Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
Temple Personality: The Application of Brand Personality
Concept to Temple as a Brand
Nakhon Miwichian* and Kawpong Polyorat**
Brand personality is a concept of relating human personality traits to
a brand. According to Aaker (1997), there are five brand personality
dimensions: sincerity; excitement; competence; sophistication; and
ruggedness. Even though brand personality has been a topic of
interest for those in the marketing over decades, research on brand
personality at the context of temple or religious venues is scant. In
order to fill such a gap, the present study collected data with Thai
consumers in order to find out whether or not Aaker’s five-dimension
personality traits (1997) can be replicated and applied to the temple
context. A factor analysis reveals that the temple personality consists
of nine dimensions: (1) maleness and femaleness; (2)
professionalism; (3) liveliness; (4) morality; (5) credibility; (6)
gracefulness; (7) intention; (8) villager; and (9) being up-to-date.
These results are useful for a further development of the temple
personality scale and can serve as guidelines on positioning the
temple personality.
Keywords: Temple Personality, Temple Personality Scale, Temple Personality
Dimension
1. Introduction
Brand personality is a concept which applies human personality to a brand by
considering a brand as a human being with a personality. According to Aaker (1997),
brand personality is of five dimensions: sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, and
cheerful); excitement (daring, imaginative, and up-to-date); competence (reliable,
intelligent, and successful); sophistication (upper-class, and charming); and
ruggedness (tough and masculine). While brand personality has attracted interests
from marketing researchers for decades, particularly in the area of profit- or incomegenerating products (Freling and Forbes, 2005; Madden et al., 2006; Colucci et al.,
2008), the application of brand personality to non- product entity is relatively new.
These days, however, brand personality tends to respond to consumers in terms of
symbols to a greater extent. This is derived from creating meaning and value toward
products by making a connection between products and consumers
(Chongyingcharoen, 2010)
Drawing on Aaker (1997)’s five-dimensions of brand personality, recent researchers
have studied the application of brand personality concept to non-product entities in
such diverse areas as non-profit organizations (Venable et al., 2005), cultural
festivals (D’Astous A., Colbert F. & D’Astous E., 2006), tourist destinations
*Master Student, MBA Marketing Program, Faculty of Management Science, Khon Kaen University
corresponding author, e-mail: nakhon.thon@gmail.com
**Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Management Science, Khon
Kaen University, 123 Mittraparp Road, A.Muang, Khonkaen 40002 THAILAND, Phone: 6643-202401
Fax: 6643-202402, e-mail: kawpong@kku.ac.th
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
(Upadhyaya, 2012), and sports teams (Tsiotsou R., 2012). Based on these
examples, it is apparent that strategies of creating image or personality to attract
consumers by conveying desirable features, benefits, beliefs and values associated
with those entities are indispensable.
In Thailand where the majority of people are Buddhists (National Office of Buddhism,
2011), “the temple” has become the gathering place of Buddhists as it provides
space to perform main religious ceremonies. Relationship between the temple and
people in society has been developed for ages, derived from both direct and indirect
contacts of individuals with the temples and reinforced by experience, attitudes, and
faiths. If the temple is compared to a brand and specified with a personality close to
that of human beings, consumers may perceive and understand messages
conveyed by the brand, which will greatly contribute to the marketing potentials of
the temple. For example, positioning a particular personality for a temple can create
identity of that temple (Romero, 2012:286). Thus, the current research aims to study
brand personality traits of the temple by collecting data on Thai consumers’
perception toward the temple with the use of Aaker (1997)’s 42 personality traits.
This will lead to a better understanding of brand personality dimensions and also
explain the personality traits associated with the temple.
2. Literature Review
Brand Personality
Brand personality refers to human personality traits in relation to brand so as to
explain the personality of that brand (Aaker, 1997). Brand personality may be
derived from two factors: product related factor such as product category, packaging,
price and other physical features; and non-product related one such as consumer
experience, symbols, marketing communication, word-of-mouth, and corporate
management (Sung and Tinkham, 2005).
