Relevant prior study
There is a great deal of published research about brand equity, or power; most of it deals either by attempting to value brand equity or with trying to understand more about the structure of brand equity for marketing purposes, but little of it refers specifically to the structure of cyber brands. The underlying theory established off-line is that brand equity (or brand power, as Na et al. (1999a) term it) is constructed in the minds of the consumer through assessment of relevant evaluation criteria and is directly related to customer satisfaction and consequent purchase. Perhaps the best way of describing their research is with reference to the model they developed and tested, shown here as Figure 1.
Proposition 1 - model extension
The basis of the model is that the sum total of the values of brand attitudes and associations create a brand image, which in turn drives brand equity, or power. Further than this, brand power is directly related to customer satisfaction and market share. Na et al. (1999a) provided empirical validation for the model, using brands in the toilet tissue and men's suit market in South Korea.
If this model is placed in an internet context, all that should be required is a change of terminology. Thus, in a Cyberspace context, brand power relates to the likelihood of on-line customers using a particular site because of its particular configuration of relevant evaluation criteria. The first research proposition, to test the model in an internet environment, is thus quite simple:
P1. Internet brands which have more brand power will generate more customer satisfaction and a higher client visit intention than those which have less brand power.