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The role of functional and A study on

luxury brands
symbolic brand associations on
brand loyalty
467
A study on luxury brands
Received 7 February 2015
Fariba Esmaeilpour Revised 21 June 2015
Department of Business Management, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Accepted 25 June 2015

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of functional (perceived quality)
and symbolic (personality congruence, user imagery congruence, brand prestige and brand tribalism)
brand associations in attitude and brand loyalty of Generation Y’s consumers towards two categories
of luxury fashion brands.
Design/methodology/approach – A structural equation modeling method is employed in this
research based on data collected from 450 individuals born between 1977 and 1994 in Iran. Watches
and sunglasses are two luxury product categories chosen in this study.
Findings – The findings of the study reveal that perceived quality is the better predictor of brand
attitude and brand loyalty. Personality congruence (mediated by perceived brand quality), brand
prestige (mediated by perceived brand quality and brand attitude) and brand tribalism (mediated by
brand attitude) have an indirect positive effect on brand loyalty.
Research limitations/implications – Due to the historical delay in the entrance and publicity
of modern information and communication technologies in Iran compared with the western societies,
the studied generation in this paper might not be completely conformed to the mentioned
characteristics of Generation Y in terms of using media.
Originality/value – This study combines consumer-based and community approaches of creation
and management of brand to examine loyalty towards luxury fashion brands in Generation Y’s
consumers as an attractive segment for luxury brands.
Keywords Brand loyalty, Generation Y, Brand attitude, Brand tribalism, Personality congruence,
Perceived quality, Brand prestige, Brand user imagery congruence
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
The meaning of a brand exists in the minds of consumers (Homer, 2008). Brands can
provide the primary points of differentiation between competitive offerings (Wood,
2000; Molina et al., 2009; Li, 2010) that help companies to develop loyalty (Reisenwitz
and Gupta, 2011). Decreased marketing and operating costs, positive word of mouth,
price premium, growth of per-customer revenue, low probability of switching to
competitors (Lee and Back, 2009), representing a barrier to entry and against
detrimental price competition (Aaker, 1996, p. 106), positive influence on customer
retention, repurchase, long-term customer relationships (Reisenwitz and Gupta, 2011)
and generating higher corporate profits (Hsieh and Li, 2008) are some benefits of loyal
customers for a firm.
The goal of many organizations is building a strong brand with significant
Journal of Fashion Marketing and
equity which can provide greater customer loyalty to a firm (Keller, 2001). Brand Management
equity is defined in terms of the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the Vol. 19 No. 4, 2015
pp. 467-484
brand (Keller, 1993, p. 1). Aaker presented four common sources of brand equity © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1361-2026
including brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty DOI 10.1108/JFMM-02-2015-0011
JFMM (Hsu et al., 2012; Panchal et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2008). He also established other
19,4 proprietary brand assets as fifth dimension of brand equity which include patents,
trademarks and channel relationships (Kim et al., 2008). Brand managers consider
many product related and non-product related dimensions in positioning their brands
to form and maintain loyalty. These dimensions work through creating eligible,
strong and unique brand associations in consumers’ minds (Eren-Erdogmus and
468 Budeyri-Turan, 2012).
This study focuses on luxury brand loyalty in Generation Y. Generations
are distinguishable groups of individuals that experience a common history and main
life events at critical developmental stages (Lee et al., 2012). Definitions of Generation
Y boundaries are different in disparate records. For example, Generation Ys were
considered as those born between 1978 and 2002 by Campton and Hodge, 1978 and
1995 by The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association Office of Diversity,
1980 and 2002 by Kersten (Lee et al., 2012), 1977 and 1999 according to the classification
into generational cohorts of Lancaster and Stillman (Marinelli et al., 2014) or 1977 and
1994 by Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan,
2012; Eren-Erdogmus et al., 2015).
