The impacts of brand experiences on brand loyalty: mediators of brand love and trust

Abstract

Purpose-1).Prior studies on brand relationships tend to overlook the mediator(s) between the relationships between brand experience and brand loyalty. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is to examine these mediating roles of brand love and brand trust on the brand experience and brand loyalty relationships. 2).While the literature does not examine the distinct dimensions of brand experience and brand loyalty, this study fills up this gap and examines their detailed dimensions and effects on brand loyalty. Methodology-A total of 237 valid questionnaires on mobile phone brands were collected from respondents aged between 18 and 30, and analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method. Findings-1).Sensory experience is the major driver of brand love. 2).Sensory experience mainly drives customers' brand trust, while intellectual experience has no effects on brand trust. 3).Brand love is the main mechanism in developing customers' behavioral loyalty, so does brand trust in shaping their attitudinal loyalty. 4).Brand love and brand trust have the mediating effects on the relationships between brand experience and brand loyalty. Originality/Value-1).It demonstrates two mediating roles of brand love and brand trust in the brand experience and brand loyalty relationships, and thus deepens the understanding of the processes in shaping customers' brand loyalty. 2).It departs from the prior works and examines the distinct dimensions of brand experience and brand loyalty, and thus presents a more detailed examination on these two constructs and their effects, than prior studies. 3).It demonstrates the validities of the brand resonance model, the C-A-B and A-C-B models, key mediating variable (KMV) model, particularly in mobile phone industry.

Brand Love as Mediator of the Brand Experience-Satisfaction-Loyalty Relationship in a Retail Fashion Brand

“…Although this relation is not commonly found in the literature, this disparate degree of importance among brand experience dimensions was already found in previous studies. For example, a study of mobile phone brands found sensory experience as the major driver of brand love (Huang, 2017). This finding is also in line with Koo and Kim (2013) that examined the influence of several store environmental cues on store emotional attachment (brand love).…”

“…The results point to the importance of brand love to customer loyalty, both directly and indirectly through customer satisfaction. This finding echoes in the scarce research supporting the path from brand love to customer loyalty (Bergkvist and Bech-larsen, 2010;Huang, 2017). Bergkvist and Bech-larsen (2010) in a study of six brands found that brand love has a positive influence in brand loyalty.…”

Functional brand qualities and perceived value: The mediating role of brand experience and brand personality

“…Past research indicates that delivering brand experiences results in positive consumer outcomes, including stronger brand personality associations, consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty (Brakus et al, ), brand equity (Lin, ), word‐of‐mouth (Klein, Falk, Esch, & Gloukhovtsev, ), brand trust and brand love (C. C. Huang, ). Despite the importance of brand experience, studies on its antecedents are, however, quite rare.…”

Are global brands trustworthy?

“…Brand trust refers to the expectation that consumers have about a brand and particularly that the brand will consistently accomplish its promise and deliver value for the benefit of the consumer, and for the least, not perniciously (Doney and Cannon, 1997;Mayer et al, 1995). It is a major dimension of consumers' relationships with brands since it influences brand equity (Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Alemán, 2005), brand loyalty (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001;Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Alemán, 2001;Frasquet et al, 2017;Huang, 2017;Menidjel et al, 2017;Sung and Kim, 2010;Veloutsou, 2015), brand commitment (Ha, 2004;Morgan and Hunt, 1994), and purchase intentions (Bhandari and Rodgers, 2018;Sichtmann, 2007).…”