Perceived brand image in customers’ perceptions - A netnography study

Abstract

The existing body of literature on brand image highlights a pressing demand for further investigation into this area, leveraging new and diverse data sources, particularly within the dynamic landscape of the online environment. To respond to the call from previous studies, the present study employs netnography as the research method, and netnographic data to explore brand image aspects of Dookki - an F&B brand, from customers’ perceptions. To be more specific, the method employed in this study utilizes netnographic data to delve deeply into various facets of the brand image associated with Dookki as perceived by its customers. Netnography was chosen as it can help to capture insights from online interactions and discussions and offers a comprehensive lens through which to explore various aspects of brand image in the social media landscape. Specifically, symbolic Netnography with archival netnographic data was apply to conduct the research in 06 online communities with 1,203 comments in 64 posts. The selected online communities are based on 05 criteria of netnographic methodology, consisting of having a research question relevant segment, topic or group; high “traffic” of postings; large numbers of discrete message posters; detailed or descriptively rich data, and many between-member interactions of the type required by the research question. The research findings show that, in customers’ perceptions, there are 05 aspects of Dookki’s brand image with 15 items, including Food quality, Service quality, Price fairness, Marketing activities, and Hygiene. Among 15 items identified in this study, Responsiveness, Taste, Assurance, and Empathy are mentioned in comments and reviews with the highest frequencies. The findings of this study yield valuable contributions to both theoretical frameworks and empirical understanding in the field.