30 Years of Research in Brand Personality: Mapping Knowledge and Analyzing the Thematic Structure by a Scientometrics Approach

Brands play a pivotal role in establishing connections with customers, transcending mere commercial transactions to foster sustainable and profitable relationships. These roles manifest themselves in functional, symbolic, and emotional domains, sometimes even evolving into emotional bonds between individuals and brands. Brand personality is considered a critical element in brand differentiation and positioning strategies. It has attracted significant attention from researchers and marketers over the past three decades, leading to numerous studies in this field. Given the increasing research in brand studies in recent years, with more researchers expected to focus on this area, a comprehensive analysis of its conceptual structure is of paramount importance. This study aims to review articles on brand personality published in reputable international journals and analyze publication trends to identify opportunities for future research.
 

This study employs a systematic literature review approach to identify publication trends in brand personality in the Web of Science database to determine future research opportunities. The methodology involves a five-step literature review process: identification, selection, eligibility, and inclusion. Each article was carefully reviewed to extract relevant information such as publication year, authors, research methods, findings, and conclusions. The extracted information was analyzed to identify trends in research topics, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks. Based on the analysis, research gaps and opportunities for future studies were identified.
 

A total of 1,069 articles on brand personality were reviewed in the Web of Science database. The analysis revealed several key trends: First, the number of publications on brand personality has steadily increased over the past three decades, indicating growing interest in this field. Second, the most frequently studied topics include brand personality dimensions, measurement scales, consumer responses, and brand personality management strategies. Third, quantitative methods, particularly surveys and experiments, are the most commonly used approaches in brand personality research. Fourth, a wide range of theoretical frameworks have been applied to study brand personality, including social identity theory, self-congruity theory, and brand anthropomorphism. Additionally, a scientometric analysis was conducted, including co-occurrence analysis, co-citation analysis, and thematic analysis of the brand personality field using VOSviewer © software and the Bibliometrix R tool. Using scientometric analysis of keywords, clusters of frequently used keywords were created as thematic areas. The outputs generated from the analysis of studies published in the Web of Science in the field of brand personality identified specific research gaps that may be relevant for future studies in this area.
 

This study provides a comprehensive review and analysis of articles related to brand personality in reputable international journals. The identified research trends and gaps can assist researchers interested in brand personality in publishing articles or books by guiding topic selection. The identified research gaps and future research directions can inspire researchers and practitioners to develop new approaches in the field of brand personality. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge in brand personality research and provides valuable insights for future research endeavors.