Brand alliance model: The moderating role of consumption goals and image congruency in consumers' hotel brand evaluations

Brand alliances are becoming increasingly popular in today's brand-conscious environment. Research in this topic, however, is significantly lacking in the hospitality industry. In the context of the hospitality industry, hotel-restaurant brand alliance refers to the conjunction of two brands within one space (e.g., California Pizza Kitchen at Westin Hotels). Consumer response to such an alliance is argued to be a function of image congruency. Previous research has focused primarily on the congruent image as a fit between the two brands in question, and has neglected the important role of consumption goals. The overall purposes of this study are (a) to empirically examine the role of consumption goals in consumers' brand alliance evaluations, (b) to determine the possibility of a positive effect with an incongruent image, and (c) to demonstrate the occurrence of image transfer in brand alliance.; This study employed a 4 x 2 between-subjects factorial design. The components were consumption goals (hedonic: calm dining, dining in a lively environment; utilitarian: convenience, savings) and restaurant image (congruent and incongruent image with the hotel). A total of 442 travelers waiting for their planes at a national airport served as subjects.; The results of this study indicate that brand alliance involving incongruent brand images can be perceived as fit and be favorably evaluated, but is moderated by consumers' consumption goals. Specifically, the results show that incongruent brand images could enhance consumers' perception of fit and favorable hotel brand evaluations when the incongruent image is consistent with consumers' hedonic consumption goal. On the other hand, the effect of utilitarian goals cannot alter the perceived fit and favorable evaluations of the hotel when the partnership involved incongruent brand images. Nevertheless, the presence of utilitarian goals could attenuate the negative effect of image incongruity on consumers' perceptions of fit, and post-alliance hotel attitudes and behavioral intentions when the incongruent image is inconsistent with consumers' hedonic goal. The results of this study suggest that consumers do not simply transfer their attitudes associated with one brand to another in a brand alliance context, but go through a complex process which involves an evaluation of fit.; Pertaining to the effect of brand alliance on hotel brand image evaluation, the results of this study show that an incongruent image significantly affected the post-alliance hotel image. Hotel image change was positively related to the restaurant image. In particular, consumers replaced their hotel image with the incongruent restaurant image in the alliance.; The moderating roles of consumption goals, the apparently predominant role of image consistency in the service industry, and the occurrence of image transference have significant implications for academic researchers and industry practitioners. In light of the limitations of the current study, future research directions are suggested.