Research Methodology

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
If I compare marketing to a long train with multiple compartments, then marketing research
would comprise the dual roles of the engine that powers the train and the links that connect
the individual compartments to form a cohesive functional unit. In other words, marketing
research is the backbone of the marketing function in any organisation. A critical part of the
marketing intelligence system, it helps to improve management decision making for product
promotion and increasing sales by providing relevant, accurate, and timely information, by
aiding the formulation of requisite strategies.
A review of literature in the marketing domain shows a considerable body of work
converging on the importance of the corporate brand. This has resulted in the need to manage
a corporate brand effectively (Lane Keller, 1999) and identification of the need to reveal the
processes involved in building and sustaining positive corporate reputations with wider
shareholder audiences (Balmer, 1998, Ind, 1998, Macrae, 1999).
This research thesis takes on the scientific method of exploring the concept of corporate
brand identity in the minds of the consumers, thus identifying the determinants of corporate
brand identity, the value of customer-centric branding and the need to improve consumer
brand knowledge. An analysis of brand functions further helps devise a process for consumer
segmentation. Design of an experiment helps formulate strategies for increasing consumer
emotion for a brand by increasing the level of the consumers knowledge about the brand.

3.2 Research questions

3.2.1. Pilot study to calculate Brand association scores to reflect the degree the consumers
relate the product brands to the corporate brand.
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Chapter 3

As stated in the introduction, the purpose of this dissertation is to open up the black-box of a
consumers perception of a brand which is done by exploring the consumers mind space and
improve product positioning in terms of the knowledge acquired about the brand. The study
began with the identification and exploration of the mental association constructs of
corporate-brand identity in the consumer mind space and identification of the factors
responsible for the development of the brand image in the minds of the consumers. This
involved an initial exhaustive study of the literature on corporate brand identity, thereby
signifying that corporate brand identity is a function of Brand Image and Brand personality.
Brand image is a function of perceived value by a consumer which results in brand
association (Aaker and Jennifer, 1997). In the above context, I try to link corporate brand
identity with the brand images of products in the corporate portfolio. Amongst other
parameters, Corporate Brand Identity is also a function of the ability of the consumers to
associate all other brands in the corporate portfolio with the corporate brand. This helped to
develop the conceptual framework for the theses.

3.2.1.1. Sampling
To illustrate the relationship between the brand association and the corporate brand identity, a
pool of 200 product brands was created. The pool created was a random selection of a set of
product brands across eight Corporates. The study was conducted by using the brand pool as
a research instrument. This was administered to respondents in urban Indian cities and only
those brands which could find recognition with the respondents were included in the pool.
The same was administered to a set of 100 respondents.

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The pool of 200 product brands (Table 3.1) is listed below:

Table 3.1: Pool of Brands
Dabur Promise, Kwality Wall's ice cream, Dabur Odomos, Lifebuoy, Real Active Fruit Juice,
Amul Lite, Lux , Wheel, Jaguar, Sunsilk, Xenon, Mint-O, Amul Kool Caf, Tata Indica, Bingo,
Wills Life Style, Amul fresh Milk, John Player, Indigo Marina, Land Rover, Amul Gold Milk, ITC
welcome Group, Breeze, Liril, Rexona, Aashirwad Aata, Hamam, Moti soaps, Pureit Water
Purifier, Lipton tea, Tata Safari, Brooke Bond tea, Bru Coffee, Ultra Tech Cement, Tata Salt,
Coorg Pure, Mysore Gold Coffee, Pepsodent, Close Up, Surf, Rin and Wheel, Dabur Odonil,
Amul Kool, Vim, Sunfeast, Kitchens of India, Kissan squashes and jams, Annapurna salt and atta,
Pond's talcs and creams, Vaseline lotions, Fair & Lovely creams, Vivel DiWills, Fiama Di Wills,
Lakm, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear, Sunsilk, Dove, Ala bleach, Domex, Rexona, Pears, Amul
Mithai Mate, Amul Pure Ghee, Amul Shakti Toned Milk, Dabur Chyawanprash, Dabur Active
Blood Purifier, Dabur Gulabari Rosewater, Hajmola, Dabur Pudinhara, Amul Lassi, Ponds
Chakra Gold, Tetley, Voltas, Westside, Amul shreekhand, Titan, Sagar Skimmed Milk Powder,
Tanishq, Tata Tiscon, Masti Dahi, Lipton Tea, Amul Malai Paneer, Kwality Walls, Nutramul,
Tata Sky, Star Bazaar, Virgin Mobile, Moti Soaps, Pure it, Vaseline, Sanifresh, Shilajit, Dabur
Nature care, Modern Bread, Axe, Superia, Classmate, PaperKraft, AIM, Mangaldeep, Candy
man, Amul Butter Milk, Amul Fresh Cream, Amul Shakti Toned milk, Amulya Dairy Whiteness,
Amul Cheese Spread, Amul Pizza Mozzarella cheesse, Utterly Delicious Pizza, Amul Ice Cream,
Amul Choclates, Amul Basundi, Dabur Amla Hair oil, Babool Toothpaste, Dabur Badam oil,
Hingoli, Homemade, Dabur Lal Dant manjan, Dabur Lal Tail, Meswak, Dabur Shanka Pushpi,
Sarbyana Strong, Satisabgol, Vatika Dandruff Control Shampoo, Vatika Fairness Face pack,
Vatika Enriched Coconut Oil, Vatika Smooth and Silky Shampoo, Vatika Root strengthening
Shampoo, Real Nature Fresh fruit juice, Dabur Red Tooth paste, Dabur Active Fruit juice, Sun
Chips, Parle-G, Krackjack, Magix, Monaco, Kreams, Parle 20-20 cookies, Nimkin, Chox,
Hide and Seek, Hide and Seek Milano, Digestive Marie, Parle Marie, Milk Shakti, Goldenarcs,
Kreams Gold, Monaco Jeera, Melody, Mango Bite, Kaccha MangoBite, Poppins, Kisme
Toffee, Kisme Toffee Bar, Mazelo, Kisme Gold, Orange Candy, Xhale, 2 in 1 clair,
Golgappa, Melody Softy, Parle Lites, Musst Bites, Cheeslings, Sixer, Jeffs, Musst Stix &
Musst Chips, Sixer Zeera, Aviance, Knorr, Olay, Oral B, Pampers, Pantene, Duracell, Gillette,
Tide, Pringles Potato Chips, Old Spice, Clearasil, Whisper, Camay, Hugo, Lacoste, Naomi
Campbell, Puma, Ariel, Vicks Healthcare, Braun, Dunkin Donuts, Rejoice, Ayush, Sunlight,
Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Perk, Eclairs, Celebrations, Temptations, Gems, Bournvita, Bytes,
Halls, Bubbaloo, Head & Shoulders.
FILL YOUR RESPONSES BELOW

DABUR

PARLE

CADBURY

HUL

TATA

ITC

P&G

Gujarat
CoOperative
Milk
Marketing
Federation
(AMUL)

