Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management and Dietetics / Ki-Joon Back / Carol W. Shanklin / This study was designed to explore the measurement and application of brand personality congruence (BPC), defined as the gap between the customer’s own personality and a restaurant’s brand personality as perceived by the customer. The study involved two phases: Phase I primarily focused on the development of the BPC scale based on the existing Brand Personality Scale (Aaker 1997), while Phase II involved testing the relationship between BPC and brand loyalty and the mediating effects of satisfaction and trust on that relationship. Both Phases used the online survey methodology for data collection. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the dimensionality of brand personality. The five-factor solution was supported with the dimensions of sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. Exploratory factor analysis showed that brand personality dimensions were not stable for measuring customer personality. Only characteristics most closely associated with the Big Five dimensions of agreeableness, extroversion, and conscientiousness significantly loaded on the customer personality scale. A confirmatory factor analysis of the reduced scale resulted in a 5-factor solution: successful, exciting, unique, sincere, and friendly. Because BPC was operationalized as the gap between the customer’s perceived personality and the restaurant’s brand personality as perceived by the customer, only indicators that were common between the two scales were used to establish the 17-item BPC scale consisting of the following dimensions: exciting, unique, sincere, and leader. In Phase II, second-order structural equation modeling was used to test BPC as an antecedent of the post-purchase evaluations of trust, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. Results indicated strong positive relationships, which suggested that higher congruence with the brand’s personality results in increased trust, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. BPC had the greatest direct effect on trust and also had indirect effects on satisfaction via trust and brand loyalty via trust and satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that trust and satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between BPC and brand loyalty. Trust also mediated the relationship between BPC and satisfaction. Results implied that as the restaurant brand earns a customer’s trust over time, the customer’s evaluation of overall satisfaction with the brand also increases and leads to stronger brand loyalty.

Les marques représentent aujourd'hui incontestablement un élément important de la société de consommation. Le nombre de marques ne cesse d'augmenter, créant ainsi une confusion dans l'esprit des consommateurs, et représentant autant de difficultés et de défis pour les entreprises. Chaque année, les entreprises consacrent des sommes importantes à la gestion de leur marque afin quelle soit connue et présente dans l'esprit des consommateurs. Ceci nous a conduits à s'intéresser aux problématiques liées à la construction et à la conservation d'un fort capital-marque pour une firme. Le capital-marque est fortement influencé par des bénéfices symboliques ou intangibles. La marque n'est plus un objet. Les activités de marketing confèrent à la marque une personnalité, une âme. Grâce à cela, la marque devient un partenaire dans la relation avec les consommateurs. Cette thèse se focalise sur la recherche de l'effet de la personnalité de la marque et de la congruence de la personnalité marque-consommateur sur le capital-marque. Elle étudie les valeurs qu'un fort capital-marque peut apporter à la firme par la construction et le maintien d'une bonne relation avec les consommateurs. Toutes nos études expérimentales ont été mises en œuvre au Vietnam. Les résultats obtenus proposent des contributions théoriques afin de mieux comprendre la nature de la relation mutuelle entre le capital-marque et la relation interpersonnelle marque-consommateur. Ils apportent des contributions méthodologiques, relative à la création d'une échelle de mesure de la personnalité de la marque et d'une échelle de mesure du capital-marque dans le contexte vietnamien. Ils fournissent des apports managériaux importants aux entreprises qui veulent commercialiser leurs produits sur le marché vietnamien. / Nowadays, the brands undoubtly represent an important element of the consumer society. The number of brands does not stop increasing, thus creating a confusion in the spirit of the consumers, and resulting in many difficulties and challenges for the businesses. Each year, companies spend a large amount of money on managing their brand so that their brand are known and present in the spirit of the consumers. This drives us to be very concerned by the problems linked to the construction and to the conservation of a strong brand equity for a firm. The brand equity is strongly influenced by symbolic or intangible benefits. The brand is no longer an inanimate object. The marketing activities confer to the brand a personality, a soul. Thanks to that, the brand becomes a partner in its relation with the consumers. This thesis focuses on studying the effect of the brand personality and the congruence on the personality between brand and consumer on the brand equity. It studies the values concerning the construction and the maintenance of a good relation with the consumers that a strong brand equity can bring to the firm. All of experimental studies were implemented in Vietnam. The results bring theoretical contributions for a better understanding of the nature of the mutual relation between the brand equity and the interpersonal relationship between brand and consumer. They furnish methodological contributions by creating a measurement scale both for brand personality and brand equity in the Vietnamese context. They also provide important managerial implications for the companies that want to market their products on the Vietnamese market.