96-039
REVIVING BRAND LOYALTY: A RECONCEPTUALIZATION WITHIN THE
FRAMEWORK OF CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIPS
Susan Fournier and Julie L. Yao
This paper draws upon concepts in the interpersonal relationships domain to
redefine and extend the notion of brand loyalty. True to fundamental relationship
principles, a meaning-based, temporal, and contextual perspective is adopted. Depth
interviews among eight coffee-consuming adults who qualified as brand loyalty by
traditional criteria provide the data. The result is a deeper appreciation of the process
dynamics that govern brand loyalty over time, the multi-faceted character of brand loyal
relations, and the measures that may best capture the intentions of the original construct.
Ideas stemming from a conceptualization of "loyalty" as one component of relationship
strength present in all consumer-brand relationships are put forth, encouraging a move
from the metaphor of "loyalty" to the broader notion of ÒrelationshipsÓ that
encompasses it.
MKT
48 pages
Complete Text (Acrobat PDF Version)[HBS Only]
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