“relationship between consumerism and brand love
TRANSCRIPT
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD JAVERIANA
TRABAJO DE GRADO
“Relationship between Consumerism and Brand love:
A Literature Review”
Deepak Santiago Alberto Torres Gaitán
Dr. Nicole Hartley
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS ECONÓMICAS Y ADMINISTRATIVAS
CARRERA DE ADMINISTRACIÓN DE EMPRESAS
BOGOTÁ D.C.
Octubre, 2018
The University of Queensland
Faculty of Business, Economics & Law
UQ Business School
“Relationship between Consumerism and Brand love:
A Literature Review”
Prepared by Deepak Santiago Torres Gaitán - 44948076
Supervised by Dr Nicole Hartley
October 2018
A literature review submitted to the UQ Business School, The University of Queensland and
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degrees of
Bachelor of Commerce and Business Management.
DECLARATION
I, Deepak Santiago Torres Gaitan, acknowledged that the work presented in this report is, to
the best of my knowledge and belief, original, except as acknowledged in the text. The material
has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other university.
Deepak Torres Gaitan
29th October, 2018.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 5
2. Literature Review ......................................................................................... 8
2.1. Brand Love Concept.................................................................................................... 8
2.2. Brand Love Measurements.......................................................................................... 9
2.3. Outcomes of Brand Love .......................................................................................... 12
2.4. Brand Satisfaction and Brand Love .......................................................................... 15
2.5. Brand Loyalty and Brand Love ................................................................................. 17
2.6. Brand Liking and Brand Love ................................................................................... 19
3. Research Question and Knowledge Gap .................................................. 21
4. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 28
5. References .................................................................................................... 31
6. Appendix ...................................................................................................... 34
1. Introduction
Consumer satisfaction has been a core marketing concept, commonly used as the main goal of
marketing strategy for more than 50 years. Nonetheless, there has been a change to focus in
clarify differences in strategic consumer behaviour rather than just satisfaction (Carroll &
Ahuvia, 2006). Consumers claim to be very satisfied or satisfied, in an interval around 65%
and 85% usually irregular. Hence, a satisfied purchaser might not be the decisive factor for
ensuring a competitive marketplace. To be successful in the industry, marketers have to create
intelligent strategies to achieve customer retention (Garg, Mukherjee, Biswas, & Kataria,
2015).
Through time, the clients are able to develop an attachment with the brand through the creation
of a strong emotional relationship. Going from a weak level, usually these emotional
attachments are presented in a strong way, triggering deeper feelings towards the brand. This
allows the brand to attract an irreplaceable meaning to the consumer, causing him or her to
experience anxiety if the brand ceases to exist. This remarkable passionate affection that arises
from a satisfied client is known as brand love (Garg, Mukherjee, Biswas, & Kataria, 2015).
Consumer’s love toward common possessions or activities has been widely recognized, but the
concept of consumers presenting a “love” feeling for brands is based primarily from studies on
consumer-brand relationships, delight and the specific ‘love’ concept. Although it is unknown
if such feelings are perfectly comparable with the feelings that consumers have for their family
or friends, the conclusion between researchers is that the feeling goes beyond that of a simple
preference or liking towards the brand (Malik & Guptha, 2013).
In 1988, Shimp and Madden were the pioneers on the construction of love in consumption
matching with their model of “consumer-object love” supported by the triangular theory of
love presented by Sternberg two years prior. In extension of that, Shimp and Madden proposed
eight feasible consumer-object relationships: nonliking, liking, infatuation, functionalism,
inhibited desire, utilitarianism, succumbed desire, and loyalty (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006).
Subsequently, in 1997, Oliver, Rust and Varki stated a concept for delight as a response from
the consumer differently from an expectations-disconfirmation model of satisfaction derivate
from surprise, arousal and positive effect. Nonetheless, albeit some subsequent researches has
provided some reasons for the relevance of delight as a key concept to marketers, there is little
evidence of the utility of the delight construct as an important role in forecasting of consumer’s
strategic behaviour (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006).
Ahuvia (1993) started empirical study with the aim of have a detailed perspective about
consumer’s ability to love and consumption activities. With the help of an interpretive
paradigm, Ahuvia discovered that consumers can achieve intense emotional attachment to
some “love objects”. The research also suggest that interpersonal love and love in consumer
contexts have fundamentals similarities. Nonetheless, Ahuvia does not mention a causal
relationship but an unusual strong feel towards a brand (Malik & Guptha, 2013).
Based on Ahuvia’s work, researchers started explore deeper the concept. Some important
studies have been performed by Whang, Sahourym and Zhang (2004) and Thomson, Maclnnis
and Park (2005). Fournier (1998) also highlighted the relevance of love in consumer’s long-
term relationship with brands and stated that love towards a brand is the most intense and
profound satisfaction of all. Batra and Ahuvia (2014) have identified more variables such a
predictive power, brand quality, brand anthromorphism, brand experience, brand personality
which are correlated as attributes of brand love. Roy (2012) in a merely theoretical paper, states
some antecedents of consumers that love brand such as satisfaction, self-congruity, consumer
delight, brand experience and romanticism. Additionally, some studies have relied on different
brand love conceptualisations, including brand trust, brand identification, self-expressive brand
and hedonic products as antecedents of brand love (Bairrada, Coelho, & Coelho, 2018).
Based on the information obtained during all this time about the phenomenon, the marketers
have had the opportunity to apply the concept in marketing plans focused on increasing the
love towards the brand and take advantage of the positive effects that derives from brand love.
However, the concept of Brand Love still has many unknowns to solve. We live in a time where
globalization has been generating homogenous tastes in consumers and even similar behaviours
between cultures. Even so, specific attributes of each country or regions continue to be a
decisive factor at the time of creating loyalty plans for the consumer, advertising campaigns or
strategies of customer retention.
Based on the fact that cultural, economic and social differences prevail when applying a
strategy to a market, the research question has been proposed: Is there a relationship between
the presence of consumerism in a country and Brand love? - Therefore, is it easier to develop
a love for the brand in a consumerism country? Or does a country's level of consumerism acts
as a neutral environment for Brand love, neither drive it nor diminish it?