Generation Y’s tens of millions members worldwide represents a high value for
global youth market because of its size and considerable buying power (Belleau et al.,
2007). During last two decades, numerous researches have been done on consumption
behaviour of Generation Y (Noble et al., 2009) and some claimed they are love to shop
(Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012) and group belonging (Eren-Erdogmus et al.,
2015). Generation Y accesses to varied media tools and this is caused more brand
conscious in this generation compared to previous generations (Eren-Erdogmus and
Budeyri-Turan, 2012). In present study, Generation Y is considered who born between
1977 and 1994 and includes more than one-third of Iran’s population[1].
A luxury brand goes beyond functionality and emphasizes the status and image
of an individual. A brand should have five values in order to be considered as luxury;
conspicuous value, unique value, social value, hedonic value and quality value. Most
luxury fashion brands provide all these five values that shape a brands’ overall image
(Liu et al., 2012, p. 927).
Symbolic values associated with luxury brands are key motivations behind
purchasing luxury brands. The contribution of this study is combining consumer-
based and community approaches of creation and management of brand to examine
luxury brands loyalty in Generation Y’s consumers as an attractive segment of
luxury market. Consumer-based approach suggests that the brand resides in
the mind of the individual consumer as a cognitive construal. It means that the
consumer owns the brand and thereby controls its value creation. In this approach,
brand strength equals strong, unique and favourable associations in the minds of its
consumers. In the community approach, brand value is created in brand communities
where a brand serves as the pivotal point of social interaction among consumers.
This approach is related to the social context of consumption (Heding et al., 2009).
This study examine the role of symbolic (personality congruence, user imagery
congruence, brand prestige and brand tribalism) and functional (perceived quality)
brand associations in creating Generation Y’s brand loyalty towards luxury brands.
Variables of personality congruence, user imagery congruence, brand prestige and
perceived quality by focusing on brand image from consumer-based approach
and variable of brand tribalism from community approach (Heding et al., 2009)
are examined simultaneously.
2. Research model and conceptual framework A study on
2.1 Brand loyalty luxury brands
Loyalty is a core dimension of brand equity (Aaker, 1996, p. 105). Brand loyalty as
the holy grail of brand equity (Beneke and Zimmerman, 2014) is the attachment of
a consumer towards a brand (Kim et al., 2008; Chahal and Bala, 2010; Hsu et al., 2012;
Tran et al., 2013) even after changing the price or product features (Reisenwitz and
Gupta, 2011). According to Jacoby, loyalty is a biased behavioural purchase process that 469
results from a psychological process (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003) and excludes
random repeat of purchasing (Homburg and Giering, 2001). Loyal customers have a
strong commitment to a brand, because they believe that brand is more satisfactory than
the alternatives (Holland and Baker, 2001). Brand loyalty has been defined based on
the belief, attitude and intention structure of consumers for a certain brand by Jacoby
and Chestnut (Lee et al., 2009). In another view, customers with high experience level and
involvement with a certain product category will tend to be brand loyal (Holland and
Baker, 2001). In a comprehensive definition, brand loyalty express by six sufficient
conditions. These are that brand loyalty is the biased (i.e. nonrandom), behavioral
response (i.e. purchase), expressed over time, by some decision-making unit, with respect
to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands and is a function of
psychological (decision making, evaluative) processes ( Jacoby and Kyner, 1973, p. 2).
In literature, brand loyalty has been divided into two categories: behavioural and
attitudinal loyalty (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Yang and Peterson, 2004; Kim et al.,
2008; Lee and Back, 2009; Chahal and Bala, 2010). Behavioural definitions of brand
loyalty represent repeat purchasing of a brand (Yang and Peterson, 2004; Lee and
Back, 2009; Chahal and Bala, 2010) such as amount of purchases, frequency of
purchase and amount of brand switching have been offered over a period of time
(Lewis and Soureli, 2006). Behavioural loyalty alone is not enough to explain how
various buying situations provoke buying the same brand by consumer. So, behaviour
must be attended with positive attitude. Attitudinal loyalty refers to strong cognitive
elements (Chahal and Bala, 2010) which influence affective loyalty. Affective loyalty
also impacts on conative loyalty which cause customers’ intentions (Lewis and Soureli,
2006) or commitment in terms of some unique values associated with the brand (Yang
and Peterson, 2004; Lee and Back, 2009).

