Building consumer–brand relationship: A cross‐cultural experiential view

This research aims to develop a framework of consumer–brand relationship by taking an experiential view. In this article, the authors report a cross‐cultural comparative study that was conducted on a sample of real consumers at coffee chain stores in Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan. The findings reveal that individual as well as shared experiences work through brand association, brand personality, brand attitude, and brand image to shape a consumer–brand relationship. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Discursive psychology: An alternative conceptual foundation to means–end chain theory

This study investigates how means–end chain theory and laddering can be used to represent consumers' reasons for supporting or not supporting abstract marketing products such as ideas, goals, or perceptions. The specific empirical context used to illustrate the approach was the public's perceptions of President Clinton. Six hundred and three respondents in a national random sample of the public provided information on their stances toward the President and the bases for these stances. The declared reasons for supporting or not supporting the President were summarized in declarative maps and used to test hypotheses about their structure and their impact on attitudinal and behavioral variables. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

“I won't leave you although you disappoint me”: The interplay between satisfaction,investment, and alternatives in determining consumer–brand relationship commitment

While commitment is among the key constructs of consumer–brand relationships, past research has regarded the impact of predictors of brand commitment as being linear and has ignored potential interactive effects among the different antecedents. Applying the investment model of interpersonal relationship, the present research examines the dynamic interplay among the key determinants of consumers' commitment to their relationship with brands (satisfaction, alternatives, and investment) and substantiates the roles of the antecedents in consumer–brand relationship contexts. Results of two studies demonstrate that greater consumer satisfaction and investment and less attractive alternatives lead to a higher level of consumers' commitment to their relationship with a brand. Most important, the results suggest that the perceived size of investment exerts a stronger impact on brand relationship commitment when satisfaction is low while making no significant difference in the commitment level when satisfaction is high. Conversely, the influence of alternative attractiveness on brand relationship commitment appeared to be largely monotonic. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.