Total

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Chapter 3

From the set of above mentioned BRANDS identify the Corporate behind them. Put the
brand under the right corporate listed below (Columns).
The product brands in the brand pool were grouped on the basis of the brand name typology,
(Table 4.2 as indicated in the Result/Findings chapter).
For the purpose of this study, I define the following types of brand names:
(i)Family Brand Name-A family brand name comprises usage of the name of the corporate
brand which is used for all products produced or marketed by that corporate. By building
customer trust and loyalty for the family brand name, all products that use the brand can
benefit.
(ii)Individual Brand name-An individual brand name does not identify a brand with a
particular company.
(iii)Combination Brand Name-A combination brand name brings together a family brand
name and an individual brand name. The idea here is to provide some association for the
product with a strong family brand name but maintaining some distinctiveness so that
customers know what they are getting.
The above study thus details that the brand image is what is currently in the minds of
consumers, whereas brand identity is aspirational from the brand owners' point of view.
Further corporate brand identity is a function of Brand Image and Brand personality. Brand
image is a function of perceived value by a consumer which results in brand association. In
the above context, I try to link corporate brand identity with the brand images of products in
the corporate portfolio. Amongst other parameters, Corporate Brand Identity is also a
function of the ability of the consumers to associate all other brands in the corporate portfolio
with the corporate brand identity.
The inverse correlation figures illustrated in the chapter on Results and findings indicate a
significant gap between the corporate brand identity per se and the association of the
individual with the specific brand. This gap brings in the need to study the relevant literature
in the domain of corporate brand identity and its constructs.

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3.2.2. Identification of determinants for defining Customer Centric Brand Identity

The next step was to identify the determinants that make a brand customer centric. Brands are
so much more than a name, logo or image. They represent nothing less than a customers
complete experience with the product, service or company. As Kevin Keller said: The power
of a brand lies in the minds of the consumers and what they have experienced and learned
about the brand over time. Hence it becomes crucial to fix the determinants. There are many
projective (indirect) approaches to understand brand associations. The commonly used
methods are word association, picture completion, thematic appreciation tests, sentence
completion and story completion (Aaker, 1991; Kotler and Armstrong, 1996; Aaker, et al.,
1998). An exhaustive literature review and a mixed approach using word association and a
variant of Unique Corporate Association Valence approach (UCAV), (Spears, 2006) has been
used to identify the determinants.
Literature review in detail talks about the determinants and the six brand functions that a
brand performs in the minds of the consumer. An adaptation of the Unique Corporate
Association Valence approach was also used to extract the determinants and the functions
then were linked to the determinants.
3.2.2.1. Unique Corporate Association Valence (UCAV) approach
Spears (2006), integrates the quantitative and qualitative approaches with the specific intent
of capturing the primary benefit of the qualitative approaches-the ability to uncover what an
individual really knows about a company-while still offering quantitative assessment. The
measure is straight forward; it asks the respondents to write words or short phrases that
describe the focal company/brand as if they were telling someone else about the
company/brand. The goal is to capture the meaning of the company/brand for the individual.
I used a variant of the UCAV measure and asked a focus group of 25 respondents to identify
attributes associated with the above given set of 8 brands.

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3.2.2.2. Brand Attributes for defining Customer Centric Brand Identity

An exhaustive review of literature in the domain of branding was conducted along with
related topics such as corporate strategy, brand identity and brand attributes to extract the
attributes of brand identity. The literature review revealed that although there are several
studies on brand identity, there was still a need for a more elaborate operational definition of
the concept with respect to the attributes that define brand identity. The research aimed to
ascertain from a consumer perspective, the core components (determinants) of brand identity.
The research methodology adopted was primarily exploratory and correlational in nature. 57
brand attributes were extracted from literature review, catering to various dimensions of a
brand. These were used to develop an evaluation grid to link the diverse brand attributes to
the functions they perform in a brand. This was done by administering the same to a set of
respondents, (as a pilot study, the premise was to include the users of the brand) identified by
the sampling strategy. The list of the attributes was personally administered to the
respondents.
This helped me to develop the research instrument for the purpose of the study. The list of 57
attributes (Table 3.2) which was developed on the basis of literature review and discussion
with a focus group of 25 respondents is as mentioned below. The attributes extracted
described the consumers perception of a brand.

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Table 3.2: List of Brand Identity Attributes

S. No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37

Brand Identity Attributes

Active Engagement
Admirable
Advertising and Jingles
Appealing
Approachable
Association of Celebrity or Endorsement
Attitudinal Attachment
Authenticity
Behavioral Loyalty
Believable
Brand Resonance
Captivating
Cheerful
Conscientious
Contribution of Corporate Values to Brand Identity
Delivery of Benefits
Dependability
Durability
Dynamic
Empathy
Engagement
Excitement
Global Image
Glorification of "MY" Personality
Honest
Innovative
Intelligent
Intense
Likeability
Liking of Brand
Meaningfulness
Mesmerizing
Popular
Price
Product performance better than competitor
Recognition
Recognition of Logo
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38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57

Relevant
Reliability
Reliable
Sense of Community
Sensual Experience
Service Oriented
Serviceability
Social Approval/Social Respect
Social Responsibility of the organization
Sophistication of the product
Spirited
Stands for Something
Successful
Superiority
Sustainability
Trust
Unique
Visibility of Brand
Visual Appeal
Wholesome

3.2.2.3. Brand Customer Centricity Determinants

These attributes were used to develop the evaluation grid (Table 3.3). This was developed to
extract the corporate brand identity determinants as a result of the various attributes listed.
The study was oriented towards providing an operational definition, and so the grid aimed to
examine the perspectives of the consumers across six determinants which perform the
expected/probable six functions (Chapter 2 on Literature Review) a brand performs in the
minds of the consumers.

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Table 3.3: Evaluation GRID

S.no.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Attribute
Active Engagement
Admirable
Advertising and Jingles
Appealing
Approachable
Association of Celebrity or Endorsement
Attitudinal Attachment
Authenticity
Behavioral Loyalty
Believable
Brand Resonance
Captivating
Cheerful
Conscientious
Contribution of Corporate Values to Brand

Drives
me to
buy a
product
because
i
Builds an
perceive
emotional Contribution Enhances greater
connection of product to perception value in
with the
my Lifestyle of the
the
Brand
and Image
Brand
brand
27
21
21
4
6
49
20
39
6
20
35
30
46
23
20
19
32
20
46
19
6
21
28
19
36
21
33
19
38
8
42
6
38
21
42
46
36
46
36
45
6
47
36
33
6
28
20
19
62
37
5
4
21
32
19
59
61
6
36
25
83

I buy
because
i Trust
in the
Brand
61
27
6
47
47
61
6
49
22
36
21
61
32
6
12

I feel
in sync
with
the
Brand
62
8
23
7
22
23
7
49
7
12
7
14
22
8
6
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Chapter 3

16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

Identity
Delivery of Benefits
Dependability
Durability
Dynamic
Empathy
Engagement
Excitement
Global Image
Glorification of "MY" Personality
Honest
Innovative
Intelligent
Intense
Likability
Liking of Brand
Meaningfulness
Mesmerizing
Popular
Price
Product performance better than competitor
Recognition
Recognition of Logo
Relevant
Reliability
Reliable
Sense of Community

