Brand liking and consumer gratitude effects on consumer-brand love relationships and repurchase intention

This paper extends understanding of consumer-brand love relationships by examining the effects of brand likeability and consumer gratitude, as antecedents of brand love, on brand love creation and consumer repurchase intention. This is examined for service-products characterised relative to the dominance of their intangible elements, hence accounting for their search, experience and credence qualities. Using PLS-SEM and empirical data from an online survey, results indicate that brand likeability and consumer gratitude are directly related, and both constructs are positively associated with brand love for the three types of service-products, such that consumer gratitude is a significant mediator in the relationship between brand likeability and brand love. Examining brand likeability and gratitude effects on brand love narrows the knowledge gap in the brand love literature leading to important managerial implications, allowing for the development of effective brand strategies for strengthening consumer repurchase intention.