Brand Attachment Research Articles

Brand personality and purchase intention: The dual-mediating effects of brand attachment and nostalgia proneness

We examined the roles of brand attachment and nostalgia proneness in the relationship between the brand personality and purchase intention. Participants were 352 Chinese consumers (during the collection of the questionnaires, age ranges were set, but specific age numbers were not obtained; thus no calculation of standard deviation and mean was made in this study, as age itself has no impact on the research results). Participants completed measures of brand personality, brand attachment, nostalgia proneness, and purchase intention. Following path analysis and bootstrapping techniques, we found a significant positive correlation between purchase intention and brand personality. Moreover, brand attachment and nostalgia proneness functioned as dual mediators in this relationship. These results corroborate the theory that enhancing brand personality strengthens consumers’ emotional attachment and evokes nostalgia, thereby increasing brand purchase intention.

Analysing brand attachment for restaurant table booking mobile application

PurposeRestaurant table booking (RTB) mobile apps are transforming how consumers reserve tables in the restaurants of their choice. This study analyses how RTB mobile apps influence brand attachment (BA) and brand commitment (BC), highlighting the moderation effect of desire for uniqueness (DU) by integrating visual content theory and social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachData [N = 414] were collected through the survey method from consumers having experience in using RTB mobile apps. The data were analysed through structural equation modelling using AMOS and SPSS PROCESS macro to examine moderated relationship.FindingsThe results confirm that content aesthetic quality, perceived technical interactivity and brand investments influence BA and BC in the RTB mobile app and also confirm the moderating role of the DU.Originality/valueThe present work is among the first to study the sources of BA in the RTB mobile app domain. Thus, it contributes to the literature on the restaurant industry to understand consumers' BA behaviour to achieve BC.

Virtual or human? The impact of the influencer type on Gen Z consumer outcomes

Purpose Virtual influencers are a growing trend in digital marketing strategies. This paper aims to compare the impact of virtual and human influencers on Gen Z consumer outcomes (Source Trust, Intention to Follow, Word-of-Mouth and Brand Attachment). Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed young consumers (N = 317) in Europe and the CIS. The data are analyzed through Welch’s t-test and partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings This study demonstrates that for Gen Z, human influencers are still a more effective marketing tool than virtual influencers. The latter arouse greater social-psychological distance that significantly affects consumer outcomes. Consumers with a higher need-for-uniqueness and novelty seeking have a lower social-psychological distance from virtual influencers. Practical implications This study offers valuable insights for practitioners in terms of influencer marketing decisions in the digital environment with respect to one of the most solvent target groups – Gen Z. Originality/value This research contributes to the empirical investigation of the impact of virtual influencers on the behavioral outcomes of Gen Z by including Novelty Seeking and Brand Attachment in the analysis. The research sample includes CIS and European consumers, which allows for a more comprehensive investigation.

In the clash between consumer green values and company green values, who will win? The role of greenwashing and involvement in environmental campaigns on social media

While studies have focused on exploring the implications of greenwashing, specifically its impact on customer behavior, scant research has considered the origins and precursors of perceived greenwashing, especially from the perspective of customers' environmental values. This study examined links between customers' environmental beliefs, awareness of sustainable development goals (SDGs), personal responsibility, and perceived greenwashing. The study also examined the moderating role of involvement in environmental campaigns on social media on the link between perceived greenwashing and company outcomes (i.e. perceived company green value and brand attachment). Data were gathered from customers of battery products in China. Path analyses and group analyses were conducted to test hypotheses. The main findings showed that customers’ green values enhanced perceptions of greenwashing, which further reduced perceived company green value and brand attachment. The negative link between perceived greenwashing and company outcomes was stronger among customers who reported involvement in environmental campaigns on social media.

