The Effect of Brand Gender Perception on How Customers Prefer to Be Addressed by Brands

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associated Professor of Business Administration Department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Allameh Tabatab'i University,Tehran.Iran.

2 Full Professor of Business Administration Department, Faculty of Management & accounting Allameh Tabataba'i University Tehran Iran

3 Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

4 PhD Candidate of Marketing Faculty of Management & Accounting Allameh Tabataba'i University Tehran Iran

10.22034/cbsj.2023.139259.2556

Abstract

Marketers are to decide on how to address customers when planning marketing activities. In doing so, sometimes customers’ characteristics are solely considered and sometimes non-scientific methods are applied and the characteristics of the brand are often neglected. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact brand gender perceptions on how customers prefer to be addressed by brands. This practical research was carried out applying a quantitative approach. The statistical population of the research was all the people in social media who use different brands. A snowball sampling method was used with a sample size of 387. To analyze the data, one-sample t-test, variance analysis and chi-square test were used in SPSS26. To ensure the validity of the research, content validity was used and both CVR and CVI indices were calculated ( 92% and 96%, respectively),They proved to be acceptable. To check the reliability, Cronbach's alpha for all three research variables, i.e., brand femininity, brand masculinity, and customer addressing was calculated, (0.862, 0.842, and 0.837, respectively), all above the permissible limit and therefore acceptable. Based on the finding, brands under study were classified into four categories: 1. Feminine 2. Masculine, 3. Androgynous (having both feminine and masculine characteristics) and 4. Undifferentiated (having neither feminine nor masculine characteristics) and the effect of brand gender perception on addressing was determined. The results showed that customers expect masculine brands to address them with more formality, and feminine brands are expected to apply an average degree of formality when addressing customers.

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Consumer Behavior Studies Journal
Volume 12, Issue 2
September 2025
Pages 192-213

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