Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to explore how two affective factors (i.e. brand attachment and consumer affinity) influence host country consumers' responses to an international brand alliance (IBA).Design/methodology/approachA two (brand attachment: high vs low) × two (consumer affinity: high vs low) factorial experiment was conducted with 336 US university students. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the conceptual model.Findings(1) Pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the country-of-origin (COO) of the foreign partner brand positively influence attitudes toward the IBA. (2) Attitudes toward the IBA positively influence post-attachment to the host brand, intention to buy the IBA product and willingness to recommend the IBA product. (3) Pre-attachment to the host brand positively influences post-attachment to the host brand.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature on factors influencing attitudes toward IBAs by finding the significant influences of pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the COO of the foreign partner brand on host country consumers' responses to IBAs.
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