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CONSUMERS' ATTACHMENT AND COMMITMENT

TO BRANDS AND MEDIA TITLES: THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS

Rita VALETTE-FLORENCE (*) Imne BECHEUR (**) Virginie DE BARNIER (***) Pierre VALETTE-FLORENCE (****) Note de Recherche n 10-31 Novembre 2010

(*) M.C.F., IREGE, Universit de Savoie (**) Professeur Associ, Wesford Business School (***) Professeur, IAE Aix en Provence (****) Professeur, IAE & CERAG

Abstract In this research, we develop a new emotion scale that applies to both media titles and advertiser brands. The dimensions include a positive affective dimension, plenitude; a negative dimension fear; and a mixed dimension, possession, which includes a rather negative facet, envy, and a rather positive one, love. This research also studies the effects of emotions on affective relational variables, namely attachment and emotional commitment, and the potential mediating role of attachment on emotional commitment. Overall, results show a partial mediating effect of attachment between possession and commitment. Both fear and plenitude are complete mediators.

Key words: Emotions, press titles, brands, attachment, emotional commitment, PLS (Partial Least Squares), CSA (Covariance Structure Analysis)

In this research, we develop a new emotion scale that applies to both media titles and advertiser brands. This research also studies the effects of emotions on affective relational variables, namely attachment and emotional commitment, and the potential mediating role of attachment on emotional commitment. Considering the criticisms addressed to existing emotion scales, this study attempts to construct a new scale of emotions (applicable to advertiser brands and media brands) by combining elements of both Holbrook and Batras (1987) and Richinss (1997) scales. The qualitative study allowed us to collect emotion-type items that could describe magazines. and to verify the collected items and validate Richinss (1997) and Holbrook and Batras (1987) scale items for magazines. Then, in our quantitative study, we relied on five media titles: Le Monde (national daily), Tlrama (Television), Elle (Feminine), Go (Tourism) and LEquipe (Sport national daily), and four advertised brands: Apple (Computer), Carte Noire (Coffee), Benetton (Clothes) and Ferrari (Cars). After a series of analyses with CSA (covariance structure analysis) and PLS (partial least squares) (PLS) estimation model, we obtained a 10 variable solution, which clustered into three second-order dimensions: fear, possession, and plenitude. Some of these dimensions match those in Holbrook and Batra (1987) and Richins (1997), including scepticism, surprise, tranquillity, and envy, whereas other dimensions, such as distress, are new. The proposed scale therefore offers a specific measure of emotions that apply to both media titles and advertiser brands. The dimensions include a positive affective dimension, plenitude; the negative dimension fear; and a mixed dimension, possession, which includes a rather negative facet, envy, and a rather positive one, love. The research model specifies relationships between emotions and two relational consequences, attachment and emotional commitment by magazine readers and

brand consumers. We test the following hypotheses: H1: Fear has a negative impact on (a) attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand or magazine. H2: Possession has a positive or negative impact on (a) attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand and magazine. H3: Plenitude has a positive impact on (a) attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand and magazine. H4: Attachment to the brand or magazine mediates the relationship between emotions and commitment to this brand or magazine. Magazines The fear dimension negatively influences attachment and commitment to magazines, in support of H1a and H1b. In contrast, plenitude has a positive impact on attachment and commitment toward magazines, in support of H3a and H3b. Possession negatively influences attachment and commitment to magazines, in support of H2a and H2b. In the test of the model with attachment as an antecedent of commitment, the results indicate a partial mediating effect of attachment between possession and commitment. Both fear and plenitude are completely mediated by attachment, in support of H4. Globally, plenitude is the main determinant of attachment and commitment toward magazines. The negative influence of fear seems legitimate, whereas impact of possession is more paradoxical. This result suggests the need for a refined analysis for each magazine individually.

