Nature of brand love: examining its variable effect on engagement and well-being

The multiple conceptualizations of brand love (BL) have led to operational inconsistency. The current study addresses this conceptual disagreement by identifying and comparing three conceptualizations of BL. The study also proposes and validates the dimensions of customer engagement (CE) and consumer well-being (CWB) as direct and indirect outcomes of BL, respectively, and investigates the moderating effect of “duration of use” on the BL-CE relationship. A sample of 392 smartphone users responded to a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling, and moderation hypotheses were tested using latent moderated structural equation modeling with Mplus. The findings indicate that conceptualizing BL as a “perfect two-way” love—dominant in extant research—is the least appropriate option. The results confirm that BL has a significant impact on all dimensions of CE and that CWB is a direct outcome of CE and an indirect outcome of BL. The study contributes to the theory of engagement, as it extends the intangible outcomes of CE and empirically validates the proposed relationships. For managers, this study offers the best ways to enact BL and advocates that BL helps ensure maximal CE, which is beneficial for both brands and customers.