Linking motivational regulation to brand passion in a moderated model of customer gender and age: an organismic integration theory perspective

Prior marketing investigations broadly capture brand passion by linking it to either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. However, the effects of specific extrinsic motives (i.e., identified, introjected, and external) on the formation of brand passion have been neglected in the marketing literature. Furthermore, whether gender and age can differentiate the effects of different types of motivation on brand passion is entirely unknown. To address these gaps, the present study seeks to deepen our understanding of consumer brand passion by utilizing concepts from Organismic Integration Theory. When intrinsic motivation and the three types of extrinsic motivation (identified, introjected, and external) were assessed, external motivation was found to have the greatest effect on consumer brand passion. The moderation results suggest that intrinsic motivation better captures the brand passion of women than that of men, while external motivation appears to be more salient for men than for women. The moderation of age reveals that external motivation is more capable of capturing the brand passion of older customers, while introjected motivation is more promising for increasing brand passion among young customers. Finally, the authors provide an in-depth discussion of future research opportunities and this study’s limitations and implications for theory and practice.