S/he styles: narcissistic fashion apparel consumption in India

Purpose This research aims to investigate if consuming fashion apparel brands for the purpose of social appearance expressiveness may garner calculative brand commitment, through the mediation of narcissistic brand love. It also tests moderation of gender for the aforementioned mediated relationship. Design/methodology/approach The research has a core qualitative component (Study 1), which focuses on an interpretivist approach using a grounded theory paradigm to analyze data (N = 37) collected from semi-structured depth interviews. It is followed by a positivist survey based enquiry (study 2), and the data (N = 245) were analyzed using Haye’s (2017) process macro. Findings Analysis reveals that Indian consumers fall in narcissistic love with those apparel brands that aid their quest for maintaining desirable social appearances and develop a calculative commitment toward the brands, which aid this quest. The effect of social appearance expressiveness of apparel brand on consumers’ narcissistic brand love is moderated by gender, such that female consumers (as compared to males) are more invested in consuming fashion apparel brands as a means to enhance their social appearances. Originality/value The value of this study lies in extending self-presentation theory to understand the role of consumer narcissism in shaping Indian consumers’ fashion apparel consumption. The authors investigate the narcissistic consumption orientation that evolves as a result of consumers’ desire for social self-expression, irrespective of possessing narcissism as an enduring personality trait. Thus, the findings are relevant for possibly all consumers who, given certain conditions, may temporarily develop narcissistic brand love.

Brand Gravity-Resonance Capability on Brand Love: a Resource-Advantage theory Perspective

<p>This research intends to explore the experience of using brands in the past to increasingly love product brands through brand gravity-resonance capability, especially in the competition of the multi-business product sector. The novelty of this study lies in the synthesis of brand gravity variables, and brand resonance provides the proposed brand gravity-resonance capability variables of the resource-advantage theory of competition proposition results. Data were collected from 499 small and medium-sized business respondents through the dissemination of questionnaires and interviews. The SEM-PLS technique analyzes data with a path mediated by brand gravity-resonance capability on brand love. The results showed that brand gravity-resonance capability successfully mediated the brand experience relationship in brand love and the direct connection of brand experience in the past, and brand gravity-resonance capability in brand love managed to increase the sense of brand love. The practical implications of the novelty of this variable provide improvements to MSME managers or businesses to resonate the value of digital aggressiveness, configure science, integrate customer systems, and be oriented towards the creation of new markets. Conceptual implications contribute as new conceptual models that can bridge negative experiences to result in a dynamic and competitive comparative advantage in the market.</p>

The Effects of Employer Branding on Value Congruence and Brand Love

This study examines the effect of employer brand on employees’ brand love by applying value congruence theory. A survey was conducted with employees of well-known hotel brands in South Korea. The results show that not all employer brand dimensions equally contribute to the formation of brand love. While economic, social, and development values positively influence brand love, interest value and application value did not affect brand love formation. Employees’ value congruence perceptions mediate this effect because employees could infer what values employers care about based on the benefits that a hotel brand offers. This study contributes to the literature by linking value congruence with employer branding and brand love. Based on our findings, hospitality managers can redesign all work activities and apply employer branding principles to reflect employment value to achieve employee’s brand love.

When love matters. Experience and brand love as antecedents of loyalty and willingness to pay a premium price in streaming services

Purpose This paper aims to test the effects of brand experience and brand love on brand loyalty and willingness to pay a premium price in streaming television services. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was used to assess the proposed theoretical model drawing on data from 220 subscribers of a well-known TV streaming brand services (Netflix). Findings The results revealed that brand experience and brand love have a significant direct impact on brand loyalty and willingness to pay a premium price in streaming TV services. Also, the impact brand experience has on brand loyalty and on willingness to pay a premium price is partially mediated by brand love. Practical implications In the streaming television industry, brand managers can create more meaningful experiences that create strong and emotional bonds with users, thereby increasing loyalty levels and intention to pay a premium price. Also, brand managers should consider focusing their efforts to young consumers, as they have a stronger attachment to technology than older generational groups. Originality/value This paper enriches the existing literature on brand experience in the entertainment television industry and provides evidence of the role of experience and brand love on brand loyalty and willingness to pay a premium price in services.

Experiential Value, Satisfaction, Brand Love, and Brand Loyalty toward Robot Barista Coffee Shop: The Moderating Effect of Generation

This study applies experiential value, satisfaction, brand love, brand loyalty, and generation to identify consumer behavior toward robot baristas providing new non-face-to-face services during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on the data collected from 404 customers who had visited a robot barista coffee shop (RBCS) in South Korea. The results show that playfulness had the most positive effect on satisfaction, followed by service excellence and consumer return on investment (CROI). Satisfaction had a positive effect on brand love and loyalty. This result indicates that playfulness, service excellence, and CROI are important for inducing brand love and brand loyalty of customers toward RBCS. Moreover, generation plays a moderating role between satisfaction and brand love, and between brand and brand loyalty. This research design and the results differ from those of previous studies on experiential value that have focused on human services in the hospitality industry. Consequently, this study contributes to the hospitality literature by applying the experience value theory, which has been mainly applied to research on human services, to non-face-to-face service research, and to identifying its role. Additionally, it makes an important contribution by presenting practical implications for the sustainable management of the food service industry in the COVID-19 era.