Consumer‐retailer emotional attachment: Some antecedents and the moderating role of attachment anxiety

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate loyalty building and the creation of affectionate bonds in the consumer‐firm dyad. Design/methodology/approach: The study relies on face‐to‐face personal interviews in the context of grocery store retailing. Findings: The results identify the significant predictors of consumer‐firm emotional attachment to be firm trust, trust in employees, likeability of service personnel and likeability of co‐consumers, shopping enjoyment, self‐expressiveness, place dependence, and place identity. Consumers' self‐enrichment, self‐gratification and self‐enablement likely influence emotional attachment, which in turn is a strong predictor of behavioral loyalty and word of mouth. Attachment anxiety appears to multiply the effects of emotional attachment on behavioral loyalty and word of mouth. Research limitations/implications: The cross‐sectional nature of the study precludes definitive conclusions concerning causality between the constructs utilized. The data come from the supermarket retail channel, limiting the generalizibility of the results. Practical implications: As the results suggest that the consumer's self‐enrichment seems to be the most important factor in determining emotional attachment, managers should incorporate the notion of emotional attachment into strategic performance management systems. Originality/value: The study incorporates the notion of consumer heterogeneity into the relationship anxiety construct, arguing in favor of a non‐additive consumer‐firm emotional attachment nomological network.