The objective of obtaining this information is that marketing professionals can propose better
strategies according to each market. If the hypothesis is proven correct, then they would have
a more accurate framework and thus creates strategies with greater probability of success. In
addition to trying to corroborate the hypothesis, this research seeks to identify those gaps of
information that the field presents, proposing some topics that future researches could focus to
obtain a precise knowledge regarding the characteristics and repercussions that the
phenomenon of Brand love exhibits.
To answer the research question and identify the gaps, a literature review was conducted in the
field of Brand Love. First, it explains the concept and the different points of view that authors
have regarding Brand Love, as well as the different characteristics and conceptions of the
notion. Afterwards, the efforts that have been made to measure the construct, scales that have
been proposed to differentiate Brand love from a simple liking with the brand and try to
measure the level of love present in the consumer. Third, the consequences that Brand love
brings are highlighted in order to show how the phenomenon is desirable in the consumers.
Additionally, a comparison is made expressing similarities and differences between Brand
satisfaction, Brand loyalty and Brand liking with the concept of Brand love, in order to rectify
misunderstanding between these concepts.
Finally, the results of the research are shown with conclusions, implications and opportunities
for future researches.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Brand Love Concept
Before deconstructing the concept of brand love, it is important to define the concept of brand.
Brand is a unique and exclusive element, represented by a name or symbol that differentiates
services and products from one company to others (e.g. Apple, JP Morgan, Ikea, etc.). A brand
adds value to the generic product, making them more appealing and desirable to the consumers
(Garg, Mukherjee, Biswas, & Kataria, 2016).
In addition, the concept of ‘Brand Love” is a relatively new marketing construct used to
forecast and describe variation in desirable post-consumption behaviour among satisfied
consumers (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). Many studies have utilised this concept, however, there
is not a universally agreed definition among the different researchers.
One of the pioneer studies made by Shimp and Madden applied the concept of love of brand
highlighting that love can exist between a consumer and an object, more specifically, a brand.
When this happens, they apply the Sternberg’s Triangular theory of Love. This theory states
that love is made up of three main features: passion, intimacy and decision or commitment.
The concept of passion indicates the physical drive that leads to stimulation. Intimacy refers to
the closeness and warmth that arises within a relationship. The third concept, decision or
commitment, indicates the decisions to be committed to a loving relationship (Skoog &
Söderström, 2015).
In 1998, Fournier shown that consumers create and maintain an outstanding relationship with
brands and proposes six major groups of relationships, including love and passion, defined as
a deeper, meaningful and long-lasting feeling than just an inclination or liking (Albert,
Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2008). Carroll and Ahuvia define love towards a brand as “the
degree of passionate emotional attachment that a person has for a particular trade mark”. In
this sense, consumers see loved objects as part of themselves and their daily world, with these
objects playing a critical role in the construction in their world. According to this, consumer’s
love includes passion for the brand, brand attachment, positive evaluation of the brand and
declarations of love toward the brand (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006).
In 2012, Batra exposed a prototype-based definition of brand love, built on the notion that when
dealing with complex, abstract and fuzzy concepts, it is better described by prototypes. A
prototype is mixture of definitions arising from a non-exhaustive list of features that purchaser
link together with a certain concept. Batra states brand love not as emotion but as relationship
that consumers develop with brands, encompassing “multiple interrelated cognitive, affective,
and behavioural elements, rather than a specific, single, transient love emotion” and that is
distinguished by the following attributes:
Passion-driven behaviours, referring to consumers has a passionate involvement with
the brand evoking more desire to use it, has invested resources in the brand like time
and money, and has been exposed to the brand in the past.
Self-brand integration, states that consumers feel self-identify with the brand provoking
constant thoughts towards the brand linked with giving a meaning to life.
A positive emotional connection, consumers felt that brand is analogous to them,
reflects their personality and fits their desires and tastes. Moreover, they experiment an
emotional linkage and positive emotions with the brand.
Long-term relationships, meaning that consumers wish the brand to be part of their life
not for a short period of time, in contrast, a long one.
Positive attitude valence, implying an overall positive appraisal of the brand.
Anticipated separation distress, reflecting a negative emotional impact if the brand were
to cease existence (Bairrada, Coelho, & Coelho, 2018).
However, some researchers disagree with the concept of brand love, due to the complexity of
the construct of notion of love and the difficulty of been applied to consumer behaviour.
Most of the marketing researches have omitted the exploratory work necessary in the primitive
stages of study. This is critical to establish the boundaries and contents of the key construct
and thus the disagreement is likely to continue through time (Batra, 2012).
2.2. Brand Love Measurements
In the present literature there is two key studies that states a tool or scale to measure the brand
love concept and based on those researches further scales have been proposed. The first Brand
Love Scale was introduced by Carroll and Ahuvia and consists of 10 items creating a one-
dimensional tool:
(1) This is a wonderful brand
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(2) This brand makes me feel good
(3) This brand is totally awesome
(4) I have neutral feelings about this brand
(5) This brand makes me very happy
(6) I love this brand.
(7) I have no particular feelings about this brand
(8) This brand is a pure delight
(9) I am passionate about this brand
(10) I am very attached to this brand (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006).
The main critique of this scale is the uni-dimensional feature. Underlining this criticism is the
fact that interpersonal love literature is commonly presented as a multidimensional construct.
The fact that items in the scale carry meanings that are abstract and sometimes difficult to
differentiate (i.e. passion, attachment, wellbeing, etc.) demonstrates the inherent
multidimensionality (and associated complexity) of the concept. Additionally, two items are
premised on the measure of consumer well-being, a concept that is arguably loosely connected
to the idea of brand love, if not altogether autonomous.
The second scale in marketing that states a measurement of brand love was presented by
Thomson (2005). From a methodological point of view, the scale is comprehensively
constructed and tested. Figure 1 shows the proposed scale.
