Linking Luxury Brand Experience and Brand Attachment Through Self-Brand Connections: A Role-Theory Perspective

The importance of brand experience in the luxury context has been increasingly gaining attention recently, due to the need to provide consumer with unique moments of connection. This research builds on the growing body of literature, in an attempt to identify the brand attachment’s contribution to that and how self-brand connections can be affecting the process, and also examine the influence of luxury values, national values and human personality on brand attachment. Role theory is used as an underlying theory, specifically analysing consumer’s identity, role formation and role enactment. Using a questionnaire-based survey for existing luxury customers, the findings indicate that brand attachment positively impacts brand experience, through the mediating role of self-brand connections and highlight the positive influence of luxury and national values play, and the negative of human personality. The results demonstrate the importance of brand attachment as a tool to create strong experiences, and indicate managerial implications for consumers’ selves’ connections to luxury brands.