Affective factors influencing responses to international brand alliances

PurposeThis study aims to explore how two affective factors (i.e. brand attachment and consumer affinity) influence host country consumers' responses to an international brand alliance (IBA).Design/methodology/approachA two (brand attachment: high vs low) × two (consumer affinity: high vs low) factorial experiment was conducted with 336 US university students. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the conceptual model.Findings(1) Pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the country-of-origin (COO) of the foreign partner brand positively influence attitudes toward the IBA. (2) Attitudes toward the IBA positively influence post-attachment to the host brand, intention to buy the IBA product and willingness to recommend the IBA product. (3) Pre-attachment to the host brand positively influences post-attachment to the host brand.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature on factors influencing attitudes toward IBAs by finding the significant influences of pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the COO of the foreign partner brand on host country consumers' responses to IBAs.