1. Introduction
In China, art education is an essential aspect of a well-rounded education; however, it has received little attention from schools and parents due to the conventional teaching approach, where art classes in most elementary and secondary schools are rather limited [
1]. The typical curriculum does include related art courses; however, they are often substituted by other typical examination subjects such as mathematics, Chinese, or English throughout the actual process of learning.
Indeed, in recent years, the Ministry of Instruction (China) has taken the initiative to obtain support from local governments for art education in elementary and secondary schools on several occasions; however, the respective effort has resulted in less favorable outcomes [
2], thus leading to an average impact of implementation. At this point in time, the art classes provided by public schools are unable to match the demands of Chinese parents, resulting in poor artistic literacy and the capacity to appreciate art among their children [
1]. China’s market for art education services is typically categorized into three levels: art majors in art colleges or comprehensive universities that specialize in cultivating high-level art talents, private art training institutions (e.g., art college entrance examination training schools), and the market for children’s art training [
1].
Over the years, the increasing number of college entrance test students opting for the art college entrance examination has indirectly contributed to the mounting competition in the field. Subsequently, a significant increase in the numbers of businesses and training institutes involved in art training for college entrance examinations within the country has been witnessed. The rapid growth within the industry, however, and especially the skyrocketing of large enterprises’ training levels, teacher qualifications, and number of qualification certificates, as well as students admitted to major art colleges, has caused underperforming art training institutions to be shut down or merged with major training institutions, resulting in increased industry concentration.
China’s current per capita GDP is constantly increasing, mainly due to the liberation of the three-child policy; thus, the scope of basic art education is expected to expand at a rapid pace. Additionally, a recent study has indicated the increasing number of individuals who have enrolled in various art training courses (e.g., light training) to satisfy their social, entertainment, and sentimental demands [
3]. Consequently, art education is expected to utilize the emerging usage of the Internet in the next few years, gaining significant growth with the support of new information technology, whether from the standpoint of basic education or adult art instruction.
The art instruction sector in China is still in its infancy; however, exceptional businesses may quickly annex them [
4]. To stay competitive, it is crucial for each related organization to institute effective planning, specifically resource planning and utilization, to maintain or enhance its market position in the industry [
5]. According to contemporary reality, the need for education and training across the board is flexible, with high, medium, and low levels of demand. However, most training institutions have failed owing to poor market positioning due to their failure to identify relevant market niches, and the design of ineffective marketing strategies.
This study brings to attention the growing trend of art education firms in China. The twenty-first century is a period of economic globalization marked by an increased rivalry between businesses and the homogeneity of an expanding number of goods. Additionally, this widespread occurrence demonstrates the significance of brands. In fact, brands affect consumers’ discriminating abilities and reduce consumers’ purchasing risks, making them a critical tool for businesses to dominate the market, earn surplus profits, and even provide sustainable firm performance [
6]. Subsequently, increasing numbers of businesses and organizations have recognized that brand equity is one of the most precious assets in today’s global economy [
7]. Limited studies, however, have been conducted in exploring the factors that influence brand equity and firm performance, especially in the context of art education firms in China.
Apart from that, although the brand concept has been identified as a very important value-added means for enterprises, a brand is considered an intangible aspect; therefore, it is difficult to measure and operate [
7]. It is very important for enterprises to capitalize on their brands and to introduce the concept of brand equity. Brand equity is a metric used to quantify the worth of an enterprise’s brand. Moreover, brand equity research can offer a practical foundation for organizations to manage their brand equity and to leverage brand advantages [
6]. With that in mind, this study investigated the influence of brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, brand relevance, and brand loyalty on brand equity. In addition to that, the degree of innovation in an organization has been found to be an important practice to enhance a firm’s performance [
8].
Ultimately, the present paper, with the following sections including a literature review and hypotheses development, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, implications, and limitations, is intended to fill the gaps in knowledge on the effect of each brand’s equity on a firm’s performance. Moreover, this study will also bridge the gap between the brand equity components (i.e., brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, brand relevance, and brand loyalty) and a firm’s performance with the adoption of an innovation culture as a moderating variable. Following that, the present research is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge by expanding the literature of the field as well as the line of authorities, including government and private agencies alongside industry players.
3. Methodology
The numerical data were collected quantitatively by the dissemination of an online closed-ended questionnaire, which was adapted from past studies and tailored to the Chinese context [
54,
55,
56]. Subsequently, the survey was divided into two parts: Section A, which contained five questions, mainly served to collect the respondents’ demographic characteristics, followed by 35 questions in Section B, which comprised measurement items for the proposed research constructs. A minimum sample size was calculated using the G*Power software [
57]. As
Figure 1 indicates, it was discovered that a minimum of 153 rows of data were needed to assess the proposed study framework.
