The meanings of branded products: A cross-national scale development and meaning assessment

This research develops a scale to assess branded product meanings, including quality, values, personal identity, and traditions. Using data gathered in the U.S. and three emerging markets (Romania, Ukraine, and Russia), we demonstrate a valid and reliable measure that exhibits cross-national measurement invariance. Our findings document quality is the most important branded product meaning across countries; identity-related and traditions-related meanings are more important in the U.S. than the emerging markets. We discuss these findings, provide important managerial implications, and offer future research opportunities related to branding and measurement.