The effect of brand personality and brand identification on brand loyalty: Applying the theory of social identification

TLDR

The study investigates how brand personality influences brand loyalty through consumer identification, developing a conceptual framework to explain this effect. The research focuses on cellular phones and constructs a framework linking brand personality attributes—attractiveness, distinctiveness, self‑expressive value—and positive word‑of‑mouth to brand loyalty. Empirical results show that attractiveness, distinctiveness, and self‑expressive value of brand personality positively influence consumer identification, which in turn drives word‑of‑mouth and indirectly enhances brand loyalty.

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of brand personality on brand asset management by using the concept of consumers' identification with a brand. The focus was on one important type of high‐technology product, the cellular phone. The authors develop a conceptual framework to explain the effect of brand identification on brand loyalty. The important variables of this framework include the attractiveness of the brand personality, the distinctiveness of the brand personality, the self‐expressive value of the brand personality, positive word‐of‐mouth reports of the brand, and brand loyalty. The empirical results indicated that there are positive relationships between attractiveness, distinctiveness, and self‐expressive value of brand personality. These relationships had a statistically significant effect on consumers' identification with a brand. Furthermore, brand identification had a direct effect on word‐of‐mouth reports and an indirect effect on brand loyalty. The theoretical and managerial implications of the empirical results are presented, and suggestions are made regarding both the limitations of the present study and future directions for research.