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Although gender dimensions of personality are relevant to brands, their measurement and contribution to branding theory has not been examined. So far, marketers have had to use personality scales developed for the assessment of human personality traits to measure gender dimensions of brand personality in the evaluation of positioning or repositioning strategies. Based on evidence that scales measuring human characteristics do not necessarily lend themselves to the evaluation of personality traits associated with brands, the measurement of gender dimensions of brands using scales measuring masculinity and femininity as human personality traits is questionable. The objective of this article is to develop and validate a scale that measures the gender dimensions of brand personality for use in theory tests pertaining to the gender dimensions of brands and as diagnostic tool in the evaluation of positioning strategies.

This article describes eight studies conducted to develop and validate a two-dimensional scale measuring masculine and feminine brand personality. These studies show that the scale is applicable to both utilitarian and symbolic brands across a wide range of product categories. The scale is discriminant with regard to scales that measure masculinity and femininity as human personality traits and existing brand personality dimensions, and thus it can be used in conjunction with established brand personality scales.

The scale proved useful in addressing several research questions: First, an experiment demonstrates that marketers can shape consumers’ perceptions of gender dimensions of brand personality through their choice of masculine and feminine spokespeople featured in advertisements. After only one exposure to a print advertisement for an unfamiliar brand, consumers perceived the brand as more masculine (feminine) when a masculine (feminine) spokesperson was featured. A second experiment involving multiple brands shows that gender dimensions of brand personality influence affective (e.g., affect, trust), attitudinal (e.g., attitude, purchase intentions), and behavioral consumer responses (e.g., loyalty, word-of-mouth communication) positively when they are congruent with consumers’ sex role identity and thus enable consumers to express an important dimension of their self-concept. A third experiment extends the notion of brand fit beyond symbolic/functional brand image by exploring brand fit based on gender dimensions of brand personality and product gender perceptions of the extension category. The results indicate that brand fit based on gender dimensions of brand personality and product gender perceptions of the extension category enhances extension evaluations and purchase intentions.

Biography
Bianca Grohmann is Associate Professor of Marketing in the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. She received her PhD in Marketing from Washington State University. Her research focuses on consumer psychology, scale development, branding, and retail atmospherics. Bianca has coauthored articles published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Business Research. She has presented her work at international conferences, such as the Association of Consumer Research, Society for Consumer Psychology, and European Marketing Association conferences.

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