Cultural congruity and extensions of corporate heritage brands: An empirical analysis of time‐honored brands in China

Abstract

This article furthers the understanding of cultural congruity in relation to extension evaluations of corporate heritage brands. The extension of corporate heritage brands remains challenging, due to their unique identities around heritage—typically fostering a narrow spectrum of product‐cultural domain. Drawing on the concept of cultural congruity, this paper puts forward the notion that one effective way to break the deadlock of a brand's heritage is to expand into product categories that share the unique cultural heritage in ways that are meaningful, not merely symbolic. Based on data from a large survey on time‐honored brands in China, this paper demonstrates that cultural congruity does not only influence extension evaluations directly, but also indirectly through perceived fit. The findings further indicate that brand cultural heritage positively moderates both direct and indirect effects. This study enhances the concept of product fit from the lens of cultural congruity and opens up a new avenue for managing corporate heritage brands in the marketplace.

Research on the innovation of time-honored brands from the perspective of dual ethical patterns

“…Second, this study provides a new research perspective and research object on the relationship between traditional culture and the process of marketization. Although the influence of traditional cultures and marketization levels on enterprises has been examined in some studies (Gu et al, 2008;Zhou et al, 2014). However, no consistent conclusions have been drawn.…”

“…To achieve development and revitalization, the time-honored brand must change the backward concept that "the fragrance of wine is not afraid of deep alleys" and be actively involved in market competition. A relatively strong market competition will effectively drive the innovation investment of enterprises (Norbäck and Persson, 2012;Zhou et al, 2014;Marshall and Parra, 2019;Parra, 2019). Secondly, the lack of effective protection of the proprietary technology and intellectual property rights is an essential factor hindering the innovative development of time-honored brands (Pisuke and Kelli, 2008;Hussain and Terziovski, 2016;Liu and Jiang, 2016).…”

“…According to Wang et al (2022) , the values of Chinese entrepreneurs are permeated by the ideas of the traditional culture they receive and are reflected in their business decisions. Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, time-honored brands are a unique local phenomenon ( Zhou et al, 2022 ). Compared with new-type companies, time-honored brands are more deeply influenced by the traditional culture due to their long history.…”

“…On the one hand, traditional culture, with traditional ethical value systems such as benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom, and credit as its core, plays an important role in the operation of time-honored brands (Wang and Juslin, 2009;Kung and Ma, 2014); on the other hand, since 1978, with the historic transition from a traditional planned economy to a market economy, time-honored brands have also been influenced by the market-oriented ethics of competition, self-interest, and equitable exchange. At present, there is no consensus in academic circles on whether the two ethical patterns of traditional culture and marketization coexist harmoniously or conflict with each other (Gu et al, 2008;Zhou et al, 2014).…”

Research on the influence of collective nostalgia on the purchase intention of time-honored brand products

“…Nostalgia can trigger consumers' purchase intention, which has been fully proved by literature [7] [10] [11] However, most of the types of nostalgia in the study point to personal nostalgia, interpersonal nostalgia and historical nostalgia, and the collective nostalgia has not been fully explained. Moreover, the current research on time-honored brand products tends to focus on the marketing strategy guidance at the macro level, such as the extension of time-honored brand products [12] [13] [14] , inheritance [15] [16] and innovation [17] [18] [19] . However, starting from the needs of consumers, studying the purchase intention at the micro level is the prerequisite for marketing transformation.…”