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21
8
21
6
36
21
32
21
21
63
46
6
21
6
6
7
6
21
6
6
6
6
20
8
7
21

34
20
21
38
21
22
21
8
44
6
21
6
47
42
23
27
78
13
23
46
14
7
13
61
6
33

6
22
62
20
60
26
60
22
27
63
27
47
35
34
31
27
26
47
5
22
37
21
12
37
47
22

18
45
21
18
4
30
4
59
4
21
59
33
18
60
48
4
19
19
53
74
19
19
45
35
20
59

47
36
21
32
21
21
6
21
32
23
6
21
6
36
36
63
27
42
27
36
61
76
21
23
47
32

23
6
6
23
8
62
23
23
23
6
14
21
23
6
23
62
22
13
21
6
7
8
43
7
7
23

Research Methodology
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57

Sensual Experience
Service Oriented
Serviceability
Social Approval/Social Respect
Social Responsibility of the organization
Sophistication of the product
Spirited
Stands for Something
Successful
Superiority
Sustainability
Trust
Unique
Visibility of Brand
Visual Appeal
Wholesome

47
7
36
36
36
46
7
36
32
6
27
38
26
20
6
6

41
6
47
49
6
8
21
6
22
46
13
6
29
21
23
61

45
62
36
20
7
26
6
22
36
7
47
51
11
32
62
7

4
59
47
19
19
25
45
45
34
45
33
27
25
25
45
4

26
37
62
22
6
6
32
36
27
36
76
43
32
35
21
42

49
27
7
22
47
49
22
22
34
6
8
6
7
7
8
6

*the numeric values in the column 3-8 are the number of respondents who linked the attribute to a specific brand function.

The grid was administered to respondents who were asked to link each brand attribute to the specific brand function that it performs as per
their perception. The numeric values in the columns 3 to 8 show the number of respondents who linked one specific brand function to one
specific brand attribute.

For example the numeric value of 27 in the second row and third column indicates the number of respondents who linked attribute active
engagement to the first brand function of emotional connection.
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3.2.2.4. Factor analysis

Factor analysis is a statistical approach that can be used to analyse interrelationships among a
large number of variables and to explain these variables in terms of common underlying
dimensions (factors). The objective is to find a way of condensing the information contained
in a number of original variables into a smaller set of variables (factors) with a minimum loss
of information. Once these dimensions and the explanation of each variable are determined,
the two primary uses for factor analysis- summarization and data reduction can be achieved
(Hair et al., 1998).
In summarizing the data, factor analysis derives underlying dimensions that, when interrupted
and understood, describe the data in much smaller number of concepts than the original
individual variables. Data reduction can be achieved by calculating scores for each
underlying dimension and substituting them for the original variables.
The data was collected from 105 respondents. The factor analysis is being used to validate a
consumer perception extracted from a focus group of participants. Considering that it is being
used here more for validation rather than a classification perspective, thus limitation of a
small sample size was ignored. The respondents were asked to group these attributes across
the six major functions of the brand. This helped to fix the attributes under each function on
the basis of the perspectives of the respondents. The evaluation grid was further used to
conduct a factor analysis using Principal Components Analysis with Varimax rotation to
regroup these attributes under their functional roles with respect to a brand. The same was
used to extract brand identity determinants. This was done by using the highest loading as a
determinant of the factor a variable belonged to. This helped in the extraction of the Brand
Identity determinants (Table 3.2).The model (Figure 3.1), depicted below, shows the loading
of the attributes on the respective factors.

3.3. Brand Customer Centricity Calculator (BCCCS)

3.3.1. Brand Identity Attributes loaded on brand customer centricity functions
A focus group of participants were asked to rate the functions (Table 4.11) on a scale of (1-4)
and I subsequently identified the most important brand functions from a consumers
perspective. The consumer responses, with 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest, were
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used to calculate factor wise frequencies. These, when compared with the sum total of the
composite frequencies across all factors, yielded the weights for the individual factors. The
weights were used to develop a relative scoring method, to eventually develop a brand
customer centricity calculator (discussed in detail under the chapter on findings and analysis).
3.3.2. Lexicographic Heuristic model
Lexicography heuristics includes the selection of the best brand/product on the basis of its
most important attribute. I combined the lexicographic heuristic model to incorporate
consumer rating of brand attributes, along with the Weighted Linear Compensatory model
using weights of specific brand functions to develop what I term as the Brand Customer
Centricity Calculator (BCCC) (discussed in detail under the chapter on findings and analysis).
The objective here is to define brands on the basis of their attributes and use consumer
response to brands on these attributes as the premise for consumer behavioral and purchase
decisions. For specific products, consumers are asked to rate the product on a particular
attribute, based on their perception. This reflects the positioning of a specific brand on a
particular attribute in the consumer mind space.

3.3.3. Choice heuristics

The Heuristic-Systematic model (H-S) is conceptually similar to the Elaboration Likelihood
Model of persuasion (ELM, Petty and Cacioppo 1986), which more marketing scholars may
find familiar. Systematic and heuristic processing in the H-S are analogous to central and
peripheral routes in the ELM. Systematic processing is prototypically viewed as a
"comprehensive, analytic orientation in which perceivers access and scrutinize all
informational input for its relevance and importance to their judgment task"; alternatively,
individuals processing heuristically "focus on the subset of available information that enables
them to use simple inferential rules, schemata, or cognitive heuristics to formulate their
judgments and decisions" (Chaiken, Liberman and Eagly, 1989). Systematic processing
requires higher levels of cognitive effort and capacity than heuristic processing. Because
people prefer less effortful to more effortful modes of information processing, individuals
must be more highly motivated to process systematically. It is necessary to state a few
assumptions and define terms before applying the model to the brand choice context.

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3.3.3.1. Assumptions and Definitions

As used here, the model assumes that the products under consideration are identical in
"objective" quality, differing only along extrinsic attributes (e.g., brand name, price, and
packaging). Objective quality refers to the inherent technical superiority of a product based in
its physical attributes, as opposed to "perceived" quality which is influenced by other,
peripheral aspects, such as "image" (Zeithaml, 1988).A second assumption is that consumers
generally seek to maximize the value of their purchases. "Value" here refers to the ratio of
objective quality to the price paid (Zeithaml, 1988). This definition of value, though
restrictive, follows from the first assumption of identical objective quality, thus allowing
hypothetical comparisons of consumers' ability to make quality judgments between product
choices (Pechmarim and Ratneshwar, 1992). It is central to the arguments made in this paper,
especially those concerning brand equity: sometimes consumers take "the easy way out" and
use a heuristic (which may or may not be reliable) to infer higher objective quality for name
brand products than for private labels. Several conditions under which a consumer is most
likely to do this are outlined below.
Human decision making is a topic of great interest to marketers, psychologists, economists,
and others. People are often modeled as rational utility maximizers with unlimited mental
resources. However, due to the structure of the environment as well as cognitive limitations,
people frequently use simplifying heuristics for making quick yet accurate decisions. In this
research, we apply discrete optimization to infer from observed data if a person is behaving in
way consistent with a choice heuristic (e.g., a non-compensatory lexicographic decision rule).

