Towards Universal Brand Personality Dimensions : A descriptive study of the validity of a proposed universal brand personality scale in a Swedish context

Abstract: Background: Brand personality is based on the notion that brands possess personalities similar to that of human personalities. It is a common measure for describing consumers’ brand perceptions, and brands with loyal customers often have distinctive personalities. Since Aaker (1997) introduced the first brand personality scale, researchers have noticed increasing difficulties in comparing results from different studies. Geuens, Weijters & De Wulf’s (2009) proposed a solution to this problem by developing a brand personality scale that is claimed to be universal. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the extent to which the proposed universal brand personality scale (UBPS) can be validated in a Swedish context. Methodology: This descriptive study is of quantitative nature and applied a cross-sectional design. An online questionnaire was sent out to collect data on 12 brands from 193 respondents. These provided 2205 brand impressions that were processed by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Parameters such as content validity, fit indices, composite reliability and construct validity were chosen to determine the overall fitness of the model. Conclusion: The results indicated reasonable support for validation of Geuens, Weijters & De Wulf’s (2009) brand personality scale in a Swedish context.