When consumers love their brands: Exploring the concept and its dimensions

Transcription

1 Available online at Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) When consumers love their brands: Exploring the concept and its dimensions Noël Albert a,b, Dwight Merunka c,d,, Pierre Valette-Florence e,f a University of Grenoble (IAE), France b University of Lyon-1, France c University Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille, IAE Aix en Provence, France d EUROMED Marseille School of Management, Marseilles, France e University of Grenoble (IAE), France f CERAM Nice, France Received 1 March 2007; received in revised form 1 July 2007; accepted 1 September 2007 Abstract Consumers may develop feelings of love toward some brands, but the meaning and underlying dimensions of this construct require further development. Through an exploratory Internet study of 843 respondents in France, this research used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore the concept of love. Eleven dimensions emerge through a correspondence analysis and the concomitant use of a multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis of the wording that respondents use to describe their feeling of love and the special type of relationships they have with the brands they love. These dimensions identified in France compare to dimensions of love found in previous research conducted in the United States Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Love; Brand consumer relationship; Brand management; Cultural differences Brands are omnipresent in the everyday life of consumers. Recent research focus on understanding and explaining the type of relationships consumers have with branded products. Constructs and measures of brand sensitivity (Kapferer and Laurent, 1992), brand attachment (Thomson et al., 2005), brand commitment (Samuelsen and Sandvik, 1998), brand trust (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001), and brand loyalty (Jacoby and Chesnut, 1978), for example, distinguish among various consumer brand relationship concepts and segment consumers into groups on the basis of the intensity of those relationships (Fournier, 1998). In contrast, the concept of love is more recently investigated (Ahuvia, 2005b; Fournier, 1998) and relatively less researched. In turn, questions remain, such as whether consumers can experiment feelings of love for a brand. Is the feeling of love for a brand similar to a feeling of love for a Corresponding author. IAE Aix en Provence, Clos Guiot, Puyricard, France. Tel./fax: /800. addresses: noel.albert@upmf-grenoble.fr (N. Albert), dwight.merunka@iae-aix.com (D. Merunka), pierre.valette-florence@iae-grenoble.fr (P. Valette-Florence). person? What dimensions characterize the feeling of love toward an object (brand)? Do people feel this love relationship in the same manner across countries or cultures? During the past decade, marketing research has investigated the concept of love and established that such a feeling may exist from a consumer's perspective when the loved object is a possession or a brand. Based on the relational paradigm and the notion that consumers may attribute human characteristics to brands (Aaker, 1997; Fournier, 1998), the academic community started paying attention to the concept of love. Practitioners also express interest in the concept (Roberts, 2004, 2006). However, extant research seems to be solely of U.S. origin, even though cross-cultural differences are very likely. For example, research based on interpersonal relationship theory (Beall and Sternberg, 1995; Deschamps et al., 1997) shows that culture influences the conceptualization and dimensions of the love construct. This research investigates the feeling of love toward a brand by exploring the nature of the construct and uncovering the main dimensions of a feeling of love for brands among a large sample of French consumers. Because culture may affect the results, this research also compares findings with recent U.S /$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi: /j.jbusres