3.3.4. Weighted linear compensatory model

I used the weighted linear compensatory model to incorporate weights of individual brand
functions, along with the consumer response on specific brand attributes to develop what I
term as the Brand Customer Centricity calculator (BCCC). For specific products, consumers
are asked to rate the product on a particular attribute, based on their perception. This reflects
the positioning of a specific brand on a particular attribute in the consumer mind space, which
eventually has significant impact on consumer behavioral and purchase decisions. Each
attribute performs a specific function for the brand. The weight associated with the brand
function is multiplied with the consumer rating on the attribute. The same is repeated for all
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attributes under the particular brand function and the Brand Customer Centricity Score is
calculated. Weighting and summing are processes used not only to define rational choices but
also rational inferences (Gigerenzer and Kurz, 2001). As already seen in literature review,
consumers will adopt brands that score high on Customer Centricity.

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Chapter 3

Figure 3.1: Determinants of Brand Identity on 6 Brand Functions

Active Engagement

Admirable

Advertising and Jingle

Association of celebrity

Appealing

Delivery benefits
Dependability

Attitudinal attachment

Innovative
Behavioral Loyalty

Intelligent

Believable
Captivating

Consumer
Brand
Knowledge

Emotional
Connection

Popular
Product performance

Cheerful

Sophistication of the product

Empathy

Successful

Excitement

Superiority

Intense

Tough

Likeable

Unique

Mesmerizing

Up to date

Brand
Customer
Centricity

Sensorial Experience

Approachable

Spirited

Authentic

Glorification of MY
Personality
Visual Appeal
Wholesome

Durability
My Life
style and
Image

Trust

Global Image
Honest
Relevant
Trust

Brand Visibility
Dynamic

Corporate values

Imaginative

Sense of Community

Meaningfulness
Price

Service oriented
Responsible
towards
Customer

My
perception

Serviceability

Recognition

Social Approval

Recognition of Logo

Social Responsibility of the

organization

Stands for something

Sustainability

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3.3.5. Validity and reliability of the research instrument

To test the validity of the instrument, a study was done on 100 participants in the month of
January 2008. Based on their responses, validity tests were done to check for the validity and
usability of the instrument. Cronbach alpha, KMO measure of adequacy and Bartletts test of
sphericity were conducted. Cronbach alpha was calculated to measure the internal
consistency reliability of the instrument. The cronbach alpha for each of the dimensions came
as 0.9438 for Emotional connection (EC), 0.8987 for Lifestyle and Image (LSI), 0.9135 for
My Perception (MBP), 0.9335 for Consumer Brand Knowledge (CBK), 0.9032 for Trust (T)
and 0.9193 for Responsible Towards Consumer (RC) thus the instrument was considered
reliable for the study. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test was done to measure the homogeneity of
variables and Bartlett's test of sphericity was done to test for the correlation among the
variables used. The KMO value for the instrument was 0.867, which is acceptable as a
middling value. The Bartletts test showed significant results for the instrument hence the
instrument was accepted for further study. Table IV summarizes the entire result viz.
cronbach alpha, KMO test values, and Bartlettss significance of the instrument, mean and
standard deviation values. On getting quite meritorious results of the validity, the instrument
was floated for data collection.
The validity and the reliability scores of the instrument thus developed are as under.
Table 3.4: Test of Validity of Research Instrument
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of
Sampling Adequacy

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square

6052.012

0.867

91

df

210.000

Sig.

.000

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Table 3.5: Test of Reliability of the Research Instrument

Dimension

No. of items
per Dimension

Cronbachs
Alpha

Mean

15

.9438

3.5227

20

.8987

3.6078

.9135

3.6672

0.43042

14

.9335

3.5178

0.3993

.9032

3.5072

0.3662

.9193

3.5011

0.3022

Emotional
Connection
Life Style
and Image
Enhances
Brand
Perception
Consumer
Brand
Knowledge
Trust
Responsible
Towards
Customer

Standard
Deviation
0.5042
0.3650

3.4. Sampling of Brands for Data Collection

The Most Trusted Brands Survey identifies brands that bond with consumers on. These
brands are not just the familiar, but those that the consumers believe provide quality and
reassurance.
3.4.1. List of 50 Brands
For the purpose of this research study the 50 brands were chosen from the Indias Most
Trusted top 100 brands. The list had the representation form the various product and service
categories consisting of a range of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products, banking
sector, automobile, consumer durables etc. The sampling of the brands under various
categories has been explored in the subsequent paragraphs.
(Adopted from the PAN India survey of Indias Most Trusted top 100 brands, published by
4Ps Business & Marketing, vol V, Issue 17, 27 Aug-23 Sept10)

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Table 3.6: List of 50 Brands

The below listed 50 brands were chosen from the Indias Most Trusted top 100 brands.

S.No.

Brand/Product Name

S.No.

Brand/Product Name

7 UP

26

Rasna

Crocin

27

Pepsodent

Dettol

28

Pepsi

Asian Paints

29

Pears

Tide

30

Maruti Suzuki

Titan

31

Lux

Sony Ericsson

32

Iodex

Sony

33

Coca Cola

Surf

34

BSNL

10

Goodknight

35

Bajaj Motorcycle

11

Dabur

36

Bournvita

12

Whirlpool

37

Amul

13

Zandu Balm

38

Bata

14

Garnier

39

Complan

15

Ponds

40

Parle

16

Philips

41

Hero Honda

17

Vodafone

42

Lakme

18

Thums UP

43

H&S

19

Fair and Lovely

44

Maggi

20

Sprite

45

Nokia

21

Nescafe

46

Mirinda

22

Motorolla

47

Pears

23

Lays

48

Tata Salt

24

Limca

49

Sunsilk

25

Samsung Mobile Phones

50

Videocon

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3.4.2. Methodology for Brand Selection

The Most Trusted Brands survey conducted by Brand Equity and Neilsen (YEAR 2010) was
used as basis for brand selection. 300 brands (217 consumer products and 83 service brands)
were finalized. Each brand was then evaluated on seven parameters and Top 100 brands were
extracted.
Brands were rated on the following attributesTable 3.7: Brand Attributes
S.NO.

ATTRIBUTES

Always maintains a high level of quality.

Is worth the price it commands.

Is a brand I would surely consider if I have to buy the product

Has been a popular brand for many years.

Has something that no brand has.

Evokes a feeling of confidence and pride among its users.

Is a very special brand with unique feelings associated to it.

