Creating a Holistic Retailer Image: Institutional Theory, the Jakobsonian Framework and the Consumer View

Retailer image is a complex phenomenon that encompasses the totality of associations with the store. Image is further extended by the interactions of the retailer with their socio-cultural environment and the level of retailer reflection of their environment. Appropriate retail image creation and maintenance is an important avenue for retailer legitimacy and survival and yet the holistic nature of retailer image is not widely acknowledged in the literature. This study explores the complex nature of the interactions between retailer image and their macroenvironment, via the lens of Institutional Theory and using Jakobson’s Communication Framework.

Citation:

Ann-Marie Kennedy and Margo Buchanan-Oliver (2011) ,"Creating a Holistic Retailer Image: Institutional Theory, the Jakobsonian Framework and the Consumer View", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 183-189.