Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International

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Corporate branding, emotional attachment and brand loyalty: the case of luxury fashion
branding
Jing Theng So Andrew Grant Parsons Sheau-Fen Yap
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Jing Theng So Andrew Grant Parsons Sheau-Fen Yap, (2013),"Corporate branding, emotional attachment
and brand loyalty: the case of luxury fashion branding", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An
International Journal, Vol. 17 Iss 4 pp. 403 - 423
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Luxury fashion
Corporate branding, emotional branding
attachment and brand loyalty: the
case of luxury fashion branding
Jing Theng So 403
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, and
Andrew Grant Parsons and Sheau-Fen Yap
Department of Marketing, Advertising, Retailing, and Sales,
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, Australia
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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test a theoretical framework that
captures the impact of corporate branding on customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty in the
luxury fashion market.
Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional data were collected from 282 customers who
purchased luxury brands. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses of the
framework developed for the study.
Findings Findings found limited effect of corporate branding on customer emotional attachment
and brand loyalty. Among the six corporate branding dimensions examined, only corporate
association, functional benefits, and symbolic benefits were found to have a significant impact on
emotional attachment. Further, the impact of corporate branding on brand loyalty was only evident
through functional benefits and corporate associations.
Practical implications This study offers new empirical support for the proposition that corporate
branding efforts have a role, thought limited, in building customer emotional attachment and loyalty
towards luxury brands. As such, findings from this study can provide managers with a guide to
managing their branding strategies so that customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty can be
built in the most cost-effective manner.
Originality/value This is the first study to examine the relationship between corporate branding,
emotional attachment, and brand loyalty in the luxury fashion context. The examination of the
differential effects of corporate branding dimensions on emotional attachment and loyalty has
contributed to a better understanding of the mechanism that underlies the operation of an effective
corporate branding strategy.
Keywords Brand loyalty, Corporate branding, Emotional attachment, Structural equation modelling
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The consumption of luxury fashion brands is economically significant with the current
market value of the luxury fashion industry estimated to be US$240 billion (Tungate,
2012). However, many luxury firms are not making significant profits (Chevalier and
Mazzalovo, 2008). Globalization of the luxury industry and rapid technological
advancements have presented luxury customers with many brand choices, leading to
fierce competition among firms (Ryan, 2009). To successfully manage and compete
with a luxury fashion brand, a firm needs to establish and maintain a strong brand
Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management
Vol. 17 No. 4, 2013
The authors are grateful for the important contributions of the anonymous reviewers and the pp. 403-423
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Guest Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management in improving this 1361-2026
manuscript. DOI 10.1108/JFMM-03-2013-0032
 JFMM identity (Okonkwo, 2007). In the luxury fashion market, a strong brand identity can be
17,4 achieved through several factors including impeccable product craftsmanship,
innovation, recognizable style, exclusivity, and/or premium pricing (Chevalier and
Mazzalovo, 2008). From the customers perspective, these characteristics of the luxury
brands deliver multi-faceted benefits such as social status, identify affirmation, and
sense of belonging (Peng et al., 2011). Against this background, many luxury firms,
404 including the top four conglomerates LVMH, Gucci Group NV, Prada, and Richemont
Group, have spent millions of dollars developing comprehensive corporate brand
identities as part of their branding strategy (Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2008), because
a strong brand identity is fundamentally linked to a relevant, clear, and defined
branding strategy. The implementation of a successful corporate branding strategy
allows luxury firms to create distinguishable brands in return for customers
preferences and loyalty (Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2008; Okonkwo, 2007).
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Traditionally, luxury brand suppliers have differentiated their brand identities

using high-status brand names (Choo et al., 2012). However, this branding strategy
is less effective with todays luxury customers because customers are placing more
emphasis on the emotional value, such as closeness and involvement with brands,
when making their purchase decisions (Bain & Co., 2005; Choo et al., 2012). These
emotional values give premium customers a complete and memorable ownership
experience during brand consumption (Brun et al., 2008) hence engaging with the
customers at the emotional level is a crucial factor for success in the luxury fashion
industry (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). Luxury firms are gradually shifting their
corporate branding focus from building social status to customer emotional
attachment in an effort to cultivate enduring loyalty (Cailleux et al., 2009). Customers
emotional attachment is a central premise that underlies strong customer-brand
relationships (Orth et al., 2010; Thomson et al., 2005). While emotional attachment
has some conceptual resemblance to other marketing constructs such as brand love
(Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006) and brand attitude strength (Park et al., 2010), emotional
attachment is a distinct construct that provides added value because it commands
a higher, sustainable level of loyalty (Park et al., 2010).
The role of customer emotional attachment in driving sustainable customer
loyalty has been well documented within the marketing literature (Park et al., 2010;
Thomson et al., 2005). However, the impact of corporate branding strategy on
customer emotional attachment and (subsequent) loyalty has yet to be examined and
empirically substantiated in the luxury fashion setting. Typically studies have taken
the management perspective in investigating the luxury fashion brand (Kapferer and
Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009; Moore and Birtwistle, 2004); for example, analysis of the
historical forces that gave rise to Prada, Burberry, and Guccis strong market position
today (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004, 2005; Moore and Doyle, 2010). Others have focused
on the current challenges management face in implementing a successful luxury brand
(e.g. Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009). While previous studies have contributed
much to the current understanding about the management practice in the luxury
fashion industry, the effectiveness of corporate branding strategies on the customer-
brand relationship, in particular customer emotional attachment towards luxury
brands remains unexplored. Addressing this research gap, this study extends prior
literature through the development of a theoretical framework that captures the impact
of luxury corporate branding strategy on customer emotional attachment and brand
loyalty. In particular, the proposed model has a few advantages over past literature
that has examined loyalty within the luxury fashion setting. First, this model
 considers the multiple effects of luxury corporate branding on premium shoppers by Luxury fashion
conceptualizing corporate branding as a multi-dimensional construct. Second, this branding
model proposes that luxury corporate branding can influence customer emotional
attachment and brand loyalty, which has not been considered in past literature.
Collectively, this study makes a significant contribution to the luxury fashion branding
literature as it examines the mechanism that underlies the operation of an effective
corporate branding strategy. Given that firms are investing significantly in their 405
corporate branding strategy, it is imperative for managers to understand the extent
whereby corporate branding strategy influences a customers emotional attachment
and brand loyalty. This study also assists luxury fashion brand managers in resource
allocation by prioritizing resources to the dimensions of corporate branding that have
a greater impact on customer emotional attachment so that loyalty can be built in the
most cost-efficient manner.
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In the next section, we briefly review the literature on corporate branding, paying
particular attention to the luxury fashion sector. We also provide an introduction to
the concept of emotional attachment. Following this we develop a conceptual
framework incorporating corporate branding, emotional attachment, and brand
loyalty. In doing so, we construct a series of hypotheses. Next we present a study that
examines customers of luxury fashion brands in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, which is a
concentrated area of luxury goods and stores ideal for a targeted study in this sector.
We conclude with a discussion of the findings and the implications for luxury fashion
marketers and management.