After this the next crucial step was to determine the sample. The idea was to interview all the
possible consumers who use the brands-the Chief Wage Earners (CWE) who contribute
maximum to the household income, housewives, young adults (both males and females). The
survey has been restricted to urban India, (Delhi and NCR) with a view to focus on the prime
target audience for the consumer-branded products. It was also felt that if a rural consumer is
asked to rate various brands, his ratings would be driven mainly by familiarity or popularity,
i.e. brand with mass market appeal. Therefore if rural opinion is included, brands would be
rated on just two parameters of the seven that were set down and the other parameters would
get played down unconsciously. Given these difficulties, the most Trusted Brands survey
represents urban India in all town classes where a more balanced survey can be assured.
Target respondents were interviewed in five metros, four Class 2 towns (population between
5 and 10 lakh) and four Class 3 towns (population between 50,000 and one lakh) in each
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geographic zone. Each respondent was shown the brand list and was asked to rate on a 1-to-4
familiarity scale, 1 for not heard of the brand, 4 for know the brand very well. Then the
respondent would evaluate all brands rated above 1 by him/her on the familiarity scale. The
evaluation is done at an overall level about each brand by indicating his/her rating to a scale
where one end is extremely poor and the other perfect in every way. Conducted by
research agency, The Nielsen Company, the survey is the largest of its kind in India, with a
sample of 8,160 distributed across socio-economic classifications, age, income and
geography. After considerable brainstorming by Brand Equity along with Nielsen, the list of
300 brands (212 consumer products and 88 service brands) is finalized. Each brand is then
evaluated on relatedness (does it evoke a feeling of warmth or friendliness); perceived
popularity (is it known, recognized and accepted by a wide array of consumers); quality
connotation (what does it stand for in the quality of its product); distinctiveness or uniqueness
of what it stands for; value for money that it offers (does it strike a chord with the consumer)
and repurchase intent (which would show how deeply is the brand ingrained).
3.4.3. Sampling Strategy for 50 brands
3.4.3.1. Sampling of 50 Brands
The most Trusted Brand Survey identified brands that bond with consumers. The Survey had
a significant representation of 100 brands across the 13 categories outlined as part of the
research. A table of percentage of brands across each category was created. Sample of 50
Brands which had an equivalent representation of each category was extracted for the
purpose of the research. The numbers of brands selected across each category were as listed
below:
Table 3.8: Brand Selection Category
CATEGORIES

NO. OF BRANDS ACROSS

EACH CATEGORY

Apparels, Shoes and Accessories

Automobiles (4 Wheeler)

Automobiles (2 Wheeler)

Banks and Financial Services

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FMCG-Food Products

FMCG-Personal Care

12

FMCG-Home Care

FMCG-Bakery, Confectionery, Health and Hygiene

Beverages (Soft Drinks)

OTC (Over the Counter)

Consumer Durables

Communications-Service Providers

Mobile Phone Handsets

3.4.3.2. Sampling of Respondents

Constraints with regard to accessibility, time and money and also multiplicity of objectives
and research questions make limited allowance to collect or analyze all the data available.
Many have argued that sampling as a whole does provide overall accuracy. (Saunders et al.,
2000) have divided the techniques of collecting data in two- Probability and Non-probability
sampling.
3.4.3.2.1. Personal profiles of the respondents
All the research instruments used for the purpose of this research study had a section on age
and gender of the respondents so as to gather respondents personal profile on these two
variables.

3.4.3.2.2. Sampling Premise

The sampling elements had both males and females in the various age groups as listed above.
These respondents were the households or head of the households responsible for most of the
shopping. Thus I have used Judgmental sampling. Exercising my own judgement and
expertise, the elements of this research study have been chosen to be included in the sample.
Care has been taken to have almost equal representation of both the genders, considering the
diversity of the brands used for the purpose of this study.

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3.4.3.2.3. Sampling Technique

(i) Population
Population is aggregate of all consumers using the brands or under consideration, which is
infinite. The population for the study is defined as under:
Element

: Consumer

Sampling Unit

: Consumers of the brands under consideration in the study.

(ii) Sampling Unit

It is the physical unit about which information is collected. For the study at hand the
consumers using the products of the brands are the elements. The sampling units form the
basis of the actual sampling procedure. It is that which is actually chosen by the sampling
process. In the present study, the age and gender of the respondents is considered to gather
respondents personal profile. The age is divided further into three categories. These are: Less
than 30, 30 35 and above 35.
(iii) Sampling Design/Procedure
Sampling Designs deal with specifications which include the method of selecting individual
sample members, and involves both theoretical & practical considerations. As the study
requires a survey of consumers using the brands under consideration in the study,
judgemental sampling is used in the study.
(iv) Sample Size
Sample size refers to the number of elements included in the study. After the population has
been defined, the sampling frame established and specific sampling type selected,
conceivably another important consideration is sample size determination. Appropriateness of
sample size is quite complex for large enough sample for any researchers objective may turn
out to be too large for the amount of time, money and personnel requirement. So a trade-off
has to be evolved between the required information and cost and resources have to strike off.
So while specifying sample size, the factors such as the number of units to be included in the
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sample in which neither so few are selected as to render the risk of sampling error intolerably
large, nor too many units are included which may raise the cost of the study to make it
inefficient, must be weighed properly.
The sample size for the study is 1500 units. For the purpose of this research study sampling
with replacement technique (Malhotra and Dash, 2010) has been used. In this, an element is
selected from the sampling frame and appropriate data is obtained. Then the element is
placed back in the sampling frame. As a result it is possible for an element to be included in
the sample more than once. Therefore for this study, the respondents were used in groups of
30 for each of the 50 brands.
The number of responses for this study can hence be considered as, N=1500, which
represents number of filled up responses and does not represent individual number of
respondents.
3.4.3.2.4. Additional validation study of BCCC
To validate the Brand Customer Centricity Calculator, an additional study was carried out
The objective of this Validation process was to validate the Brand Customer Centricity
Calculator by comparing the Brand Customer Centricity Scores (BCCS) across different
product brands under the umbrella of one parent brand, HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited)
and subsequently studying the brands performance from the consumer perspective across
the six brand functions.
3.4.3.2.5. Focus Group Details
The focus groups (comprising of 15 respondents) for the purpose of the validation process
were chosen in an intricate manner. Care was taken to choose consumers of the brand as
focus group members. This was maintained as a basic premise for all the five brands chosen
for the validation.
Three factors were the qualifying criteria for the respondents to be a part of the focus group.
1. The respondent should have been using the brand.
2. The frequency of the usage should have been at least one purchase a month.
3. Length of association with the brand should have been at least 1 year or more.

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The demographic factors like age and gender etc, were ignored for this validation process.
The objective of this Validation process was to validate the Brand Customer Centricity
Calculator by comparing the Brand Customer Centricity Scores (BCCS) across different
product brands under the umbrella of one parent brand and subsequently studying the brands
performance from the consumer perspective across the six brand functions.
The results of the same have been shown in the chapter on findings and results.