How does brand authenticity influence brand loyalty? Exploring the roles of brand attachment and brand trust

PurposeThe study aims to delve into the interactive relationships among brand authenticity, brand attachment, brand trust and brand loyalty using the ERC authenticity framework, exploring the potential mechanisms and different configurations affecting brand loyalty through brand authenticity.Design/methodology/approachAbout 446 valid samples were collected through an online survey of Chinese consumers of international sports brands. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were employed to test the research hypotheses.FindingsSEM results indicate significant positive correlations among brand true-to-ideal authenticity, true-to-fact authenticity and true-to-self authenticity. All dimensions of brand authenticity exert notable positive impacts on brand attachment, brand trust and brand loyalty. Brand true-to-ideal authenticity, true-to-fact authenticity and true-to-self authenticity not only directly influence consumer brand loyalty but also indirectly affect it through brand attachment and brand trust; fsQCA results reveal five heterogeneous configurations to predict brand loyalty.Originality/valueThis study not only uses SEM to validate the structural relationships among the three dimensions of brand authenticity and their linear relationships with brand attachment, brand trust and brand loyalty but also uses fsQCA to identify nonlinear relationships between concepts. It extends complexity theory to the research field of brand authenticity–brand loyalty. Furthermore, based on the research results, this study provides management suggestions for brand managers and marketers.

Brand Credibility and Brand Value Congruence as Antecedents for Brand Advocacy and Brand Attachment

Brand Credibility and Brand Value Congruence as Antecedents for Brand Advocacy and Brand Attachment

Exploring the influence of ‘Korean Wave’ on brand loyalty: The moderating role of product type

The ‘Korean Wave’ has significantly impacted the global economy, especially in Indonesia. However, there is a gap in understanding how Korean celebrities, as brand ambassadors, influence local consumer behavior and purchase intentions. This study aims to clarify this impact using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework. The roles of brand attachment, brand love, and brand loyalty, moderated by product type, were examined with 194 survey respondents, and data was analyzed using SmartPLS software. Key findings indicate that brand personality significantly influences brand attachment. Customer brand engagement positively affects brand love. Brand attachment impacts both brand loyalty and brand love, while brand love strongly influences brand loyalty. Brand loyalty significantly affects purchase intentions, confirming that loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases. Product type only moderates the influence of brand attachment on brand loyalty, not the influence of brand love on brand loyalty. The implications for marketers are significant. Businesses should leverage Korean celebrities as brand ambassadors to enhance brand visibility and loyalty. Aligning brand personality with ambassadors can deepen consumer attachment. Creating engaging content and focusing on emotional branding can foster stronger connections. Tailoring marketing strategies to different product types and monitoring brand loyalty feedback can enhance market performance. Despite its contributions, the study acknowledges limitations, including potential demographic biases and the need for broader cultural and product category exploration in future research.

BRAND IMAGE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

The extreme importance of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty cannot be overstated in today's highly competitive business contexts. Regardless of how much emphasis has been placed on it, research focused specifically on customer satisfaction has not been given adequate attention within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry in Nigeria. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the effect of brand image on consumer satisfaction in Unilever Nigeria Plc. in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study utilizes a descriptive research design on the strength of a cross-sectional survey of 400 respondents to a structured questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, including Pearson correlation analysis. The findings reveal that a significant relationship exists between brand image and customer satisfaction in Nigeria. The study also shows that brand awareness and brand attachment have the highest level of relevance on customer satisfaction.