The mediating role of attachment for Elle is complete for plenitude and possession (the latter has a positive impact on attachment) and partial for fear. The path coefficient, though weaker, is statistically significant. More than 90 percent of the

explicative power (i.e., contribution to R) pertains to attachment, despite the partial mediation. This specific analysis of every press title also indicates that the negative influence of possession on all titles is due to the newspaper Le Monde (-.227) Brands The impact of possession is positive on attachment and commitment. These results support recent findings regarding the concept of brand love (Albert, Merunka, and Valette-Florence 2008). Yet this mediating role is complete for brands. The influence of all second-order emotional dimensions on brand commitment is overrode by attachment. As we did for media titles, it seems interesting to test the model with regard to each brand. For example, the analysis of Apple shows a complete mediating effect of attachment. Again, more than 90 percent of the explanatory power is due to the influence of attachment on commitment. In turn, the emotional commitment of Apple consumers to the brand occurs only if they are emotionally attached to the brand. The corresponding possession path coefficient for Apple is approximately .309 (.210 for all the titles). Further analyses of the direct impact of the possession first-order dimensions on attachment reveal that only the love dimension has a positive and significant influence (.314, .046 for envy). This result reemphasizes the role of brand love for Apple consumers (Albert et al., 2008). An analysis of variance of the latent factor scores for the different brands and magazines assesses the differentiating power of the proposed scale. Results confirm the differentiating power of all scale dimensions. Love and surprise are the most differentiating dimensions. Moreover, Duncan's test (not shown here to preserve space) identifies, for each dimension, the brands and magazines that have the same, different, or close profiles. The brands reflect various different means; for example, Benetton achieves a strong profile on fear, whereas Apple and Carte

Noire score higher on possession (due to consumers strong emotional commitment to Apple and the seduction-based advertising strategy of Carte Noire). In contrast, the magazine profiles are generally similar, except that Elle and Go are stronger on love and envy. The informational character of Le Monde distinguishes it on all dimensions, and LEquipe appears close to the other magazines. Finally, in terms of their emotional proximity, Apple coexists better with Go rather than Le Monde. However, only a study of Apple consumers who are also Go or Le Monde readers could confirm this claim.

Emotional elements constitute the basis of the relationship between the consumer and brand, and various studies consider the length and content of that relationship (Hakansson 1982; Morgan and Hunt 1994). The relational paradigm insists on the attachment concept

emotion scale that applies for both press titles and commercial brands. Then, it presents a research model that modelizes the influence of emotions on attachment and emotional commitment, along with the test of the mediating effect of attachment. Finally, the findings, limitations, and further research opportunities appear in the conclusion.

(Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005), which relates to emotional commitment (Chaudhuri and Holbrook 2001, 2002). Such among the emotional various reactions responses are to

1. A new emotion scale We first underline the importance of emotions in consumer-brand

advertising, though exposure to any media appears to provoke emotions (Murry and Dacin 1996). These emotions in turn affect peoples intentions (Adelaar et al. 2003). But does this link mean that the medium used to promote a brand also influences the audiences emotional reaction? For

relationships. Then, we review the existing emotion scales. After developing a new scale that assesses emotions elicited while reading a magazine, or consuming a brand, we show its superiority over existing emotion scales.

example, if a consumer experiences certain emotions and feels attached to a brand, does that person also feel emotions and attachment to the magazine in which an ad for the brand appears? On a more general level, this study investigates a critical question: Is it legitimate to apply the same emotion scale to brands and to specific media titles? The answer is important on both theoretical and managerial levels. This research also examines the extent to which emotions influence attachment and emotional commitment towards press titles and commercial brands. The remainder of this article first describes the development of a new

1.1. Importance of emotions in consumerbrand relationships Emotions are ubiquitous in

marketing: They influence information processing, mediate responses to

persuasive appeals, measure the effects of marketing stimuli, initiate goal setting, enact goal-directed behaviours, and serve as ends and measures of consumer welfare (Bagozzi, Gopinath, and Nyer 1999, 202). Zajonc (1980) and Zajonc and Markus (1982) furthered recognition of the importance of emotional reactions,

prompting the elaboration of a new

approach

described

as

experiential

publications, such as magazines, also may affect emotions, whether directly or

(Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). For the defenders of this approach, consumption represents an experience and therefore entails a range of emotional reactions, including feelings, sensations, emotions, and so on. These theorists also argue that emotions influence information processing, stimuli evaluations, and

indirectly, and therefore the readers emotions consumed percent of toward brand. the subsequently 30