Figure 1: Brand Love scale presented by Thomson (2005)
Items and dimension of loves towards a brand. Extracted from the paper “The ties that bind: Measuring the
strength of consumers’ emotional attachments to brands”.
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A criticism of this model is its focus on the love construct and relative disregard for any
attachment construct. The passion towards the brand indicates strong positive feeling while
attachment represents the proximity with the brand. Indicators that the scale measures the
brand love feeling is reflected by the presence of a “passion” dimension along with affection
and connection, but with uncommon exceptions, the attachment component of a relationship
of love does not incline to show a passion dimension. In addition, the presence of the item
“loved”, which is part of the affection dimension, implies an overlap with the love concept
(Albert, Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2009).
Thus, although the scale looks well-supported from a methodological point of view, it has some
flaws from the conceptual standpoint.
Based on the critical limitations that the two main brand love scales present from the conceptual
and statistical standpoint, further scales were presented. Albert and Valette-Florence designed
internet surveys and interviews to remedy the flaws uncovered in previous studies. This brand
scale is encompasses 7 dimensions:
1. Uniqueness, as an indicator that the consumer considers the brand unique and/or
special.
2. Pleasure, which highlights the pleasure given by the brand to the consumer.
3. Intimacy, which indicates the closeness between the brand and the consumer.
4. Idealization, conformed in interpersonal items.
5. Duration, which expresses how long the relationship between the consumer and the
brand has endured.
6. Memories, establishing a connection between the brand and persons/life events that are
of special significance to the consumer.
7. Dream, which describes the presence of the brand in the consumer’s mind, suggesting
a distinct cognitive aspect in the relationship between consumer and brands.
Incorporating elements of passion and affection, this seven-scale classification overlaps with
contemporary findings on interpersonal love in the fields of neuroscience and social
psychology, enhancing its conceptual validity. Moreover, this brand love scale predicts 3
possible outcomes: trust, positive word of mouth and loyalty (Interpersonal love items) (Albert,
Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2009).
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Another scale was presented by Sarkar. In all the studies made each participant had to fill a
questionnaire. After 50 items were generated in an initial pool, these were subsequently filtered
down to 8 items at the discretion of the researchers who utilised their expertise to exclude items
with limited relevance to the central inquiry. As a result, the final scale is comprised by two
dimensions with 4 items each. The first dimension is “Brand-passion” and contains the
following items:
1. I find this brand very attractive.
2. This brand delights me.
3. This brand captivates me.
4. This brand really fascinates me.
The second dimensions is called “brand-intimacy” and contains the following items:
1. I feel emotionally close to this brand.
2. I receive considerable emotional support from this brand.
3. There is something special about my relationship with this brand.
4. This brand is warm.
The finalised scale is short, precise and convenient to use by practitioners. Throughout this
research, it is maintained that the key to marketing success is to ascertain the degree to which
target customers romantically love the focal brand (Sarkar, 2012).
2.3. Outcomes of Brand Love
As has been discussed before, a satisfied customer is neither a predictor of loyalty towards a
brand nor indicative of repurchase intentions. Nonetheless, given that brand love is inherently
linked to consumer emotionality, ensuring that marketing strategies promote a sense of brand
‘attachment’ is important to fulfil desired business imperatives.
Satisfaction can have a positive relationship in the development of brand love, which creates
the indirect effect of loyalty. Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) proposed that a satisfied consumer
with a loving feeling for the brand tends to develop a deeper loyalty in comparison with those
who are loyal but with absence of brand love. Their research revealed empirical support of a
positive relationship between post consumption behaviour and brand love, more specifically
word-of-mouth (WOM) and brand loyalty (Sanjit, Eshghi, & Sarkar, 2012). To clarify, WOM
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is a communicative process where customers share information and opinions about specific
products, thereby adding to their lucrative value.
A further study by Sanjit, Eshghi and Sarkar also focused on the relationship between WOM
and brand love. The proposition stated in the study was that brand love is a mediator of the
relationship between satisfaction and loyalty and the relationship of brand love and WOM. In
the first one, they provide a theoretical framework stating that brand love is positively
correlated with both WOM and brand loyalty and mediates the relationship between these two,
highlighting that demographic factors like gender, age and income can also moderate the
proposed interrelation. The second proposition is supported by strong empirical research
demonstrating non-controlled external form of communication, also known as WOM, to be a
positive outcome of brand love (Sanjit, Eshghi, & Sarkar, 2012).
Wallace, Buil and Chernatony explored consumers’ attitudes towards brands, using Facebook
“likes” as a primary indicator of customer engagement. The results supported that brand love
has a positive correlation with WOM and brand acceptance. In this sense, there is a direct
positive relationship between “liked” brands that are self-expressive and the feeling of brand
love. In addition, they showed that if brands allow fans to have an inner self-expressive
interaction with them via Facebook, such fans are more likely to develop brand love. Further
evidence has shown that brand love mediates the interaction between WOM and self-
expressive brands online when the consumers are engaged (Wallace, Buil, & de Chernatony,
2014).
Ismail and Spinelli, made a more specific research insight into WOM, looking at how
consumers experience brand love via their experimentation with various fashion brands. Where
consumers experience brand love, the research proposed that such a connection may translate
into a pattern of behaviour in which the consumer spreads reviews and recommendations of
the brand to others by glorifying past experiences. (Rageh Ismail & Spinelli, 2012). A
questionnaire was distributed to a sample of young consumers, asking them about the brands
to which they exhibited a connection based on love. The research produced meaningful
outcomes since fashion brands have special value for young consumers who are typically
drawn to the aesthetic and social features of fashion items. After the corresponding analysis,
the results obtained accepted the hypothesis of WOM as an outcome of brand love. This is just
another example of the large number of studies suggesting that a feeling of love for a brand
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may evoke positive WOM and the desire of tell people more information about the brand when
they feel this kind of attachment (Rageh Ismail & Spinelli, 2012).