Investigating the Impact of Green Brand Equity on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Roles of Green brand attachment, Green Trust, Green brand attitude, and Green brand image

Investigating the Impact of Green Brand Equity on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Roles of Green brand attachment, Green Trust, Green brand attitude, and Green brand image

Theorizing regressive nostalgia: Understanding exclusionary consumers as a brand threat

This paper contributes to understanding the relevance of a negative nostalgia in branding research. The significance of nostalgia for consumer researchers has long been noted: it has been shown to delight and enchant consumers, influence consumption preferences, and lead to stronger brand attachment and loyalty. However, while the focus in marketing has been on nostalgia as a positive emotion, it is clear that aggression and exclusion are at the heart of many nostalgic narratives. This paper argues that these darker implications of nostalgia for brands have yet to be fully uncovered. In theorizing a form of negative nostalgia, which we term regressive nostalgia, we highlight three key characteristics: temporal dislocation to idealized and imagined past times which is articulated as a preference for racial and cultural purity, and heroic masculinity. We examine the James Bond brand, which came into existence over seventy years ago, to understand how consumers attracted to previous versions of a brand react adversely to new versions of the brand yet remain loyal. Our study also offers guidance to marketing practitioners on how to shield a brand’s contemporary positioning from potential negative connotations of regressive nostalgia.

Examining the interplay of chatbot interactivity and anthropomorphic design for enhancing brand relationships in service businesses

The current research examines how elements of chatbot design influence not only consumers’ perceptions and responses but also the processes by which they promote online-to-offline behavioral intention toward service brands. Focusing on the coffee service business, a study following a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design was conducted. Among the findings, the impact of interactivity on chatbot- and brand-related outcomes depended on the anthropomorphic conversational style employed; interactions with the warm, high-interactivity (vs. low-interactivity) chatbot enhanced the sense of social presence, whereas interactions with the competent, low-interactivity (vs. high-interactivity) chatbot promoted brand-related behavioral intention. Moreover, as the moderated serial mediation model demonstrated, although increased social presence shaped components of brand relationship quality (i.e. brand partner quality and brand attachment), only brand partner quality bolstered the intention to patronize the brand. The significant moderated indirect effect suggests that a warm, highly interactive chatbot design can strengthen social presence and thereby improve brand partner quality and raise the likelihood of offline patronage. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

Impact of Emotional Branding on Brand Trustworthiness with mediating role of Brand Commitment

Human emotions play a vital role in cognitive processes, decision-making, purchasing behavior, and social interactions. In any market, consumer engagement with brands is not just transactional; it is intensive, deep-rooted, stable, and emotionally attached. Establishing trust and loyalty between customers and brands has become increasingly crucial, extending beyond mere satisfaction based on benefits. As a result, emotional branding and emotional marketing are gaining significance and recognition among practitioners and marketing researchers, as they enhance credibility for customers. This descriptive study primarily aims to analyze the mediating role of brand commitment in the relationship between emotional branding and brand trustworthiness. A convenience sampling technique was adopted to gather 308 samples using an online questionnaire. The sampling adequacy for the study was determined by the KMO and Bartlett’s test, yielding a value of 0.935. Data were analyzed using correlation, stepwise regression, and mediation analysis in SPSS and JAMOVI to assess the mediating role of brand commitment in the relationship between emotional branding and brand trustworthiness. The findings indicate a robust and positive relationship among emotional branding, brand trustworthiness, and brand commitment. The stepwise regression model revealed that emotional branding antecedents significantly predict both brand trustworthiness and brand commitment. Furthermore, mediation analysis confirmed that emotional branding antecedents significantly impact brand trustworthiness, with brand commitment serving as a mediator, thus validating the mediation analysis. This study recommends that brand trustworthiness can be improved through emotional branding strategies, leveraging the mediating effect of brand commitment activities. Consequently, marketers can achieve a higher level of brand trustworthiness and commitment by enhancing emotional branding strategies with their customers. The research concludes that emotional branding strategies are significant predictors of brand trustworthiness, with brand commitment playing a vital mediating role in this relationship. Future research could explore these dynamics in different geographical areas and consider additional variables, such as brand satisfaction, brand love, and brand attachment, to further enrich the model.

