The Role of 'Ethical Brand' and Its Effect on Industrial Buyers' Responses in Malaysia

This paper reports the initial finding on examination of the effect of ‘ethical brand’on company’s reputation, which in turn may influence a brand loyalty among industrial buyers that use electronic office equipment. The study is based upon the responses of industrial buyers’ from experienced customers in buying electronic office equipment in Malaysia. Previous literature stresses that a good brand provides a positive impact on its owner and user and no negative impact on the general public. In general, this study adds to the existing literature on branding and reputation by introducing the concept of the ‘ethical brand’ (the EB) in the model. The present study enhances this understanding by providing empirical evidence in the context of industrial buyers’ responses. The ethical brand is hypothesized to have a direct effect on brand loyalty behaviour of industrial buyers toward electronic office’s equipments. The mediating effects are also investigated via company’s reputation.