The influence of custom labeled business gifts on brand attitude: the mediating role of product quality

Purpose he purpose of this paper is to examine how custom labeled business gifts influence perceived product quality and brand attitude. Design/methodology/approach Four experiments examine how custom labeled (versus standard) business gifts influence brand attitude through perceived product quality. Mediation of perceived product quality (Studies 1–2), moderation of product quality information (Study 3) and the downstream effect on word of mouth (Study 4) were all tested. Findings Custom labeled (versus standard) business gifts reduce brand attitude through a decrease in perceived product quality. When an alternate source of substantive product quality information is provided to the consumer, the effect is attenuated. It is also shown that custom labeled business gifts have a downstream influence on word of mouth intent through the serially mediated process of perceived product quality and brand attitude. Practical implications This paper provides evidence to marketing managers that custom labeled business gifts can have a negative influence on perceived product quality which subsequently can have a negative effect on brand attitude and word of mouth intent. The findings provide guidance on how the negative effect of custom labeling can be mitigated. Originality/value Prior research on business gifts has not examined how custom labeling of a business gift influences perceived product quality and brand attitude. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to show custom labeled business gifts can have a negative influence on perceived product quality followed by a decrease in brand attitude.