An empirical study on the relationship between consumption emotions and brand loyalty

Abstract

Consumption emotions play a crucial role in consumers’ post-purchase behaviors. Evoked by potentially controllable factors related to marketers, consumption emotions fall into a two-by-two matrix: attribute-level emotions (ALE) and beyond attribute-level emotions (BALE) with positive or negative latencies. ALE is related to product, and BALE is related to marketing communication. The authors hypothesized a model of consumption emotions in relation to brand trust, brand affect, and brand loyalty in product consumption. The study tested the model by using a sample of 398 college students and applying structural equation modeling. The results supported most the hypotheses, suggesting indirect effects of the four major types of consumption emotions on brand loyalty via brand affect. Furthermore, the study revealed the direct effects of positive or negative emotions at the attribute level. The positive emotions on brand trust were induced by marketing communication, which in turn led to higher levels of brand loyalty. Nevertheless, the effect of negative emotions on brand trust was non-significant.

Keywords:

• Marketing communication
• consumption emotions
• brand trust
• brand affect
• brand loyalty

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful and insightful comments of the editor, the associate editor, and the three reviewers.