2.2 Research model

The research frame is shaped by considering and combining the models of
Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan (2012), Liu et al. (2012) and Taute and Sierra (2014).
Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan (2012) presented a structural model which examined
the role of personality congruence, perceived quality and prestige on ready-to-wear brand
loyalty from the perspective of Generation Y consumers. Liu et al. (2012) examined the
influences of three self-congruity constructs including the brand’s personality congruity,
the brand’s user imagery congruity and the brand’s usage imagery congruity, on
consumers’ attitude and brand loyalty towards two luxury fashion brands. Taute and
Sierra (2014) also investigated the impact of four dimensions of brand tribalism on
attitude towards the brand and repurchase intentions.

2.3 Brand attitude and brand loyalty

Brand attitudes are defined as consumers’ overall evaluations of a brand. Brand
attitudes are important because they often form the basis for consumer behaviour
(Keller, 1993, p. 4). The positive influence of attitude towards the brand on brand
JFMM loyalty is empirically proved (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012; Liu et al.,
19,4 2012), as a low relative attitude accompanied with low repeat patronage represents
no loyalty (Lee and Back, 2009). So, loyalty towards a brand can be considered as an
outcome of effectively managing attitude towards the brand (Liu et al., 2012).
According to Oliver, positive attitude is the beginning of a transition process that
climaxes in a loyalty state (Back, 2005). Then:
470 H1. Brand attitude has a significant and positive effect on brand loyalty in luxury
brands for Generation Y consumers.
2.4 Perceived quality
Perceived quality is one of the key dimensions of brand equity (Aaker, 1996, p. 109) and
is defined as the consumer’s judgement about the superiority or excellence of a product
(Zeithaml, 1988, p. 3) from the product’s intrinsic and extrinsic attributes (Holbrook,
1999; Sanchez-Fernandez and Iniesta-Bonillo, 2009; Molina et al., 2009), appearance and
performance (Swinker and Hines, 2006). Intrinsic quality cues include physical
characteristics of the product and characteristics such as brand name, price,
advertisement and label are related to extrinsic quality cues ( Jover et al., 2004).
From another view, there are two standards for product quality; subjective quality
(quality as perceived by the consumer) and objective quality (Molina et al., 2009). Perceived
product quality play a mediator role between extrinsic cues and perceived customer value
quality (Tsiotsou, 2006). It is one important factor that influence consumer preference
(Kayaman and Arasli, 2007; Liu et al., 2014) and results from the comparison of consumer’s
intended purpose with the actual performance (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012;
Panchal et al., 2012). Aaker and Keller believed perceived quality in the branding context
can be both the customer’s perception of overall quality and an intangible, overall
feeling about the brand (Hsu et al., 2012, p. 83). Aaker (1996) stated that perceived
quality reported by the loyal customers. He believed, the customers are tend to become
loyal to a brand which its offer is based on high quality (Hsu et al., 2012; Eren-Erdogmus
and Budeyri-Turan, 2012). Then:
H2. Perceived brand quality has a significant and positive effect on brand loyalty in
luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
Brand attitudes can be related to perceived quality (Keller, 1993). According to Kirmani
and Zeithalm remarks, the brand attitude is one of the results of perceived quality
along with perceived value and brand image (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan,
2012). Among these, perceived brand value is relatively more important for luxury
brands because consumers admit to purchase luxury brands when they perceive
sufficient value that countervail higher price (Chung et al., 2014). Customers may have
different perceptions of the quality of the same products or services. They evaluate
a product and service based on its quality and develop attitudes towards it
concurrently (Hyun and Kim, 2011). Then:
H3. Perceived brand quality has a significant and positive effect on brand attitude
in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
2.5 Personality congruence
Brand personality refers to the set of humanlike characteristics associated with a brand
(Keegan et al., 1995; Aaker, 1997; Keller, 2001). Personality of a brand such as sincerity,
excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness (Tran et al., 2013), through a
symbolic function (Bian and Moutinho, 2011), help a consumer to express his/her own
self or specific dimensions of the self (Aaker, 1997) and foster his/her identification A study on
(Stokburger-Sauer, 2011). Eren-Erdogmus et al. (2015) added “uniqueness” as a brand luxury brands
personality dimension for Generation Y. Uniqueness refers to assert one’s individual
identity (Solomon et al., 2006) and leads to acquisition, utilization and disposition of
consumer goods to show this differentiation (Eren-Erdogmus et al., 2015).