Emotional intelligence and demographic factors: Moderating effects in service recovery strategy

This study highlights the role of emotional intelligence, gender, income, and residence area on the relationship between brand image, service recovery strategy, and satisfaction. The multistage with purposive sampling method has recruited 600 samples of private hospital services in Thailand. Self-administered online questionnaires via Google Forms were used to collect the data online. Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup SEM have been used for hypothesis testing. The research explores emotional intelligence (EI), with lower emotional intelligence associated with more negative perceptions of social brand image. Lower income affects the symbolic and social image, influencing satisfaction with a service recovery strategy. The upcountry areas viewed experiential images more positively compared to those from urban regions. Gender did not significantly moderate these relationships. The study also highlights thatfactors do not substantially impact service recovery satisfaction but are still vital for effective communication and brand attachment. The results underscore the intricate dynamics of the various factors that shape consumer attitudes and behaviours toward service recovery strategy.

Materialism and Tourism Brand Attachment in Influencing Compulsive Buying for Generations Y And Z Travel in the Post-Covid 19 Pandemic Period

This study aims to analyze the effect of materialism and tourism brand attachment on compulsive buying for travel in generations Y and Z in Indonesia. This study also to analyse the influence of the predecessors of materialism and compulsive buying such as SNS advertisement, celebrity endorsement, and ideal self-congruence. This research is an explanatory research with a quantitative approach. A survey using a questionnaire was conducted to collect primary data in this study. The population in this study is all Y and Z generations in Indonesia. The sample in this study was determined using a non-probability sampling method because the total population is not known with certainty. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling with the criteria (1) maximum birth in 1981, because the research wanted to explain about compulsive buying in generations Y and Z, (2) active users of social media or social network services (SNS), because this research wanted explain the effect of variables related to the use of SNS such as SNS advertisement, celebrity endorsement, and ideal self-congruence on compulsive buying. The number of respondents in this assessment was 250 respondents. The data obtained was then analyzed using Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling.

Emotional Brand Attachment, Brand Tribalism, and Co-creation in Luxury Hotels: Insights from Emerging Economies

Introduction In the exquisite tapestry of hospitality, luxury hotels have always concentrated on the comfort of the customer. However, the shifting shades of time unfolded the art of managing customers' emotions to strengthen hotel-customer relationships. Methods This trend has resulted in luxury hotels focusing on customers' value co-creation behaviour by weaving the emotions of the customers into a collaborative service symphony and ensuring that customers self-identify themselves with the luxury hotel and its other customers as a tribe. There are scant studies on the contribution of customer value co-creation behaviour towards luxury hotels; therefore, this study aimed to examine the emotional psychology of customers and their behaviour by evaluating a model curated between emotional brand attachment, brand tribalism, and customer value co-creation behaviour. Data for the study were collected by facilitating structured questionnaires to 399 Indian customers of luxury hotels. The proposed model was empirically examined by the structural equation modelling technique. Results The results confirmed that emotional brand attachment and brand tribalism positively affect customer value co-creation behaviour. Emotional brand attachment also positively affects brand tribalism in customers of luxury hotels. The findings offer a fresh perspective for marketers, researchers, and academicians by validating that emotions play a vital role in promoting brand tribalism and inducing value co-creation behaviour in the customers of luxury hotels. Additionally, the study validates that brand tribalism affects value co-creation behaviour. Conclusion This study is unique as it provides a holistic view of factors that are crucial for luxury hotels in the competitive landscape to promote a collaborative spirit of the customers, progress on relational management, and understand the emotional psychology of the customer.

The impact of brand authenticity on brand attachment, brand loyalty, willingness to pay more, and forgiveness - For Chinese consumers of Korean cosmetic brands -

Despite the corona-virus pandemic, Korean cosmetics maintain brand attachment in the Chinese market. This study identifies critical influencing and outcome factors of brand attachment within this consumer phenomenon. Specifically, it investigates the relationship between Chinese consumers' perceived brand authenticity and brand attachment, brand loyalty, willingness to pay a premium, and forgiveness. To this end, it uses AMOS 21.0 to analyze data collected through a questionnaire, testing the research model. The study reveals several key findings. Firstly, it assesses brand authenticity based on the following five sub-factors: consistency, naturalness, originality, advertisement truthfulness, and reliability. According to the assessment results, originality shows the most significant impact, followed by reliability, consistency, and naturalness. Furthermore, brand attachment significantly enhances brand loyalty, willingness to pay a premium, and forgiveness toward the brand. Higher levels of brand attachment lead to increased brand loyalty. In addition, greater brand attachment correlates with consumers' increased willingness to pay more for products and greater forgiveness towards the brand.

