Small change, a lot of opinion. corporate rebranding from a stakeholder perspective

Abstract

In light of the recent rebranding of the Norwegian oil giant Equinor, this study investigates the differences in opinions on a high-profile rebranding, and how these can be explained through psychological theories on information processing. As many organizations invest in a new brand name at least once in their lifespan, this paper investigates the subject further by looking at different stakeholder groups, namely primary and secondary, and their attitude towards the rebranding. This study uses an online survey to portray four different scenarios with Equinor and a fictive company. It also contrasts primed and non-primed brand name change in the scenarios. The study investigates how several psychological theories regarding information processing are connected to brand name perception and stakeholders, and the implications of this. The results show that there are differences in implications of self-brand connection and brand involvement, and that higher selfbrand connection implies higher brand name perception, but this is not necessarily true for brand involvement. These findings are valuable to managers as they shed further light on the importance of stakeholders in rebranding, as well as the importance of how distinct groups with similar connections to the brand also process information differently.