Search results

This study aims to answer the following questions: How do consumers’ perceptions of brand coolness affect brand relationship outcomes and how do brand coolness effects differ between product brands and service brands?

A quantitative survey was used to collect data from 1,500 consumers assigned to assess one of 20 popular product and service brands in Vietnam. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

Data analysis reveals that both dimensions of brand coolness (i.e. self-oriented and other-oriented coolness) exert positive impacts on brand relationship outcomes (i.e. brand satisfaction, brand love and brand advocacy) through brand attitude (i.e. the evaluative mechanism) and self-brand connection (i.e. the identity mechanism). While the identity mechanism of brand coolness effects is more prominent in product brands, the evaluative mechanism is more pronounced for service brands.

This research provides practical guidance for brand managers to build strong customer relationships by leveraging their brand coolness and the mechanisms underlying coolness effects. This study suggests a tailored application of brand coolness dimensions to different branded entities.

This research contributes to the brand coolness literature by validating a two-dimensional brand coolness structure encompassing self-oriented and other-oriented coolness, in accordance with a value-based conceptualization of the concept. For mass brand studies, this study recommends the exclusion of rebellious and subcultural attributes, as well as the utility of pre-determined brands as evaluated objects, in measuring brand coolness. This study also illuminates dual mediation mechanisms and moderation of the branded entity underlying brand coolness effects on consumer–brand relationships.

In the channel-mix era, the customer journey involves combining channels during all the stages of the decision-making process, such that creating and maintaining relationships with consumers poses a challenge to retailers. This work aims to explore what role brands play in this issue by analyzing what impact the perceived benefits of brand channel-mix have on consumer self–brand connection (SBC) and what their effect is in enduring consumer–brand relationships (i.e. future channel-mix use and word of mouth [WOM]). This paper also explores the moderating role of product involvement in these relations.

The authors carried out a personal questionnaire with a sample of 288 consumers who were recruited after leaving one of the stores of a clothing brand that is a successful example of distribution channel management.

Insofar as consumers perceive channel-mix benefits, SBC will be higher and (or as a result) their future intentions with the brand will be more intense. In addition, the results show that product involvement moderates the relationship between SBC and channel-mix use intention and WOM.

This work contributes to channel-mix, relationship marketing, brand and product involvement literature by analyzing how customers may be retained in the channel-mix era through brand management and by considering product category involvement. This study merges brand and product variables to explore their impact on relationship marketing within channel-mix behaviors.

Understanding consumer brand relationships from the perspective of the consumer has been a research topic for years. Despite this, there are still various ways in which the construct is interpreted. This paper aims to identify the most typical interpretation of brand relationships by consumers.

A four-study prototype analysis was conducted, in which a bottom-up approach was applied to identify lay people’s conceptualization of consumer brand relationships.

The prototype analysis generates a comprehensive list of features of consumer brand relationships that provide a nuanced understanding of the concept. The most typical characteristics of a brand relationship according to consumers are quality, bond, value and joy. Comparing this relationship prototype with existing literature shows that there may be a gap between theory and practice regarding the concept of brand relationship.

The prototypical conceptualization of brand relationships shows which aspects play a role in consumers' most common interpretation of the construct. This provides an opportunity to assess the validity of existing conceptualizations of brand relationships. Knowing which aspects are most relevant for consumers’ brand relationships allows brands to make adjustments as needed and improve at establishing and maintaining relationships with consumers.

This study aims to explore and extend the consumer–brand relationship literature by integrating the relatively new construct of brand coolness with a growing body of work on gratitude. Specifically, gratitude is explored alongside emotional brand attachment as an additional mechanism affecting the relationship between cool brands and the loyalty outcome of repurchase intention. Consumption context is examined as a boundary condition to the effect of gratitude.

Data was collected from an online survey of a Qualtrics panel of 356 US consumers. A moderated mediation model is used to explain the effects of brand coolness on repurchase intention via emotional brand attachment and brand gratitude in the moderating presence of consumption context.

Brand coolness significantly increases repurchase intention. Furthermore, emotional brand attachment and brand gratitude are established as parallel mediators of the relationship between brand coolness and repurchase intention, with brand gratitude exhibiting a significantly stronger mediated effect. The impact of brand coolness on brand gratitude is moderated by social visibility, with publicly consumed cool brands stimulating greater brand gratitude than their privately consumed counterparts.

Brand gratitude is shown to influence repurchase intention independent of the impact exerted by consumers’ emotional brand attachment. Cognitive appraisal theory is used to distinguish brand gratitude from other mediators studied in consumer–brand relationships. Findings establish the moderating influence of the social visibility of the brand on the relationship between brand coolness and gratitude.

This research aims to investigate the influence of consumers' anticipated trust in service providers on brand switching intention and its underlying psychological mechanism. More importantly, this study explores the moderating role of type of service providers (human staff/humanoid robots/nonhumanoid robots).

This study adopted two single-factor between-subjects experimental designs and tested the hypotheses in two typical service failure scenarios: Study 1, a hotel scenario (N = 403); and Study 2, a restaurant scenario (N = 323).

The results suggest that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between consumers' anticipated trust and tolerance of service failure and that such tolerance has a mediating effect on the relationship between anticipated trust and brand switching intention. Moreover, when service failure is caused by a humanoid service robot, a moderate anticipated trust level of consumers is most conducive to increasing tolerance, which in turn reduces their propensity to switch brands.

This study examines the nature of the relationship between anticipated trust and tolerance in a service failure context, revealing an inverted U-shaped relationship. More importantly, the boundary conditions under which different service provides have an influence on this relationship are incorporated. Finally, this study explores the influence of service failure tolerance on brand switching intentions in a technological context, enriching consumer–brand relationship research.

