محمود محمدیان

Introduction : What is referred to as a trade name is something far more than a name. Some psychological research on ethics suggests that information about specific ethical characteristics of brands can be considered as the ethical "character" of the brand. The present study tries to draw the model of ethical personality of the brand in Iran's consumer products market. Material and Methods: The current study was developmental-applied research and was conducted using a mixed method (qualitative-quantitative). In the qualitative part, the statistical population included all experts in management and marketing sciences, 29 of whom were selected by purposeful sampling. The tool was semi-structured interviews and the results were extracted with content analysis method and NVivo software. In the quantitative part, the statistical population included all the consumers of the selected brands of the national festival of the top popular Iranian brands in the second half of 2016 in Tehran. From this society, a sample of 1670 people was selected by stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. The questionnaire tool was researcher-made and the data were analyzed by performing exploratory factor analysis and then confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The findings of this study included 74 ethical indicators in the qualitative part, and in the quantitative part of the research, among the 74 personality traits identified for the brands of consumer products in the Iranian market, only 22 ethical indicators have a sufficient factor load and the necessary sufficiency to explain. They had a confirmed model that was categorized into 5 personality factors. Conclusion: The factors and indicators that make up the brand's ethical personality model include five factors; 1) Pleasurable (dignified, distinguished, hardworking, always helpful, powerful and strong, skilled, attractive, creative); 2) Qualified businessman (efficient, worthy and worthy, competitive); 3) Efficient (friend of the little ones, old friend, funny); 4) Intimacy agent (inefficient, uncommitted, duplicitous, unkind); 5) Narcissistic agent (forceful, tyrannical, mischievous, narcissistic).

Nowadays, marketing professionals are increasingly aware of the importance of brands in the success of organizations, as it can be an asset with utmost importance for a lasting competitive advantage. Indeed, what is called a brand is something far more than a name. The brand and its affiliates pave the way for human communication. Brand personification is done in this respect. Although BP can be defined separately from human personality, it is not entirely independent of it. Therefore, in this study, the indicators of the component themes of consumer BP present in Iran’s market are clearly demonstrated. The present study, which falls into the category of developmental research in terms of objective, is carried out qualitatively. As a developmental research, this study uses a sample of 29 students of management whom were selected by non-probability sampling (purposive and judgemental). The main research tool was an open-ended questionnaire, completed and collected by semi-structured interviews. The findings consist of 74 indicators that were extracted and compiled from the literature review, theoretical foundations, research background (such as Aaker, 1997 and Geuns et al. 2008) and semi-structured interviews using NVivo software, which could be divided into eight positive and negative dimensions. Furthermore, some of the 74 indicators or personality traits identified for Iranian consumer brands include beautiful, personable, hardworking, always friendly, strong and capable, skilled, attractive, creative, efficient, competent, competitive, friendly to little ones, old friend, funny, dysfunctional, uncommitted, insincere, unfriendly (unkind), bully, tyrant, naughty, narcissistic that actually constitutes the personality themes of consumer brands in Iran’s commodity market.