傳統上，廣告量愈多的產品，往往被消費者視為具有較佳的品質，因此廠商願意投入大量廣告經費，提升消費者對其產品的知覺品質以增加銷售量。而以往的研究中，學者亦針對廣告量與知覺品質的關係進行探討，並發現兩者的確呈正相關，然而過去卻幾乎沒有任何研究，針對廣告量是否能反映產品真實的品質進行探討，使消費者得知是否可運用廣告量作為客觀品質的判斷依據。因此本研究以台灣市場為對象，試圖探討以廣告量做為判斷客觀品質指標的可靠度為何。 本研究採用次級資料的研究方式，以1996年1月至2005年12月的消費者報導「數據在說話─測試篇」單元作為客觀品質的分析依據，並以潤利廣告公司1996年至2005年的有效廣告量資料代表廣告投入，針對35種產品類別共623個品牌的歷史資料進行分析，以了解廣告量與客觀品質間是否存在關聯性。接著本研究以產品使用期間、品質判斷能力、產品差異程度與財務風險四項影響消費者決策涉入程度的因素作為調節變數，將產品特性分為耐久財/非耐久財、搜尋品/經驗品、便利品/選購品、高價品/低價品四項，進一步探討廣告量和客觀品質在不同情形下的關連性高低。而在廣告量資料的處理上，本研究除了針對受測產品當年度的有效廣告量予以分析外，更加入了廣告遞延效果的概念，以三年平均廣告量為基礎進行分析，以瞭解廣告遞延效果的出現，是否會加強廣告量與客觀品質的聯結。 由相關分析的結果顯示，廣告量和客觀品質之間存在著輕度正相關，而後續的回歸模式檢定和卡方分析卻顯示，並無法以四個調節變數說明在何種情況下最適合以廣告量作為判斷客觀品質的指標。顯示台灣廠商不傾向以廣告量多寡作為品質信號，而消費者固然可以廣告量作為品質判斷的指標，然而應輔以其他相關指標進行選購以降低決策風險。 / Products with higher advertisement volume are often regarded as possessing better quality by consumers, so companies are willing to spend huge expenditure to enhance their perceived quality and thereby sales volume. Also, scholars in past researches discussed relationship between advertisement volume and perceived quality and finding positive correlation does exist. However, further examination on whether advertisement volume can reflect the real product quality has yet been done, so that consumers have no way to tell is advertisement volume a dependable quality signal or not. Thus, this research targets Taiwan market to discuss the reliability of using advertisement volume to evaluate objective quality. The research uses methodology of secondary data analysis, adopting “Product Testing Unit” in Chinese Taipei Consumer Report as objective quality sources, and effective advertisement volume by Rainmaker Corp. as advertisement volume data, analyzing data of total 35 product categories or 623 brands to examine the correlation. The research further uses product durability, accessibility of quality evaluation, degree of product differentiation, and financial risk as mediators, categorizing products into four groups to discuss the strength of correlation under various situations. As for advertisement data, the research uses not only advertisement data of the very year products are tested, but also three-year averaged volume to see whether the “lag effect” in advertisement strengthen the correlation. Correlation analysis indicates positive correlation between advertisement volume and objective quality does exist, yet results by both regression and chi-square analysis denied four characteristics as effective mediators, suggesting companies in Taiwan do not use advertisement volume as signal of quality, and consumers should complement with other signals other than advertisement volume when judging objective quality.

「品牌形象好的產品，其產品品質也會比較好」的想法，是許多消費者在購物時所依賴的經驗法則。然而，在現今的消費市場，品牌形象是否真能反映出品質的高低？本研究採用民國79年1月至民國94年6月份的「中國民國消費者報導」，探討在16年間，98個產品類別中，品牌形象與產品品質的相關性。 研究結果顯示，品牌形象不能做為產品品質的訊號，在98個產品項中，兩者的相關平均值為-0.14728，並且在各個產品項內，兩者相關性呈現大幅的差異。同時，在研究影響品牌形象與產品品質的中介變數後，本研究發現，在台灣消費市場，相較於開發中國家的產品，已開發國家的產品的品牌形象與產品品質相關性較高；而本研究的另外兩項中介變數：「耐久品/非耐久品」以及「搜尋品/經驗品」，並不能顯著地解釋品牌形象與產品品質相關性的差異。 根據本研究的分析，未來消費者在購買產品時，必須蒐集更多的產品相關資訊以促進購買決策的正確性，而不能單以品牌形象作為最終購買決策的依據。 / It seems that “better brand image implies higher quality” is the rule of thumb. However, is it true in the consumption market nowadays? This thesis uses 98 product category test results of the Chinese, Taipei Consumer Report from the period of January 1990 to June 2005 to examine the relationship between brand image and quality. The results of this thesis indicate that brand image is not a good signal of quality. The correlation coefficient is -0.14728 in average and greatly varying levels of correlation across 98 product category. At the same time, after investigating the variables, this thesis finds out that comparing to the product from developing countries, those from developed countries have higher brand image- quality correlation levels. Besides, other two variables, “durable/non-durable goods” and “search/experience goods”, do not significantly influence the correlation levels. According to the analysis, consumers need to collect more product-related information before final purchase decisions, instead of depending on brand image solely.