Investigating the development of brand loyalty in brand communities from a positive psychology perspective

Abstract

Based on the flow theory from positive psychology, we propose that flow could be generated by brand community characteristics and plays an important role in influencing brand community members' attitudes toward a brand. Specifically, we propose a model that identifies brand community characteristics (i.e., community cohesiveness and information quality) that produce flow and explore how flow impacts brand identification and brand loyalty. Members from 31 automobile brand communities participated in this survey study, and 580 validated questionnaires were returned. Structural Equation Model was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that community cohesiveness and information quality positively influence flow. Flow positively influences members' brand identification and, subsequently, impacts brand loyalty. The mediating role of flow in building brand identification is also demonstrated.