The role of brand love in consumer‐brand relationships

The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model of brand love that includes both its antecedents and its consequences. The model is rooted in a causal approach and features established consumer‐brand relationship constructs (brand identification, brand trust and brand commitment).

The conceptual model and associated hypotheses are tested with a sample of 1,505 consumers. Data were analysed through partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The results demonstrate strong relationships between the two antecedents (trust and identification) and brand love, and between brand love and its consequences (brand commitment, positive word of mouth, and propensity to pay a higher price for the brand).

Through the causal approach and proposed nomological model, the authors discriminate brand love from three important relational constructs (i.e. brand trust, brand identification and brand commitment) and establish the relationships among the constructs. Following recommendations in prior research, the predictive ability of the different relational constructs (trust, identification, commitment and love) are compared and the relevance of brand love for understanding consumer‐brand relationships is demonstrated.