Xingyang, Zhongmu, and Xinzheng City of Zhengzhou were the locations where the surveys were gathered. A total of 83 surveys came from Zhongmu, 132 from Xingyang, and 85 from Xinzheng, out of a total of 300 questionnaires received. Teachers, managers, and other key employees were among those who took part voluntarily in the study. The male-to-female ratio was generally balanced among them, with 160 men and 140 females in total.
Table 1 depicts the demographic profile of the 300 people who took part in the survey.
The participants were classified into numerous age groups, with the youngest being 18 years old and the oldest being over 60 years old, as determined by the researchers. In the center, they were between 25 and 40 years old, and between 41 and 60 years old. As the findings suggest, the majority of those interviewed did not reside in the main metropolitan region of Zhengzhou but rather in the neighboring county-level cities. Furthermore, the results have demonstrated that the educational attainment among the respondents was rather high, since respondents with a college degree or above accounted for more than two-thirds of the total number of respondents. Consequently, the respondents who participated in this survey were deemed most appropriate as these highly educated individuals appeared to be formidably well-informed about the real-time scenario in the field of education and possessed a better understanding of the measurement items, thus providing a more precise and reliable viewpoint. Additionally, as this was an inquiry into art education businesses, the primary targets of the study in terms of their occupations were the managers, teachers, and other associated employees who worked in art education enterprises on a day-to-day basis. In sum, a total of 96 instructors, 132 managers, and 72 other relevant professionals participated in the survey, which took place from February 2022 to April 2022.
Data Analysis
The respondents to this study were employees of art education firms in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Subsequently, both the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28.0 and WarpPLS version 8.0 software were employed to analyze the data in this study. To begin with, the SPSS was used to perform descriptive analyses, which primarily comprised the demographic characteristics of the research participants, and the average, variance, standard deviation, and multivariate linear analysis of the research data. Following that, the WarpPLS was used to perform a partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis in order to evaluate the developed model as shown in
Figure 2 by path modeling and bootstrapping.
5. Discussion
As proposed in H1, the relationship between brand awareness and brand equity was investigated in the context of art education organizations. Interestingly, the statistical findings revealed that the brand awareness had no significant impact on the brand equity; thus, H1 was not supported. Contrary to expectations, this discovery is inconsistent with previous studies that postulated brand awareness as a fundamental element of brand equity [
31,
32]. This is explainable, for example, since when a consumer in Zhengzhou wishes to enroll in an educational institution, the respective individual tends to be captured by related brands with strong brand recognition. In layman’s terms, art education firms that are long-established are more capable of positioning themselves compared to those that are newly founded. Generally, customers are likely to evaluate or compare several alternatives prior to making decisions; henceforth, brand knowledge may come in handy, specifically in elevating consumers’ likelihood to consider a brand in advance of purchases. Surprisingly, the findings in the present study demonstrated that the brand association with art education firms with a restricted time frame had no significant effect on brand equity; thus, not supporting H2 and contradicting past studies [
31,
35]. This is understandable where the brand association indeed exists objectively, thus raising the importance of quantifying the strength of each associated link in determining its effectiveness. In fact, brand power is deemed weak when a strong association is lacking between a brand and its consumers, thereby making it difficult for the assets of its brand association to produce benefits.
Subsequently, in accordance with previous studies [
40], statistical findings from the analyses indicated the significant impact of the perceived quality among art education firms on their brand equity; thus, supporting H3. Indeed, the perceived quality holds the greatest impact on brand equity among art education schools from two perspectives, whereby the first viewpoint commences from the product attributes (i.e., performance, dependability, and durability), followed by services, which often govern clients’ perceived quality while being easy to see and measure. In line with the preceding study [
39], the findings in the present study have revealed that the brand relevance of art education enterprises had a significant impact on their brand equity; therefore, H4 was supported. Following that, to determine the brand success, art education schools may utilize their brand relevance to determine consumers’ tendencies toward or preferences for brands to assess customer behavior. In fact, the choice of purchase is often influenced by a brand’s significance in the marketplace.
Additionally, H5 was proposed to investigate the relationship between the brand loyalty and equity of art education firms. Astoundingly, the statistical discoveries contradicted past studies [
45,
47], indicating that the perceived quality of art education firms had no significant effect on their brand equity; thus, H5 was not supported. Generally, brand loyalty is closely related to customers’ tendencies to use a specific product or service. Following that, if there is an absence in terms of the purchase and usage experience, loyalty is therefore ceased; nevertheless, other constructs comprising the brand awareness, association, perceived quality and relevance can exist regardless of the usage experience. Consequently, brand loyalty is regarded as a fundamental component of brand equity. Apart from this, H6 served to investigate the relationship between brand equity as a sole component and firm performance in the field of art education firms. The findings were undoubtedly aligned with previous studies [
15,
48], indicating the existence of a significant impact of art education firms’ brand equity on their performance; thus, supporting H6. In fact, as driven by strong brand equity, it is easier for firms to extend new brand effects and gain high public recognition. In conjunction with a higher public awareness, the more favorable it is for customers to trust and decide, subsequently resolving the trade-off between the strategic adjustment of enterprises and ensuring the performance stability of a firm.
