Abstract: - In this research, we examine the extent to which culture influences brand personality preference,

based on specific personality dimensions. This research focuses on two main group-level cultures:

individualists and collectivists. We introduce and examine the variations in preferences of Sincere, Competent,

and Sophisticated brand personalities and how cultural orientations influence brand personality preference.

Based on previous literature, we suggest that consumers in collectivistic countries show a higher preference for

brands with Sincere personalities. Moreover, we suggest that consumers in individualistic countries show a

higher preference for brands with competent and sophisticated personalities. We also suggest that the

mechanism underlying these effects is the perceived symbolic meaning of the brand. This effect is moderated

by the cultural background (collectivistic vs. individualistic) of the consumer. This research contributes to the

literature on brand personality traits, brand symbolic meaning, and cultural orientations. We discuss

1 Introduction

Extant research has highlighted the importance and

variability of brand personality dimensions, e.g., [1],

[2], [3], [4]. However, previous research is still

silent on the relationship between specific cultural

traits—i.e., individualism and collectivism—of

consumers and their preference for brand

personalities—i.e., sophistication and competence.

Additionally, past research has not investigated a

been considered as one of the most crucial aspects

of the brand, and has thus received great attention

from researchers, [5]. The brand personality

dimensions may have a large impact on consumer

behavior: consumers can link their personality in

norms, and their beliefs, [11]. Moreover, culture can

influence preference for specific brand personality

dimensions, [2], [3].

versus collectivism which can have either a

horizontal or vertical direction, [12]. These

orientations of culture can affect product

evaluations, brand evaluations, goals, and self-

construal of individuals, [8], [9], [10].

individualistic cultures, consumers show a higher

preference for brands with Sophisticated and

Competent personalities. However, these effects are

further moderated by vertical and horizontal cultural

orientations. Specifically, we suggest that the

preference of individualists for Sophisticated (vs.

Competent) brand personalities would persist only

for vertical (vs. horizontal) individualists. Such

distinction would not hold for consumers with

collectivistic group-level culture, as the preference

extend insights on this topic and the relationship

between culture and preference for specific brand

personalities.

literature on brand personality dimensions in

different cultures and product categories. Moreover,

this research aims to distinguish between collectivist

and individualist cultures and to predict differences

in the preference for specific brand personality

dimensions, following the research on the effect of

While there is literature doubting the existence of

only these five brand personality traits or the extent

to which these traits can be applied to different

categories, [4], most of the other research on brand

personality traits, has its roots in [1]. For instance, in

research conducted in Spain on brand personality

traits, Sincerity, Excitement, and Sophistication

overlapped the five brand personality traits, [2]. In

Japan instead, Ruggedness was substituted with

Peacefulness, [2]. Similarly, [15], have proposed a

earth, stable, and responsible), Activity (i.e., active,

dynamic, and innovative), Aggressiveness (i.e.,

aggressive, and bold), Simplicity (i.e., ordinary and

simple), and Emotionality (i.e., romantic and

sentimental). Similarly, [19], developed another

scale, whose dimensions correlated to the Big Five

human personality traits. The authors suggest these

brand personality traits: Trusted (i.e., trustful,

reliable, and persevering); Sociable (i.e., creative,

friendly, and outgoing); Exciting (i.e., active,

Brand personality and Extraversion and Openness to

experiences to a Sociable Brand personality.

used the scale suggested by [1], and tested how it

differs in their context, [2], [20], [21], [22]. In line

with previous research, in this paper, we

theoretically investigate how preference for specific

personality traits differs based on the cultural

background of consumers.

collectivistic cultural traits but also on the

orientation dimension of their group-level culture:

vertical versus horizontal.

