Consumer‐retailer emotional attachment

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to investigate loyalty building and the creation of affectionate bonds in the consumer-firm dyad. Design/methodology/approach – The study relies on face-to-face personal interviews in the context of grocery store retailing. Findings – The results identify the significant predictors of consumer-firm emotional attachment to be firm trust, trust in employees, likeability of service personnel and likeability of co-consumers, shopping enjoyment, self-expressiveness, place dependence, and place identity. Consumers' self-enrichment, self-gratification and self-enablement likely influence emotional attachment, which in turn is a strong predictor of behavioral loyalty and word of mouth. Attachment anxiety appears to multiply the effects of emotional attachment on behavioral loyalty and word of mouth. Research limitations/implications – The cross-sectional nature of the study precludes definitive conclusions concerning causality between the constructs utilized. The data come from the supermarket retail channel, limiting the generalizibility of the results. Practical implications – As the results suggest that the consumer's self-enrichment seems to be the most important factor in determining emotional attachment, managers should incorporate the notion of emotional attachment into strategic performance management systems. Originality/value – The study incorporates the notion of consumer heterogeneity into the relationship anxiety construct, arguing in favor of a non-additive consumer-firm emotional attachment nomological network.