Brand personality often reflects symbolic identities, rather than product benefits
(Keller, 1993).
It also impacts on consumer needs and decision-making
(Swaminathan, Stilley and Ahluwalia, 2009). This offers a perfect opportunity for
creating a relationship between consumers and brands. Further, if brand personality
can specify distinctive features and identity of products, the specified brand can stay
and be remembered by consumers for a long time (Mishra, 2011).
Aaker (1997) has developed the brand personality construct, drawn from basic
psychology and marketing theories. From a factor analysis, 42 appropriate
personality traits are identified in five dimensions of brand personality as follows:
1) Sincerity contains 11 traits: down-to-earth; family-oriented; small-town; honest;
sincere; real; wholesome; original; cheerful; sentimental; and friendly.
2) Excitement contains 11 traits: daring; trendy; exciting; spirited; cool; young,
imaginative; unique; up-to-date; independent; contemporary.
3) Competence contains 9 traits: reliable; hard working; secure; intelligent; technical;
corporate; successful; leader; and confident.
4) Sophistication contains 6 traits: upper class; glamorous; good looking; charming;
feminine, and smooth.
5) Ruggedness contains 5 traits: outdoorsy; masculine; western; tough and rugged.
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
These five-dimensions of brand personality have been found by Aaker (1997) to be
robust across sub-samples such as males, females, children, and the aging people.
Moreover, they can be used for constructing a measuring tool so as to evaluate
different types of brand as well as a range of product categories (Polyorat &
Tuntabundit, 2007). Despite criticism, Aaker’s brand personality scale has been
widely accepted and cited among marketing researchers (e.g., Azoulay and
Kapferer, 2003; Milas and Mlacic, 2007; Romero, 2012).
Temple Personality
Brand personality building has been a topic of interest for a number of researchers
who have sought to develop a tool measuring brand personality. Most of these
researchers focus on brand personality of general products. However, one emerging
trend in marketing is an attempt to apply the brand personality concept to nonproduct institutions e.g. the temple and religions.
Lang, Ching Chan and Ragvald (2005) studied the economic system of the temple
and religions in China by applying marketing strategies to management and to the
maximum allocation of temple resources. The findings reveal that most successful
temple managers rely on such marketing strategies as promotion, introduction to
innovation, and support of public service activities, with the objectives to reinforce
the perception towards temple image and keep Buddhists motivated. Research
participants were chosen from a sample of eight big-sized temples in Guangdong
and Zhejiang provinces of China. Their study results suggest that the temple
personality is of significance to make the temple known and accepted by consumers
through the use of marketing strategy to create identity and distinguish these
temples from their counterparts.
Kaplan (2010) conducted a study on brand of Buddhist temples in Korea that offer a
stay-in program. Such a program is considered as a new famous tourist attraction
with a touch of traditional Buddhism. Most temples in that research were those with
both cultural significance and influence on Korean tourism industry. Kaplan’s work
emphasizes how the government and religion institutions took part in building brand
personality. Results reveal that the process of brand building for the temple
contributes to changing important identity of the Korean temple, from the center of a
particular group of devout Buddhists to the place with brand personality associated
with public service as well as the center of religious heritage of the nation.
Based on previous research, significance and benefits of image or brand image in
the temple context, even without the direct reference to Aaker’s five dimensions of
brand personality, are evident. However, research on temple personality is relatively
new and largely unexplored by marketing researchers, especially in terms of
personality scale at the temple context. In order to fill this research gap, the current
research seeks to take a preliminary step in developing such a scale for identifying
relevant personality traits and personality dimensions for the temple by drawing on
Aaker (1997)’s 42 personality traits.
Research Questions (RQ): If Aaker (1997)’s 42 personality traits are applied to the
temple context, how do consumers perceive temple personality dimensions?
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
3. Methodology
By convenience sampling, 389 Thai undergraduate students of major Northeastern
universities were chosen as research participants, whose age ranged between 18
and 28 years (mean age = 20.44). Most of them were females (63.8%).