Nevertheless, brand love has more outcomes that go beyond just word of mouth. Albert and
Merunka proposed that brand love has a positive influence on brand commitment and
willingness to keep purchasing the brand even after a sale price mark-up. Findings from Albert
and Merunka’s research shows a positive relationship between the consumers’ perception of
brand value and acceptance of a price increase, in circumstances where a cessation of the
brand’s existence would provoke a combination of distress and anxiety (Albert & Merunka,
2013). As a result of a loved brand being perceived as unique, the consumer will accept the
price increase, because of the deemed irreplaceability of the brand and consumer desire to
continue experiencing the positive feelings linked to the particular brand.
Further significant relationship documented in the literature is the critical influence of brand
love on brand commitment. Attitudinal loyalty is influenced by love. The two primary
dimensions of brand commitment include affection and continuance. These feelings play a
valuable role in supporting the relationship with the brand for affective and psychological
reasons, and further encourage consumers to speak in a positive way about the brand, spreading
recommendations to their social circle (Albert & Merunka, 2013).
Another outcome that have emerged from brand love has been highlighted by Yasin and
Shamim. In the final stage of their research project they tested the mediating role that brand
love plays in terms of purchase intentions and WOM. After a regression analysis, the
researchers discovered a strong rate of change in the relationship between purchase intentions
and WOM when brand love is present, confirming the mediating role that the concept plays in
this situation (Yasin & Shamim, 2013).
Last but not least, in their paper “Examining the effects of brand love and brand image on
customer engagement: An empirical study of fashion apparel brands”, Islam and Rahman
revealed that brand love has a strong positive influence on customer engagement, supporting
previous studies in the area. Furthermore, not only is customer engagement an outcome of
brand love, but also the construct plays a mediator role between brand image and customer
engagement (Islam & Rahman, 2016).
In order to provide a clear picture of the discussed before, Figure 2 shows the effects that brand
love can generate.
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Figure 2 – Brand Love Outcomes
Summary of outcomes and mediator roles of Brand Love presented by the author.
In this sense, “M” means mediator between those relationships, “+” means a positive outcome
from Brand Love. Based on Figure 2, is conclusive that the concept have gained an essential
place as a key concept that marketing directors should consider in their strategic decisions.
2.4. Brand Satisfaction and Brand Love
Not only is it the goal of companies to attract a large clientele, but it is just as important these
days for companies to foster strong relationships with customers so that they may be more
willing to invest in company goods. A satisfied customer will be more inclined to buy the same
brand, rendering them a loyal customer. Thus, satisfaction within the customers is just the first
step to developing strong outcomes such as: brand loyalty, brand commitment and/or brand
love (Erciş, Ünal, Candan, & Yıldırım, 2012)
Research made by Cronin and Taylor (1992) showed that after the first purchase of a brand,
the initial degree of satisfaction is the critical factor by which customer willingness to
repurchase is determined. Satisfaction level, being intimately linked to customer loyalty, will
influence the customer’s decision about whether or not to repeat the purchase. Consequently,
satisfaction is about a customer repeating purchases and spreading their positive experiences
about the brands/services to others. If satisfaction is not a feeling expressed by the customer,
the probability to change to other substitute brands and spread negative comments with his/her
peers becomes higher (Erciş, Ünal, Candan, & Yıldırım, 2012).
Nonetheless, research in the field of brand loyalty, has stated that customer satisfaction is a
crucial concept to perpetuate brand loyalty but it is not a determinant of the concept. Indeed,
Bowen and Shoemaker have shown that a satisfied customer does not always mean a loyal
customer.
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In this sense, satisfaction is the beginning of an overall strategy that the company has to develop
to retain their customers in the long term. Satisfaction alone is not enough to keep the customers
loyal. In fact, satisfied customers are likely to switch to the product/service that the competition
offers. Whereas customer satisfaction is a weaker/more unstable concept (capable of being
diminished in the face of competitor brands), loyalty suggests a greater degree of permanency
in the connection between customer and brand, being much more difficult to diminish.
There is existing literature that distinguishes customer satisfaction from brand love. As
mentioned before, according to Carroll and Ahuvia, a passionate and emotional feeling a
customer exhibits for a brand is called brand love. They stated satisfaction as pre-requisite to
develop brand love and settled that brand love is experienced by a portion, but not all, of
satisfied clients (Sarkar, 2011).
Albert, Merunka and Valette-Florence (2007) have focused their study on the underlying
dimensions of brand love. One of the dimensions identified is the long-term satisfactory
relationship with the brand. The research conducted by Whang (2004) indicates that if brand
love is a desired outcome, the feeling of satisfaction must be prolonged. Though satisfaction is
a post-consumption evaluation judgment, itis not exclusively cognitive. Thomson (2005) has
indicated that post-consumption satisfaction has a higher probability of leading to emotional
attachment with the brand, with such attachment being strengthened where repeated
interactions are present. . Logically, if customers experience repetitive satisfaction over long
periods of time, the likelihood that they will develop brand love is correspondingly greater
(Sarkar, 2011).
Thus, brand love diverges from the satisfaction concept in several ways. First, satisfaction is
usually conceptualized as a cognitive judgment, while brand love imports a stronger affective
connection between customer and brand. Second, satisfaction is generally considered a specific
result of a transaction and brand love is an outcome of a long-term relationship of the consumer
with the brand. Finally, brand love includes the willingness to explicitly state love for the brand
and tends to be characterised by a customer expressing feelings of identification and
incorporation of the brand in his or her world (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006).
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2.5. Brand Loyalty and Brand Love
Brand loyalty is another interrelated construct linked to brand love that is worth of exploring,
state its definition and how differs from brand love. Brand loyalty appears in marketing field
long time ago before brand love. The concept has taken a wide evolution with three main
philosophical thoughts over the time. The first tension, divides studies according to their
assumptions about a Stochastic view versus a purposive nature of repeat purchase process, also
known as a Deterministic view (Fournier & Yao, 1997).
The Stochastic view, states that the consumers’ behaviour in purchase process are random, do
not follow a predetermined path and there is not any influence in prior purchases made. On the
other hand, the Deterministic view, explains that brand loyalty is an outcome from the
influences of external factors and is a biased expression of customer’s preference.