Approximately pages so

magazine or

contain other

advertising

publicity,

measurement scales may be necessary or beneficial in this context. Measures that assume discrete

satisfaction. In particular, Westbrook and Oliver (1991) identify three emotional responses as important antecedents of satisfaction with newly purchased

emotions suggest that emotions belong to identifiable and independent categories (Aaker, Stayman, and Vezina 1988; Batra and Holbrook 1990; Batra and Ray 1986). Those that adopt a continuous approach instead imagine that emotions combine two or more dimensions (Holbrook and Batra 1987). The discrete approach suffers two important limitations, in the sense that, first it cannot identify relations between basic emotions investigate and therefore cannot effects, and exists

automobiles: pleasant surprise, interest, and hostility. Oliver (1992) expands these determinants of satisfaction to include positive affect (interest and joy) and negative affect (anger, disgust, contempt, shame, guilt, fear, sadness), as well as disconfirmation beliefs (Bagozzi,

Gopinath, and Nyer 1999).

combinatory general

1.2. Previous emotion measurements This research study focuses on measuring emotions linked to

second,

no

agreement

regarding basic emotions or listings of emotions, which makes it difficult to synthesize any results. Considering these criticisms, this research adopts a continuous approach to emotions. Among the existing emotion scales, the standardized emotion profile (SEP) scale by Holbrook and Batra (1987) seems to offer the best and most valid measure of emotional reactions stimulated by exposure to printed advertising stimuli. In

consumption. The consumption emotion scale (CES) proposed by Richins (1997) can capture emotions during consumption experiences, and recent studies show that the CES applies in a French context (Ferrandi, De Barnier, and Valette-

Florence 2003). This scale may be appropriate for measuring emotions during brand

consumption, but advertising pages in

comparison with other scales, it provides the double advantage of a precise factorial structure and easily understandable items. In addition, French magazines such as Go and Elle correspond better to the emotions measured by Holbrook and Batras scale, whereas dailies such as Le Monde or magazines like Capital, which include less intrusive advertising, might register better with Richinss measured emotions. Based on Holbrook and Batras (1987) and Richinss (1997) scales, this study attempts to develop a new emotion scale for commercial brands and press titles.

Following Derbaix and Poncin (2005), this step includes projective and classical qualitative studies that explore

respondents conscious and subconscious minds. The qualitative study consists of two steps. First, the discovery step attempted to collect emotion-type items that could describe magazines. Second, the confirmation step (classical method)

intended to verify the collected items and validate Richinss (1997) and Holbrook and Batras (1987) scale items for

magazines. Both expert analyses and synonym checking confirmed that the retained items could all be regrouped into

1.3. Scale development The scale construction process consists of two parts: a qualitative study and a quantitative study, with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Qualitative studies From a managerial point of view, magazines are brands. However,

Holbrook and Batras and Richinss scales.

Quantitative study The selection of publications was based on the number of printings in France, as well as the possibility that the titles would induce different emotions, such as fear or interest (the daily newspaper Le Monde), sadness or joy (sport magazine LEquipe), and jealousy (fashion magazine Elle). All in all, we relied on five media titles: Le Monde (national daily), Tlrama (Television), Elle (Feminine), Go (Tourism) and

magazines also entail some particularities when presented as brands. Therefore, the scale development process must generate groups of items related to the emotions activated when people read magazines to identify any missing items from prior scales. Focus groups provide an effective means for doing so (Edmunds 1999), because they combine social interaction and group influence phenomena.

