Cognitive drivers of brand love and store brand loyalty: lessons for retailers in a developing country setting

ABSTRACT This paper aims to extend an understanding of the cognitive drivers, namely excitement and sincerity, of brand love and store brand loyalty. It also examines the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between excitement and sincerity, and store brand loyalty. Field research, complemented with mall intercept method, was conducted within eight retail facilities of the biggest trade center in a developing country setting. A total of 450 useful questionnaires were collected and hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that excitement and sincerity, as cognitive drivers, are important predictors of brand love. It has been also proved that brand love fully mediates the relationship between excitement and sincerity, and store brand loyalty. The paper contributes to the retailing and brand–customer relationship literature by revealing new predictors of brand love and store brand loyalty, and enriching the existing, faintly researched brand love mediation body of knowledge in the developing country context. It also highlights the features relevant for a better retail store positioning toward creating store brand loyalty. It is expected that the findings can make changes in store brand positioning, as appropriately positioned store brands could lead to emotional connections and loyalty. More specifically, the findings of the paper highlight which store brand cognitive elements could lead to consumer involvement in the buying process.