Nevertheless, the second view is mainly criticized because underestimate the relevance of
customers’ cognitive processes in the development of brand loyalty (Huang, 2017).
The second tension is concern on what is the best manner to operationalize the construct of
brand loyalty. Behaviourists definitions valued for their measurement objectivity were built
based on purchases proportions and how often the purchase is made, assuming that this reveal
the underlying brand preference. However, this measures were highly debated for lack of
explanatory power and as a consequence, some researchers suggested definitions of the
construct as an attitudinal concept or a hybridization between attitudinal and behaviour.
A third diving line separates researchers based on their primary theoretical and philosophical
research directions. In this sense, two camps were formed, the psychological field and the
anthropological/sociological field. The first camp, is mainly concerned of the cognitive process
that strengths and supports the development of brand loyalty. In the other hand, the second
field is interested in the meanings and hedonics/emotive aspects of the concept (Fournier &
Yao, 1997).
Jacoby and Chesnut have stated four types of brand loyalty. The first type is called “True focal
brand loyalty” and occurs when the client shows loyalty to the brand that is being researched,
referred to as the focal brand. “True multi-brand loyalty” is the second kind of brand loyalty
and happen when the focal brand is included in a group of brands that the customers patronizes.
The third type is “Non loyal repeat purchasing of focal brand” and materializes when the
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customer does not hold a strong emotional commitment towards the brand but even though
they patronizes it. Lastly, “Happenstance purchasing of focal brand” happen when in the
absence of their personal choice, consumers from a different brand patronize the focal brand
(Jacoby & Chestnut, 1978).
The authors identified this four categories of loyalty based on the following definitions:
“Brand loyalty is a deeply held commitment to re buy or re patronize a preferred brand
consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same brand or same brand set purchasing,
despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching
behaviour” (Oliver, 1999).
The second source of information to states the categories were based on the study of Dick and
Basu (1994). They stated customer’s loyalty as a mixture of reiterative patronage and attitude
towards an object that could be a service, the business as a whole or the brand. The authors
explored different levels of customer loyalty highlighting that an effective comparison with
other competitors can develop a more accurate indicator of repeated purchases (Tabaku &
Zerellari, 2015). Using this information is how the four types of loyalty are created.
Albeit the brand loyalty concept has undergone a long evolution process, the understanding of
the phenomenon remains incomplete. Even when there is a broad general agreement about
brand loyalty refers to a “biased behavioural response expressed over time by some decision-
making unit with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands" the main
characteristics regarding the basic level of the concept of loyalty has not been explicitly
expressed (Fournier & Yao, 1997).
Now that the concept has been presented and its characteristics stated is critical to different
brand loyalty from brand love. Brand loyalty it is more related closely to the use experience.
It cannot exist without a prior purchase and is related with brand awareness, brand associations
and perceived quality. Nevertheless, a loyal consumer does not means he/she has an emotional
feeling towards the brand. If consumers feel brand love, then have a desire to use the brand, is
willing to invest more resources to purchase the brand and the feeling goes further than brand
loyalty. In addition, this costumers are more involved in the spread of positive word-of-mouth,
and attitudinal loyalty. In fact, brand love has been stated as the main driver of behavioural
loyalty. The reason behind this arises from the mediating role of brand loyalty relationship and
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the understanding of the processes in shaping customer’s brand loyalty. Thus, the customers
that feel brand love are loyalty customers but the loyalty customers do not always achieve the
state of love towards the brand.
2.6.Brand Liking and Brand Love
Before the concept of brand love entered the literature, customer relationships with brands were
described by a measure of likeability. The definition of brand liking is based on having positive
feelings towards a brand such as bonding, closeness and connectedness. In contrast, brand love
states a level of passionate emotional attachment shown by a satisfied client towards a specific
brand, and includes positive reviews, loyalty and express declaration of love (Du Preez &;
Terblanche-Smit, 2012). They are not mutually exclusive constructs, indeed, they are closely
linked. Batra has mentioned that brand liking is more likely a pre-stage of loving a brand, and
this feeling of likeness can potentially increase to the next stage – loving the brand.
Additionally, Carroll and Ahuvia stated that brand love is an emotional feeling of higher
intensity than liking a brand (Huber, Meyer, & Schmid, 2015).
Researches has made the effort to differentiate one construct from the other. Rossiter has
created a new C-OAR-SE based, contrasting measure the separates brand love from brand
liking. This study tested the attitudes exhibited by German university students towards four
diverse product categories. From the consumer standpoint, the consumers who loved a brand
in the category was only 17% for laundry detergent, 18% for coffee, 26% for computers and a
high incidence in the fashion clothing category at 45%. Therefore, more than half of the young
consumers do not acquire the state of brand love. From the brand perspective, at least one in
four customers will show brand love (Rossiter, 2012).
In this sense, the development of brand love in customers is a harder task than the development
of brand liking for the firm. This is because brand love, when validly measured is an emotional
state only experienced in a small group of consumers. The study also showed that
products/services such as fashion clothing brands are likely to have more customers that love
the brand than the other product/service categories. In addition, brands within a product
category, and the degree of likeability they each attract, can be useful to develop diverse
customer profiles, making noticeable the distinction in proportion of customers who feel love
towards the brand and those who merely like it (Rossiter, 2012).
20
Another study made by Langner, Schmidt and Fischer concluded that brand liking and brand
loving are accompanied by positive emotions. However, there is a different language used
depending on whether customers like the brands or love them. Liked brands are usually
expressed in positive emotional terms such as “I like wearing this brand”. On the other hand,
for loved brands, the participants in the study use a more emotional vocabulary expressing
interpersonal love through emotionally charged phrases such as “I love it because it is super”
(Langner, Schmidt, & Fischer, 2015).