2 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) research results. The first section provides a literature review pertaining to the concept of love in interpersonal relationships, reviews the development of available (American) conceptualizations of love toward a brand, and comments on their limitations. The second section details the method developed to avoid these limitations, measures the love construct, and determines its underlying dimensions. Finally, the third section presents and discusses results related to the dimensions of love uncovered in the French data and compares them with concepts developed from U.S. data. 1. The feeling of love 1.1. The feeling of love in interpersonal relationships Theories of love suggest its cultural and historical underpinnings. For example, one view that emerges from the industrial revolution construes love with the same intensity and faith required of religion (Hatfield and Rapson, 1987). According to this view, love cannot be theorized or understood. Nevertheless, since that period in history, different sciences seek to study the love construct. For example, sociology uses observable manifestations (e.g., marriages, fertility rates), and psychoanalysis places sexuality at the heart of the love construct. However, because these approaches are of little use to our understanding of love in consumer behavior, our research concentrates on social psychology's conceptualization of love, within which a relationship paradigm applies Love as a psychological state Aron and Aron (1986, 1996) describe love as a psychological state. Because the union of two persons characterizes love, they use the inclusion of an other into the self as a means to understand this feeling and refer to three main principles: (1) people extend themselves, (2) by including others within themselves through intimate or close relationships, and (3) people seek situations or experiences associated to an experience of extension of the self. According to these principles, the expression of a feeling of love entails a two-stage process whereby the self expands to new persons and the object of the extension becomes included in the self. Love therefore is the constellation of behaviors, cognitions and emotions associated with the desire to enter or maintain a close relationship with a specific other person (Aron et al., 1991, p. 26). However, the feeling of love is not necessarily romantic and may apply to many others (e.g., family members, friends) Love as an independent psychological construct Two main influential theories by Rubin (1970) and Sternberg (1986) break with the tradition and consider love as a superior form of friendship. Rubin defines love as an attitude held by a person toward a particular other person, involving predispositions to think, feel, and behave in certain ways toward that other person (Rubin, 1970, p. 265). Love is a three-dimensional construct composed of affiliation and need for dependence, predisposition to help, and exclusivity and absorption (inclusion of the other). Sternberg (1986, 1997) proposes a triangular theory of love with three components: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment, which appear in most conceptualizations of love. Intimacy refers to closeness and connectedness, being happy together, and being able to rely on the partner. Passion involves romance, physical attraction, arousal, and needs such as self-esteem, nurturance, or self-actualization. Finally, decision/commitment refers to the short-term decision to love someone and the will to maintain that relationship over the long term. Combining the three components leads to eight love styles, depending on the presence or absence of each component in interpersonal relationships (see Table 1). Many studies (Fehr, 1988; Luby and Aron, 1990; Regan et al., 1998) offer lists of adjectives that can capture the feeling of love. These lists consist of many items (e.g., 68 in Fehr, 1988, including trust, caring, honesty, friendship, respect, concern for other's well-being, loyalty, commitment, accepting the other, and supportiveness; 119 in Regan et al., 1998) but fail to provide us with a clear picture of prototypical love (Ahuvia, 2005b). Aron and Westbay (1996) factor analyzed Fehr's (1988) list of adjectives and find a three-dimensional structure of passion, intimacy, and commitment corroborating Sternberg's (1986) theory The feeling of love in consumer behavior Feelings of love toward objects Shimp and Madden (1988) propose a conceptual model of consumer object relationships inspired by the triangular theory of love (Sternberg, 1986), in which Sternberg's three components of love (intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment) become liking, yearning, and decision/commitment in a consumption context. When these three components exist, they strongly contribute to loyalty toward the object. However, Shimp and Madden do not empirically test the validity of their construct. Later, Ahuvia (1993, 2005a,b) provides empirical support for this construct by proposing a conditional integration of the theory of love based on work by Aron and Aron (1986). Specifically, Ahuvia (1993) posits that a person may feel love for an object when the level of integration and desire for that object reaches a critical threshold. Ahuvia (2005b) also compares interpersonal love and love for an object based on the notion of a prototype of love (e.g., Aron and Westbay, 1996; Fehr, 1988; Fehr and Russel, 1991). He acknowledges that these two types of love have more similarities than differences. Table 1 Taxonomy of kinds of love Kind of love Components Intimacy Passion Decision, commitment Nonlove Liking + Infatuated love + Empty love + Romantic love + + Companionate love + + Fatuous love + + Consummate love Source: Adapted from Sternberg (1986).