LEquipe (Sport national daily) The selection of advertised brands includes well-known brand names that would induce a wide range of emotions. For example, Carte Noire (a very famous

coffee brand in France) likely provokes sentimentality or romanticism. In that survey, we selected four brands, namely Apple (Computer), Carte Noire (Coffee), Benetton (Clothes) and Ferrari (Cars). Respondents were either brand consumers (to support measures of the impacts on attachment and brand

goodness-of-fit (AGFI) indices are .914 and .895, respectively. In the PLS model, the GoF (goodness of fit) index proposed by Tenenhaus et al. (2005) reaches .821 for internal GoF and .997 for external GoF. This model therefore is satisfactory,

because GoF is close to 1. Convergent validity, reliability, and discriminant validity tests consider the specific quality of each scales dimension. As Table 1 shows, all t-tests in the CSA are significant. The loadings also are important, and the extracted variance is greater than 50 percent (close to .50 for possession) (Fornell and Larcker 1981). The reliability of every latent variable, according to Joreskogs coefficient, is satisfactory, particularly for second-order dimensions. All 10 variables clustered into three second-order dimensions: fear,

commitment) or brand experts (to build a reliable emotion scale). The questionnaire included items from our newly developed emotion scale, as well as from

Lacoeuilhes attachment scale (2000) and Fullertons emotional commitment scale (2003). The convenience, non

representative sample (498 respondents) contains a range of social and professional classes and age groups. Two types of confirmatory factor analyses validate the scales structure, namely, a classical covariance structure analysis (CSA) and a partial least squares (PLS) estimation model (Tenenhaus et al., 2005). Considering the non-normality of the measurement variables and the

possession, and plenitude. Finally, a series of sequential tests that compare free with constrained models (i.e., correlations between two latent variables fixed to 1) confirm that the free models exhibit better fit with the data, in support of discriminant validity (also proved for the PLS model). These results confirm a 10-dimensional first-order

relatively small size of the sample, these analyses relied on a systematic bootstrap procedure (500 replications for CSA and 250 replications for PLS). The CSA approach tests and validates the adequacy of the model according to the fit indexes recommended in the literature (Hu and Bentler 1998). The root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) is .0565; the goodness-of-fit (GFI) and adjusted

structure and a three-dimensional secondorder structure (Figure 1). Some of these dimensions match those in Holbrook and Batra (1987) and Richins (1997), including scepticism, surprise, tranquillity, and envy,

whereas other dimensions, such as distress, are new. The proposed scale therefore offers a specific measure of emotions that apply to both media titles and advertiser brands. We also checked by means of a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis that the scale structure remained invariant between press titles and commercial brands. This result confirms the universal nature of emotions, which dont depend on the domain of inquiry. Overall, the dimensions

include a positive affective dimension, plenitude; the negative dimension fear; and a mixed dimension, possession, which includes a rather negative facet, envy, and a rather positive one, love.

Table 1: Scales structure and validity


CSA Measure variables interpretation First order parameters estimation 0.666 Irritation 0.807 0.751 0.756 0.814 Fright Worried Affraid Suspicion Scepticism Mistrust Humiliated Ashamed Unhappy Embarrassed Depressed Envious Envy Jealous Romantic Sentimental In love Sexy Warm-hearted Calm Tranquillity Peaceful Joyful Happy Content Enthusiastic Satisfied Thankful Respected Comforted Astonished Surprised Amazed Surprise Thankfulness Joy 0.928 0.717 0.905 0.877 0.875 0.809 0.643 0.728 0.797 0.778 0.881 0.679 35.138 30.681 87.936 71.518 70.283 47.156 20.746 27.550 35.549 32.486 43.416 23.616 0.614 0.728 0.825 0.889 0.526 0.680 0.768 0.864 0.705 0.759 0.922 0.940 Love 0.777 0.810 0.666 0.870 0.873 0.707 0.788 23.676 44.749 24.511 61.394 62.559 28.619 28.516 0.741 0.865 0.85 0.927 0.624 0.690 0.891 0.917 Distress Scepticism 0.795 0.820 0.661 0.901 0.896 0.805 0.826 0.768 0.747 0.740 0.776 41.630 46.968 23.775 59.183 58.018 43.638 48.339 36.653 33.574 32.497 23.636 0.603 0.787 0.752 0.880 0.605 0.680 0.884 0.914 0.684 0.778 0.864 0.913 CSA T test 23.199 38.470 31.371 34.845 45.453 0.635 0.724 0.874 0.913 0.553 0.692 0.787 0.870 CSA Convergent validity PLS Convergent validity CSA Reliability PLS Reliability

