The Mediating Effect of Design Innovation between Brand Distinctiveness and Brand Performance: Evidence from Furniture Manufacturing Firms in Malaysia

Published Date
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
15 May 2014, Vol.130:333–339, doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.04.039
4th International Conference on Marketing and Retailing 2013, INCOMaR 2013
Open Access, Creative Commons license

Author 

• Puteri Fadzline
 
• Norzanah Mat Nor
 
• Syed Jamal Abdul Nasir Syed Mohamad ^,

• Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Available online 5 June 2014. 

Abstract 

The paper examines the relationships among brand distinctiveness, design innovation and brand performance of furniture manufacturers and the mediating effect of design innovation between brand distinctiveness and brand performance. Questionnaires were distributed to more than 500 manufacturers and 204 questionnaires were analyzed. A 49-item questionnaire which consists of brand distinctiveness, design innovation and brand performance were carried out to investigate the relations among these variables. Statistical evidence was found to confirm only functional innovation as one of the dimensions of design innovation that fully mediates the relationship between brand distinctiveness and brand performance. The paper researches the role of innovation-in a twofold perspective: innovation in product design innovation on brand performance, and as a mediator between brand distinctiveness and brand performance.

Keywords

Brand distinctiveness

functional innovation

meaning innovation

aesthetic innovation

typological innovation

brand performance 

Malaysian furniture industry

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• ☆
  Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of INCOMaR 2013.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +012-613-8147.

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