Doctoral thesis of Philosophy: Sources and antecedents of brand equity for online companies

The main objective of this research study is to empirically test if a traditional brand equity model is applicable to online companies and to ascertain its nomological validity. Some specific research questions guiding this research are: (1) Is a traditional model of brand equity applicable to predict brand equity for online businesses? (2) Which brand equity sources have stronger relatively effect on brand equity? (3) How do the brand equity sources interact among each other to produce an indirect effect on brand equity? and (4) How do selected web-marketing efforts (customer service, web functionality, and fulfilment) contribute to create brand equity directly and indirectly through the brand equity sources?