An Alternative Scale of Emotional Attachment

Emotional attachment (EA) is defined as the emotional bond connecting an individual with a specific target (Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005). Recent research has stressed the importance of EA in the marketing domain (e.g. Park, and MacInnis 2006; Ariely, Huber, and Wertenbroch 2005). Marketing scholars acknowledge the importance of the study of attachment because of its relation to desirable marketing consequences. It has been shown that attachment is related to trust, commitment, and satisfaction (Rempel, Ross, and Holmes 2001; Spake, Beatty, Brockman, and Neal 2003; Thomson 2006; Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005), consumer defections (Liljander and Strandvik 1995), consumer’s forgiveness (Ahluwalia, Unnava, and Burnkrant 2001), disposal choice (Walker 2006), brand loyalty and willingness to pay (Thomson, McInnis, and Park 2005). Also, attachment has been proposed as a mediator (e.g., Novemsky and Kahneman 2005) of the effects of intentions on loss aversion, or a moderator for loss aversion (e.g., Ariely, Huber, and Wertenbroch 2005).