Leveraging Brand Equity through Brand Love and Brand Respect: A Conceptual Extension through Lovemarks Theory

Purpose: In the twenty-first century, firms must continuously work on how to improve brand equity. This study applies the lovemarks theory to examine the direct relationships between brand love, brand respect, brand advocacy, and brand equity. The study also investigates the indirect relationship of brand advocacy between brand love and brand equity, and between brand respect and brand equity. Design and Methodology: Data was gathered from 350 smartphone users through a structured questionnaire adapted from the literature to test the model in the context of the smartphone industry by using the non-probability sampling method. The confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation technique (SEM) were evaluated using SPSS 20.0v and AMOS. Findings: Results of the study revealed that meritoriously dealing with two elements of lovemarks i.e., brand love and brand respect is of paramount significance in building brand equity in the case of smartphone brands.  The results indicate that brand love and brand respect directly affect brand equity while brand advocacy has a mediation impact between brand love and brand equity, between brand respect and brand equity. Implications: This study added to the domain of branding literature by theoretically and empirically evaluating the antecedents of lovemarks theory in the context of smartphone brands. The paper has managerial implications for companies to spot crucial factors that may help them to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage through building brand equity and proposes significant aspects for managers to consider while developing strategies for consumers.