Does brand love lead to brand addiction?

Abstract

Brand addiction is a recently developed concept that captures a consumer's strong emotional state toward a brand. What factors can propel consumer emotions to this extreme state remains unexplored. This research explores the role of brand love as an antecedent of brand addiction and the potential consequences of that addiction. The main factor that elevates the emotional state from brand love and brand addiction is obsessive passion which has also been studied. A partial least squares equation model applied to data from a representative sample of 236 consumers demonstrates that brand love leads to brand addiction. Research results show that brand love is a antecedent to brand addiction, and obsessive passion is a mediator that makes this emotional state stronger. This brand addiction is then associated with higher levels of word-of-mouth and willingness to pay. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.