3 1064 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Whang et al. (2004) conduct a study using the construct of love based on the interpersonal paradigm and measure this feeling by employing a shortened version of the love attitude scale, its origin being from the The Colors of Love typology proposed by Lee (1977) (Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986). The love a biker feels for his or her motorcycle consists of three variables: eros (passionate love), mania (possessive love), and agape (altruistic love). Because they use a measure of love directly derived from interpersonal relationship studies, they conclude that the relationship between a biker and his or her motorcycle represents romantic love. The Whang et al. study is the first to capture consumer's love toward a product Feelings of love toward a brand Fournier (1998) reveals that consumers develop and maintain strong relationships with brands and proposes six major categories of relationships, including love and passion, defined as a richer, deeper, more long-lasting feeling than simple preference. Caroll and Ahuvia (2006, p. 5) define love for a brand as the degree of passionate emotional attachment that a person has for a particular trade name. Consumers' love includes the following characteristics: (1) passion for a brand, (2) brand attachment, (3) positive evaluation of the brand, (4) positive emotions in response to the brand, and (5) declarations of love toward the brand. These studies help better understand the construct of love in a consumer behavior context but yet have some theoretical, methodological, and managerial limitations. The study of love in marketing employs two main frameworks: the interpersonal theory of love applied to consumer situations (Ahuvia, 1993; Whang et al., 2004) and an empirical approach consisting of a conceptualization of consumers' declarations of love toward brands (Fournier, 1998). This second framework is mostly a-theoretical, and interpretations based on this approach are vulnerable to criticism. For example, why are not concepts of intimacy, commitment, or connection to the self (i.e., potential relationships between consumers and brands) connected to the love relationship (Fournier, 1998)? Although these dimensions are not unique to feelings of love, they appear in various interpersonal studies pertaining to love (Aron and Aron, 1986; Hatfield, 1988; Sternberg, 1986). In contrast to this empirical approach, several studies (Ahuvia, 1993; 2005b; Shimp and Madden, 1988; Whang et al., 2004) construe love in marketing on the basis of theories of interpersonal relationships. Overall, love appears to represent a complex phenomenon, and no single interpersonal theory may claim to capture all the emotions linked to this feeling, which means choosing any particular theory of interpersonal relationships may be theoretically constraining at this point. The study of love relationships should begin with little or no preconceived notions and proceed on an exploratory basis, especially if the study occurs in a new cultural context. Such results should then be interpreted using existing interpersonal (or consumer/brand) theories of love. Adopting such a method avoids focusing on one theory and provides the opportunity to establish a link between the empirical results and different conceptualizations of love. In many exploratory studies that use qualitative interviews (e.g., Ahuvia, 1993, 2005b; Fournier, 1998), the interviewers actually employ the word love and thereby introduce a bias in the sense that subjects may formulate their responses in reference to a feeling of love for a person and exclude dimensions of love specific to an object or a brand. Although Ahuvia proposes several dimensions that do not match prototypical love, the method still casts doubt on the reliability of the data. An exploratory study using projective methods avoids this potential pitfall. Therefore, the measurement of love should be approached without the explicit use of the word itself and without directly referring to concepts that link naturally to interpersonal relationships (unless testing a previously established theory). Finally, several important studies in this area (Ahuvia, 1993, 2005b) examine objects in a broad sense rather than brands specifically. Even though these studies develop an understanding of the construct of love, their managerial utility is limited. In another vein, Shimp and Madden (1988) simply adopt Sternberg's (1986) vocabulary and apply this lexicon to a consumer object relationship. The method proposed here is an attempt to circumvent these limitations. 2. Research methodology Choosing a data collection tool represents an important research step. A first data collection stage using semi-directed interviews revealed that consumers poorly understand the notion of love toward a brand and perhaps, for some, reject this kind of love. For many consumers in France, love represents a sacred feeling that cannot be felt toward a brand. Therefore an innovative survey method is implemented to avoid consumer reluctance or unfamiliarity with the concept Data collection procedures The use of an Internet survey enables collecting data to investigate the dimensions of love for a brand and this is conducted in the French market. The diagram in Fig. 1 shows the overall structure of the survey method applied in this research. The first step is designed to reveal subjects' opinions relative to brands in general. Subjects then indicate 1 to 3 brands they wish to discuss (step 2). For each brand, subjects select one image among 19 possible ones. The chosen image symbolizes their relationship with the brand (step 3.1) and they explain their choice (step 3.2). The objective of this step is to identify the relationship the consumer has with the brand. Subjects then view three images (from the initial 19) that tentatively symbolize love (images numbered 3, 9, and 16 and circled in Fig. 2) and describe their perceptions of these images (step 3.3). This step validates subjects' recognition of love as expressed by these images. For subjects who chose an image symbolizing love during step 3.1 and therefore potentially having a love relationship with a brand, the meaning of that love relationship is further investigated (those who did not choose one of these symbols move to step 4.1, as indicated in Fig. 1). Specifically,