suggesting that/how culture is related to psychology

and sociology. Culture can influence individuals’

psyche, their norms, and their beliefs. Two of the

main cultural traits are individualism versus

collectivism which can have either a horizontal or

vertical direction. These orientations of culture can

impact on consumers. For instance, Sincere brands

are perceived as being domestic, honest, genuine,

and cheerful, [1]. This personality dimension can be

present both in large and small companies. Small

and new brands embrace sincerity when they want

to show themselves as caring, especially more

caring than big rivals (e.g., Gateway Cow

campaign). Large companies use sincerity to bring

the interaction with the customer to a more “down-

to-earth” and tangible level (e.g., MetLife’s use of

vulnerability and the growth of the relationship

between the brand and the user, [3], [39].

personality dimensions. The authors show that some

brands in the United States (i.e., individualistic

culture) are perceived as rugged (e.g., Marlboro),

and some in Japan (i.e., collectivistic society) as

peaceful. The important part is that ruggedness and

peacefulness are traits of the culture of these

countries, [45]. The brands that are more embraced

in the cultural values have higher chances of

becoming icons (e.g., Harley Davidson, Nike,

Apple, Vodka, etc.) because they create a strong

idealized and people (i.e., consumers) want these

icons to become part of their lives. The same

happens with iconic brands. But to make iconic

brands part of their lives, consumers purchase and

use these brands.

this section that emphasizes how culture can affect

consumer preferences related to brands, we

theoretically propose that there are differences in

specific brand personality preferences based on the

3 Propositions

The study, [46], has summarized, based on previous

literature, that culture can affect brand decisions.

More specifically, [46], mentions that in

individualistic cultures, consumers choose brands

based on their attributes, advantages, and available

information on the brand.

compared to others. In vertical-individualist

societies or cultural countries (e.g., the U.S., Great

Britain, France), individuals care about status,

achievements, and demonstrating themselves to

others. However, in horizontal-individualist

influences the preference for specific brand

personality traits. However, these findings would

not be enough to provide insights into the specific

dimensions of culture that explain the mechanism

behind these effects. As we can see from Table 1,

horizontal collectivists are described as individuals

who are sociable, cooperative, and benevolent, and

as people who emphasize honesty and equality.

Over similar lines, vertical collectivists would

vertical axis, people are focused on achievement,

power, prestige, status, and success. Thus, vertical

individualism would explain the higher preference

for sophisticated brand personality. On the contrary,

on the horizontal axis, they do not appreciate

conspicuous consumption and do not prefer to brag.

This goes against the sophisticated brand personality

trait, which is more about showing off style, charm,

glamour, upper class, and good-looking (Table 1).

individualism (but not the horizontal one) moderates

the effect of group-level culture on Sophisticated

brands’ preferences.

Proposition 3b: The horizontal dimension of

individualism (but not the vertical one) moderates

the effect of group-level culture on Competent

brands’ preference. The conceptual model

representation of our study is presented in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: Conceptual Model Representation

consumers prefer more Sophisticated brands.

Previous literature has shown that there is a high

congruency and overlapping of these brand

personality dimensions and the cultural traits of

those societies, so we base our reasoning on this.

Moreover, we show the underlying mechanisms

behind these effects. Among the collectivists,

individual horizontal and vertical collectivism

explain the higher preference for Sincere brands.

Among the individualists, individual vertical (but

boundary conditions of these effects. For instance,

[8], has shown that product familiarity and

superiority of the attributes are differently important

to collectivists and individualists when evaluating

products based on their country of origin.

Specifically, in collectivistic (individualistic)

cultures, familiarity (innovativeness) is important

for more positive product evaluations. Moreover,

the superiority of product attributes is important for

individualists (but not for collectivists) to increase

should not hold for collectivists. Regarding product

attributes superiority, we expect this to enhance the

Sophisticated brand preference for individualists,

but not to affect the Sincere brand preference for

collectivists.

company profitability, [53]. Given this, firms would

greatly benefit from an increase in preference for

their brand. Our findings indicate that there are at

least three important issues for managers to consider

preference: (1) focusing on addressing consumer

needs based on their country's culture, (2) making

the brand be perceived as a Sincere or Sophisticated

according to the cultural traits of their country, (3)

approach to enrich the review of the literature on the

topic, [56].

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