Self-concept motives of self-esteem and self-consistency motivate the congruence
(Biel, 1997; Malhotra, 1988). Self-congruence theory can explain a brand’s ability 471
to express one’s self-image. According to Self-congruence theory, consumers like to
compare themselves with a brand to see whether the brand matches their concept
of themselves (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012; Liu et al., 2012).
This comparison leads to the concept of actual congruence and ideal congruence
(Sirgy, 1985).
Four aspects of self-concept have been used in explaining and predicting attitude/
behaviour by researchers including; the actual self-image, the ideal self-image,
the social self-image and the ideal social self-image (Claiborne and Sirgy, 2015). While
the actual self-image refers to one’s realistic appraisal of his or her qualities, the ideal
self-image is related to one’s conception of how he or she would like to be (Sirgy, 1985;
Solomon et al., 2006). The social self-image also refers to how a person believes he or she
is seen and the ideal social self-image is defined as how a person would like to be seen
by others (Claiborne and Sirgy, 2015).
Consumers become loyal to brands that are congruent with their actual or ideal self
(Nienstedt et al., 2012; Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012; Liu et al., 2012).
Because brand Personality Congruence has a positive effect in brand attitude (Liu et al.,
2012), it plays a crucial role in brand adoption (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan,
2012). Then:
H4. Brand personality congruence has a significant and positive effect on brand
loyalty in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
H5. Brand personality congruence has a significant and positive effect on brand
attitude in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
Consumers who perceive congruence between themselves and the brand’s personality,
will evaluate the brand’s quality positively (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012):
H6. Personality congruence has a significant and positive relationship with perceived
quality in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
2.6 Brand prestige
Prestige refers to social rank (Cheng et al., 2013) and analogic self, and is related to
the motivation to achieve and keep a positive social identity (Fuller et al., 2006).
In Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Prestige defines as:
(1) standing or estimation in the eyes of people; weight or credit in general opinion; and
(2) commanding position people’s minds (Henrich and Gil-White, 2001, p. 168).
Prestige is the result of the evolution of direct social learning capacities in the human
phylum (Durham, 1991). Brand prestige is related to high status of product positioning
associated with a brand (Steenkamp et al., 2003; Hwang and Han, 2014) and can divide
consumers into inner and outer groups (Qi et al., 2014). Brand prestige can influence
consumers’ brand purchase intention through enhancing their confidence during brand
selection, and their social status and selfdom after brand purchase (Baek et al., 2010).
JFMM Brand prestige is a more salient concept than functional concepts (Lye et al., 2001).
19,4 It may be noteworthy for consumers because of its relation to their self-concepts
(Keller, 1998), wealth, power and social image (Alden et al., 1999). Consumption of
prestigious brands also creates value for the consumer through status and conspicuous
consumption, thus it has a positive effect on the consumers’ attitude and loyalty
(Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012). Then:
472 H7. Brand prestige has a significant and positive effect on brand loyalty in luxury
brands for Generation Y consumers.
H8. Brand prestige has a significant and positive effect on brand attitude in luxury
brands for Generation Y consumers.