Last but not least, the formulation of H7 was to assess whether the innovation culture of art education firms had a moderating impact on their brand equity and firm performance in the long run. In accordance with past studies [
52,
53], the present findings indicated that innovation culture had a positive moderating impact on the relationship between brand equity and firm performance; thus, H7 was supported. Over the years, individuals have paid greater attention to excellent education as a result of cultural innovation, and their educational notions are now evolving at a rapid pace. In recent decades, education has become nearly entirely exam- and test-oriented, and it is rather utilitarian, which is detrimental to the long-term development of younger entities. Simultaneously, alongside China’s emerging economy and people’s living standards, Chinese parents are privileged to be able provide their children with opportunities to study art, hoping to cultivate their sentiments, improve on aesthetic standards, and achieve an all-round development in morality, intelligence, physique, and beauty as well as labor. Moreover, it is certainly consistent with the national needs for the development of comprehensive skills in the twenty-first century as individuals in art streams are enabled to develop their intellect and comprehension as well as improve their creative accomplishments.
6. Conclusions, Implications and Limitations
All in all, in the present study, the relationship between brand equity and firm performance with the moderation of innovation culture was investigated using several art educational companies in Zhengzhou as the examples. Subsequently, this study has provided empirical evidence that the performance of an organization has a favorable correlation with its brand equity. In addition, it also revealed innovation culture as a significant moderator on the relationship between brand equity and firm performance. Generally, the value of an organization’s brand possesses a significant effect on its growth of business, thus making it a highly simple and practical approach to boost the creation of brand equity in order to improve a firm’s performance and ensure sustainable development.
In sum, the present study examined several dimensions of brand equity and their relationships with firm performance based on the perspectives of personnel engaged in art education firms, which primarily comprised managers, teachers, and other employees as deemed relevant. Subsequently, the present study provides empirical findings indicating that brand equity tends to be a contributing factor to firm performance. Correspondingly, the perceived quality and brand relevance were discovered to be significant components in terms of brand equity and are needed to be constantly maintained or improved to ensure the performance of art education firms. Moreover, the positive moderation of innovation culture on the brand equity of art education firms and their performances was demonstrated.
Although numerous research has been undertaken on organizational performance in China, the wide range of available sectors has yet to be fully discovered. Thus, this study is intended to contribute to the literature of educational firms in China. Subsequently, this study has provided an adequate amount of empirical evidence and differences in context, which are expected to contribute to the embellishment of a RBV. Moreover, the present study expands the knowledge of brand equity’s components and its impact on firm performance, alongside innovation culture’s moderating impact on these relationships, from the perspectives of art education firms’ internal stakeholders in China, thus enabling related research to be conducted in the future.
From a practical point of view, this study provides empirical evidence that presents relevant management strategies for the stakeholders of Zhengzhou educational firms. As aforementioned, Zhengzhou’s art education firms are in the initial stage of brand construction; therefore, it is of great significance to reasonably measure their brand assets and market performance for the better management of their brands. Henceforth, through practical research and a combination of both oriental culture and those firms, this paper suggests that the formulation of an effective strategy with the greatest influence on succeeding art education firms can be identified through the adoption of an innovation culture.
Nevertheless, the present study has its limitations. This study focused only on the instructors, administrators, and associated employees employed by art education institutes in Zhengzhou, whereas situations in other contexts were not addressed; Therefore, the results might not be indiscriminate in any other part of China or other countries. Furthermore, art education institutes include more than just internal personnel; they also include individuals outside of the circumferences, thus there are certain limitations to the sampling. In spite of the fact that a significant number of samples were gathered for this study, the samples were scattered across the Xingyang and Xinzheng cities as well as throughout the Zhengzhou metropolitan area, and the samples may still be biased despite the geographical distribution being reasonably comprehensive.
The findings revealed that the performance of art education firms is highly dependent on their brand equity, specifically their perceived quality and brand relevance. Therefore, various constructs of brand equity were discovered to be influential on the stance of a firm’s performance among art education firms; thus, it is recommended for these brand equity constructs and firm performances to be further investigated in other settings related to the context of education. Moreover, due to limitations in terms of the time, energy, and resources, the samples were mostly disseminated in the southern part of central Zhengzhou, and the spread of such samples was deemed inadequate. Hence, it is wise to include the integration of wider perspectives and concepts, especially from respondents such as industry players and end-consumers in other firms or settings related to art education, for more indiscriminate results.