How Brand Authenticity Affects Consumers’ Willingness to Recommend by Word-of-Mouth? Evidence from the Cell Phone Industry

Based on the cognitive-affective-behavioral theory and self-congruity theory, this study constructs a theoretical model with four dimensions of brand authenticity (continuity, integrity, credibility and symbolism) as independent variables, willingness to recommend by word-of-mouth (RWOM) as dependent variables and brand attachment as mediating variables to investigate how brand authenticity affects RWOM through brand attachment. Using quantitative methods and snowball sampling, 515 Chinese respondents aged 18+ who purchase and use the top 6 brands of cell phones in China participated in this study. SEM was used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The results show that the continuity, integrity, credibility and symbolism all significantly and positively affect RWOM and brand attachment, with brand credibility having the strongest effect on the RWOM and brand attachment; secondly, brand attachment is proven to positively influence RWOM; finally, brand attachment plays a partially mediating role between the four dimensions of brand authenticity and RWOM. The findings enrich the theoretical results of brand authenticity and RWOM, and has certain reference value for enterprises to build authentic brands and enhance consumers’ word-of-mouth recommendation intention.

The role of brand anthropomorphism in building brand attachment: The experiment research on beverage brands

The concept of anthropomorphism has been described as a psychological process in which people perceive inanimate agents as humanlike. In the branding context, this approach has been considered as an effective positioning strategy to enhance consumer-brand interactions and create robust brand attachment, which refers to the strength of the bond connecting the brand with the self. Nevertheless, up to date, there are only a few empirical publications studying how and when anthropomorphism affects brand attachment. Filling the mentioned gap, on the basis of a three-factor theory of anthropomorphism (Epley, Waytz, & Cacioppo, 2007), and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), the paper provided an underlying mechanism that clarified the intimate relationship between brand anthropomorphism and consumers’ emotional attachment to such brands. The experiment applied in the context of healthy drink brands was carried out to test the hypothesis of the research model. The nonprobability design was adopted, and the sample size was determined in terms of similar previous studies which showed reliable and valid findings. Data was collected from 201 participants, and the Partial Least Squares technique was applied for statistical analysis. The study found that users tend to show greater brand attachment when they are exposed to an anthropomorphic juice brand (vs. a non-anthropomorphic one). The exploratory findings further highlighted the essential role of self-efficacy, self-esteem, sense of belonging, and psychological comfort, that mediated the effects of brand anthropomorphism on brand attachment. The results from this research contribute to understanding the anthropomorphism literature and provide valuable insights for marketing practices in the beverage industry.

Unfaithful brands: How brand attachment can lead to negative responses to influencer marketing campaigns

Unfaithful brands: How brand attachment can lead to negative responses to influencer marketing campaigns

Engaging Customers Towards Mobile Application Brand Attachment and Advocacy: Multigroup Analysis of Generational Differences

Technology service providers face challenges regarding the varying degrees of customer engagement of app-based services, and this phenomenon warrants an in-depth investigation. This research examines the antecedents and consequences of technology customer engagement and how generational differences play a role in the context of mobile banking applications. This research advances the current understanding by identifying mobile service quality dimensions as key determinants, proposing technology customer engagement as a significant driver of brand attachment and advocacy, and finding the moderating impact of the generational gap. This study guides technology service providers in creating a strategy to engage customers towards app-based services.