Literature review
Corporate branding
Corporate branding is a holistic brand management approach adopted by firms to
craft a unique corporate identity (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). The concept of corporate
branding has gained popularity in the marketing literature as corporate brands are
said to add value to the products and services offered by the company (Harris and de
Chernatony, 2001). A strong brand offers intangible values that are difficult for
competitors to imitate. As such, a strongly cultivated corporate brand provides
the firm with a sustainable competitive advantage that drives loyalty (Harris and de
Chernatony, 2001; Hatch and Schultz, 2003). The core concept of corporate branding
is to adopt a monolithic brand name representing all products of the company when
communicating with stakeholders such as customers, employees, and shareholders
(Xie and Boggs, 2006), and a successful corporate brand is underpinned by clear
corporate missions and values defined by the senior management to guide the
operations of all organizational departments (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001; Abratt
and Kleyn, 2011). With the specified strategic perspective, members of the organization
then act in conformity to achieve the desired brand identity (Pillai, 2012).
A companys effort in achieving the desired corporate brand identity can be
manifested through various corporate branding dimensions. However, there is no
agreement in the literature on the dimensions that constitute corporate branding.
Abratt and Kleyn (2011) suggest four aspects of corporate branding that are crucial to
the development of a strong brand identity. These are visual identity, brand promise,
brand personality, and brand communication. On the other hand, Harris and de
Chernatony (2001) argue that brand vision and culture, positioning, personality,
relationships, and presentation are key components of corporate branding that builds
brand identity. According to Souiden et al. (2006), corporate branding encompasses the
 JFMM four inter-related dimensions of corporate name, image, reputation, and loyalty.
17,4 Another comprehensive view on the dimensionality of corporate brand is captured in
Anisimovas (2007) multi-dimensional framework where corporate brand is
conceptualized as comprising five key dimensions: corporate association, corporate
activities, corporate values, corporate personalities, and corporate benefits. In this
study, the conceptualization of corporate branding proposed by Anisimova (2007) is
406 adopted for two reasons. First, the multi-attribute framework enables capturing
of the comprehensive effect of corporate branding in cultivating customer emotional
attachment and loyalty. Second, Anisimova (2007) conducted rigorous tests on the
scales reflecting corporate branding, thus providing a validated and reliable
instrument to measure corporate branding dimensions.

Corporate branding in the luxury fashion industry

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In the luxury fashion context, corporate branding strategy has been the long-standing
business practice used to bolster corporate reputation, build customer loyalty, and
charge a premium price (Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2008). A well-known brand identity
is considered a fundamental part of the luxury value proposition (Fionda and Moore,
2009). As such, every component of corporate branding is aimed towards the
development of a luxury brand identity that entails elements of aspiring corporate
association, favourable brand personality, and premium brand image (Chevalier and
Mazzalovo, 2008; Okonkwo, 2007). These are achieved through the consistent control
and appropriate investment strategy by individuals from top managerial levels
(Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). As a first step, the luxury brand product has to be of
exceptional quality with innovative designs that exceed customer expectations. In
addition to the tangible product, luxury brands typically deliver intangible benefits to
customers through an identifiable logo or symbol (Okonkwo, 2007). The brand signage
assists luxury brands in portraying the personality and values of the creators which
evokes favourable brand associations and aspirational images among customers
(Keller, 2009). For these strong intrinsic and extrinsic values, luxury and prestige
brands are able to charge a premium price for their products (Okonkwo, 2007). Besides
acting as a cue for superior product value, premium pricing also reinforces the notion
of brand exclusivity by making luxury goods appear out of reach to most shoppers
(Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).
With the importance of exclusivity and prestige in the luxury fashion market,
manufacturing and distribution of luxury products is always carefully controlled
and highly selective to limit their accessibility to customers (Fionda and Moore, 2009).
For maximum control, many luxury brands have their own flagship stores to showcase
their latest product range. In addition, luxury flagship stores can further enhance
a firms status as a credible luxury brand and strengthen the customer-brand
relationship (Moore et al., 2010). The luxury environment of the flagship store and
services provided by frontline employees during point-of-sales can enrich the shopping
experiences of wealthy customers (Brun et al., 2008). The location is also indicative
of the status. In London, for example, the flagship stores of Louis Vuitton, Cartier,
and Ralph Lauren are on the high fashion New Bond Street, with Prada literally down
the road in Old Bond Street. Gucci and Giorgio Armani take advantage of the
Knightsbridge connection with locations in Sloane Street, and Burberry takes a
premium spot in Londons Regent Street. Another key element to building a luxury
brand is powerful marketing communications (Fionda and Moore, 2009). The use of
relevant advertising through celebrity endorsement, public relationship, and events are
 popular marketing communication techniques used by firms to generate awareness Luxury fashion
and establish a premium brand image (Fionda and Moore, 2009). branding
Despite the extensive application of corporate branding in the luxury fashion
industry, limited studies have been dedicated to examine the effectiveness of these
branding strategies (Reyneke et al., 2011). Rather, previous research studying the
marketing of luxury brands tend to focus on the management perspective (Pillai, 2012).
The evolution of luxury firms such as Gucci and Prada have been analysed (Moore and 407
Birtwistle, 2005; Moore and Doyle, 2010), while other research areas within luxury
branding have included the key dimensions necessary to maintain the success of a
luxury fashion brand (Fionda and Moore, 2009; Keller, 2009), business approaches and
positioning strategies to manage a luxury brand (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Truong
et al., 2009), and descriptions of the current challenges faced by managers in the luxury
market (Matthiesen, 2005; Reyneke et al., 2011). While these areas of inquiry are all
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important and worthy of exploration, recent evidence suggests that the luxury market
is currently experiencing a paradigm shift and practitioners must place emphasis on
building customer emotional involvement to drive loyalty (Cailleux et al., 2009).
As the luxury market grows more competitive and wealthy customers become less
brand loyal, managers can no longer rely on prestige brand image alone in retaining
their customers (Choo et al., 2012). Instead, luxury firms are moving towards the notion
of building strong customer-brand relationships through emotional involvement and
attachment, for sustainable loyalty (Choo et al., 2012; Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).
Proponents of the emotional attachment concept claim that customers evangelical
enthusiasm can only be attained if marketers demonstrate genuine understanding
of their customers lifestyles, dreams, and ambitions, to convince customers that their
brands are life enriching (Thompson et al., 2006). When marketers successfully engage
in telling stories that are relevant, aspiring, and captivating, brands form stronger
connections with their customers (Thompson et al., 2006). Despite the explicit potential
and importance for firms to cultivate customer emotional attachment and brand
loyalty through corporate branding efforts, to date, no empirical study has validated
the relationship between these concepts, though there have been calls for studies
to uncover the antecedents that drive customer emotional attachment to brands
(e.g. Grisaffe and Nguyen, 2011; Park et al., 2010). Our study aims to address this gap
by putting forward a conceptual model that captures the comprehensive effect of
corporate branding attributes on customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty
within the luxury fashion brand setting.