3.5. Consumer Segmentation using Cluster Analysis

3.5.1. Datamining
Analysis of large quantities of data require approaches that are very different from the
traditional data analysis approaches and this has given birth to the field of Knowledge
Discovery in Databases (KDD), more popularly known as Datamining. Knowledge
Discovery in Databases is a non-trivial process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful
and ultimately understandable patterns in data (Fayyad et al., 2007). Others look at data
mining in terms of a set of tools and techniques that operate on and extract implicit patterns
from data. Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) is an interdisciplinary area
focusing upon methodologies for extracting useful knowledge from data for Business
Intelligence. The ongoing rapid growth of online data due to the Internet and the widespread
use of databases have created an immense need for KDD methodologies. The challenge of
extracting knowledge from data draws upon research in a wide variety of fields to draw upon
tools that can synthesize and organize knowledge on any given topic of interest from a corpus
of documents. There is an increasing realization that effective brand management can be done
only based on a true understanding of the needs and preferences of the customers. Under
these conditions, data mining tools can help uncover the hidden knowledge and understand
customer better, while a systematic knowledge management effort can channel the
knowledge into effective marketing strategies. This makes the study of knowledge extraction
and management particularly valuable for marketing (Shaw et al., 2001).

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3.5.2. Data mining techniques

Data mining tools and Techniques operate on large databases and extract patterns that are
implicit in them, resulting in actionable information. Data mining can be directed or
undirected. Directed data mining attempts to explain or categorize some particular target field
such as income or response. Undirected data mining attempts to find patterns or similarities
among groups of records without the use of a particular target field or collection of
predefined classes (Berry et al., 2007).
Customer understanding is the core of Consumer Brand knowledge which in turn
encompasses customer segmentation and actions to maximize customer conversion, retention,
loyalty and profitability, through proper customer understanding and actionability. Incorrect
customer understanding can lead to hazardous actions. Similarly, unfocused actions, such as
unbounded attempts to access or retain all customers, can lead to Hence, emphasis should be
put on correct customer understanding and concerted actions derived from it.
In view of the above, corporates commenced accumulation of a wide spectrum of consumer
data viz. transaction data, customer databases based on consumer behavior and purchase
transactions and in this context, creation of data warehouses. But, due to lack of appropriate
tools and techniques to analyze these huge databases, a wealth of customer information and
buying patterns was permanently hidden and unutilized in such databases. But, memory is of
little use without intelligence. The central idea of data mining is that data from the past
contains information that will be useful in the future. It works because data pertaining to
consumer behavior captured in corporate data are not random, but reflect the differing
consumer needs and preferences. Knowledge-based marketing, which uses appropriate data
mining tools and knowledge management framework, addresses this need and helps leverage
knowledge hidden in databases. Customer profiling is one of the major areas of the
application of data mining for knowledge-based marketing. This is of relevance because
consumer behavioral data is a more valuable source of information than consumer
demographics data.
Data mining techniques are algorithms and methods used to carry out data mining tasks. They
differ from each other in type of data handled, assumptions about the data, scope and
interpretation of the output.
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3.6. Clustering
3.6.1. Hierarchical Clustering
Cluster Analysis, also called data segmentation, relates to grouping or segmenting a
collection of objects (also called observations, individuals, cases, or data rows) into subsets
or "clusters", such that those within each cluster are more closely related to one another than
objects assigned to different clusters. Hence, objects in a cluster are similar to each other.
They are also dissimilar to objects outside the cluster, particularly objects in other clusters.
Clustering algorithms function such that intracluster similarity is maximum and inter-cluster
similarity is minimum. Clustering also has applications in the field of marketing
segmentation.

There are two major methods of clustering-hierarchical clustering and k-means clustering.
For my study, I use the technique of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. This is a statistical
method for finding relatively homogeneous clusters of cases based on measured
characteristics. It starts with each case in a separate cluster and then combines the clusters
sequentially, reducing the number of clusters at each step until only one cluster is left. When
there are N cases, this involves N-1 clustering steps, or fusions. This hierarchical clustering
process can be represented as a tree, or dendrogram, where each step in the clustering process
is illustrated by a join of the tree.
3.6.2. K-means Clustering
Considering that the BCCS uses the concept of weighting to encode the relative importance
of the brand function variables, I use the Brand Customer Centricity score to create different
consumer segments which can be targeted separately. This is done using the k-means
clustering algorithm, SPSS 17.0. The clustering algorithm is initiated by creating k-different
clusters and subsequently the distance measurement between each of the sample, within a
given cluster, to their respective cluster centroid is calculated. I use Euclidean distance
measure for my study. After obtaining initial cluster centers, the procedure, (i) Assigns cases
to clusters based on distance from the cluster centers and (ii) Updates the locations of cluster
centers based on the mean values of cases in each cluster. These steps are repeated until any
reassignment of cases would make the clusters more internally variable or externally similar.
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The initial cluster centers are the variable values, whereby the final cluster centers are
computed as the mean for each variable within each final cluster. The final cluster centers
reflect the characteristics of the typical case for each cluster

3.7. Experiment Creation

In this chapter, an experimental design is developed to validate the proposed objectives.
Increasingly, researchers are attempting to improve the effectiveness of their qualitative
approaches as well as go beyond traditional quantitative and qualitative techniques to
research consumers in their natural environment but they are not well suited to making
definitive judgments about, which appeal, if any, will work. To determine the answer to these
more demanding causal questions, experimentation is employed.
Experiments are defined as studies in which conditions are controlled so that one or more
independent variable(s) can be manipulated to test a hypothesis about a dependent variable.
For the purpose of this research study I have used CBK to observe any change in the CBE of
the respondent at any given point of time.
3.7.1. Experimental Design
The purpose of the experimental design in this case is to examine the impact of variation in
brand information or brand knowledge on consumers brand emotion with the introduction of
moderating variables. In this context, brand knowledge in the form of online exposure of the
consumer to the corporate or brand blog, serves as a moderating variable. An experimental
approach is used because of the associated level of explicitness in data collection and
experimental control attempts to predict events that will occur in the experimental setting by
neutralizing the effects of other factors. I attempt to maintain control over all factors that may
affect the result of an experiment, and subsequently determine or predict what may occur.
Carefully focused instruments (tests, questionnaires, etc.) that generate precise quantitative
data are the norm in our experiments. These data were analyzed using statistical tests of
significance in order to accept or reject the hypothesis. The experimental stimuli were
constructed in such a way that the product attributes information in the advertisement varied
systematically in terms of information mode and presentation form, with real brand

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information setting. The information was provided and the subjects responses were collected
for recall and judgment measures (e.g., attitude towards the ad, and brand).
3.7.2. Experiment Research Design Methodologies

I based the experiment design on the following three methodologies(i) One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design
The one group pretest-posttest may be symbolized as
O1 X O2
In this design a test group is measured twice. There is no control group. First a pretreatment
measure is taken (O1), then the group is exposed to the treatment (X). Finally, a post
treatment measure is taken (O2). The treatment effect is computed as O2 - O1, but the validity
of this conclusion has a limitation as it has the internal validity, but scores low on external
validity.
(ii) Interactive Testing Effect.
Testing effects are caused by the process of experimentation. These are the effects on the
experiment, of taking a measure on the dependent variable, before and after the presentation
of the treatment (Malhotra and Dash, 2011).
(iii) Matching
The method of matching aids controlling extraneous variables that involve matching test units
on a set of key background variables before assigning them to the treatment conditions. The
matching was used for the purpose of this study to match the units of study on basis of their
higher scores on two functions of consumer brand knowledge and consumer brand emotion.
In light of the drawback that test units can be matched on only a fewer characteristics, thus
only two functions were considered.

