Brand love: the emotional bridge between experience and engagement, generation-M perspective

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact on brand love of consumption experience at the dimensional level and to determine whether brand love mediates between consumption experience and customer engagement in the context of Generation M. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 265 Muslim smartphone users responded to a structured questionnaire adapted from existing literature. First, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, and then data were analyzed through structural equation modeling using MPlus. Findings: The findings indicate that hedonic pleasure and escapism directly, while flow, challenge and learning indirectly affect brand love and that brand love mediates the relationship between consumption experience and customer engagement. Practical implications: This paper explicates Generation M’s consumption experience, ascertains ways to supplement their love for brand and engage them in gainful relationships and provides suggestions for further investigation. From a managerial perspective, the paper has implications for the management of consumer experience, identifies the most valuable dimensions of consumption experience and proposes that managers can develop customer-engagement strategies via brand love. Originality/value: The paper validates the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between consumption experience and customer engagement; is the first to investigate the relationship between all dimensions of consumption experience and brand love; is one of few studies to investigate consumption experience, brand love and customer engagement in developing countries; and is one of first investigations to use a sample of Generation M.