Purpose This study aims to develop and validate the concept of digital brand orientation and investigate its impact on brand performance. It also examines the serial mediating roles of data-driven brand strategy and brand digital capability advantage and the moderating effect of market competition intensity. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in resource orchestration theory, this study proposes an integrated theoretical framework encompassing digital brand orientation, brand performance, data-driven brand strategy, brand digital capability advantages and market competition intensity. Based on a sample of 305 valid responses from brand managers across various industries, hierarchical regression was used to analyze the relationships among these variables. Findings Digital brand orientation exerts a stronger positive effect on brand performance than brand orientation alone. This effect is sequentially mediated by data-driven brand strategy and brand digital capability advantage. However, market competition intensity was not found to moderate the relationship between digital brand orientation and brand performance. Research limitations/implications This study relies solely on survey data to test the hypothesized relationships. Additionally, the advancement of digital technology has created unique and immersive experiences that reshape consumer relationship with a brand, thus necessitating the further investigation of consumer-brand relationship in the interactive digital era. Practical implications Aligning with the evolving digital landscape, managers should adopt digital brand orientation as the strategic principle to improve brand performance. Furthermore, when developing digital brand orientation, they ought to foster the implementation of data-driven brand strategy, thereby focusing on the enhancement of brand digital capabilities through this orchestrated mechanism that integrates data with brand resources. Originality/value This study develops the concept of digital brand orientation and examines its role in enhancing brand performance by combining resource orchestration theory, theoretically advancing the brand orientation literature.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.