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3.7.3. The Experiment Procedure

The experiment was conducted using two key strategic variables namely, consumer brand
Knowledge (CBK) and Consumer Brand Emotion (CBE). It was conducted in two phases
using each of the variables separately with a focus group of 30 respondents. The variables
have been explained in detail in the previous chapters. (As defined earlier in the chapter on
literature review).
Phase I, of the experiment was conducted using CBK as the strategic variable. The focus was
on analyzing the improvement in Consumer brand knowledge by exposure of the consumer to
a corporate blog. For the purpose of this study I have used the level of interactivity of a
corporate blog for brand communication, (Ahuja, Medury, 2008) as the benchmark. As part
of the previous study, the level of interactivity scores were calculated for 33 corporate blogs
and the result showed that the level of interactivity has a direct impact on brand
communication.
The interactivity scores for the twenty (20) blogs were lifted from the previous research paper.
A higher level of interactivity signifies a higher global reach, as well as greater popularity of
a blog (Ahuja and Medury, 2008).
The interactivity scores in the previous study were calculated using the following equation
(Ahuja and Medury, 2008):
INT=f(FEED)*w(FEED)+f(CE)*w(CE)+f(INF)+f(BBR)*w(BBR)
Two way communication and incorporation of feedback (FEED), Customer Engagement
(CE), Ability to locate information a user is looking for (INF) and Building Brand
Relationships (BBR) are significant variables. The above equation was developed by taking
into account the consumer perspective on the purpose of interactivity and the structural
features of the online site which catered to the function of interactivity.
The scores calculated in the above mentioned study became the premise for the selection of
the blogs for the experimental study, to be included in my research work.

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The objective of the study is to demonstrate that Corporate Blogs can be used by
organizations for increasing the level of Consumer Brand Knowledge. While designing the
experiment, the level of Consumer Brand Knowledge of the respondent/consumer is mapped
using a RESEARCH INSTRUMENT (as shown below). The similar kind of tool was being
developed for each of the 20 product blogs. The experiment aimed to check for the consumer
brand knowledge (CBK) levels both pre and post, of a respondent for a given product blog.
Twenty corporate blogs from the previous study having the highest interactivity score for
brand communication were lifted from the paper. The corporate blogs used for the purpose of
the experiment are mentioned as under (Table 3.9). I calculated the pre and post-consumer
brand knowledge scores, with a focus group of 30 respondents for these blogs as shown in the
chapter on findings and analysis.

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Table 3.9: Corporate Blogs: Interactivity Score

S.NO.

PRODUCT BRAND BLOG

INTERACTIVITY SCORE

Facebook

2.13

Google

2.661

Volkswagen

2.24

Cadbury

3.35

Frito Lay

1.8006

HP

2.2366

ICICI

3.533

Kingfisher Airlines

2.661

Levis

2.443

10

Maruti

2.8848

11

M&M

1.3704

12

McDonalds

2.4546

13

Nokia

3.097

14

Philips

2.879

15

Sony

3.097

16

Yahoo

2.879

17

Xperia

3.315

18

Yamaha

2.2366

19

LG

1.8064

20

Coca-Cola

2.01896

(Source: Ahuja and Medury, 2008)

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Figure 3.2. Research Instrument to measure CBK levels (pre and post) of participants.

CADBURY
1. Does Cadbury pay its Cocoa farmers in Ghana a fair price for its product, something
the farmers werent receiving before?
Yes
No
2. Has Cadbury won the prestigious BITC - Business in the community award for its
Cadbury Cocoa Partnership (CCP)?
Yes
No
3. Is it true that your favorite Cadbury's product be discarded and remade, if the precise
method of production isn't followed?
Yes
No
4. Are lucky Facebook fans of Cadbury rewarded with a 1Kg! Cadburys bar on their
wedding?
Yes
No
5. Do Consumers get a chance to get involved in wrapper design for Cadburys?
Yes
No
6. Would Cadbury be investing a sum of 45 Million British Pounds over a period of
10yrs for its CCP?
Yes
No
7. Does Cadbury facilitate meetings between British Dairy farmers and Ghana Farmers
to help transfer expertise?
Yes
No
8. Have you heard of the Cadbury's cocoa partnership program in Ghana?
Yes
No
9. Have you heard of the Cadbury's Facebook initiative that allows and rewards fans for
recreating Cadbury's Advertisements?
Yes
No
10. Do you know how a Cadbury's production facility looks like?
Yes

No

Phase II, I now proceed to define another independent variable CBE which is- (as defined
earlier in the chapter on literature review).

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Figure 3.3. Research Instrument to measure CBE levels (pre and post) of participants.
Brand Blog: ..

Use one word to describe YOUR perception of the given Brand on the following attributes:
Active
Engagement

Superb

Excitable

Constructive

Unnoticeable

Advertising
and Jingle

Excitable

Full of Life

Admired

Disgustful

Appealing

Smart

Magnetic

Excitable

Unnoticeable

Attitudinal
Attachment

Graceful

Well off

Royal

Disappointing

Behavioral
Loyalty

Sincere

Genuine

Responsible

Disappointing

Believable

Recognized

Genuine

Responsible

Disappointing

Captivating

Superb

Mesmerizing

Full of Life

Unnoticeable

Cheerful

Full of Life

Happy

Well off

Disgustful

Empathy

Understanding

Compassion

Responsiveness

Disappointing

Excitement

Terrific

Fascinating

Encouraging

Disappointing

Intense

Associable

Genuine

Intelligent

Disappointing

Likeable

Purposive

Smart

Magnetic

Disgustful

Mesmerizing

Captivating

Purposive

Superb

Unnoticeable

Sensorial
Experience

Intensely

Spirited

Stunning

Disappointing

Spirited

Splendid

Encouraging

Amazing

Disappointing

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Various viewpoints abound about the definition and scope of interactivity. One viewpoint
suggests that interactivity is a psychological user orientation viz. a customers choice to
interact, thus making it a characteristic of the people involved, (Schumann, Artis, and Rivera,
2001). As per another viewpoint, it is the characteristic of the medium being used
to communicate, to stimulate interpersonal communication between involved entities. Still
another view understands interactivity as a multidimensional concept, which is a combination
of user perception and features of the medium involved.
In the context of this research study, I define Interactivity as the ability of an online tool to
provide a 2 way interaction between the organization and the customer and use a
combination of user perception and structural features to calculate the level of interactivity of
a corporate blog. Interactive measures are added to capture and hold an audience's attention,
(McAdams, 1995) and are used to stimulate public discussions and draw thousands (or
millions) of people together in a virtual community. In the context of a marketing
environment, these web based interactions can be eventually used by organizations to refine
marketing efforts, educate the customer about their brand, develop new products and to some
extent, by responding to a customer comment, add an element of customization to improve
the customer relationship. Research has indicated that a sizeable number of customers leave
the patronage of a company product or service because of the perceived indifference of the
company. These web based interactions can aid in reducing the level of perceived
indifference of a company, and at the same time reinforce a customer purchase decision, by
offsetting the feeling of cognitive dissonance , (Mc Daniel, Lamb, Hair 2006).

