Correspondence: Christopher D. Hopkins, Clemson University, 245 Sirrine Hall, P.O. Box 341325, Clemson, SC 29634, USA

¹is currently a doctoral candidate in Management at the Pennsylvania State University. He is a native of Bangalore, India. He holds additional advanced degrees in Sociology (Penn Sate), business Administration (Clemson University) and Marketing (Clemson University).

²is a professor of Marketing at Clemson University and received her PhD degree from the University of Georgia. Previously, she was an invited Fulbright Professor of Marketing at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Her primary research interests include strategic marketing decisions and strategic planning. Her recent research is published in the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, the Journal of International Marketing, the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, the Journal of Consumer Affairs, International Marketing Review and the Journal of Marketing Education.

³is an associate professor of Marketing at Clemson University and received his PhD degree from the Mississippi State University. He has published over 50 articles appearing in the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Psychology and Marketing and the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, among others. His primary research interests include advertising/public policy issues and interactive marketing. Hopkins also has 6 years of banking and financial services experience serving as a senior AVP of Retail Lending.

⁴is a lecturer of Marketing at Clemson University. She received her Bachelor's degree in Communications Studies at Vanderbilt University. She completed both her Master's of Science in Marketing and Master of Business Administration at Clemson University. Before graduate school, she worked for 4 years in the Corporate Partner Services department of Atlanta Spirit, LLC .

Received 26 March 2009; Revised 26 March 2009; Published online 25 September 2009.

Abstract

The customer equity framework proposed by Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon provides the theoretical basis for this study. Previous research has focused on customer equity from a business perspective. The current study explores customer equity from a consumer's perspective, examining the relative impact of the drivers of value equity and brand equity across two brands on purchase intention. Based on the responses of 221 students, who are the primary target for the two brands studied, the results show that quality and price–prestige relationships serve as drivers of value equity, whereas brand awareness and brand attitudes drive perceptions of overall brand equity. Further findings support the influence of brand and value equity on consumers' purchase intentions.