4 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Fig. 1. Structure of Internet survey. they indicate if they feel the brand is special and justify their perception (step 4.2.1), which elucidates the relationship between the consumer and the brand without using the word love. The following text then appears: The choices you have made suggest that you are really in love with [brand name]. Do you agree with this statement? Note that this point marks the first time the survey explicitly uses the word love. Subjects respond to this question (step 4.2.2) and justify their answer (step 4.2.3). This method is based on the theory that consumers who have a love relationship with a brand will choose an image symbolizing love to represent and explain their relationship. However, to guard against respondents who do not experience a love relationship and may nevertheless select one of these images, the final step in the methodology allows to distinguish consumers who have from those who do not have a true love relationship with brands. The Internet is used as a data collection medium because it enables the adaptation and personalization of the survey based on subjects' responses (i.e., some questions appear only after subjects select an image symbolizing love). This data collection technique is also highly effective for communication with respondents (e.g., reminding them of brand names they mention or brand images they previously select). With respect to sampling, an Internet snowball procedure is used, in which the online link for the survey questionnaire is sent to a list of direct contacts, together with a personal message requesting that the recipients answer the survey and transmit the link to others they know. This leads to the participation of 880 individuals and the selection of 843 fully completed questionnaires used for further analysis. Overall, 2340 observations are obtained, and the mean number of brands cited by each participant equals 2.77.

5 1066 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Fig. 2. Images submitted to respondents The use of projective images A projective method is used, which exposes people to different stimuli they are asked to describe. This method is effective in encouraging subjects to project hidden opinions, attitudes, or feelings about an object or situation. Projective methods are appropriate when direct methods cannot acquire the required information precisely or researchers need a better understanding of the phenomenon (Malhotra, 2004). Consumers may experience difficulty acknowledging or confessing Fig. 3. Methodology.

6 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) their love relationship with a brand, and projective methods that avoid the use of the word love but offer possibilities to express this feeling do not prejudice subjects' answers. In addition, because this study is designed as exploratory, a projective method should be effective in helping conceptualize the concept of love for a brand. The hybrid survey methodology used here employs both quantitative (many respondents, close-ended questions) and qualitative (production of text, exploratory) methods. This helps circumvent two biases observed in previous research: (1) the word love only appears at the very end of the data collection procedure and does not bias subjects' responses, and (2) the results are truly exploratory because no interpersonal love theory is used to guide the development of data collection procedures Analysis of data through correspondence analysis Correspondence analysis provides a spatial representation of qualitative profiles in a reduced Euclidean space. A simple correspondence analysis (CA), a descriptive technique, can analyze and depict the relationships between the row and column profiles in a two-way table. In practice, the method decomposes the overall chi-square statistic by identifying a small number of dimensions to represent deviations from the expected values. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) analyzes multi-way tables. Both forms are used in this research. In a first stage, CA is used to study the connections between the lexicons and the images singled out to represent the nature of the relationship with the brand. The use of CA enables understanding the structure of the lexicons used for brands for which consumers have varying levels of love intensity. In a second stage, for those respondents who express their love for a particular brand, MCA is applied to estimate the coordinates in a multidimensional space of the words that express the feeling of love. Then the words are clustered through the use of cluster analysis applied to their spatial coordinates, which is analogous to the concomitant use of factor analysis and clustering for quantitative variables. A method referred to as de-doubling, such that each word appears twice (evoked or not evoked) in the configuration is used to analyze the data. This procedure helps guarantee equal weight for all words (Morineau et al., 1984). 3. Results A validity check is initially realized in order to assess that the association of images to brands is meaningful and that the images that subjects select are associated with contrasting lexicons. A manipulation check serves to verify that the images selected to symbolize love actually represent symbols of love for the consumers (and that the other images do not). The dimensions of the concept of love toward a brand are then uncovered. The different steps of the procedure appear in Fig Manipulation checks To confirm the validity of the procedure, the meanings associated with the images selected to represent love are verified. Although marketing experts did select these images, an understanding of how consumers perceive the three images that tentatively symbolized love is necessary. Study participants (n = 843) indicate the feelings they experience when exposed to each of the three love images and the frequencies of the words used to describe each image are shown in Table 2. For example, descriptions of image 3 include the following terms: complicity, love, happiness, friendship, tenderness, couple, simplicity, trust, togetherness, and joy. Because the distinction between love and friendship is ambiguous, this image is treated as somewhat vague. In contrast, image 9 communicates love in terms of loyalty and commitment since respondents use words such as Table 2 Twenty most frequently cited words describing the three images associated with love (number and percentage of citations in columns 2 and 3) Image 3 Image 9 Image 16 Complicity % Love % Sensuality % Love % Marriage % Passion % Happiness % Happiness % Sex % Tenderness % Commitment % Desire % Couple % Life % Love % Joy % Couple % Pleasure % To be % Loyalty % Eroticism % Friendship % Union % Couple % Trust % Image % Sexuality % Happy % Family % Hot % Two % Trust % Image % Pleasure % Beginning % Warmth % Life % Two % Relationship % Simplicity % Day % Perfume % Amorous % Happy % Happiness % Relationship % Joy % Intimacy % Moment % Future 9 1.0% Carnal % Meeting 9 1.0% History 9 1.0% Physical % To live % Beautiful 8 0.9% Tenderness % Good 9 1.0% Enduring 8 0.9% Two 8 0.9%