Customer emotional attachment

Customer emotional attachment is a critical construct in the marketing literature as it
describes the strength of the bond customers have with the brand. This bond
subsequently affects their behaviour and in turn fosters firm profitability and customer
lifetime value (Thomson et al., 2005). The concept of emotional attachment was
borrowed from psychologys attachment theory originating with Bowlby (1982).
Pioneering studies on emotional attachment asserted that an individuals desire
to form strong attachment to particular others serves as a basic human need see
Bowlby (1982) for a discussion. Building on Bowlbys work, researchers over the years
have found evidence that customers can form emotional attachments to a variety of
objects such as gifts (Mick and DeMoss, 1990), collectibles (Slater, 2001), and importantly
for this study brands (Park et al., 2010; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995).
Although a customers attachment to an object may not be as strong in intensity as the
 JFMM attachment formed in a human-human relationship, the fundamental properties
17,4 and behavioural effects of emotional attachment are presumed to be quite similar.
Thomson et al. (2005) argue that a customers emotional attachment is underpinned
by brand love, brand affection, and brand connection. These characteristics of
emotional attachment seem to suggest that customers with a stronger emotional
attachment are likely to be committed to a brand and stay in a long-term relationship
408 with the firm (Thomson et al., 2005). Indeed, the practical value of emotional
attachment in marketing has recently been shown by Park et al. (2010) where they
found emotional attachment to be a better predictor of actual purchase, brand
purchase share, and brand need, than brand attitude. Next, we develop a conceptual
model of corporate branding, emotional attachment, and brand loyalty, for the luxury
fashion sector.
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Conceptual framework
Figure 1 depicts the full conceptual framework to be validated in this study. As shown
in Figure 1, corporate branding efforts are conceptualized as comprising five primary
dimensions corporate associations, corporate activities, corporate values, corporate
personalities, and corporate benefits. These are hypothesized to have an impact on
customer emotional attachment, which in turn has an impact on customer brand
loyalty, as well as having a direct impact upon loyalty. In total, seven sets of hypotheses
are specified in this framework. The following sections provide the theoretical support
for the hypothesized relationships.

Emotional attachment and brand loyalty

Brand loyalty reflects a customers commitment to remain in a long-term relationship
with a brand (Reichheld, 1996) whereas emotional attachment denotes a customers
feeling of connection, affection, and passion towards a brand (Thomson et al., 2005).
A customers emotional attachment is underpinned by three primary forces including

Corporate H2b
Associations
H2a

Corporate H3b
Activities
H3a
H4b
Corporate
Values
H4a Emotional H1 Brand
Attachment Loyalty
Corporate H5a
Personalities
H6a H5b

Functional H6b
Figure 1.
The hypothesized model Benefits H7a
of corporate branding,
emotional attachment, Symbolical H7b
and brand loyalty Benefits
 customers self-connection with the brand, feeling of warmth towards the brand, and Luxury fashion
having an intense liking for the brand (Thomson et al., 2005). Therefore it is argued branding
that a higher level of emotional attachment is likely to increase a customers emotional
dependency on the brand. As customers become more connected to a brand, they are
likely to maintain close proximity with the brand because the presence of the
attachment object offers feelings of comfort, happiness, and security (Park et al., 2010;
Thomson et al., 2005). Thus, it is hypothesized that a customer who has a higher level 409
of emotional attachment towards the brand is willing to commit being in a long-term
relationship with the brand:

H1. The higher the level of a customers emotional attachment, the greater their
brand loyalty.
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Corporate associations and emotional attachment