Sad Angry Irritated aggrieved tense

CSA First order dimensions Interpretation Second order parameters estimation 0.905 Fear 0.964 0.605 0.896 Possession 0.603 0.785 0.604 Plenitude 0.902 0.875 0.548

CSA

CSA Convergent Validity

PLS Convergent Validity

CSA

PLS

T test

Reliability

Reliability

Irritation Fright Scepticism Distress Envy Love Tranquillity Joy Thankfulness Surprise

45.185 66.323 17.965 52.987 13.301 19.798 16.187 45.405 34.171 13.899 0.561 0.6 0.83 0.854 0.49 0.668 0.654 0.794 0.729 0.707 0.913 0.906

Figure 1: Emotions scale


Emotions Brand/Media

Fear

Possession

Plenitude

Irritation

Fright

Scepticism

Distress

Envy

Love

Tranquillity

Joy

Thankfulness

Surprise

Sad Angry Irritated

Aggrieved Tense Worried Affraid

Mistrust Scepticism Suspicion

Humiliated Ashamed Unhappy Embarrassed Depressed

Envious Jealous

Romantic Sentimental In love Sexy Warm-hearted

Calm Peaceful

Joyful Happy Content Enthusiastic Satisfied

Thankful Respected Comforted

Astonished Surprised Amazed

Finally, by means of series of discriminant analyses, we compared the predictive power of our new emotion scale with than of Richins (1997) and Holbrook and Batra (1987). For all three scales, we used PLS latent scores as independent predictive variables, and six of the studied brands (Apple, Carte noire, Elle, Le Monde, Lequipe, and Geo) as the (1993)

McQueen, Foley, and Deighton illustrate between the emotional brands and

development

consumers with the notion of attachment, which can lead to brand commitment. Moreover, Chaudhuri (2006) underlines the importance of affect, which binds the antecedents of emotions to their

manifestations, such as attachment and commitment, considered as two key brand relational variables (Thomson, MacInnis, and Park, 2005). 2.1 Relational variables The relational perspective shows that attachment linked to attitudinal loyalty and brand commitment is now considered

dependent variable. Results show that the new developed scale outperform the two other scales as for the overall classification rate (namely 56 percent vs. 51 percent for Holbrook and Batras scale, and 50 percent for Richinss scale).

2. The effects of emotions on attachment and emotional commitment

as an independent construct with its own measures (Thomson, MacInnis, and Park,

2005; Lacoeuilhe 2000). In the marketing field, brand attachment reportedly results from nostalgic connections with life events or image congruence (real or ideal) between the consumer and brand

normative commitment (Allen and Meyer 1990a, 1990b). Various researchers apply this concept to marketing, particularly in the field of relationship marketing (Bansal, Irving, and Taylor 2004; Fullerton 2003, 2005; Gundlach, Achrol, and Mentzer

(Lacoeuilhe 2000). Attachment represents a strong emotional relation to the brand (Aaker and Fournier 1995), which one can define as a strong, interactive and lasting psychological and emotional relation

1995; Morgan and Hunt 1994). In this research, we define commitment as a firms willingness to support a relation with the brand. This study focuses particularly on emotional commitment, which reflects the degree of involvement and identification with the organization (Meyer and Allen 1991), which in turn leads to a sense of membership. In marketing, it leads to consumer loyalty, because commitment causes a favourable attitude toward the brand, along with an intention to re-purchase it (Fullerton 2005). According to Fournier (1998), consumers develop relations with the brands they use. In this sense, commitment creates the benevolent will to sustain a satisfactory relationship over the long term, which involves accepting short-term, necessary sacrifices and creating obstacles to the dissolution of the relationship. Fullerton (2005) also argues that commitment constitutes the heart of such relationships, because it leads customers to develop positive affect toward the brand. For example, in consumption communities, consumers share or feel positive emotions toward the object of consumption, both on their own and together with the community

between consumer and brand that can be manifested by dependency and friendship. Lacoeuilhes (2000) definition also considers brand attachment a

