The Effects of Big Five Personality Traits on Brand Personality and Consumer Behavior : Focusing on Gender Differences

If previous studies on brand personality were abstract approaches to simple brand personality, in this study, We introduce the Big 5 model to analyze the Big Five personality and brand personality at the same time. The main purpose of the study is the following: First, we aim to uncover if the brand personality developed by Aaker (1997) is a concept that can be applied to Korean consumers with actual products in the same manner. Second, we try to find out the influence of consumers' personality towards judging brand personality and their relationship effecting on consumer's behavior such as brand loyalty and involvement to a brand. Third, we hope to make some contribution in the field of brand personality and consumers' active purchasing behavior. We first analyze the components of brand personality from Aaker (1997). The components of brand personality developed by Aaker (1997) were sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. We chose the Aaker (1997) scale as our research tool because she argued that five brand personality factors could be applicable to the most universal product categories. Afterwards, we use and translate scale (Brand Personality Scale or BPS) developed by Aaker (1997) in a way that Korean consumers can easily understand. We used stratified sampling to design a sampling frame based on demographic variables. 259 questionnaires were collected for the study and the survey was administered by Computer Aided Web Interview (CAWI). We collected data from people in the Seoul area. First, we divided the sample of 20,000 people in penal of Korean research according to the 25 districts of Seoul city. Then random sampling was done based on demographic variables such as gender, age, and job type. The final sample was 207 after deleting the incomplete questionnaires out of 259. After a pilot test, we developed a 7-point Likert scale of brand personality scale for sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. We scored 7 for strongly agree and 1 for strongly disagree. We used the Big Five personality, one of the most persuasive methods in traits for the research based on the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) developed by Goldberg (1981). Big Five traits in our study are summarized as “openness to experience,” “agreeableness,” “conscientiousness,” “extraversion,” and “emotional insecurity” with 5 scales in each trait. In this research, trying to answer research question 1, “Can we apply the BPS developed by Aaker (1997) to Korean consumers in the same way,” we conducted a validity and reliability test. We examined principal component analysis for construction concept validity and simplified factor loading with Varimax of orthogonal rotation for factor analysis. For internal validity, we picked measured variables of Cronbach's alpha 0.5 or more. The results of the study are summarized as follows. First, in the case of a high-involvement products, such as automobiles, Korean consumers reorganized brand personality into three characteristics such as sophistication, competence, and sincerity. Second, regression analysis was conducted for male and female consumers to examine the effects of consumer personalities on automobile brand personality. As a result, there were no individual personality factors that were positively related to sophistication in men. In the case of females, agreeableness and extroversion of consumer personality were positively related to sophistication-excitement of brand personality. In the case of competence of brand personality, the agreeableness and conscientiousness of male and conscientiousness of female were significantly related. Finally, in the case of the sincerity, agreeableness of men was the only significant variable, while there were no significant personality variables in the case of females. Third, when consumers' personality was examined in terms of consumer behavior, conscientiousness and extraversion of men increased the probability of high involvement with automobile brand. while extraversion of women personality tended to be highly involved. In the case of brand loyalty for men, conscientiousness and extraversion increased the probability of being high brand loyal while the agreeableness of women personality increased the probability of being high brand loyal. Finally, this study compares the five dimensions of brand personality and personal personality by gender and analyzes the consumer behavior in various aspects. I hope the model introduced in this study can provide useful information to establish brand strategy in practical marketing.