Moreover, the study showed that consumers who display brand love will perceive those brands
as an indispensable part of their daily livers, and find it difficult to substitute a loved brand
with another. Some participants even stated that they are addicted to the loved brand. This does
not occur in customers that just like the brand; they does not express an intense feeling of
anxiety if they were going to be separated for the brand. And some of those who merely report
liking a brand state that the brand is substitutable for them. Thus, the emotional natures of
brand liking and brand love differ (Langner, Schmidt, & Fischer, 2015).
Finally, the research made by Langner and Bruns states a trajectory in feelings for a loved
brand. This trajectory has 5-types of trajectory, nevertheless, just the 2 first ones are discussed
due to the direct connection with the topic. Most brand love relationships started with a neutral
feelings or with brand liking, before transitioning into an emotional attachment (Langner,
Bruns, Fischer, & Rossiter, 2016).
The trajectories are usually characterized by an incremental positive affect toward the brand.
The first trajectory, is called “Slow development” and describes a slow upward transition from
a neutral feeling made during the first stage that eventually turns into a liking. The second
trajectory is named “Liking becomes love” and describes the transition from just liking the
brand to actually loving it. Therefore, the process of development of brand love is complex,
multifaceted and is not only an enhancement of brand liking. The positive effects provoked by
emotional experiences when brand liking is present evolves into later emotional reactions and
a deeper identification with the brand. In addition, product experiences and personal
experiences that have triggered the initial effect serves as source of information to evaluate the
brand and to going a step beyond merely liking the brand (Langner, Bruns, Fischer, & Rossiter,
2016).
21
3. Research Question and Knowledge Gap
In order to answer the research question and identify the gaps in the field of brand love the
present literature review was performed. This study focus in the hypothesis that there is a
positive relationship between the presence of consumerism in a country and consumers
experimenting brand love. Therefore, the next step is define consumerism and look for
evidence that confirm and validate in an empirical level the hypothesis.
The consumer movement emerged around a century ago the word consumerism is of relatively
recent origin. Evidence shown that the first use of the word was in The New Republic in 1944
(Tewari, 1994).
Consumerism is an evaluation tool of the current state of the market system and the extent to
which it is functioning in the right way in the allocation of good and services in society.
Moreover, it is described as a social movement that aims to gain more rights and powers of
buyers in relation to sellers (Kaynak, 1985).
Consumerism has been related for a very long time with the consumption concept. Nonetheless,
while consumption is just an act, consumerism is a way of life. From this standpoint,
consumerism is a cultural manifestation and expression of an apparently routine act of
consumption. Is important to highlight that the concept of consumerism is usually linked with
a lifestyle that shows an excessive consumption (Miles, 2018).
While “excessive” may not be an appropriate term because it gives the concept a negative
appreciation, it is related with a ubiquitous consumption linked to the fact that the individual
spend great part of his income in the act of purchases goods and services. In this sense,
consumerism is more likely an issue that has an important influence in the daily experiences of
social life in advanced capitalist societies (Miles, 2018).
McGuire has stated a life-cycle pattern of the development of consumerism activity with four
different stages: crystallization, organization, institutionalization and conceptualization. The
characteristics of each stage are:
Stage I – Crystallization Stage: This stage shows a focus on regulating the producer in order to
foster competition. In addition, antitrust behaviour of market regulation is presented in this
22
stage. There is no a clear and organized consumer movement of national status during this
period.
Stage II – Organization Stage: During this period there is an organization of the consumer
movement with the objective of create a consumer voice in the legislation. Consumer start to
form strategies and the main goals that they want to achieve some topics include: consumer
education programs, standard sizes, informative labelling and comparative product testing.
Stage III – Institutionalization Stage: In this stage the government start to work closely at local
and central levels with the aim of intervene actively in markets in order to protect the interest
of the consumers. Emphasis is placed on issues such as consumer affairs, policies concerning
trademarks, patents, copyright, industrial property and competition policy.
Stage IV – Conceptualization Stage: In the final stage a complete consumer involvement in
broader policy issues is express within the involvement of the consumers. A high consumer
involvement that embraces political, technological, social, economic macro and critical issues
is shown in this stage. This is the most important stage to the consumerism lifecycle in the
process of development consumerism and only 9 countries have reached this stage (McGuire,
1980). The figure 3 shows the cycle and some country as examples of each stage.
Figure 3: Consumerism Lifecycle
Presented by Patrick McGuire (1980) in Conference Board of Canada “Consumer Protection: Implications for
International Trade.
23
It is essential to state that reach the final stage does not mean that the country is going to remain
there through time. Indeed, some countries has been a return to Stage I from Stage IV as a
cause of government trying to reduce inflation and avoid a high unemployment rate. Because
they directly intervene in attempt to regulate the market for the overall benefit and the welfare
of the country (Kaynak, 1985).
Government intervention is a factor that can affect the stage of consumerism lifecycle where a
country is placed, nonetheless they are factors that help the rise of consumerism.
Kottler states that advancing incomes and education, complexity of technology and marketing
are structural conduciveness factors that enhance consumerism in a country. Moreover, there
is also structural strains that comply with the same function and some examples are: economic
discontent linked to inflation, social discontent such as war and race, and ecological discontent
as pollution. Growth of a generalized belief will also help the rises of consumerism in a country
and can be presented as consumer-oriented legislators, social critic writings, consumer
organizations and presidential messages (Kotler, 1971).
This is the framework to be used in order to identify a probable relationship between the
presence of consumerism in countries and the existence of brand love. Due to the fact that some
factors are difficult to measure such as consumer involvement in economic macro issues or
until what extent the consumer is providing a voice in the legislation this will not be considered.
Therefore, the critical factor of high consumption is going to set the limits when classifying a
country as a high presence of consumerism or low presence of consumerism in the country.
The countries that are going to be use to ask the research question are:
United States, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita of $36,373.45
USD.
France, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita of $23,191.33 USD
Australia, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita of $31,410.64
USD.
These countries are going to be part of the classification of “High consumption country”. The
Figure 3 show the tendency of consumption in these countries since 2000.
24
Figure 4: Countries with high consumption
Final Household consumption per capita per country taken from the data base of World Bank (US$ constant prices
2010). An average consumption of $30,324 USD and a standard deviation of $4210 USD.