psychological variable that translates a lasting and changeless emotional relation (separation is painful) towards brand and that expresses a relation of psychological closeness to it. This author therefore argues that emotions, though similar to attachment, differ from it, in that emotions are more intense, shorter, and related to an events nature, whereas attachment is a long-term, evaluative reaction. This study adopts both Lacoeuilhes (2000) definition and his four-item measurement scale, rather than Thomson and colleagues (2005) attachment scale, which includes items linked to emotions such as love. Early commitment studies in the organizational field (Meyer and Allen 1991; Mowday, Steers, and Porter 1979) include a measurement scale based on three dimensions: emotional commitment, cognitive or calculated commitment, and

members. Roberts,

(McAlexander, 2003). Finally,

Kim,

and

emotions,

and

pleasure.

Therefore,

emotional to the

emotions should affect brand attachment positively. In social psychology, Simpson et al. (2007) show that positive emotions affect positively attachment to ones partner, whereas negative emotions affect it

commitment

relates

closely

expressive function of brands, a source of emotions and feelings. Consequently, this research assesses the impact of emotions activated when people consider a brand or read a publication on their attachment and emotional commitment to those brands and media titles. 2.2. Research model & Hypotheses The research model tests the effects of emotions on affective relational and

negatively. Similarly, positive emotions should reinforce emotional attachments to the brand or publication, whereas negative emotions should influence them

negatively. The effect of possession may be mixed, because this dimension consists of two first-order variables, one positive (love) and one negative (envy) (Pines and Friedman 1998; Richins 1997). Therefore, emotions commitment should toward positive favour the (negative) (inhibit) brand or

variables,

namely

attachment

emotional commitment, and the potential mediating role of attachment on emotional commitment. Strong relations between consumers and brands underlie schemata and emotion-laden memories. In effect, interactions between consumers and

magazine. In turn, H1: Fear has a negative impact on (a) attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand or magazine. H2: Possession has a positive or negative impact on (a)

objects lead to strong emotions, which create strong attachments toward those objects (Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005). Therefore, emotional items from prior attachment scales, such as emotional, delighted, passionate, or cheerful

(Lacoeuilhe 2000; Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005) should characterize

attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand and magazine. H3: Plenitude has a positive impact on (a) attachment and (b) commitment toward the brand and magazine. The intensity of an emotional attachment with an object may be

attachments toward the brand. These emotions are positively valenced, in that they reflect a positive, nice, and intense evaluation of the object (brand) (Lazarus 1991; Roseman 1991). Indeed, brands create emotional attraction and have the capacity to activate strong feelings,

associated the consumers willingness to

abandon their immediate interests to promote a stronger relationship with the object (Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005). That is, Consumers predicts brand their

calculated commitment from emotional commitment. Emotional commitment

appears more likely to explain the effect of attachment on customer loyalty to brand. Therefore, H4: Attachment to the brand or magazine mediates the

emotional

attachment

commitment towards this brand and their willingness to make financial sacrifices in order to acquire it. Lacoeuilhe (2000) also considers attachment a determinant of commitment toward brand, with an

relationship between emotions and commitment to this brand or magazine.

emphasis on the importance of dissociating Figure 2 summarizes these hypotheses.

Figure 2: Research model


Ma : Brand

Commitment Media

H7 Me

Attachment Media
H5

Me : Media

H4

H2

H1

Me

H3

Me

Me

H6 M

Fear

Possession
Ma H4
a H6 M

Plenitude

a M H H3

H1 M

H5

Ma

2.3. Methodology & results To test our model, we used a PLS approach (Tenenhaus et al., 2005). The GoF index reaches .832 for press titles, and .829 for commercial brands. All in all, the total predictive power of attachment, at 49.1 percent and 52.5 percent for

magazines and brands, respectively, is

2 H2 a M M

Commitment Brand

H7 Ma

Attachment Brand

much

less

than

that

of

emotional

commitment. Specifically, commitments predictive power reaches 71.1 percent for magazine readers and 86.3 percent for brand consumers. This result further suggests that brand consumers are more attached and committed to their brands than are magazine readers. Further

analyses of Elle magazine and the Apple brand, discussed subsequently, support this result. Press titles In Figure 3, the path coefficients appear in red. The fear dimension and

commitment to magazines, in support of H1a and H1b. In contrast, plenitude has a positive impact on attachment and

commitment toward magazines, in support of H3a and H3b. Possession negatively influences attachment and commitment to magazines, in support of H2a and H2b.