7 1068 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) marriage, commitment, love, couple, confidence, and union to describe it. Finally, the lexicon employed to describe image 16 relates to passion and desire, including words such as sensuality, passion, sex, desire, love, pleasure, and eroticism. Therefore, images 9 and 16 clearly reflect the concept of love described by existing theories of love, and image 3 reflects both love and friendship, though love appears to dominate. Another manipulation check consists of performing a CA of the 52 words that consumers use most frequently to justify the choice of an image that represents their relationships to brands. Conducted with 2340 observations (participant brand chosen), the analysis clearly shows differences in the words associated with different clusters of images (Fig. 4). Five homogeneous groups of images and associated words emerge from a configurational analysis based solely on the first plane (Borg and Lingoes, 1987): words associated with the three images symbolizing love (group 1); consumers for whom the brand communicates elegance and fashion (group 2); those who use words linked to brand trust, reliability, and quality (group 3); those for whom the brand relates to price (group 4); and consumers for whom the brand indicates sports or a relaxed atmosphere (group 5). Consumers who choose images symbolizing love tend to explain their choices with words closely related to love. Therefore, they are aware that these images represent the concept of a love relationship Uncovering the dimensions of love Correspondence analysis Two open-ended questions help to clarify the feeling of love for a brand. The first ( Why is brand X so special to you? ) avoids using the word love. The second question ( Why do you have a real feeling of love for brand X? ) enriches the consumers answers. Correspondence analysis (CA) enables summarizing and visualizing the lexicons used by respondents for each open-ended question. Among the 2340 observations (843 participants citing 1, 2, or 3 brands), 659 observations correspond to a chosen love image for a brand. More than 50% of these observations completely agree (15.3%) or agree (40.1%) that they are really in love with their brands (30.8% rather disagree and 13.8% completely disagree). Two CAs are conducted, one associating the lexicons used to describe why the brand is special and the four love groups described above (according to their degree of agreement concerning a love relationship with the brand) and the other associating the lexicons used to describe why respondents may be in love with their brand and the similar four love groups. The results of both CAs are similar (results for the latter correspondence analysis appear in Fig. 5). Correspondence analyses explain 51.07% (axis 1) and 34.69% (axis 2) of the variance for the first association and 58.76% (axis 1) and 17.08% (axis 2) for the second. The CAs also reveal differences in the vocabulary employed by the four love groups. Of particular interest is the unique position of participants who fully agree that they are in love with their brand. They fall distant from the other groups andaretheonlyonestousewordssuchaspleasure,dream, personality, memories, number of years, always, attraction, childhood, or family. This unique position calls for a better understanding, as do the specific dimensions of the feeling of love Tandem use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and cluster analysis To uncover the dimensions of love, consumers who declared they completely agree or rather agree they have a feeling of love toward a brand (n = 365) are selected for further analysis. Separate MCAs are conducted, one for the words used to express why the brand is special, and another for the wording consumers used to explain why they feel love toward the brand. In both cases, according to a clear elbow displayed in a scree plot of the eigenvalues, the MCAs lead to a solution with 22 dimensions explaining more than 60% of total variance. As a result, each word is described by a vector of coordinates on 22 dimensions which enables to cluster analyze the words in an effort to uncover grouping or dimensions (one cluster analysis is conducted for each MCA result; see Figs. 6 and 7 for the dendograms). For a better understanding, we incorporate the product categories mentioned by the participants when describing their brands as supplementary points in the MCA analysis. In this special case, the analysis employs predictive mapping, in that meaningful associations among active variables (lexicons) and external variables (product categories) are displayed. Both cluster analyses reveal the existence of nine clusters that enable uncovering the underlying dimensions of the love feeling among consumers who either fully agree or rather agree they have such a feeling toward their brand. However, these two categories of agreeing respondents are distant one from the other. Consequently, a focus is made on the fully agree category which best represents the feeling of love. Product categories that are strongly associated with the feeling of love include shoes, cars, lingerie, watches, perfumes, food items, music, cigarettes, and furniture Main dimensions of love toward a brand On the basis of the results of the two cluster analyses, previous results obtained from the words associated with love images and the results from the correspondence analyses, the dimensions of love are named individually by each author. A simple process is followed, in which concepts are associated to each of the 9 clusters in both cluster analyses, on the basis of the words grouped together to form the clusters. Final concepts appearing in Fig. 6 result from discussion and agreement among the three judges. Finally, all concepts that are related to the fully agree category are selected as key dimensions of the feeling of love. The dendogram in Fig. 6 (first cluster analysis) shows that the first seven clusters (to which fully agree belongs) join together at a higher level, whereas the two last clusters join together and are related to the rather agree category. For the dendogram in Fig. 7 (second cluster analysis), these groupings are six and three clusters, respectively. Due to the exploratory nature of the research, the constructs appearing at least once in the first groups of clusters (clusters related to full agreement with a love relationship with the brand) are retained as the dimensions of love.

