Consumer psychological motivations to customer brand engagement: a case of brand community

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the psychological motivations behind customers’ engagement with the brands and further investigate the effect of brand engagement on brand attachment and brand loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model is tested with the data collected from 282 brand community members during offline brand community events, and structural equation modeling technique is used for statistical analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that brand psychological ownership and value-congruity act as important psychological motivations for customers to engage with the brands. A sense of brand attachment mediates the relationship between brand engagement and brand loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsCurrent study was conducted on a single brand community. Future research testing and validating the proposed model for multiple brands across different product categories is suggested for the generalization of current study results. The identification and validation of psychological drivers of engagement can have major implications on the ongoing research on customer engagement concept.Practical implicationsAn effectively instilled sense of psychological ownership and value similarity notion in customers can help managers in engaging customers and capitalize on their repurchases and recommendations along with their attachment to the brands.Originality/valueThe study is unique in terms of the brand engagement model depicting the psychological antecedents to engagement with the brands and identifying the mediating role of brand attachment between brand engagement and behavioral loyalty.