negatively

influences

attachment

Figure 3: Path coefficients for media


Irritation Fright Scepticism Distress Envy Love Tranquillity Joy Thankfulness Surprise

0.762

0.852

0.95 1

0.7

7 .81

0.6

41

Fear

Possession

Plenitude

-0.09 2
1 01 01 01 -0. 9 9 9 19

-0.09 3

100 -0.

0.686

91 -0.1

58 0.7

63 0.7

0.826 Commitment Attachment


Partial mediation

In red : Path coefficients after bootstrap with attachment on one side and commitment on the other side In black : Path coefficients after bootstrap with attachment antecedent of commitment

In the test of the model with attachment as an antecedent of

negative

influence

of

fear

legitimate, whereas impact of possession is more paradoxical. This result suggests the need for a refined analysis for each magazine individually. The mediating role of attachment for Elle is complete for plenitude and possession (the latter has a positive impact on attachment) and partial for fear. The path coefficient, though weaker, is

commitment (path coefficients in black) (Lacoeuille 2000), the results indicate a partial mediating effect of attachment between possession and commitment.

Specifically, possession still has a direct influence on commitment to the magazine. Both fear and plenitude are

completely mediated by attachment, in support of H4. Globally, plenitude is the main determinant of attachment magazines. and The

statistically significant. More than 90 percent of the explicative power (i.e., contribution to R) pertains to attachment,

commitment

toward

0.6 88

45

4 4 4 54 07 07 07 0. 7

0. 2 92

4 8 8 8 81 0.

1 - . - . - . -0. 1 1 1 13 1 - . - . - . -0. 1 1 1 12

seems

despite the partial mediation. This specific analysis of every press title also indicates that the negative influence of possession on all titles is due to the newspaper Le Monde (-.227)

Similar to the magazine model, the hypotheses receive validation for brands (path coefficients in red in Figure 4). The impact of possession is positive on attachment and commitment. These results support recent findings regarding the concept of brand love (Albert, Merunka, and Valette-Florence 2008).

Commercial brands

Figure 4: Path coefficients for brands


Irritation Fright Scepticism Distress Envy Love Tranquillity Joy Thankfulness Surprise

0.859

0.919

0.96 0

0.7

08 0.9

0.6 92

Fear

Possession

Plenitude

-0.22 4
2 - . - . -0.

-0.21 8

53 0.1

0.522

22 0.5

26 0.5
Total mediation

0.903 Commitment Attachment

In red : Path coefficients after bootstrap with attachment on one side and commitment on the other side In black : Path coefficients after bootstrap with attachment antecedent of commitment

Yet this mediating role is complete for brands. The influence of all second-order emotional commitment dimensions indirectly on goes brand through

of the explanatory power is due to the influence of attachment on commitment. In turn, the emotional commitment of Apple consumers to the brand occurs only if they are emotionally attached to the brand. The corresponding possession path coefficient for Apple is approximately .309 (.210 for all the titles). Further analyses of the direct impact of the possession first-order

attachment (Figure 4). As we did for media titles, it seems interesting to test the model with regard to each brand. For example, the analysis of Apple shows a complete mediating effect of attachment. Again, more than 90 percent

dimensions on attachment reveal that only

0.6 75

70

5 5 5 .5 .54 0. 5

0 0 0. 4 9 9 94

0 92 92 92 0 0 0...