i) User perception of interactivity of a corporate blogPsychology of users varies as I refer to their perception of what purpose the feature of
interactivity serves in a corporate blog. A corporate blog serves as a touch point between
organization and consumers where a bidirectional learning process can commence between
the two entities. Success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) endeavors of
organizations depends on their ability to establish and manage interaction with their
customers. The greater the latitude of this interaction, the greater the organizational ability to
generate and manage knowledge about its customers. A corporate blog helps increase the
dimension of this interaction by helping the customer ask questions, get responses, look for
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information, contact customer service, contact senior organizational executives, portray his
viewpoint, and at times access other forums related to the same organization/product/service,
while at the same time help the organization capture consumer information as also actionable
data to aid customization of offerings. (Sinha, Ahuja and Medury, 2011).
3.7.4. Validity in Experimentation
When conducting an experiment, a researcher has two goals
1) Draw valid conclusions about the effects of the independent variables on the study
group.
2) Make valid generalizations to a larger population of interest.
I will discuss the above stated experiment goals in the light of internal and external validity.
3.7.4.1. Internal validity
Internal validity refers to the manipulation of independent variables, which are responsible
for causing the observed effects on the dependent variable. In the light of internal validity, it
is important to examine the external variables, other than those already defined in the
experiment. One strategic variable, which I introduce here, is-level of internet savviness of
the participants. And the experiment was conducted on a control group where all the
participants display the same level of internet savviness.
3.7.4.2. External validity
The cause and effect relationships found in the experiment can be generalized. The results
cannot be generalized beyond the experimental situation. Hence, populations, settings, (The
pool of respondents was at the same level of internet savviness), independent variables
(CBK) and dependent variable (CBE) too which the result can be projected.
3.7.5. Sampling of respondent pool for the study
The sample for the experiment group was drawn from the original sample for the entire study.
In total, 40 respondents, 10 from each of the four different age groups (20-25, 25-30, 30-35
and 35-40) were made to participate in the study for calculating the internet savviness scores.
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This was done through an evaluation grid (Table 3.10). It was seen that the older age group of
35-40 had very minimal usage hours of the internet (less than 2 hrs) and their internet
savviness score was also less than 22. Considering the results, these respondents were not
included for the final experiment study.
For this, the respondent pool was selected by the process of matching. In the experiment
conducted, the test units (members of the focus group) were of similar age groups, the
internet usage hours of the test group were more than 2 hrs a day and the internet savviness
score of the test unit was more than 22 (Table 3.11).
Continuing with our research experiment, when respondents were asked to answer the
questions, for a particular corporate blog, before and after exposure to a blog, it was possible
to measure the variation in CBK, courtesy their sensitization to the blog. Sensitization would
imply degree of association/ exposure and ability to navigate the blog (Ahuja and Medury,
2010).
In the context of the Interactive Testing effect, the prior measurement of CBK levels impacts
the consumer emotion, and subsequent response to the independent variable. Hence consumer
brand emotion becomes a dependent variable (CBE) dependent on the independent variable,
CBK. Increased exposure to the blog (increased time) helps streamline the variation in the
CBK level.
3.7.6. Correlation between Delta Consumer Brand Knowledge and Delta Consumer Brand
Emotion Scores ( CBK and CBE)
The final step was to see the strength of association between the two metric variables, CBK
and CBE. It was done using correlation which aided in observing the degree to which
variation in CBK is related to the variation in CBE. This was done using the Karl Pearson
correlation coefficient (SPSS 17.0).
The results of the same have been clearly indicated under the chapter on Findings and Results.

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Chapter 3
Table 3.10: Evaluation Grid to evaluate Interactivity Scores
Answer the following questions.
1 What is your age?
2 Number of hours spent on the Internet per day?
0-2 hrs
3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

2-4 hrs

4-6 hrs

more than 6 hrs

Have you been using Internet for?

Less than 1 Yr
More than 1 Yr
More than 2 Yrs
more than 5 Yrs
Rate the following purposes for which you use the internet based on your usage and internet priorities.
First rate these on a scale of 1-10, 1=L and 10=H and then rate these parameters individually on a scale of 1-4, 1=L and 4=H
Rate (I) Rate (W)
Shopping
Chatting
Surfing for news
Searching or information gathering
Involvement in an online community or group
Downloading
Reservation
Banking Transaction
Gaming
Academic and Research purposes
TOTAL

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Table 3.11: Interactivity Scores

Internet Savyyness Score Sheet
Respondent

Age Group

Usage Hrs/day

R1

20-25

more than 2 hrs

26

R2

20-25

more than 2 hrs

28

R3

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R4

20-25

more than 4 hrs

26

R5

20-25

more than 4 hrs

25

R6

20-25

more than 6 hrs

26

R7

20-25

more than 4 hrs

26

R8

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R9

20-25

more than 2 hrs

26

R10

20-25

more than 2 hrs

26

R11

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R12

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R13

20-25

more than 2 hrs

26

R14

20-25

more than 2 hrs

23

R15

20-25

more than 4 hrs

27

R16

20-25

more than 4 hrs

27

R17

20-25

more than 4 hrs

25

R18

20-25

more than 6 hrs

27

R19

20-25

more than 6 hrs

24

R20

20-25

more than 6 hrs

26

R21

20-25

more than 6 hrs

28

R22

20-25

more than 2 hrs

25

R23

20-25

more than 2 hrs

25

R24

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R25

20-25

more than 2 hrs

25

R26

20-25

more than 2 hrs

23

R27

20-25

more than 2 hrs

24

R28

20-25

more than 2 hrs

23

R29

20-25

more than 4 hrs

26

R30

20-25

more than 4 hrs

24

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Internet Savvyness Score

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Chapter 3

3.7.7. Sentiword net

For the purpose of this research study I have used sentiword net version1.0. In this thesis I
describe SENTIWORDNET (version 1.0), a lexical resource in which each synset of
WORDNET(version 2.0) is associated to three numerical scores Obj(s), Pos(s) and Neg(s),
describing how Objective, Positive, and Negative the terms contained in the synset are. The
assumption that underlies our switch from terms to synsets is that different senses of the same
term may have different opinion-related properties. Each of the three scores ranges from 0.0
to 1.0, and their sum is 1.0 for each synset. This means that a synset may have nonzero scores
for all the three categories, which would indicate that the corresponding terms have, in the
sense indicated by the synset, each of the three opinion-related properties only to a certain
degree1. Opinion mining (OM also known as sentiment classification) is a recent sub
discipline at the crossroads of information retrieval and computational linguistics which is
concerned not with the topic a text is about, but with the opinion it expresses. Opinion-driven
content management has several important applications, such as determining critics opinions
about a given product by classifying online product reviews, or tracking the shifting attitudes
of the general public towards a political candidate by mining online forums or blogs.

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