand loyalty. Conclusions: In the context of franchise bakeries, brand hearsay contents may change consumers' attitude toward brands but does not increase brand loyalty. Though media publicity does not affect consumers' attitude toward brands, it may decrease brand loyalty when consumers are too exposed to it. In addition, it is necessary to enhance brand attitude to increase brand loyalty of customers. This study provides bakery franchisors and franchisees information about which type of brand hearsay (e.g., advertisement, word-of-mouth, media, publicity) is effective in enhancing brand attitudes and loyalty of consumers. Further studies may include other variables (e.g., trust) in addition to attitude and loyalty, or compare findings based on brand characteristics (e.g., low-to-medium/high prices, store size).

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.104-120
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• 2011

This study is to make an empirical analysis of star marketing used as die means of sales promotion for Christmas cakes regardless of high advertising cos1s, by understanding the influence of attributes of celebrity advertising models for advertisements of bakery companies over die Christmas season on advertising attitude, corporation reputation and reliability which are recognized by consumers. The verification results were judged as important core elements for successful management in bakery industry. Since bakery brands are losing their differentiations in both functional and physical aspects, the study aimed to offer strategic suggestions to bakery industry. The result of study modelling were GFI=0.911, AGFI=0.887, NFI=0.935, CFI=0.979, RMR=.126 at the level of $x^2$=313.294(df-=218, p<0.001). First, model credibility and model attractiveness of advertising models bad a positive(+) influence on advertising attitude. Second, advertising attitude bad a positive(+) influence on corporation reputation and reliability. Third, corporate reputation also bad a positive(+) influence on corporate reliability.