On the other hand, the countries with low consumption are:
Mexico, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita $6387.97 USD
Russian Federation, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita
$5874.66 USD
Indonesia, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita $2288.59 USD
Chile, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita $9302.24 USD
India, with a household final consumption expenditure per capita $1097 USD
This countries are part of “Low consumption country” classification. Figure 5 shows the
tendency since 2000 that each country has presented.
25
Figure 5: Low consumption countries
Final Household consumption per capita per country taken from the data base of World Bank (US$ constant prices
2010). An average consumption of $4989 USD a standard deviation of $2959 USD.
Portugal has a household final consumption expenditure per capita of $14.969.14 USD and is
in the middle of the classification. Because the country is included in one of the studies to
analyse, is mentioned in this research, but it will not be part of the analysis due to the average
consumption compare to the rest of the group.
This research will take into account three papers. The first study is an international study has
research the evidence of Brand Love in three countries: USA, Russia and Indonesia. It is
important to highlight that USA was classified as be part of the conceptualization stage of
consumerism and has a high final consumption and the other two countries has at least 5 times
less consumption that USA. To measure the presence of brand love a measurement scale was
developed. The scale is divided into two sub categories: consumer gratification and consumer-
brand connection. The sample in each country are adult consumers with the age from 18 to 65
years.
The results shown that the concept of “brand love” is understanding in each country, in the
similar way: a brand that they are passionate about. Moreover, the measurement shows that
brand love is present in each country and there is not a significant variance in the evidence of
26
the concept by individual country. The main difference and relevance of the results that
contribute to this research is that in Indonesia there less relationship between consumer
gratification and consumer-brand connection. In this sense, the scale dimension such as
attachment, where the consumer can feel bonded to the brand or feel affection for the brand is
less correlated with dimension like “idealization”, where the brand is close to perfection or
represents consumer’s ideal in the field of brand love (Zarantonello, Formisano, & Grappi,
2016). Therefore, there is not clear evidence than the presence of consumerism in each country
has influenced the development of brand love due to an equal presence in each country.
Another multi-country comparison study was developed by Drennan and Bianchi. Surveys
were used as a method of collection of data, the section regarding brand love asked the
following questions:
1. I am passionate about this brand
2. This brand is totally awesome
3. This is a wonderful brand.
4. This brand is a pure delight
5. I am very attached to this brand (Drennan et al., 2015).
The participants have to answered if they strongly agree with the statement (5) or of strongly
disagree (1) in a 5-likert scale. The results of the survey were:
In the first statement (Appendix 1) results do not show a big variance between the countries.
Furthermore, Australia (a high consumption country) has less agreement with the statement
than Mexico (a lower consumption country). Statement 2, 3, 4 can be related with likeness of
the brand, and they does not infer a brand love presence. Last statement shows that Mexico
exhibits more attachment to the brand than any other country, regardless the lower level of
consumption that Mexico has (Appendix 2). Indeed, Mexico express more agreement with
statement 1 and 5 than any other country even if the level of consumption is 5 times less than
the consumption of Australia. Once again the hypothesis of a possible relationship between
consumerism has not been accepted due to the discrepancy within the results.
Last but not least, a research was perform in India in order to show evidence of brand love in
an emerging country. Participants were asked to describe how they act with respect to the
loved brands. Some answers shown impulsiveness in the respondents such as “I can’t stop
27
eating [the brand’s product]”, “I can’t leave without it” and “I took a loan for buy my favourite
brand”. In India, brand lovers find high pleasurable the consumption of their loved brands and
they not consider any future implications of the purchase. Some consumers in developing
countries has daily life struggle and then the love connection with those brands acts as an escape
from the reality. In this sense, a low consumption country as India still showing a strong
presence of brand love regardless its consumerism (Sarkar, 2014).
However, there is something that should be consider in terms of the outcomes of brand love in
developing countries: price-sensitive. As mentioned before, an outcome of brand love is that
the consumer is willing to accept higher prices, however, the prices of brands originated from
developed countries are high in comparison with the purchasing power of developing market
consumers. This can offset brand love’s outcomes and even creates a cognitive dissatisfaction
leading to a weak brand love. To avoid this, marketers must define appropriate strategies taking
carefully into account the characteristics of the market in order to boost brand love (Sarkar,
2014).
Based on the researches and the available literature that the brand love field presents, the
information has shown that there is not a relationship between consumerism and brand love.
The phenomenon is present in whatever market regardless the level of consumption in this
segment. Indeed, the study in India shown that due to the life full of struggle that developing
economies have, consumers use surrealistic brands as an act of fulfilment. This come up with
more questions about a prone effect in developing countries to develop brand love.
Nonetheless, this is only an empirical conclusion based on the available knowledge and this
research could be replicated to give a more accurate response.
Furthermore, the Brand Love field presents some knowledge gaps in their literature.
Researches has been focused in explaining and defining the concept, the consequences that
love towards a brand has, how this feeling can be measure and how the concept has been
evolving through time. Nonetheless, the field has more research opportunities that should be
take into consideration. There is not detail information about topics like – Is easier for a
company that belong to a certain type of category product build a brand that their clients will
love? In this sense, has Calvin Klein a better probability that has clients that experiment brand
love than Baxter a Healthcare products company?. Inexistence of this differentiation and the
impact of the goods and services category have repercussions in some of the past researches
creating biases founded in the type-category of the brand.
28
Is known that younger generations interact with goods and services in an extent way than used
to be, but there is no existence knowledge about if brand love is more prone to develop in
young people. In fact, some researches are specifically focus in the segment of young people
or adults, but there are factors in each group of age that boosts or decrease the presence of
brand love in them? – Researches should take this matter into account.
Finally, albeit the outcomes that Brand Love creates for the brand is critical for the company,
future researches should focus in what factors inhibit the presence of brand love in the
consumers, what elements has a negative impact in Brand Love, and what aspects increase the
latency of the concept. Researches questions such as what are the consequences of a merge and
acquisition like Michael Kors with Versace? – Will the Versace’s consumers still loving the
brand without Donatella Versace as a brand leader? Or what are the consequences of the change
of brand-name from Dunkin Donuts to just Dunkin’? – Will the consumers still loving the
brand o will consider this transformation as a disadvantages for the company?
