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This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of innovation capabilities and social media capabilities on the relationship between brand orientation and brand performance among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the size differential feature from the organizational ecology theory, the paper further tests variations in these conditions across disaggregated SME levels.

The empirical part of the study was carried out with a sample of 484 enterprises in an emerging market context via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, along with a moderated hierarchical regression.

Results from the moderated hierarchical regression analysis indicate that although the two capabilities generally offered positive moderating effects across all enterprises, these are conditional and not invariant when disaggregated based on enterprise sizes (small vs medium).

The study suggests the need for enterprise owners/managers to identify optimal combinations of enterprise capabilities, based on their sizes, for which their complementarities with brand orientation efforts are more potent.

This paper aims to examine the drivers of service brand avoidance in business-to-business relationships within an emerging economy setting.

This study used an explanatory research design with a quantitative approach. Data was obtained through self-administered questionnaires and a uniform resource locator via Google Forms. The hypothesised relationships were analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique.

This research reveals that unmet expectations, symbolic incongruence and failed communications directly influence brand avoidance, while ideological incompatibility significantly impacts symbolic incongruence. In contrast, unacceptable trade-offs and ideological incompatibility do not directly influence brand avoidance in B2B relationships.

Future studies may consider examining brand avoidance by business clients within other specific industries and its impact on co-branding agreements.

This study provides empirical evidence of drivers of service brand avoidance within business markets from an emerging economy perspective.

This paper aims to draw on the organizational ecology theory to examine variations in branding efforts and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across enterprises sizes and business operating sectors.

A four-stage analysis involving principal component analysis, Pearson correlation, ANOVA and logistic regressions was used on a sample of 430 SMEs within an emerging market.

Principal component analysis identified four brand marketing efforts relevant to the SMEs. These efforts were used in fluctuating extents among small-sized versus medium-sized enterprises, as well as manufacturing versus services SMEs. Additionally, proportionate levels of performance corollaries were found to be accruable across the enterprise sizes and operating sectors.

The paper first identifies four brand-building efforts germane to SMEs within an emerging market and examines their precise contributions to firm performance within enterprise sizes and business operating sectors. It further reinforces the relevance of brand marketing programs to the growth of SMEs by establishing the likelihood and extent to which brand-building efforts impact on SME performance across enterprise sizes, as well as operating sectors. The study also presents issues of potential research and managerial interest from an emerging market, offering insightful implications to researchers and SME managers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine brand-building efforts within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an attempt to understand the extent to which such efforts are undertaken in high- and low-performing enterprises.

The study uses data from 430 SMEs in an emerging market. After evaluating scale measures with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, multiple stage analyses involving cluster analysis, ANOVA and hierarchical regression with sub-group analysis were used to examine the theoretical relationships among the constructs.

Findings from the study identify four composite brand-building efforts that influence SMEs’ performance. These are implemented in varying extents, culminating into proportional levels of performance within high- and low-performing SMEs. Significant differences with regard to profit margin, market share, sales volume, customer base and new product success are also exhibited in the two enterprise segments.

The results provide evidence to issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities. The paper offers a preliminary attempt to progress literature by synthesizing various brand-building efforts under four broader theorizations in SMEs setting.

The paper aims to examine the nexus between perceived relational benefits and brand engagement within a restaurant setting in a developing economy context.

This paper used a survey research design, obtaining data via self-administered questionnaire from 500 customers of 25 restaurants. A five-stage analysis involving exploratory factor analysis, ANOVA, multiple regression, cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression was carried out using SPSS 22 for Windows.

Results from the study show that three relational benefits (social benefit, exploration and entertainment) contribute significantly to consumers’ brand engagement in a restaurant service setting. Variations across consumers with low, medium and high brand engagement levels are also provided.

The paper extends the current understanding of brand engagement from a restaurant setting. It provides evidence to issues of potential research and managerial interests and offers insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities.

The study aims to examine social-psychological beliefs and personality traits and their linkage with driver predispositions and road safety behaviour grounded on notions derived from an integration of the health belief model (HBM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in social marketing.

