Improving attitudes toward brands with global consumer culture positioning: The triggering role of emotions

Abstract

This research examines how incidentally evoked approach-oriented (vs. avoidance-oriented) emotions help improve consumer attitudes toward brands with global consumer culture positioning (GCCP). Moreover, we demonstrate that promotion-focused brand associations that are uniquely linked with GCCP messages mediate this effect, while this effect is eliminated when consumers are aware of the potential influence of their emotions on judgment. We conducted four experiments to examine and clarify the above effects. The findings contribute theoretically by introducing emotions as a novel antecedent to consumers' GCCP preferences. Practically, this research provides actionable guidelines for international marketers in effectively implementing GCCP strategies.