Emotional intelligence, external emotional connections and brand attachment
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1613 |
| Date | 20 August 2018 |
| Pages | 545-556 |
| Published date | 20 August 2018 |
| Author | Anna J. Vredeveld |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
Emotional intelligence, external emotional
connections and brand attachment
Anna J. Vredeveld
Department of Marketing, Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding of emotional brand attachment by examining two of its antecedents:
external emotional brand connections and emotional intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected using survey methodology (n= 419), and the hypotheses were tested by using a structural
equation modeling (SEM) approach.
Findings –Findings reveal that emotional intelligence is positively related external emotional brand connections (i.e. connecting a brand to
important people, events and experiences in memory) which, in turn, has a positive influence on emotional brand attachment. Findings also show
that emotional brand attachment is positively related to brand purchase intentions and brand attitudes.
Research limitations/implications –This research shows that both external emotional connections and emotional intelligence are important
antecedents of emotional brand attachment, even after controlling for different types of brand use (social and special occasion brand use) and
product category. Other control variables, such as brand characteristics, are not examined.
Practical implications –The findings suggest that brand managers can enhance emotional brand attachment by helping consumers establish
external emotional brand connections.
Originality/value –This research addresses a gap in previous research by examining antecedents of emotional brand attachment. The findings
showcase that emotional intelligence is an antecedent to external emotional brand connections and emotional brand attachment. This research also
goes beyond the loyalty focus of previous research to show that emotional brand attachment has an impact on gene ral purchase intentions and
brand attitudes.
Keywords Affect, Emotional intelligence, Brand attachment, Emotional branding, Secondary brand associations
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Emotions have been of increased interest to consumer
behavior and branding scholars in the past three decades.
Research has documented that consumers can emotionally
attach to both possessions and brands (Ball and Tasaki, 1992;
Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001;Roberts, 2005;Sivades and
Venkatesh, 1995;Straker and Wrigley, 2016), and that such
emotional attachment influences attitudes, purchase intentions
and loyalty (Matzler et al.,2006;Park et al.,2010;Thomson
et al.,2005). Moreover, research on brand relationships
documents that consumers can form different relationships
with brands and that emotional attachment is an important
reflection of brand relationship strength (Fournier, 1998;Park
et al.,2010).
This research examines two antecedents of emotional
brand attachment: external emotional brand connections
and emotional intelligence. Specifically, this research
hypothesizes that consumers have formed external
emotional brand connections when a brand reminds them of
emotionally significant people, events and experiences and
that such external emotional brand connections, in turn, are
positively related to emotional brand attachment. This
research also examines the role of emotional intelligence in
the formation of external emotional brand connections.
Specifically, this research hypothesizes that emotional
intelligence is positively related to external emotional brand
connections because consumers with high emotional
intelligence are more likely to connect brands to important
people, events and experiences in memory.
This research contributes to our understanding of the
antecedents of emotional brand attachment. Despite the
growing body of research on emotional brand attachment,
surprisingly few studies have examined what influences brand
attachment and, in particular, how consumers differ in their
propensity to attach to brands. For example, although Sprott
et al. (2009) found that consumers vary in their propensity to
include brands in their self-concepts, their research provides
few insights into why such differences across consumers exist.
Most research in this area have focused on how different
segments of consumers (e.g. children, gender, cultural origin)
exhibit differences in brand attachment and brand loyalty
(Chaplin and John, 2005;Jahn et al., 2012;Ji, 2002;Lambert
and Desmond, 2013;Loureiro et al., 2012;Melnyk et al.,
2009). Extant research on psychological mechanisms has
primarily been focused on motivational drivers of emotional
brand attachment, such as identity-related motives (Escalas
and Bettman, 2003;Lin and Sung, 2014), competence
enhancement motives(Proksch et al., 2015), need for cognition
(Orth and Gal, 2012) and general positiveaffectivity (Pulligada
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
27/5 (2018) 545–556
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1613]
545
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