• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.21-51
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• 2017

Recently there have been an increasing number of companies suffering a negative brand image in the major media. Thompson et al. (2006) defined this as "$Doppelg{\ddot{a}}nger$ Brand Image." The images mentioned above have been created and propagated on Internet communities, which are one of the major paths of online spreading. This study will empirically analyze the effect of each $Doppelg{\ddot{a}}nger$ brand image on the customer's brand attitude, using a text-mining method focusing on "A company"'s case. This study will also cover the change in customer brand attitudes related to the company's correspondence in a situation in which the $Doppelg{\ddot{a}}nger$ brand image exists. In addition, the study will determine the presence of a priming effect after the spread of the $Doppelg{\ddot{a}}nger$ brand image. To that end, we collected 974 comments from 94,889 posts and A's official blogs related to A from B community, the largest automobile community site in Korea. Through this investigation, we obtained the following results. First, there was a significant difference in the ratio of negative sentiment of internet community before and after $Doppelg{\ddot{a}}nger$ brand image. Second, with regard to the topic modeling, the ratio of articles including negative topics increased and the other article ratio decreased over time. Finally, we found that there is a priming effect about negative brand image of "A company."

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.90-103
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• 2024

The advancement of information and communication technologies has led to the rise of social media, giving rise to a new type of celebrity known as the "social media influencer". Social media influencers exert their influence not only by promoting products for various companies and brands but also by launching their own businesses. In other words, influencers leverage their credibility to create value in multiple markets as human brands, based on their unique characteristics and diverse images. Nowadays, social media influencers have become a type of human brand, supported by followers who enthusiastically engage in the influencers' businesses, a phenomenon also known as social shopping. Based on the human brand theory and doppelgänger effects, this study aims to investigate the impact of influencers' credibility, specifically their expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness on consumers' social shopping behaviors. Additionally, it examines the influence of consumers' desire to imitate influencers on their social shopping behaviors. A survey conducted with 300 female social media users revealed that trustworthiness and attractiveness significantly influenced imitation intentions and social shopping behaviors, while expertise did not show significant effects. Furthermore, imitation intentions had a significant impact on social shopping behaviors. These findings suggest that the attributes consumers perceive in influencers as human brands evoke a desire to imitate them, ultimately leading to social shopping behaviors.