8 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Fig. 4. Results of the correspondence analysis between images and associated lexicon.

9 1070 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Fig. 5. Results of the correspondence analysis for the expression of the feeling of love toward a brand.

10 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Fig. 6. Cluster analysis of the words used to explain why the brand is special for the consumers. As a result of this analysis, 11 dimensions of love toward a brand are identified: Passion (for the brand). Duration of the relationship (the relationship with the brand exists for a long time). Self-congruity (congruity between self-image and product image). Dreams (the brand favors consumer dreams). Memories (evoked by the brand). Pleasure (that the brand provides to the consumer). Attraction (feel toward the brand). Uniqueness (of the brand and/or of the relationship). Beauty (of the brand). Trust (the brand has never disappointed). Declaration of affect (feel toward the brand).

11 1072 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Other dimensions emerge but relate to consumers who rather agree (vs. fully agree) that they have a love relationship with the brand. The following dimensions therefore are not retained as major dimensions of love: Functional perceptions (quality of the brand, good price). Commitment (will to maintain a relationship with the brand in the future). Well-being (the brand makes the consumer feel good). Attachment. The exploratory nature of this study does not enable an identification of the number of dimensions necessary to infer the existence of a love relationship. However, in all likelihood, not all dimensions must be simultaneously present for a loving consumer brand relationship to exist. To examine these dimensions more closely, they are compared to dimensions of interpersonal love identified in the literature (Aron and Aron, 1986; Fehr and Russel, 1991; Hatfield, 1988; Hendrick and Hendrick, 1989; Sternberg, 1986) Passion Often associated to the feeling of love (Hatfield, 1988; Lee, 1977; Sternberg, 1986), passion maintains different names, such as eros (Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986; Lee, 1977) or romantic love (Rubin, 1970). Passionate love is a state of Fig. 7. Cluster analysis of the words used to explain why consumers have a real feeling of love for a brand.

