Purpose: By outlining the evolution of brand management research over the past 25 years, as reported in the Journal of Product and Brand Management (JPBM), this paper aims to analyze the changes in the way branding has been approached in research, highlight the current challenges the discipline faces and suggest future research avenues that will hopefully further enrich brand management knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: This paper includes internal historical literature review and commentary. Findings: After a thorough analysis of the journal’s content, the contribution that the JPBM has made in the development of brand management knowledge over the past 25 years is highlighted. Eight major shifts in brand management research and thought, and three overarching difficulties and challenges, are identified. Research limitations/implications: By solely focusing on the contributions published in the journal, by no means this review is exhaustive and includes all the contributions to the discipline. Its contribution is limited to the analysis of the work, and the evolution of brand management thinking, recorded in the JPBM. Originality/value: The paper highlights the evolution of brand management thought and presents imperatives and challenges to guide future research in brand management.

Purpose: A significant stream of research investigates the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on firm performance and consumer response to CSR programs. However, how CSR initiatives help build brand equity remains relatively unexamined. This study aims to demonstrate how CSR influences brand equity in response to perceptions of two types of brand–cause fit. Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyze two types of fit between a brand and a social cause (disaster relief): brand value–cause fit and brand function–cause fit. Structural equation modeling is used to estimate the fit of the data with the proposed model. Findings: Survey evidence from 370 millennial undergraduate students in the USA suggests that the two types of brand–cause fit have differential effects on attitude toward the brand and ad, which in turn influence brand equity. Research implications/limitations: The research operationalizes brand–cause fit as a construct with two components: brand value–cause fit and brand function–cause fit. It tests these two types of fit and finds evidence for differential effects on consumer attitudes. Practical implications: The findings offer practical considerations for managers about the importance of considering two types of brand–cause fit in selecting social causes and crafting effective corporate communications about the firm’s CSR initiatives. Originality/value: Results suggest that it is possible for firms to craft desirable win–win–win strategies that build brand equity by investing in a strategic approach to CSR initiatives.

Purpose: This study aims to focus on people’s pro-environmental behavior and investigates its dimensions and determinants. As environmental sustainability attracts increased scrutiny, understanding end consumers’ pro-environmental behavior becomes imperative for various stakeholders in our highly networked marketplace – e.g. policymakers, businesses, consumers, the public and society at large.Design/methodology/approach: Using data from the general public in the USA, the hypothesized relationships are tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).Findings: The results indicate that if people find enjoyment in nature, believe in achieving a balance between “mankind” and nature, and believe that the benefits of conservation activities are going to accrue in the near term (present), they are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behavior at all levels – supportive, active and lifestyle.Research limitations/implications: Although only one aspect of environmental sustainability – environmental conservation – is analyzed, these findings support assertions set forth in the theory of environmentally significant behavior (Stern, 1999), the norm-activation theory of altruism (Schwartz, 1973), the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein, 1979) and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985).Practical implications: Messages about sustainability, environmental conservation and pro-environmental behavior should be framed using people’s fondness for and enjoyment of nature; should focus on present benefits of conservation; and should be targeted and differentiated for men, women and older people to encourage conservation behaviors among these differing demographic groups.Originality/value: This study identifies three different levels of intensity of pro-environmental behavior – supportive, active and lifestyle – and empirically examines the relationships between these behavior types and the attitudinal antecedents revolving around time when the benefits of environmental conservation accrue, nature and human–nature interaction.