The study used a cross-sectional survey to gather data from 587 licenced drivers in 3 major urban settlements in Ghana. The theoretical model was tested by using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The study finds that the effects of perceived benefits, perceived behavioural control, social norms and cues to action on road safety behaviour are direct; the effects of perceived susceptibility, severity and barriers on road safety behaviour are fully mediated by driver attitude towards safe driving. Some of these effects were moderated by conscientiousness and neuroticism.

The findings offer empirical grounds for the development of evidence-based social marketing interventions that leverage efficacy-centred messages, social influence through community-based approaches, informational cues with consistent education and are tailored to the personality traits of drivers with the aim of inducing wilful on-road safety behaviour towards achieving sustainable road safety culture.

This study extends the integrative applicability of the HBM and TPB in understanding road safety behaviour and establishes attitude as a vital facilitator, and personality traits as moderators of the belief-preventive behaviour linkage within a developing country context. It contributes towards the use of theory-based outcomes to enhance the efficacy of social marketing road safety campaigns.

Given the significant contributions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across several economies, calls for investigations into their branding strategies are burgeoning. However, the literature is unclear, scattered and relatively scanty. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the existing literature on branding with a focus on SMEs.

The study uses a systematic review by identifying and evaluating peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on branding within the context of SMEs. The systematic design is based on papers published within the period of 2004-2014.

The review shows that significant progress is being made in the area under discussion. With several gaps in issues and empirical evidence, as well as in theoretical and methodological approaches, the paper signals promising lines of inquiry for both empirical and theoretical research.

By highlighting the research issues, as well as providing some pertinent research questions across various themes, the paper aims at directing future research efforts to critical areas which require immediate attention. The implications of the review are discussed in the paper.

The study identifies and describes the state of research issues and evidence in branding literature within the context of SMEs over a 10-year period, prompting insightful avenues to the academic and practitioner communities.

Currently, mobile payments have become pervasive in electronic commerce and are steadily increasing in many regions worldwide. In the literature, however, its continued usage among consumers is deemed equivocal, particularly among small businesses. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to examine mobile money continuance intention among micro enterprises in an emerging/less-developed economy. This study aims to explore the mediating role of agent credibility on this relationship, given that these agents are contingent actors between service providers and mobile money users.

After a preliminary qualitative enquiry, quantitative data collected from 584 micro enterprises were tested from the UTAUT perspective, using structural equation modelling.

Findings from the study establish the applicability of the UTAUT in explaining the antecedents, motivations and continuance intention of mobile money usage among micro enterprises. Further, beyond their direct effects, the UTAUT conditions have indirect effects on the continuance intention through their effect on perceived agent credibility.

The findings provide evidence to issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities, respectively.

The increased practitioner and academic interest in negative brand phenomena highlight the need for the development of practical scales to be used for empirical investigations. Therefore, this paper aims to draw on existing conceptualisations to provide a theoretically grounded yet practically oriented scale for examining brand avoidance and its protocols.

The study uses a sample of 575 consumers from two developing countries to create a parsimonious brand avoidance scale. Partial least squares structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data through a systematic formative measurement approach

This paper finds brand avoidance to be a multidimensional, second-order construct with five first-order dimensions: moral avoidance, identity avoidance, deficit–value avoidance, experiential avoidance and advertising-related avoidance. The paper further validates this scale by testing with non-purchase intention and identifies its positive relationship with brand avoidance.

This study fulfils the calls in the literature to provide a measurable scale for studying negative brand phenomena in consumer–brand relationship research.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effect of brand regulations on the relationship between enterprises’ branding capabilities (internal and external) and performance. It also examines the hypothesized relationship effects across manufacturing and service-based enterprises.

The study uses data from 384 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within an emerging market setting. Moderated hierarchical regression was used to examine the theoretical interrelationships between branding capabilities and enterprise performance within the boundaries of regulations.

Results from the study suggest that both internal and external branding capabilities positively affect enterprise performance. However, the effect is confounded as brand regulations attenuate the relationship between enterprises’ branding capabilities and performance. Varying outcomes across manufacturing and service-based enterprises are also assessed.

The study suggests that policy makers should review regulations on businesses, particularly those relating to the small business sector. Regulations that ameliorate activities of SMEs should be implemented to promote existing enterprises, and attract new ones for industrialization in emerging markets. The findings provide evidence for issues of potential research and managerial interest, with implications for both policy makers, small business owners and the academic community.