Linking marketing mix elements to passion-driven behavior toward a brand: Evidence from the foodservice industry

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationships among perceptions of advertising, sales promotions, brand prestige and brand love, as well as the development of passion-driven behavior among family restaurant customers. Based on the well-established framework of marketing mix elements and brand, this study proposes and tests a research model that attempts to understand the inter-relationships between the two dimensions of advertising (i.e. advertising spending and attitudes toward advertisement), two dimensions of sales promotions (i.e. monetary promotion and non-monetary promotion), brand prestige, brand love and passion-driven behavior, as well as compares local and global family restaurant brands. Design/methodology/approach: The research model of this study was tested based on responses from 265 family restaurant customers in Korea (i.e. 105 from Outback Steak House, 78 from T.G.I. Fridays, 45 from VIPS and 37 from Ashley). Data were analyzed using frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor and correlation analyses, the structural equation modeling and multi-sample methods. Findings: The verified model confirmed that brand prestige was significantly influenced by attitudes toward advertisement, monetary promotion and non-monetary promotion. Also, brand love was significantly affected by the amount spent on advertising, attitudes toward the advertisement and monetary promotion. Passion-driven behavior was significantly impacted by brand prestige and brand love. Lastly, the results identified that the brand origin (i.e. local and global family restaurant brands) moderated one of the hypothesized relationships (i.e. the impact of brand prestige on brand love). Practical implications: The study suggests that a family restaurant brand manager may want to emphasize planning and developing marketing mix elements focusing on advertising and sales promotions. Originality/value: This research illustrates the influences of the two dimensions of advertising and two types of sales promotions on brand prestige and brand love, which in turn led to passion-driven behavior from family restaurant customers.