Corporate associations refer to a customers evaluation of a brand that is determined by
the knowledge stored in their memory, based on past brand-customer interactions
(Romaniuk and Gaillard, 2007). With this brand knowledge, corporate associations
serve as crucial information cues for customers when judging a firms credibility and
the perceived product quality during brand selection (Souiden et al., 2006). Favourable
corporate associations encourage customers to trust that the brand will meet their
expectations through fulfilling brand promises (Souiden et al., 2006). When customers
perceive the firm to be a reliable partner, they are willing to increase their emotional
dependability on the brands (Mikulincer, 1998). This is likely to increase the
attachment bond customers have with their brands. In addition, a trustworthy partner
also encourages customers to view their customer-brand relationship in a long-term
perspective as they have confidence in the firms ability to meet their needs in the
future (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Thus, it is posited that the more favourably a
customer view corporate associations, the greater will be their emotional attachment
and (subsequently, for H1) their brand loyalty:

H2a. The more positively customers perceive corporate associations, the greater
their emotional attachment.

H2b. The more positively customers perceive corporate associations, the greater
their brand loyalty.

Corporate activities and emotional attachment

Corporate activities represent all initiatives made by the firm to actively engage
customers with the brands. These corporate initiatives, such as the use of metaphorical
advertisements and corporate social responsibility behaviour, are aimed at enhancing
the customers perceived brand image and brand reputation (Heath et al., 2006; Sen and
Bhattacharaya, 2001). A favourable brand image encourages customers to view the
brand as being a competent, credible, and reliable relationship partner (de Ruyter and
Wetzels, 2000; Fournier, 1998; Valey, 2009). When a brand image is favourable,
customers can become increasingly dependent on the brand as they believe their
expectations could only be fulfilled by the trusted brand (Fournier, 1998). A higher
level of brand dependency is likely to increase customer emotional attachment towards
the brand (Park et al., 2010). Besides becoming more emotionally attached, a good
corporate image also propels customers to be brand loyal. As customers believe that
 JFMM brands are able to demonstrate superior performance capabilities, they tend to reward
17,4 these brands by staying in a long-term relationship (Fournier, 1998):

H3a. The more positively customers perceive corporate activities, the greater their
emotional attachment.

410 H3b. The more positively customers perceive corporate activities, the greater their
brand loyalty.

Corporate values and emotional attachment

Corporate values denote the core purpose of a firm which are guided by its mission and
vision (Urde, 2003). In turn, these strategic decisions help shape how the customers
perceive brand identity (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003). Research suggests that customers
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identify themselves more strongly with brands that possess favourable identity
(Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003; Park et al., 2010). As customers get more involved with the
brand through cognitive and emotion connections, customers are expected to become more
emotionally attached to the brand. Similar to human-human relationships, customers look
for positive characteristics in a brand before they decide to establish a customer-brand
relationship (Fournier, 1998; Valey, 2009). Brands that are backed by strong corporate
values are likely to be perceived as high-quality brand partners, which encourages
customers to commit to a long-term relationship. Therefore, it is hypothesized that:

H4a. The more positively customers perceive corporate values, the greater their
emotional attachment.

H4b. The more positively customers perceive corporate values, the greater their
brand loyalty.

Corporate personalities and emotional attachment

Corporate personalities reflect the set of human-like emotional characteristics associated
with a brand (Aaker, 1997). Prior studies have acknowledged that customers see brands
as capable of possessing personality traits (Orth et al., 2010). These corporate
personalities can be manifested and enhanced through symbolic embodiments and
employees behaviours (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). A strong corporate personality entails
elements of creativity, compassion, agility, and collaboration (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011).
Brands that inherit positive corporate personalities are able to reduce the emotional risk
that customers experience during brand purchases (Aaker and Biel, 1993). As a brand
encourages the feeling of comfort and security, customers are expected to increase brand
reliance which enhances their likelihood of cultivating an emotional attachment to the
brand (Fournier, 1998). Similarly, customers have a higher tendency to trust a brand that
has greater credibility (Aaker, 1997). When customers have trust in a brand, they have
confidence in the brand to continually meet their expectation, hence are more willing to
be brand loyal (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Thus it is posited that:

H5a. The more positively customers perceive corporate personalities, the greater
their emotional attachment.

H5b. The more positively customers perceive corporate personalities, the greater
their brand loyalty.
 Corporate benefits and emotional attachment Luxury fashion
Consistent with other studies, this study adopts a multi-dimensional construct in branding
conceptualizing corporate benefits (Anisimova, 2007; Okonkwo, 2007; Sweeney and
Soutar, 2001). During high-involvement purchase decisions (e.g. durables, luxury
products), customers derive two key corporate benefits functional and symbolic
from their brand consumption (Okonkwo, 2007). Functional benefits pertain to the
intrinsic value customers acquire from a product which serve to fulfil a customers 411
immediate and practical needs (Sweeney and Soutar, 2001). When brands are seen as
having superior utilitarian functioning, as compared to competing brands, they are
perceived to be irreplaceable by the customers so are more resilient to competition
(Fournier, 1998). As the brand becomes more prominently embedded in the customers
mind, the propensity for the customer to be emotionally attached increases (Park et al.,
2010). Also, customers biased perception towards the brand as irreplaceable further
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propels the customers to behave in a manner that supports a long relationship with the
brand (Fournier, 1998). With that, it is hypothesized that:

H6a. The more positively customers perceive functional benefits, the greater their
emotional attachment.

H6b. The more positively customers perceive functional benefits the greater their
brand loyalty.

Symbolic benefits, on the other hand, are an extrinsic value that corresponds to the
non-product-related attributes which communicate a variety of brand meanings to
consumers (Liang and Wang, 2004). These benefits serve to satisfy a customers social
approval and self-expressive needs (Liang and Wang, 2004). When brands possess
symbolic benefits that reflect customers actual or ideal self-concepts, customers can
develop a sense of oneness with the brand whereby they establish an emotional
connection with the brand (Fournier, 1998; Malar et al., 2011). As customers get more
highly involved with the brand, they are more likely to develop emotional attachment
towards the brand. Furthermore, customers are expected to support a relationship
with brands that are more affirmatively embedded in their mind (Fournier, 1998).
Therefore, it is hypothesized that:

H7a. The more positively customers perceive functional benefits, the greater their
emotional attachment.

