Branding insights: an interdisciplinary journey from perception to action

Our interdisciplinary study examines the brand's perceived intentions and ability, as predictors of consumer behavior. In an attempt of answering a call for research in the branding area, we found out contradictory views, both of them based on strong arguments, including empirical results. Each view has been examined by the lens of branding, social cognition and behavioral theory. We found convergent findings from cognitive psychology and behavioral theory to support one of the two views and to extract a hypothesis. Thus, we hypothesized that an effective branding process, meant to achieve both consumer trust and sales objectives, should address the brand's perceived intentions before ability. We suggest that further empirical studies are needed to test the hypothesis, although for some particular cases, tests confirmed the priority of intentions. Overall, our paper offers an integrative view of consumer underlying behaviors revealed by results of other social sciences and how should be used in brand construction process. The benefits of updating branding theories by integrating results confirmed by other social sciences are discussed.