This paper aims to investigate, for the first time, the mediating effect of brand love on word of mouth through brand experience, by using a comparative study of the IKEA brand in Sweden and Portugal. It also explores how the perceived functional and hedonic brand values mediate the effects of brand experience and brand love. The data collection was done via an online survey of real users of the brand IKEA in Portugal and Sweden. The paper suggests that brand love mediates the relationship between brand experience and word of mouth in both countries. This study also identifies differences in the effects of the sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual brand dimension in brand love. Additionally, it is suggested that consumer-brand relationship duration, genre, and education levels influence brand love. This paper contributes to the fast-growing consumer-brand relationships literature by exploring the role of brand love in the context of retail brands. It also intends to provide a better understanding of how to build and nurture effective brand experiences in order to elicit intense and passionate feelings towards retail brands.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse the antecedent (Consumer Involvement) and the consequences (Brand Connection and Brand Usage Intent [BUI]) of the three dimensions of Consumer Brand Engagement (CBE) (Cognitive Processing, Affection and Activation) in luxury brand engagement on Facebook. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by fans/followers of luxury brands’ Facebook pages. The empirical study was conducted using structural equation modelling. Findings: Consumer Involvement has a positive impact on the three dimensions of CBE (Cognitive Processing, Affection and Activation). This leads to the conclusion that Activation and Affection have an impact both on Self-Brand Connection and on BUI. Moreover, it was found that Cognitive Processing impacts only on BUI. Practical implications: The results identified the factors which brand managers should focus on to increase CBE on Facebook. Originality/value: This study is a pioneer, as it extends the consumer engagement model to the social media context in a hedonic and conspicuous consumption category which includes luxury brand products.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to place the antecedents and consequences of brand hate in the context of negative consumer–brand relationship in the telecommunication industry. It provides a response to the existing gap in the research on brand hate in consumer behavior in service brands.Design/methodology/approach: A survey-based data was modeled after theory that aims to apply concepts to the telecommunications industry. With a solid model grounded and context-adapted, a mediation analysis of the role of brand hate in negative antecedents and consequences toward brands was performed.Findings: Brand hate was found to mediate all the negative relationships proposed, while showing to be especially significant in mediating negative word of mouth. This model appropriately fits the services' marketing brand and revealed new insights into the function of brand hate in negative relationships that are specific to service marketing consumer brands.Research limitations/implications: Branding theory may benefit from deeper insights into the negative side of consumer–brand relationships. A broader illustration of its constituents in different industries and the recovery of the management approach to these circumstances bring innovation and a richer understanding, specially to the role of brand hate in the mediation context as seen in the literature (Hegner et al., 2017; Zarantonello et al., 2016)Practical implications: Managerial implications include assessing brands in analyzing and relating to different emotions and concepts from customers, allowing to prioritize and mapping the customer relationship touchpoints.Originality/value: The present study presents a first insight of brand hate in the context of the service industry of telecommunications in southern Europe while testing brand hate as a mediator involving negative predictors leading to negative outcomes in consumer–brand relationships.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly aware of the importance of brand equity for brand strategy. Earlier research has disregarded the eWOM of HEIs, so this study furthers our understanding of the importance of eWOM on the creation and leverage of HEIs’ brand equity. A qualitative approach was adopted, with semi-structured interviews targeting Higher Education students from the same institution but different nationalities and study programmes. The interviews were transcribed and examined following the principles of thematic content analysis. The findings show that positive eWOM positively influences brand equity, whereas negative eWOM has a minor influence on brand equity. Furthermore, it was found that firm-generated eWOM has equivalent or even more credibility than user-generated eWOM in affecting HEIs’ brand equity. This study contributes to the literature by offering an inductively generated theoretical model to guide future research on the links between eWOM and brand equity in HEIs.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents and consequences of social media fashion influencer's (SMFI) diffusion of fashion information. This study proposes and examines following research questions: What motivates SMFI to share fashion information? In what way shared fashion information impact SMFI?Design/methodology/approach: This study uses semi-structured interviews with SMFI to learn about their relationships with followers. It then conducts a survey of 510 SMFI in Portugal. The data are analyzed by structural equation modeling.Findings: The results indicate that intrinsic motivation can develop a SMFIs' fashion leadership, while the SMFIs' perceived usability of fashion blogs does not. The authors also find a self-serving bias among SMFI.Research limitations/implications: SMFIs' fashion leadership is associated with the intrinsic motivations of sharing and helping other consumers make fashion decisions, which indicates that marketers can improve their results through using opinion SMFI to assist fashion consumers in purchasing decisions. Further studies should explore the processes adopted by fashion consumers to evaluate SMFI.Originality/value: This study helps to understand the antecedents and consequences of fashion diffusion by SMFIs. In particular, the research helps the marketers to understand how the bonds between SMFIs and followers are nurtured.