H7b. The more positively customers perceive functional benefits, the greater
their brand loyalty.

Having hypothesized the conceptual model shown in Figure 1, we now turn to our
empirical study. In the next section we describe the method used to test the conceptual
model. We follow this with the analysis and results.

Method
Survey instrument
A self-completion questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was five-pages
long, in four sections. The first section contained questions that captured demographic
variables, while the other sections consisted of questions measuring the concepts of
 JFMM corporate branding, emotional attachment, and brand loyalty. Items for all constructs,
17,4 except demographic variables were assessed on a five-point Likert scale ranging from
strongly disagree to strongly agree. All measurement items were from previous
studies that have indicated satisfactory reliability and validity. Table I details the
measurement items and literature where the items were adopted for each construct.
Although the scales used in this study were taken from existing studies, wording
412 modifications were made to tailor scale items to fit the luxury fashion sector (see
Table I for further measurement details). The questionnaire structure and wording
was pre-tested on a convenience sample of 30 undergraduate students from
Monash University to improve on its consistency, readability, and clarity. Students
participation in the pre-test was voluntary and the data collected from pre-test was not
included in the main analysis. The preliminary measurement assessment indicated
that the instrument was reliable, and hence, no major modifications were made.
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Potential response bias

Given that all measurements of this study were obtained from the same source
(i.e. shoppers) using a cross-sectional design, findings obtained from the data are
exposed to the potential of common method variance (CMV) bias (Whitman and
Woszczynski, 2004). To mitigate the potential effect of response bias, several

Relevant literature
Construct Items for scale items

Corporate Corporation with outstanding products Anisimova (2007), Chevalier

associations Successful company and Mazzalovo (2008)
Good corporate citizen
Corporation at forefront of fashion
Corporate activities Outlets create exclusivity experience Anisimova (2007), Chevalier
Has a balanced luxury product portfolio and Mazzalovo (2008)
Corporate values Aims for product excellence Anisimova (2007), Moore
Strives to be the best and Birtwistle (2005)
Corporate Competent Anisimova (2007),
personalities Sophisticated Aaker (1997)
Exciting
Functional benefits Highly practical product Anisimova (2007), Chevalier
Durable products and Mazzalovo (2008)
Symbolic benefits Expresses my self-personality Anisimova (2007), Chevalier
Symbolizes my status and Mazzalovo (2008)
Enhances my personal image
Helps me get social approval
Emotional Love Thomson et al. (2005)
attachment Affectionate
Passionate
Delighted
Connected
Bonded
Attached
Brand loyalty Buy only this brand in this product category Carroll and Ahuvia (2006)
Table I. Do without rather than buy other brands
Resource of measurement If this brand is not available, I will buy it
and sample items another time
 procedural remedies were put in place, including careful selection of measurement Luxury fashion
items to ensure easy comprehension, limiting the length of the questionnaire to 15-20 branding
minutes to avoid fatigue, and assuring respondents of their anonymity. In addition,
CMV was tested using Harmans single-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003). A principal
component factor analysis with varimax rotation demonstrated that all self-report
items revealed an eight-factor structure, with each factor accounting for o50 per cent
of the co-variation, indicating that no general factor was observed. Therefore, CMV did 413
not appear to be a significant problem in the present study.

Sampling and data collection

The Malaysian luxury goods market is fast growing, with a 44 per cent increase in
constant value terms between years 2005 and 2010. Urbanization and growing middle-
class income earners have fuelled Malaysians growing demand for luxury goods. For
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Malaysians, luxury brands represent the ultimate form of aspirational spending.

However, Malaysian luxury consumers are becoming more demanding in their choice
of luxury brands so competition within luxury retailing in Malaysia has intensified
over the years (Euromonitor International, 2011). For this reason, Malaysia is chosen as
the context of this study as it is important for luxury firms to find out whether
corporate branding strategy is effective in building customer emotional attachment
and brand loyalty, in order to capture the fast-growing luxury market in Malaysia.
The data were collected from local luxury brand customers within Klang Valley in
Malaysia, using random systematic mall-intercept. Klang Valley was selected as the
sampling location because it has been labelled as the city for high-end fashion
shopping where most luxury brands flagship stores can be found (Euromonitor
International, 2011). Luxury retailers such as Louis Vuitton and Prada are strategically
located in high-end shopping malls such as Starhill Gallery, The Pavilion, and Suria
KLCC. A total of 315 surveys were collected at three high-end shopping malls. Since
different locations and hours of a day may yield different mall shopper traffic, data
collection was conducted periodically over three weeks at similar hours of the day at
similar locations in malls to minimize any possible sample unit bias. The location
chosen for questionnaire distribution in shopping malls was carefully selected so that
different concentrations of age/ethnic/socio-economic groups were represented.
Shoppers were intercepted in these shopping malls, screened for appropriateness,
and the questionnaire administered on the spot. To satisfy the sampling conditions,
shoppers had to be above 18 years of age and had purchased a luxury fashion brand in
the past 12 months. Given the many luxury brands that currently exist in the market,
this study specifically chose six popular brands (Louis Vuitton, Coach, Chanel,
Burberry, Gucci, and Prada) from the luxury fashion brand list published by Forbes
and Luxury Institute of New York to represent the luxury fashion market in this study.
The product category selected as the focus of the survey was handbags. The choice of
product was based on two reasons: first, handbags are the primary driver of brand
sales for the luxury firm in Malaysia (Euromonitor International, 2011). Second, a
handbag is a product that entails both functional and symbolical values hence it is
a suitable product category for this empirical study (Hung et al., 2011).

