THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND AWARENESS IN CONSUMERS’ BUYING DECISION AND PERCEIVED RISK ASSESSMENT

Management & Marketing
Volumul 7, nr. 1/2009
Revista publicata de doua ori pe an de catre Editura Universitaria Craiova

AUTHOR:
Lecturer PhD Ovidiu I. MOISESCU
Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca

ABSTRACT:

Brand awareness, as one of the fundamental dimensions of brand equity, is often considered to be a prerequisite of consumers’ buying decision, as it represents the main factor for including a brand in the consideration set. Brand awareness can also influence consumers’ perceived risk assessment and their confidence in the purchase decision, due to familiarity with the brand and its characteristics. On the other hand, brand awareness can be depicted into at least two facets – unaided (brand recall) and aided (brand recognition) – each of the two facets having its more or less effective influence on buying decision and perceived risk assessment. This paper tries to reveal, on one hand, the importance of unaided brand awareness when it comes to consumers’ buying decision and, on the other hand, the importance of aided brand awareness when assessing the perceived risk associated with the purchase. The analysis is conducted in a comparative manner, considering the case of durable versus non-durable products, and with focus on urban Romanian consumers.

Keywords: brand aided and unaided awareness, brand choice, perceived risk

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