Customization allows brands to provide goods that match customers’ preferences, but its impact on consumer–brand relationships is unclear. This study aims to examine the impact of two key moderators on the effectiveness of customization to enhance brand’s perceived partner quality, which mediates the relationship between customization and brand attitude.

Study 1 (n = 219) tests the moderated–mediation relationship, the effect of customization (IV) on perceived partner quality (mediator), and its indirect effect on brand attitude (DV), which is moderated by consumers’ self-construal orientation (Moderator 1). Study 2 (n = 416) extends the model tested in Study 1 by including an additional moderator, shopping task context (Moderator 2).

Results empirically demonstrate the impact of self-construal and shopping task context on the effectiveness of customization in improved customer–brand partner quality and eventual brand attitude.

Customization may not appeal to every customer for the same reason. Marketers must target customers’ individual traits (independents vs interdependents) and understand the context of the shopping task context (self-purchase vs gift-giving).

The work reveals how brands can enhance consumers’ perceptions of the brand by allowing them to customize the product. It is novel in demonstrating that customization is not just a fine-grained segmentation strategy but a brand building tool. It highlights contextual factors affecting the outcome of customization by demonstrating the conditions under which it is most effective.

To provide theoretical guidance on improving luxury brands’ marketing performance, this study aims to examine the impact mechanism and boundary conditions of luxury brand buyers’ consumption resources on observers’ brand attitudes from the perspective of consumers’ power distance beliefs (PDBs).

Four experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 examined the influence of the interaction of consumption resources and PDBs on luxury brand attitudes; Study 2 examined the mediating role of prestige perception. Study 3 excluded alternative explanations of (dis)association motivation and envy. Finally, Study 4 examined the moderating effect of brand relationship norms.

Consumers with low PDBs had lower attitudes towards luxury brands when consumption resources were acquired through luck (rather than effort). However, no significant difference in luxury brand attitudes was found between these two consumer groups when PDBs were high. Consumers’ perceptions of prestige played a mediating role in the main effect, whereas brand relationship norms moderated the main effect.

First, this study reveals the unique role of PDBs in shaping consumer attitudes towards luxury brands. Second, it uses consumption resources as a signal for luxury consumption and identifies a way to influence consumers’ attitudes towards luxury brands, namely, their perceptions of prestige. Third, it uncovers the influence of consumers’ brand relationship norms on the formation of luxury brand attitudes.

This research aims to examine the role of consumers' brand trust and attachment on advocacy intention before and after the occurrence of brand misconduct in retail banking. In addition, the influence of brand attachment on consumers' willingness to switch, advocate for and forgive brands is examined in a post-misconduct scenario.

Data were collected through a self-administered online survey questionnaire. A total of 304 valid and usable responses from Australian participants were analysed using IBM SPSS 27.0.

The findings reveal that brand attachment mediates the positive relationship between trust and advocacy intention. Furthermore, brand attachment (1) dilutes consumers' switching intention and (2) strengthens their willingness to forgive the bank after misconduct.

Results suggest that retail banks should create strong brand attachments with their consumers. In addition to brand trust, brand attachment will generate greater advocacy intention among consumers. Moreover, practitioners in retail banking can leverage brand attachment to mitigate the negative impact of brand misconduct.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to examine the impact of brand attachment on the consumer–bank relationship within the context of brand misconduct. The study is also unique in its analysis of the mediating role of brand attachment between brand trust and advocacy. This research further adds to the current literature by suggesting that strong and positive customer connections to the brand facilitate communication and marketing efforts after brand misconduct and that these are effective in maintaining consumer-bank relationship.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer brand engagement (CBE) promotes brand love and eWOM within the influence of brand interactivity and consumer involvement, especially in the context of the smartphone industry and Chinese social media marketing. This study also examines the important role of brand love and gender in this relationship.

Data from 403 participants who are followers of the smartphone brand’s social media page was collected via an online survey. PLS-SEM was also used for examining the research model.

The findings of this research reveal that the (perceived) brand interactivity, and consumer involvement, are key factors influence CBE. As expected, brand love and consumers’ eWOM intention are significant outcomes of CBE. In particular, the relationship between CBE and consumers’ eWOM intention is mediated by brand love. However, gender did not moderate the proposed relationships.

By integrating social exchange theory and attribution theory, this study deepens the understanding of CBE and brand love by examining the relationship between brand interactivity, consumer involvement, CBE, brand love and eWOM in the context of smartphone and Chinese social media marketing.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of ethnically targeted ads in developing consumer–brand relationships through an application of social identification theory and elaboration likelihood model among African American consumers in the service sector.

Study 1 used a 2 (service type: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (strength of ethnic identification: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design. Study 2 used the same experimental design, procedure and ads as Study 1.

Taken together, the findings from these two studies demonstrate how ethnically targeted advertising, in conjunction with service type, can influence consumer–brand relationships. The results showed that those with high strength of ethnic identification had more brand love, as well as higher intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth, purchase intention and brand loyalty for hedonic services, but that this effect was not significant for utilitarian services.

The environments in which advertisements appear (e.g. in an in-store display or a magazine advertisement) is important, and consumers’ reactions to targeted ads in various environments should be considered in future research. Future studies should also examine the role of individuals’ personality traits and level of acculturation in determining their relationships with brands.

Across two studies, the authors demonstrated that ethnic ads are more effective for African American individuals with high level of ethnic identification especially for hedonic services.