Peformance eller Imagery? : En kvalitativ studie om hur B2B-företag anpassar varumärkessignaler för att minska kundosäkerhet på nya marknader.

Sammanfattning

Title: Performance or Imagery? A qualitative study on how B2B companies adapt brand signals to reduce customer uncertainty in new markets. Background: When expanding internationally, B2B companies face information asymmetry and customer uncertainty. While the brand acts as a crucial risk-mitigating signal, there is a lack of deep understanding of how expanding companies practically prioritize between rational and emotional brand signals to establish trust. Purpose and research questions: The purpose of this study is to examine how B2B companies reason about and adapt their brand signals to manage information asymmetry and reduce customer uncertainty during intenational expansion. The study is based on two research questions: How do B2B companies reason about the use of “Brand Performance” versus “Brand Imagery” as brand signals to manage information asymmetry and reduce customer uncertainty? How do B2B companies adapt these brand signals to manage information asymmetry and reduce customer uncertainty during international expansion Methodology and Method: The study uses a qualitative research design with a deductive approach. It rests on a constructionist ontology and an interpretivist and hermeneutic epistemology. The empirical material was collected using a cross-sectional design through five in-depth, semi-structured digital interviews with active decision-makers in internationally expanding B2B companies. The material was processed using a thematic analysis. Frame of references: The theoretical framework is grounded in “Signaling Theory” to explain how a company manages information asymmetry and customer uncertainty. The model illustrates how the seller must balance rational brand signals regarding the product’s competence and quality with relational values such as responsiveness, sustainability and warmth. Through clarity and consistency, these dimensions build credibility, which in turn reduces the buyer’s perceived performance risk, time risk and financial risk. Conclusions: Overcoming information asymmetry during a B2B expansion is a deeply social and meaning-making process. To build trust, a balance is required where the company proves its competence and stability through rational brand signals, but it must integrate this with emotional brand signals to fully lower the customer’s perceived risks. Furthermore, for signaling to be successful and relevant in practice, an active filtering and adaptation process is necessary based on the recipient’s title, the cultural context and specific industry requirements. Key words: Brand signaling, Customer uncertainty, Information asymmetry, Perceived risk, Credibility, Trust, International expansion, Brand performance, Brand Imagery.