Investigating Service Responsiveness in Customer Perception of the Corporate Logo
International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 8, No. 11; 2013
13 Pages Posted: 2 Mar 2013 Last revised: 20 May 2013
Date Written: February 28, 2013
Abstract
Notwithstanding the vast scholarly contributions to the field of corporate identity and in extension, corporate visual identity, attempts to conceptualize the relationship between corporate logo – as an element of the corporate identity mix – and customer perception in a wholly service context, remains absent in the literature. This led the researchers to carry out a review of the existing literature in the areas of corporate identity and service quality with the aim of identifying a strong conceptual background for an emerging model defining this relationship. While the service quality literature revealed that “service responsiveness” is a critical variable for quality in service contexts, the corporate identity literature revealed five key models which formed the basis for choosing the constituting elements of the corporate logo construct. The emerging model was further scrutinized for theoretical soundness located on the principles of activity theory as its theoretical foundation. The model proposes that service responsiveness mediates the relationship between corporate logo and customer perception of the brand itself. Finally, the authors recommend that future research could also explore empirical validation of the conceptual model as a requirement for providing strategic direction to corporate organizations.
Keywords: corporate logo, corporate identity, corporate visual identity, service responsiveness, service quality, activity theory
JEL Classification: M31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation