Implicit Associations and Symbolic Brand Value in the Digital Environment: An Analysis with the Implicit Association Test
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18091073Keywords:
Non-Conscious Processing, ; Symbolic Brand Construction, Digital Ecosystems, ; Implicit Association Test, Brand Management, Consumer Cognitive ProcessesAbstract
The study is part of the field of branding and consumer cognition, addressing the formation of symbolic brand value in information-saturated digital environments. The relevance of the topic lies in the need to understand how automatic and conscious processes contribute to the construction of brand image in contexts of high information density and symbolic competition. The objective was to examine the implicit associations between brands and evaluative attributes in digital environments, using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measurement method, and to analyze the relationship of these associations with declarative measures of perceived brand value, including variation depending on the type and intensity of exposure to digital content. The study, quantitative and experimental in nature, was carried out with 180 participants exposed to standardized and varied advertising content (visual, narrative and interactive) from two brands in a simulated digital environment. Implicit measures were obtained using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) applied in the PsyToolkit software, while declarative evaluations were collected using a questionnaire structured on a Likert scale. The data was analyzed using Spearman's correlation, ANOVA and calculation of the IAT D score according to the algorithm by Greenwald et al. (2003). The results indicated strong implicit associations of Brand B with the attributes trustworthy (D = 0.58) and innovative (D = 0.67), accompanied by significant correlations between implicit and declarative measures (r > 0.65), and highlighted the influence of the type of digital content on the formation of these associations. Brand A showed moderate associations and a more traditional symbolic profile, with less capacity for symbolic renewal compared to Brand B. It can be concluded that integrated communication strategies, which act on the conscious and non-conscious levels and adapt content to the formats and dynamics of digital platforms, are more effective in building symbolic value in digital environments. The use of the IAT showed potential as a complementary tool in branding diagnosis and planning, especially in monitoring the integration between institutional discourse, visual aesthetics and communicational narrative.
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