A questionnaire was administered; the first part of which contains 42 personality trait
items regarding consumer perception of temple personality based on Aaker (1997)’s
scale which was translated into Thai using a back translation (Brislin, 1980). The
research participants were asked to think of “the temple” as a person. The research
participants were asked to indicate the extent to which each personality trait is
descriptive or relevant in the temple context using a five-point scale (1=not
descriptive at all, 5= very descriptive). The questionnaire instructed the participants
to think about their overall impression of temple as a brand, without any indication of
people who reside at the temple or those who join temple activities. Questions
concerning personal information such as gender and age, as well as the
respondents’ relevance and familiarity with the temple, and receptions of news from
the temple conclude the questionnaire, also using 5-point scale ranging from 5=the
most to 1=the least.
4. Results
As for the questions asking about 1) relevance with the temple, 2) familiarity with the
temple, and 3) reception of news from the temple, out of the 5-point scale, 3.24 is the
average of the participants’ relevance; 3.50 is the average of their familiarity; and
3.18 is the average of their reception of news. This suggests that the participants
were of an adequate relationship with the temple; and thereby being able to give
valid data for a further analysis.
The main questions, drawn from the above 42 personality traits, were analyzed with
a factor analysis using a principal component analysis (PCA); KMO of which is .889
(higher than .60) suggesting that this set of data are suitable for a factor analysis
(Mishra, 2011). With a varimax rotation, factors loading with low value (< .5) are
removed from the study (Costello and Osborne, 2005). The most appropriate 35
personality traits remained and can be grouped into 10 factors (eigenvalues > 1).
Since the 10th dimension exhibits no items with factor loading higher than .5, only 9
dimensions are kept for further analysis, with a variance explained of 67.087%. The
35 remaining personality trait scan be grouped into dimensions as follows:
(1) Maleness and femaleness contains 7 traits: feminine; smooth; outdoorsy;
masculine; western; tough; and rugged.
(2) Professionalism contains 5 traits: intelligent; technical; corporate; successful;
and leader.
(3) Liveliness contains 5 traits: cheerful; sentimental; daring; trendy; and exciting.
(4) Morality contains 4 traits: honest; sincere; real; and wholesome.
(5) Credibility contains 4 traits: reliable; hardworking; and secure.
(6) Gracefulness contains 4 traits: upper-class; glamorous; good looking; and
charming.
(7) Intention contains 2 traits: spirited; and cool.
(8) Villager contains 3 traits: down-to-earth; family-oriented; and small-town.
(9) Being up-to-date contains 2 traits: up-to-date; and contemporary.
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
Eight out of 9 are of high reliability with Cronbach’s Alphas ranging between .736.883. As they are higher than .7, they are considered reliable (Nunnally, 1979). As for
the 9th personality dimension (Being up-to-date) the reliability of .643 is yet relatively
close to .7. Results of the factor analysis are displayed in Table 1.
5. Disscussion
Conclusions
When applying Aaker (1997)’s 42 personality traits to the temple context, the present
research discovers that consumers perceive temple personality dimensions
differently from those of Aaker (1997)’s five brand personality dimensions. That is,
sincerity dimension is divided into: morality and villager, at the same time associated
with liveliness. Further, excitement consists of Intention and Being up-to-date while
being associated with liveliness. Competence is categorized into Professionalism
and credibility. Finally, sophistication is related to gracefulness while being
associated with Maleness and femaleness.
The reasons why temple personality dimensions differ from Aaker (1997)’s brand
personality dimensions may be derived from a number of such different aspects as
type of products and services, life styles, local cultures and religious beliefs. Thus,
future research may need to examine impacts caused by these differences.
However, the consumer perception, gained with the use of Aaker (1997)’s brand
personality traits, implies new dimensions that may better fit the temple. For
example, Maleness and femaleness dimension reflects the temple image as
appropriate for both genders. Morality dimension conveys moral and ethical practice.
Gracefulness dimension is connected with architecture and building of the temple.
Villager dimension displays the close relationship between community and temple.