. . 0.2 0 0 07 0.2 0.2 0.2

3 3 34

1 1 10

the love dimension has a positive and significant influence (.314, .046 for envy). This result reemphasizes the role of brand love for Apple consumers (Albert et al., 2008). Commercial brands & press title profiles Because the purpose of this

section confirms the strong differentiating power of this scale. Table 2 shows the results of latent factor scores variance analysis for the different brands and magazines. differentiating They power confirm of all the scale

dimensions. Love and surprise are the most differentiating ones.

research also involves the operational appeal of the proposed emotion scale, this

Table 2: Variance analyses, F-tests (p < .05)


Dimensions F Love 17,44 Surprise 8,09 Joy 7,18 Scepticism 5,95 Fright 5,74 Irritation 5,10 Envy 4,41 Thankfulness Tranquillity Distress 4,37 3,36 2,92

Moreover,

Duncan's

test

(not

Figure 5 reveals that consumers perceive irritation, fear, scepticism, and distress as less predominantly emotional traits, but that surprise, thankfulness, love, tranquillity, and especially joy are the most important emotional traits. Consumers emotional brand profiles are identical to their emotional magazine profiles, though some differences appear, especially for the second-order dimensions of fear, which consists of fright, scepticism, irritation, and distress. These dimensions have greater impacts on magazines than on brands, whereas all the other dimensions,

shown here to preserve space) identifies, for each dimension, the brands and magazines that have the same, different, or close profiles. The brands reflect various different means; for example, Benetton achieves a strong profile on fear, whereas Apple and Carte Noire score higher on possession (due to consumers strong emotional commitment to Apple and the seduction-based advertising strategy of Carte Noire). In contrast, the magazine profiles are generally similar, except that Elle and Go are stronger on love and envy. The informational character of Le Monde distinguishes it on all dimensions, and LEquipe appears close to the other magazines.

especially love, are more important for brands than for magazine titles.

Figure 5: Brands and magazine profiles


Media Brands

Irritatio n Surprise Fright

Thankfulness

Scepticism

Jo y

Distress

Tranquillity Lo ve

Envy

M edia

B rands

Finally, in terms of their emotional proximity, Apple coexists better with Go rather than Le Monde (Figure 6). However,

only a study of Apple consumers who are also Go or Le Monde readers could confirm this claim.

Figure 6: Comparison of Apple, Le Monde, Elle, and Go profiles


Apple Elle Le Monde Go
Irritation Surprise Fright

Thankfulness

Scepticism

Joy

Distress

Tranquillity Love Apple Elle

Envy

Le Monde

Go

4. Discussion, limitations & future research This research attempts to confirm that brands generate emotions, which could constitute the basis of an affective route (emotionsattachmentemotional commitment). This research also reveals that specific media titles, as brands, can prompt emotions. An empirical approach creates and validates an emotion scale applicable to both brands and media titles that outperforms existing emotion scales (Holbrook and Batra 1987; Richins 1997). In addition, the test of the research model reveals the partial or total mediating effect of attachment on emotional

for strategies that emphasize the positive emotions activated during brand

consumption or media reading to compete better. As usual, this research suffers from several limitations, including the small sample size and questions of its representativeness. Other affective relational concepts, such as brand love (Albert, Merunka and ValetteFlorence, 2008) or identification (Escalas, 2004) also could have been integrated into our model. Additional research therefore should attempt to advance understanding of the emotional qualitative affinity

between brands and media (i.e., when people are both brand consumers and media readers). It also will be important to test various publications and media

commitment, as well as the role of positive (plenitude) and negative (fear) emotions on attachment and emotional commitment for each brand and media title studied. Moreover, the validated emotions scale suggests a variety of applications. Brand and media managers now have a new, qualitative instrument with real action levers that they can use to enhance customers attachment and commitment towards brands. Measuring the emotions provoked while reading a magazine title and assessing their coherence with the emotions activated by exposure to

categories, including different forms such as radio and television. This extension could suggest better and more precise media selections for advertisers. Another interesting avenue for future research would be to explicitly test that the media context of a given ad may lead to different emotions, and hence to changes in attachment and commitment. In addition, an experiment could show that the same ad may elicit different feelings or emotions when printed in different outlets. For instance, it could be interesting to compare Ab and Aad for an Apple ad incorporated within Elle vs. Geo.

advertised brands offers a valid measure of the qualitative affinity between media titles and brands. Finally, managers should opt

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