Analysis and results

Survey response
In total, 315 questionnaires were collected but only 282 completed questionnaires were
usable. Some questionnaires were discarded on the grounds of: incomplete response;
 JFMM responses with little variance; patterns of responses showed the respondent did not
17,4 understand the content and/or instructions; and outliers. A w2-test performed on the
data collected showed no significant differences in response between early and late
respondents in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity hence non-response bias is unlikely
to be an issue for the study (Armstrong and Overton, 1977). Demographically, the
samples were predominantly females (79 per cent). This was to be expected as luxury
414 fashion is predominantly targeted towards female shoppers. The largest group of
the respondents (45 per cent) was aged between 24 and 35 years old. Approximately
45 per cent of the respondents were professionals earning middle to high income
and 62 per cent of them possess at least tertiary education. The demographic
characteristic of our sample (higher incomes, tertiary education, professional) fits with
the general luxury consumer profile in Malaysia (Euromonitor International, 2011).
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Structural equation modelling (SEM)

The proposed research framework was assessed using SEM. The maximum likelihood
estimation procedure using AMOS 20.0 was adopted as the method of analysis.
A two-step approach as recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was applied.
The measurement was first validated through a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
prior to estimating the full SEM. Upon establishing the model fit, the significance,
direction, and size of each structural parameter were estimated.

Measurement reliability and validity

As recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), a CFA was employed to evaluate
the psychometric properties of the scales. The CFA was first performed for individual
constructs (i.e. emotional attachment and brand loyalty) and the dimensions of
corporate branding separately. All scales were then combined to form a full
measurement model. An analysis of the measurement model with eight constructs
resulted in good model fit (w2 408.93, w2/df 1.39, GFI 0.91, TLI 0.96, CFI 0.97,
RMSEA 0.04) (Hair et al., 2010). An acceptable ratio for w2/df value (i.e. o3) was
achieved (Hair et al., 2010). The fit indices for GFI, TLI, and CFI were all above
the threshold of 0.90 for satisfactory model fit (Hu and Bentler, 1999). Further, the
indicators of residuals were also found to be low (RMSEA 0.04). The convergent
validity of the measurement model was assessed based on the statistical significance of
factor loading, average variance extracted (AVE), and composite reliability (CR)
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981). As shown in Table II, each factor loading of the reflective

Construct No. of items Item loadings Construct reliability Variance extracted

Corporate associations 4 0.63-0.76** 0.81 0.52

Corporate activities 2 0.66-0.73** 0.65 0.49
Corporate values 2 0.83-0.87** 0.83 0.72
Corporate personalities 3 0.66-0.73** 0.75 0.50
Functional benefits 2 0.64-0.66** 0.59 0.42
Symbolic benefits 4 0.75-0.82** 0.86 0.60
Emotional attachment 7 0.62-0.82** 0.89 0.53
Brand loyalty 3 0.67-0.86** 0.83 0.63
Table II.
Reliability and validity Notes: Final measurement model: w2 408.93, w2/df 1.386, GFI 0.905, TLI 0.959, CFI 0.966,
of measures RMSEA 0.037. **po0.001
 indicators was significant at po0.05 and all loadings exceeded the recommended level Luxury fashion
of 0.50 (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). All scales met the acceptable CR and AVE values of 0.70 branding
and 0.50, respectively, except for corporate activities (CR 0.65, AVE 0.49) and
functional benefit (CR 0.59, AVE 0.42) (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Fornell and Larcker,
1981). Both constructs have only two measurement items which might contribute to
the low CR and AVE score. However, AVE is not the only diagnostic measure to assess
convergent validity (Hatcher, 1994). Given that the factor loading for functional benefit 415
and corporate activities achieved adequate evidence of convergent validity, these two
constructs were retained for further analysis. Collectively, these tests indicated that the
convergent validity of the adopted constructs was generally acceptable.
Discriminant validity was assessed using a procedure advocated by Fornell and
Larcker (1981) whereby discriminant validity is supported when the AVE of each
construct exceeds the corresponding squared inter-construct correlations estimate.
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Findings showed that the highest shared variance (squared correlation) between
the investigated constructs was 0.45 (between corporate personalities and corporate
values), while all of the AVE scores (except for functional benefit scale) exceeded 0.48.
As the AVE scores for the corporate personalities and corporate values were 0.50 and
0.72, respectively, discriminant validity was established for each of the constructs
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

Hypotheses testing
The analysis of the hypothesized structural model demonstrated an acceptable
model fit to data (w2 451.19, w2/df 1.50, TLI 0.95, CFI 0.96, RMSEA 0.04). The
specified structural model explains 54 per cent of the total variance in emotional
attachment and 40 per cent of the variance in brand loyalty. These findings suggest
that the constructs and the specified paths account for a significant portion of the
variance in the endogenous constructs posited. The effect of customer emotional
attachment on brand loyalty was positive (b 0.32, po0.001), supporting H1. This
means that when customers are more emotionally attached to the brand, they are more
likely to be loyal towards the brand. Among the six corporate branding dimensions
examined, three hypothesized paths had significant influence on customer emotional
attachment. Specifically, corporate associations (b 0.23, po0.05), functional
benefits (b 0.22, po0.05), and symbolic benefits (b 0.39, po0.001) each has a
positive effect on customer emotional attachment, indicating that when customers have
a more positive attitude towards corporate associations, functional benefits, and
symbolic benefits, they are more likely to develop an emotional attachment towards
the brand. Hence, supporting H2a, H6a, and H7a. The path coefficients for the
relationship between corporate activities (b 0.01, p40.05), corporate values
(b 0.06, p40.05), corporate personalities (b 0.18, p40.05), and customer
emotional attachment were not significant. Therefore, H3a, H4a, and H5a were not
supported. In addition, the results revealed that corporate association (b 0.31,
po0.01) and functional benefits (b 0.34, po0.01) had an effect on loyalty. In spite of
its statistical significance, the sign for the relationship between corporate association
and loyalty was the opposite of the hypothesized direction. Therefore, only H6b was
supported whereas H2b was not supported. Results further show that corporate
activities (b 0.03, p40.05), corporate values (b 0.21, p40.05), corporate
personalities (b 0.13, p40.05), and symbolical benefit (b 0.09, p40.05) did not
influence brand loyalty; hence H3b, H4b, H5b, and H6b were not supported.
A summary of the results of the hypothesized structural model is shown in Table III.
 JFMM Hypothesized paths Sample (n 282) estimate
17,4
Corporate associations-Emotional attachment 0.23*
Corporate activities-Emotional attachment 0.01
Corporate values-Emotional attachment 0.06
Corporate personalities-Emotional attachment 0.18
416 Functional benefits-Emotional attachment 0.22*
Symbolic benefits-Emotional attachment 0.39***
Emotional attachment-Brand loyalty 0.32***
Corporate associations-Brand loyalty 0.31**
Corporate activities-Brand loyalty 0.03
Corporate values-Brand loyalty 0.21
Corporate personalities-Brand loyalty 0.13
Functional benefits-Brand loyalty 0.34**
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Symbolic benefits-Brand loyalty 0.09

