The Universality of Warmth & Competence
Aronté Marie Bennett and Ronald Paul Hill
Villanova School of Business
Considerable effort has been devoted towards the understanding of the ways in which people interact with brands. However, little attention has been paid to the personal differences that may impact these interactions. The framework for brands as intentional agents by Kervyn, Fiske, and Malone (this issue) is the groundbreaking application of almost three decades of research on warmth and competence as predictors of interpersonal stereotypes to the realm of brands. Our paper argues that demographic differences impact interactions with brands and offer additional explanatory power to the framework. Findings support conclusions of Kervyn, Fiske & Malone, but they also suggest the importance of age, education, and income on warmth and competence evaluations.