12 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) intense longing for union with another (Hatfield and Walster, 1978, p.9) Duration of the relationship The duration of the relationship is often linked to intimacy which refers to in-depth knowledge about the partner, generally as a result of time spent together (Ahuvia, 2005b; Aron and Westbay, 1996; Fehr, 1988; Hendrick and Hendrick, 1989, 1992; Sternberg, 1986). This long-lasting relationship suggests the existence of a feeling of satisfaction with its established impact on duration of the relationship (Hendrick et al., 1988) Self-congruity Several studies provide evidence that members of a couple tend to be similar in terms of ethnic, social, or religious profile, as well as their values, centers of interest, humor, or even physical aesthetics or personality (Byrne et al., 1986; Cappella and Palmer, 1990; Galton, 1984; Rushton, 1989). The concept of self-congruity is of similar nature since the notion indicates congruity between the self-image of the consumer and product image (Sirgy, 1985). Love with the brand may be driven by both self-consistency motives and self-esteem motives Dreams Consumers in love reveal that they dream about the brand or that the brand favors their dreams, which indicates the dominant presence of the brand in their thoughts. In interpersonal relationships, a clear link exists between loving and thinking of the partner; constant thinking about a partner is a good indicator of future love (Shea and Adams, 1984, qtd. in Ahuvia, 1993). The synthesis of the love prototype (Ahuvia, 2005b) also integrates thinking of the partner as an antecedent of love, though this antecedent does not disappear after the relationship begins. Finally, research shows that interpersonal love is linked with positive emotions (Fehr and Russel, 1991), and dreaming of the brand can represent a manifestation of these positive emotions Memories A brand may remind consumers of certain important and positive memories and link to sentiments of nostalgia (according to expressions of words such as history, childhood, or first). This specific characteristic of love suggests a non-interpersonal context, because this concept has not been addressed in current interpersonal theories of love Pleasure Fehr and Russel (1991) show that love is linked to positive emotions, including pleasure, and that pleasure fosters affectionate love (Hatfield, 1988). In the case of love toward a brand, pleasure has a positive influence on the duration of the relationship Attraction A dimension of interpersonal love, attraction is an orientation toward or away from a person that may be described as having a value (positive, neutral or negative). The orientation consists of a cognitive structure of beliefs and knowledge about the person, affect felt and expressed toward him or her, and behavioral tendencies to approach or avoid that person (Hendrick and Hendrick, 1992, p.23) Uniqueness Respondents indicate that their preferred brand is different or unique, which may relate to the feeling of idealization often mentioned in interpersonal love theories (Murray and Holmes, 1993; Murray et al., 1996; Sternberg and Barnes, 1985). Lovers often consider their partners unique or different Beauty Beauty is a determinant of love relationships (Walster et al., 1966). Beauty plays a role both in favoring a relationship and maintaining the relation in the long term (Hatfield and Sprecher, 1995; Sangrador and Yela, 2000) Trust Consumers in love seem to declare they have never been disappointed and express their satisfaction with the brand, which is in line with Hendrick et al. (1988) who provide insights into the link between satisfaction and specific styles of love (i.e., eros and agape). Trust is also a key dimension revealed in studies of prototypical love (Fehr, 1988; Aron and Westbay, 1996) Declaration of affect The fact of declaring love or deep sentiments before or after the love relationship takes place is reported in research on the feeling of love (Vincent, 2004). This dimension declaration of affect is named rather than declaration of love because many different words are employed by the consumers to express their love relationship toward brands: adore, amorous, love, appreciate, or like. Concerning the dimensions that are not associated to the love feeling (the dimensions only related to the category rather agree ), some appear in the interpersonal love literature such as commitment (Fehr, 1988; Sternberg, 1986), well-being (Kim and Hatfield, 2004), and attachment (Fehr, 1988). Attachment and commitment are also well-known and important concepts in research on brand/consumer relationships (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Thomson et al., 2005), but they are not directly related to a feeling of love toward the brand. This research being exploratory in nature, the lack of relationships between these dimensions and the overall feeling of love needs further investigation. 4. Discussion and conclusion The dimensions of love toward a brand, as found with French consumers declaring a love relationship with a brand are compared with the results from previous research conducted in the United States. This comparison should enhance the external validity of the construct and may point to the possible influence of culture. Several dimensions of love toward a brand found among French consumers also appear in U.S. studies. Two dimensions are explicitly shared by both cultures: passion (Ahuvia, 2005b;