R2 (emotional attachment) 0.54
Table III. R2 (brand loyalty) 0.40
Structural parameter
estimates Notes: *po0.05; **po0.01; ***po0.001

Findings and discussion

Overall, the results of this study indicate the unexpectedly limited effectiveness of
corporate branding on customer emotional attachment. Although the findings show
that customers emotional attachment positively drive their brand loyalty, the results do
not fully support the hypothesis that corporate branding effectively enhances a
customers emotional attachment. This finding indicates that corporate branding
might be only one of the several antecedents driving a customers emotional
attachment towards brands. As predicted, the findings suggest that managers can
achieve customers brand loyalty through cultivating higher levels of emotional
attachment. Specifically, the results indicate that this could be achieved through
nurturing customers favourable perceptions towards corporate associations,
functional benefits, and symbolical benefits. The research findings found evidence
for both types of corporate benefit to be influential factors in determining customer
emotional attachment. These results suggest that luxury brands need to continuously
deliver superior functional benefits and symbolical benefits to build stronger emotional
attachments towards brands to achieve brand loyalty. When brands offer superior
utilitarian and hedonic functionality, they are perceived to be irreplaceable by the
customers. As customers become increasingly reliant on these brands, they can
become more emotionally attached to the brands (Fournier, 1998). A luxury brand can
reinforce its functional benefits through enhancing basic product qualities such as
durability, practicality, and design (Moore and Birtwistle, 2005). Functional benefits
aside, brand managers can also increase customer attachment towards brands through
reinforcing their brands symbolical benefits by sustaining the heightened status of
extravagance and elitism through the notion of scarcity (Chevalier and Mazzalovo,
2008; Moore and Birtwistle, 2004).
The results further show that customers perceived corporate associations are
crucial determinant of their emotional attachment. Therefore, it is important for
managers to maintain favourable corporate associations among customers through
various strategies such as enriching customers shopping experience and effective
use of celebrity endorsement (Keller, 1999; Valey, 2009). Unexpectedly, corporate
 associations were found to impact on brand loyalty negatively while affecting Luxury fashion
emotional attachment positively. One possible explanation could be that unless one has branding
established emotional attachments that reinforce the knowledge and long-term
relationship, which are an integral part of association, the associations are seen as
spurious for direct loyalty. An alternative explanation could be that this observation is
specific to the sample collected, i.e. a unique characteristic of the respondents recruited
for this study. Data for this study were collected in three shopping malls in Klang 417
Valley where high-end consumers can be found (Euromonitor International, 2011). In
comparison to mass-market luxury consumers, high-end luxury shoppers demonstrate
higher knowledge and brand awareness. This group of consumers pays more attention
to the detailing of the product such as stitching and types of skin used in making the
luxury products instead of corporate associations with prestige and status during
luxury brand purchase (Euromonitor International, 2011). It could also be that the
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present samples did not feel that the brands selected in this research possessed
outstandingly favourable corporate associations that could influence their loyalty
towards the brand. Under these circumstances, the relationship between customers
perceived corporate associations and brand loyalty can be explained. However, these
speculations need to be investigated in future research.
Contrary to expectation, no empirical support is found for corporate activities,
corporate values, and corporate personalities making a distinct impact on both
emotional attachment and brand loyalty. There are several potential explanations
to these observations. From the results obtained, corporate values were found to have
limited contribution towards the competitive advantage of a firm. In the luxury fashion
setting, many brands have similar corporate values to guide the operation of the
firm. For example, the corporate values of LVMH place an emphasis on product
excellence, creativity, and innovativeness; Burberry strives for highest quality
standards, and innovation; Gucci Group focuses on high-quality merchandise and
controlled distribution (Burberry, 2010; LVMH Group, 2010; Moore and Birtwistle,
2005). From a customers perspective, these corporate values might have lost their
distinctive competitive advantages in helping shape a unique corporate identity for
luxury firms. Hence, failing to cultivate customer emotional attachment and drive
brand loyalty in the luxury market.
The current study also suggests that the effect of corporate personalities on
emotional attachment and brand loyalty is not supported. This finding is somewhat
perplexing, as more favourably perceived corporate personalities should strengthen
customers self-identification with the brand (Malar et al., 2011) hence increasing
their emotional attachment and brand loyalty. The contradictory finding may be
explained by the approach whereby the corporate personalities construct is measured
in this research. This study conceptualizes corporate personalities into five broad
dimensions based on Aakers (1997) widely applied brand personality model. Aaker
(1997) suggests that brand personality comprises of five personality traits including
sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. While the proposed
framework of brand personality by Aaker (1997) captures a wide range of personality
traits, this study might not have included sufficient items that distinguish the different
corporate personalities portrayed by each luxury brand included in this research. For
example, Gucci has positioned itself with sophistication and lustre whereas Burberry
portrays the English lifestyle of modern edginess and elitism (Okonkwo, 2007). The
broad conceptualization of corporate personality might contribute to corporate
personalities perplexing effect on customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty.
 JFMM Therefore, researchers may consider focusing on only one brand or a few brands with
17,4 comparable corporate personalities in future research when studying the impact of
corporate personalities on customer emotional attachment and loyalty.
From our empirical results, the hypothesized impact of corporate activities on
customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty was also not supported. These
findings are at first glance surprising given that corporate activities such as
418 advertising and communications are prevalently used in the luxury fashion industry to
encourage customer loyalty behaviour (Okonkwo, 2007). However, one explanation
for this observation might be the overly cluttered marketing environment surrounding
luxury customers. As competition among firms to capture customers attention in the
luxury fashion market is rife, customers have been bombarded with irrelevant
information and marketing messages (De Chernatony and McDonald, 2003; Newlin,
2009). To avoid being constantly harassed by excessive marketing noise, customers
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have learned to adopt selective attention towards marketing messages (De Chernatony
and McDonald, 2003). As a result, a firms efforts in branding activities are unlikely
to capture customer interest (Newlin, 2009) which provides an explanation for corporate
activities ineffectiveness in building customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty.

