Beyond information availability: Specifying the dimensions of consumer perceived brand transparency

Consumers require brand information to inform their ethical perceptions of brands. With consumers’ unprecedented access to information online, the perceived availability of information may not be sufficient to drive perceptions of brand transparency and its outcomes. Extant brand transparency literature has fragmented approaches to conceptualizing transparency, some equating it to the quantity of information available, while others propose various characteristics that inform consumers' subjective perceptions, indicating the need for a multi-dimensional construct. Informed by signaling theory, this present research refines the conceptual structure in the extant literature and aims to specify the critical dimensions of consumer perceived brand transparency (perceived proactivity, clarity, and objectivity). We establish perceived information availability as a necessary but insufficient antecedent of brand transparency to facilitate brand ethicality. Finally, we identify the mediating and moderating mechanisms that facilitate transparency’s positive effects on perceptions of brand ethicality. Hence, the findings provide academics and managers with important implications.