Moreover, temple personality also appears to a place with liveliness, credibility,
spiritedness, and the dissemination of Buddhist teaching. In other words, the
consumer perception toward the temple very much depends on beliefs and faiths in
Buddhism; thereby being distinguished from the concept of brand personality
developed by Aaker (1997).
Research Implications
While contributing to empirical evidence and extending the framework of brand
personality in the religion context, this study also identifies some differences in
comparison with Aaker (1997)’s brand personality dimensions, which has been
developed in the US context. For this reason, marketers should be aware that
personality traits may vary across culture, language, and religious faith. This study
thus serves as a stepping stone to brand personality research in the context of
temple and religious venues, which is a non-product entity with differences in both
religious and cultural aspects.
Results from the Thai consumers reflect their perception toward the temple, at the
same time specifying nine relevant personality dimensions, which can support those
involved in management or public relations of the temple in positioning and
delivering the right personality traits. For example, morality personality relates the
temple to monks who are endowed with moral practice and can set a role model for
Buddhists while devoting themselves for public services. In addition, temple
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
personality may enhance cultural tourism in religious dimension. For instance, lively
personality reflects the temple as a place which offers a retreat from the confusing
world. Apart from creating a distinctive personality, the temple management needs to
think about personality of those who join the temple activities in order to reduce the
gap between the image of individual target participants and that of the temple, which
will help raise the participants’ satisfaction level with the temple. Besides, the
management can motivate the target group to stay connected to the temple so as to
religious faiths and related cultures in society.
Study Limitations and Avenues for Future Research
Although the current investigation provides some insights into the marketing area of
brand personality, some limitations should be addressed. Firstly, the results are
drawn from the personality of a single religion, Buddhism, which is represented by
the temple as the context of brand in order to assess the consumer perception.
Future research may thus adopt this research pattern to study other religions or
institutions.
Secondly, the data were collected from a sample of undergraduate students so this
sample does not represent the whole research population. As a result, future
research is expected to continue with a wider coverage of samples for a further
development of personality of the temple or religious places.
Finally, brand personality dimensions, proposed by Aaker (1997), focus solely on
positive aspects. In order to devise a better marketing strategy, negative personality
traits should be considered as well in measuring personality of the temple.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by Faculty of Management Science, Khon Kaen
University.
End Notes
Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
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Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
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Table 1 Factor Analysis Result
1.Down-to-earth
2.Family-oriented
3.Small-town
4.Honest
.709
5.Sincere
.743
6.Real
.763
7.Wholesome
.614
8.Original*
9.Cheerful
.675
10.Sensimental
.707
11.Freindly*
12.Daring
.751
13.Trendy
.714
14.Exciting
.687
15.Spirited
16.Cool
17.Young*
18.Imaginative*
19.Unique*
20.Up-to-date
21.Independent*
22.Contemporary
23.Reliable
.723
24.Hardworking
.745
25.Secure
.763
26.Intelligent
.576
27.Technical
.757
28.Corporate
.788
29.Successful
.804
30.Leader
.673
31.Confident*
32.Upper-Class
33.Glamorous
34.Good Looking
35.Charming
36.Feminine
.523
37.Smooth
.534
38.Outdoorsy
.736
39.Masculine
.800
40.Western
.832
41.Tough
.753
42.Rugged
.816
11.067 5.159 2.365 2.107 1.549
Eigenvalues
11.062 9.455 7.564 7.454 7.045
% of variance explained
7
N of items
5
5
4
3
.883
Cronbach alpha
0.856 0.82 0.825 0.811
Total % of variance = 67.09%, Italics* = items not loaded on any factors.
Factor 8
Villager
Factor 9
Being up-todate
Factor 7
Intention
Factor 6
Gracefulness
Factor 5
Credibility
Factor 4
Morality
Factor 3
Liveliness
Factor 2
Professionalism
Items
Factor 1
Maleness and
femaleness
Varimax-rotated principal Factors
.704
.723
.556
.725
.665
.664
.648
.663
.707
.728
.581
1.423
6.936
4
0.777
1.346 1.121 1.022
5.377 5.311 4.304
2
3
2
0.736 0.748 0.643