Contributions, implications, and future research

The implementation of corporate branding has become a norm in the luxury fashion
industry. Despite the importance of understanding the extent to which corporate
branding strategy influences customer behaviour, this area of fashion marketing
management has remained largely unexplored (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller,
2009). Rather, a review of relevant literature showed that the majority of the studies
done on luxury fashion branding took a managerial perspective (Kapferer and Bastien,
2009). As such, this study contributes to the luxury fashion marketing management
literature through investigating the mechanisms that drive customer loyalty through
corporate branding strategy from the customers perspective. The tested model
captures the potential contribution of the multi-faceted corporate branding effort in
cultivating customer emotional attachment, which contributes towards brand loyalty.
By incorporating customer emotional attachment as an antecedent of brand loyalty,
the proposed framework expands the current understanding of the impact of corporate
branding on customers, in the luxury fashion sector. While corporate branding efforts
are expected to increase customer emotional attachment and brand loyalty, the results
of this study indicate that this might not be as straightforward as the literature
would suggest. Based on the empirical findings, the influence of corporate branding
strategy on premium customers in the luxury fashion market was found to be fairly
limited. While this study supports many researchers (e.g. Grisaffe and Nguyen, 2011;
Park et al., 2010) who argue that customer emotional attachment drives brand
loyalty in the luxury fashion market; based on the results obtained, firms are cautioned
not to regard corporate branding strategy as the only strategic tool for achieving
strong emotional attachment. Among the six dimensions of corporate branding,
corporate associations, functional benefits, and symbolical benefits were found to be
effective in driving customer emotional attachment. As such, this study indicates that
luxury retailers should dedicate resources to enhance customers perceptions about
corporate associations, functional benefits, and symbolical benefits in order to build
stronger emotional attachment. Our finding that supports the role of functional
benefits in driving both emotional attachment and brand loyalty further highlights
the significance of utilitarian function as the foundation to a sustainable
 customer-brand relationship in the long term. Therefore, managers who want to Luxury fashion
increase brand loyalty among customers should prioritize resources into making branding
premium quality luxury offerings.
Although this study has provided valuable findings on the relationships between
corporate branding, customer emotional attachment, and brand loyalty, several
limitations must be noted and these provide some suggestions for future study. First,
this study only samples from shoppers in the Klang Valley. Although the sample of 419
participants might be an accurate reflection of the population of luxury shoppers in
Malaysia, it is not representative of the entire population. More importantly, findings
from this study might not be generalizable to luxury shoppers in other countries. As
such, future studies might consider testing the proposed framework in other cultural
settings. Second, this is a cross-sectional study whereby findings represent a snapshot
scenario of the development of customer emotional attachment towards brands
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through corporate branding. It could be worthwhile for future research to conduct a

longitudinal study in examining emotional attachment development over time to
uncover any changes in a customers attachment level towards brands as a result of
corporate branding efforts. Third, this study might not incorporate all possible
variables that could impact on the process of building emotional attachment
through corporate branding efforts. For example, factors such as customer relationship
proneness, customer involvement could be included in future studies to draw
more conclusive and comprehensive findings on the effect of corporate branding
on emotional attachment for the luxury industry. Finally, incorporating other
important relationship marketing constructs, such as customer trust, could further
extend the proposed framework. Trust is often considered a key component of an
enduring relationship, without which emotional attachment might cease to exist
(Lau and Lee, 1999).
Nevertheless, this study has shown that there is a role for corporate branding and
for emotional attachment in constructing brand loyalty in the luxury fashion
sector. Marketing executives must pay attention to these important constructs if they
are to help achieve the profits firms desire in a fiercely competitive sector of the
fashion industry.

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About the authors 423

Jing Theng So is a PhD candidate in the Department of Marketing at Monash University,
Australia. Her primary areas of research include relationship marketing, consumer behaviour,
branding and incentive programmes. Jing Theng So is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: So.jing.theng@gmail.com
Prof. Andrew Grant Parsons is Professor of Retailing and Head of the Department of
Marketing, Advertising, Retailing, and Sales at Auckland University of Technology. His research
Downloaded by Cornell University Library At 11:10 26 October 2016 (PT)

focuses on shopper responses to marketing stimuli.

Dr Sheau-Fen Yap is a Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Auckland University of Technology,
New Zealand. Her present research centres on social marketing, with specific interests in health
marketing and sustainability issues. Her research interests also span technology adoption. She
has published and presented several papers in international journals and conferences.

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