Regarding the aspects that boost the brand love new research questions could arises such as
Does sensorial marketing increase the presence of Brand love in clients? Being a local brand
is a driving factor of Brand love for those from the same place? Or the presence of a Loyalty
card increases the feeling of love towards the brand?
Brand love literature has made exuberant efforts in defining the basic aspects of the concept,
once having the necessary foundations about Brand Love, it is critical that future studies start
to explore new horizons such as the ones mentioned before.
4. Conclusions
The concept of love brand has been a focus of interest for several researchers in the field of
marketing. It has been point out that a possible relationship of love from the consumer towards
the brand. This relationship can presents characteristics such as passion, attachment,
commitment and a longer duration that does not occur when the consumer only feels liking for
the brand. Despite the various studies that have been performed to define the concept of brand
love, there is not a general agreement, since the fundamental characteristic of the construct
(love) is a difficult element to explain and apply in the field of consumer behavior.
29
There are two main scales that has been developed with the aim of measurement brand love.
The first scale was presented by Carroll and Ahuvia showing brand love as a uni-dimensional
concept. This feature of the scale is the big critique of the measurement tool due to brand love’s
multi-dimensionality. The second scale was introduced by Thomson, albeit the scale is well-
supported from a methodological standpoint, the criticism of this model is based on the fact
that the scale is focused on the love construct but not the attachment element of brand love.
Based on the flaws of those models, further scales was introduced in order to offset these
discrepancies proposing new enhance scales.
Consumers who feel love towards a brand can generate positive effects for the company. When
clients feel this love relationship, they also talk about the brand in a positive way and the
positive reviews about the brand and recommendations to their social circle increase. In
addition, Brand love acts as mediator between WOM and new purchases intentions. Another
outcome that Brand love has, is be a mediator between Brand loyalty and WOM reinforcing
loyalty towards the brand, spreading the word about why he/she loves so much the brand and
why the brand is worth it. The presence of the brand love also increases the commitment that
users have to it and because some consumer presents anxiety if the brand ceases to exist, they
are willing to pay higher prices without any regret. Lastly, Brand love has a positive correlation
with customer engagement and also acts as mediator between this concept and brand image.
Since the first purchase of the brand, the consumer generates a level of satisfaction with the
experience. This experience is the beginning of a repurchase relationship or simply search for
a substitute. If the consumer is satisfied with the brand, it is possible to present stronger
outcomes such as loyalty, commitment and at a highest level: brand love. Therefore,
satisfaction is just the beginning of the relationship with the consumer that does not ensure to
keep consumers buying the brand through time. The distinction between consumer satisfaction
and brand love, is that the first is a prerequisite for the second to develop. The researches
indicate that if the presence of brand love in the consumers is desirable, a long-term satisfaction
among them should be maintained.
Brand Loyalty also presents a relationship with Brand Love. Nonetheless, loyalty towards the
brand is more related with brand associations, perception of quality and brand awareness. And
be a loyal customer does not mean an existence of a love relationship with the brand, neither
anxiety if the brand ceases to exist, or declarations of love. Brand love is a mediator in the
30
relationship of Brand Loyalty and positive WOM but also if the consumer has love towards the
brand therefore will be loyal to it. Nevertheless, no all loyal consumers reach the feeling of
love towards the brand.
Before the researchers focused in extending their knowledge about Brand love, they focused
on Brand liking. These concepts have a high relationship between them. It has been mentioned
that Brand liking is a necessary pre-stage for Brand love to develop. Despite its high
correlation, studies have concluded that not all consumers who like the brand will develop
Brand love. Consumers who love their brands make declarations of love for the brand and use
a different vocabulary from those who only like the brand. On the other hand, a consumer that
likes the brand does not mean that it will not replace it in the future in case of absence of it,
however in Brand love this would not happen. It is concluded then that the development of
Brand love is a more complex process than feel a simple liking and goes beyond of just an
enhancing of brand liking to brand love due to its multifaceted characteristics.
Once the term consumerism has been explained and the countries used for this research have
been classified, it is concluded that there is no evidence of a relationship between consumerism
of a country and the development of love towards the brand by consumers. However, although
globalization tends to homogenize markets, it is important to take into account the context in
where marketing strategies are going to be applied. The reason behind this, is that it has been
argued that some outcomes of Brand Love such as willingness to pay a higher price may not
be occur in emerging countries where the purchase power of parity is low.
This research presents certain limitations. First, it is based only on the information available in
the literature and this phenomenon may not has been properly investigated. On the other hand,
the researches only present one category of goods (i.e. wine) and this can creates biases
according to the customs of each country. Third, the concept of consumerism is very broad and
classifying countries based on their final consumption to define their consumerism may not be
correct.
Lastly, albeit the field of Brand love has substantial researches there are still opportunities for
further studies that should be consider in the future in order to expand the knowledge regarding
this phenomenon. This will help to achieve a better understanding and thus improve its
application in the development of consumer behaviour strategies.
31
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6. Appendix
Appendix 1: Statement #1 - Survey
Average response of the statement #1 be strongly agree (5) and strongly disagree (1) in a 5-likert scale in the
research “Examining the role of wine brand love on brand loyalty: A multi-country comparison.”
3.3
3.3
3.1
3.2
3.6
A U S T R A L I A C H I L E F R A N C E P O R T U G A L M E X I C O
I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT THE BRAND
35
Appendix 2: Statement #5 –Survey
Average response of the statement #5 be strongly agree (5) and strongly disagree (1) in a 5-likert scale in the
research “Examining the role of wine brand love on brand loyalty: A multi-country comparison.”
3.3
3
3.3
3
3.5
A U S T R A L I A C H I L E F R A N C E P O R T U G A L M E X I C O
I AM VERY ATTACHED TO THE BRAND