An empirical examination of human brand authenticity as a driver of brand love

Abstract

The present study compares the impact of perceived human brand authenticity on brand love across six fields—politics, music, movies, sports, business, and social media—using a survey-based quantitative methodology. The results indicate that human brand authenticity is a significant predictor of brand love, although its predictive power varies according to the type of human brand. Authenticity exerts the most influence in the field of politics, followed by music, movies, and sports. In social media and business, human brand authenticity shows no significance toward brand love. Although existing branding scholarship identifies authenticity as a predictor of positive marketing outcomes, the current study’s findings uncover a boundary condition concerning the context in which the human brand performs. In addition, brand love can be materialized through increased purchase intention of human brands’ self-branded products, allowing the human brand to benefit from passive income and brand-building opportunities.