13 1074 N. Albert et al. / Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) Caroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Fournier, 1998; Whang et al., 2004) and pleasure (Ahuvia, 1993, 2005b). In addition, three other French dimensions are linked to American ones, specifically dream, declaration of affect, and duration of the relationship. The dream dimension relates to the fixated thought concept (Ahuvia, 2005b) as well as to positive emotions toward a brand (Caroll and Ahuvia, 2006). Declaration of affect appears in both cultures but with possibly different intensity: the word love is explicitly employed in the U.S. (declaration of love) whereas French consumers rather use adore or like when talking about the loved brand. The French duration dimension also appears to relate to the concepts of intimacy that appear in several American studies (Ahuvia, 1993, 2005b). Beauty, attraction, uniqueness and self-congruity also appear in Ahuvia (1993). However, the comparison with Ahuvia's study (1993) is not straightforward since this study encompasses love relationships linked to a number of objects including places, ideas, music pieces and brands. It may be that some of the dimensions of love are activated for only certain types of objects (Ahuvia, 1993). Many differences also exist between French and U.S. participants. The memory and trust dimensions do not appear in U.S. studies but are clear in France, as evidenced by the respondents' use of words such as memories, childhood, images, or history (for memory) and of words of trust and loyalty (for trust). Attachment is cited in one U.S. study (Caroll and Ahuvia, 2006). The dimension appears in only one of the MCAs and attachment is linked to the category rather agree which explains why the concept is not retained in this study. Consumers using the term admit they are only attached to the brand and therefore not really in love with the brand. Finally, a distinction between possessive love and altruistic love is not uncovered here, as suggested by Whang et al. (2004). This research reconsiders the concept of consumers' love for a brand outside the silo of U.S.-based research (Steenkamp, 2005). Because love and the expression of love are culturally grounded, this relatively new concept of love toward brands is tested in a cultural and consumption context other than that of the United States. In France, the concept of love toward a brand does not fit with theories that define this feeling as a person's psychological state (Aron and Aron, 1986; see also Tennov, 1979 with regard to interpersonal relationships; see Ahuvia, 1993, for non-interpersonal relationships). Rather, the French conception more closely matches research streams that conceptualize love as a set of characteristics and dimensions (Rubin, 1970; Sternberg, 1986, for interpersonal relationships; Caroll and Ahuvia, 2006, for non-interpersonal relationships). The approach in this research further differs from the American perspective because it employs an exploratory method rather than applying a selected interpersonal theory of love to the marketing field. The results demonstrate that dimensions of love toward a brand among French consumers align with main dimensions identified in several interpersonal studies (Hatfield, 1988; Rubin, 1970; Sternberg, 1986), which does not seem to be the case for most American findings. This exploratory study suggests several extensions for further research. Firstly, researchers could use this study as a first step to develop a measurement scale of the concept of love toward a brand, which would enable identifying both brands and product categories that might benefit from such a consumer brand relationship, as well as consumer groups who are willing or eager to develop love-based relationships. The results of the MCAs indicate that consumers may treat product categories differently in terms of their ability to generate love feelings. A formal study of this phenomenon should help practitioners develop specific marketing programs toward consumer segments open to love relationships. Practitioners as well as researchers could also investigate the reasons underlying the fact that some product categories are more likely than others to enable the building up of love relationships between brands and consumers. Such studies could also give new insights and provide a better understanding of key concepts activated within specific brand communities within which brand consumer relationships and brand love relationships might be particularly strong. Secondly, a measurement scale will result in a better understanding, both theoretically and empirically, of the love concept in relation to a brand, compared to other constructs widely applied in the consumer behavior or consumer psychology literature and probably linked to love (e.g., attachment, commitment, trust). In particular, future research should distinguish productively between affectionate love and attachment (Fisher, 2006). Thirdly, both academics (Caroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Fournier, 1998; Whang et al., 2004) and practitioners (Roberts, 2004, 2006) emphasize the managerial importance of the feeling of love toward a brand. Therefore, additional research should propose and test a conceptual model to assess the influence of the feeling of love on dependent attitudinal and behavioral variables, such as brand loyalty, resistance to change, or positive word of mouth. Finally, the exploratory nature of this research does not enable clarifying the relationships among the different dimensions of the feeling of love. Which are the most important dimensions for love to be strong? Are these levels of importance stable, or do they vary with categories or brands? Within that vein of interrogations, fruitful investigations should rely on longitudinal surveys in order to delineate specific love trajectories (i.e. are there some love dimensions more fluctuant than others?). In addition, are there minimum levels on these dimensions to achieve the love status? What possible co-occurrences or correlations exist among these dimensions? Could there be a second-order structure? Are there important differences between consumer groups, and what explains these differences? Ultimately, the application of nonlinear models may be interesting, such as those relied on within the catastrophe theory framework, in order to get a finer understanding of relationships between love towards a brand and some possible determinants or consequences such as loyalty. Such questions require further exploration to provide a better understanding of the feeling of love toward brands. Quantitative analyses of the feeling of love toward brands represent a necessary next step. References Aaker JL. Dimensions of brand personality. J Mark 1997;34(3): Ahuvia AC. I love it! Towards an unifying theory of love across divers love objects. Doctoral dissertation. Northwestern University; 1993.

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