Gender segmentation to increase brand preference? The role of product involvement
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| Pages | 408-420 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-06-2018-1917 |
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Author | Enav Friedmann,Oded Lowengart |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
Gender segmentation to increase brand
preference? The role of product involvement
Enav Friedmann
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, and
Oded Lowengart
Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to address the role of product involvement in the brand preference formation of men and women. Product involvement
can be defined as a consumer’s motivation for product purchase that affects their information processing strategies when forming a bra nd
preference (e.g. more automatic at low levels vs more deliberative at high levels). Given that gender differences are found to be context-dependent,
it was expected that, when forming a single brand preference, men would emphasize instrumental aspects (functional and socially consp icuous
utilities) and women the experiential utility of the brand only with high-involvement-level products.
Design/methodology/approach –A descriptive survey (n= 459) using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used following an online
experiment where involvement level was manipulated (n= 255) to validate the results.
Findings –Stereotypical gender differences appeared at high, but not low-involvement levels. Theoretically, these findings question the
evolutionary basis of gender differences, as differences were not consistent at both levels.
Practical implications –The findings raise questions about the efficacy of segmenting by gender when aiming to increase brand preference of low-
involvement products, whereas stereotypical targeting seem to be effective for increasing preference for high-involvement ones.
Originality/value –For the first time, the role of product involvement and gender was examined in brand preference formation. This can
theoretically clarify whether gender differences are consistent or dependent on the level of involvement. This information can help in designing
efficient marketing strategies for products with different involvement levels.
Keywords Gender differences, Brand preference, Level of product involvement
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Product involvement is regarded as a general attitude concerning
the importance of a product to a consumer (Ahtola, 1985), which
is mainly a function of its frequency of purchase, social and
economic risk and cost (Nkwocha et al.,2005). Understanding
the role of product involvement in the brand formation process
by gender is theoretically important as an answer to whether men
and women are inherently different in their brand preference
considerations (Dennis and McCall, 2005).
Gender refers to the psychological attributes associated with
physiology that are socially constructed in an individual’s identity
(Bem,1974, 1981;Spence and Helmreich, 1978). There is
evidencesuggestingthatitisamorerobustconceptthan
convention conveys (Campbell et al.,2004). Although this
construct is broader than a solely physiological categorization,
marketers commonly use demographic gender information as a
singular biological descriptor (Spence and Sawin, 1985;Ye and
Robertson, 2012). In effect, a physical characteristic is used as a
proxy for psychological characteristics (Ye and Robertson,
2012).
The evolutionary theory explains why physicaldescriptors are
believed to be related to psychological differences.
Psychological gender differences based on biological physical
descriptors originated as a function of the division of labor
between the genders millions of years ago (Saad and Gill,
2000). For men, survival was dependent on becoming good
hunters and finding a fertile mate, whereas women needed to
excel at gathering food for the family, which allowed them to
raise offspring into adulthood. This difference in goals led
women to be more caring and men to be more target oriented
(Brown, 2004). The dominant theory of gender is the classical
differences model, based on the idea that men and women are
vastly different psychologically because of sociobiological
processes (Swani et al., 2013). The effect of their different
biological programming as evolutionary gatherers and hunters
has been extended to the context of purchasing behavior
(Dennis and McCall, 2005). For example, women were found
to have more positive attitudes toward shopping than men
(Kuruvilla et al.,2009). Furthermore, according to this theory,
to demonstrate their symbolic economic power, men purchase
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
28/3 (2019) 408–420
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-06-2018-1917]
Received 28 June 2018
Revised 7 October 2018
7 December 2018
8 December 2018
11 December 2018
Accepted 12 December 2018
408
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