Since prestigious brands can provide a reassurance to consumers according to
tradition, and enhance the value and utility of having and using a product, consumers
expect greater quality from a prestigious brand (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan,
2012). Vigneron and Johnson (1999) believed that consumers select prestigious brands
because they are looking for quality. Then:
H9. Brand prestige has a significant and positive relationship with perceived
quality in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
Consumers use brands for protection and enhancement of their self-concepts. In this
symbolic communication process, displaying intrinsic values (e.g. self-expression) or
extrinsic values (e.g. prestige) depends on whether the person is communicating with
itself or with its social environment (Grubb and Grathwohl, 1967). Previous studies
have also shown a positive relationship between personality congruence and brand
prestige (Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan, 2012). Then:
H10. Personality congruence has a significant and positive relationship with brand
prestige in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
2.7 Brand user imagery congruence
Self-image congruence encompasses user imagery. It is a broad and powerful
brand association that include both user image and self-concepts (Lee and Back,
2008; Kressmann et al., 2006; Rodriguez et al., 2012). User image refers to a
stereotyped perception of a typical user of a particular brand (Hosany and Martin,
2012). Brand user image and brand personality are considered as different concepts
(Avis, 2012). User image is defined as “the set of human characteristics or traits
associated with the typical user of a brand” (Aaker, 1997, p. 348) whereas brand
personality is developed based on interpreting the brand as having a human
personality (Liu et al., 2012).
From self-congruence theory, consumers behave after the congruence resulting
from a psychological comparison between the product-user image and the consumer’s
self-concept (Sirgy et al., 1997). Their attitudes towards products form based on their
evaluation of beliefs about product attributes and product user images (Sirgy, 1982).
Brand attitude based on cues pertaining to product-user image involves peripheral or
heuristic processing (Mangleburg et al., 1998). Brand user imagery congruence implies
the relationship between a buyer’s self-image and the perceived image of the user. This
construct uses to predict consumers’ attitude and purchase intentions towards brands
(Sirgy et al., 1997). Consumers tend to purchase a particular brand which has a
congruent user image with themselves (Liu et al., 2012). Liu et al. (2008, 2012) find that
brand user imagery congruence has a significant and positive effect on consumers’ A study on
brand attitude and brand loyalty. Then: luxury brands
H11. Brand user imagery congruence has a significant and positive effect on brand
loyalty in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
H12. Brand user imagery congruence has a significant and positive effect on brand
attitude in luxury brands for Generation Y consumers. 473
2.8 Brand tribalism
Brand communities and consumer brand relationships both are meant by their
commonalities. Such as all communities, brad community creates and negotiates the value
(Taute and Sierra, 2014). Harley Davidson devotees are one example of brand
communities. The emersion of the internet reinforce the idea that brands can create
consumer communities (Cova and White, 2010). Three features, namely consciousness of a
kind, rituals and traditions, and a sense of obligation to the community and its
members make different a brand community from other communities (Yoshida et al.,
2014). Strong brand relationships are known as tribes. A tribe is a social network of
heterogeneous individuals who linked together by shared emotion (Taute and Sierra,
2014). It is a social-cultural-ethnic entity and an association of kin groups which are
themselves composed of families (Sahlins, 1961). Sahlins (1961) offered Segmentary
lineage theory and separated out six important elements of segmentary lineage
organization which include lineality, segmentation, local-genealogical segmentation,
segmentary sociability, complementary opposition (or the massing effect) and
structural relativity. Taute and Sierra (2014) drew four facets from these six elements
to develop a new instrument to measure brand tribalism; sense of community
(the ability to consist in harmony), the existence of a social network, segmentary
lineage (threads tying of tribal segments together) and defense of the tribe (banding
of tribal members for opposing a stronger tribe or taking advantage of a weaker
tribe). Two last dimensions help distinguishing brand tribes from other kinds of
brand communities (Taute and Sierra, 2014).
Tribalism is a powerful force that creates belonging, identity, family, community,
teams and nations (Dixon, 2005). Prior studies has shown that identification with
a particular brand community has positive effect on loyalty to that brand (Cova and
White, 2010). Brand tribe is positively related to the consumer brand relationship which
can explain consumers’ thoughts and feelings about the brand. Since brand relationship
quality and identification with the brand community influence attitudes towards a brand
(Taute and Sierra, 2014), brand tribalism also influences brand attitudes. Then:
H13. Brand tribalism has a significant and positive effect on brand loyalty in luxury
brands for Generation Y consumers.
H14. Brand tribalism has a significant and positive effect on brand attitude in
luxury brands for Generation Y consumers.
The proposed model is given in Figure 1.

3. Research design
3.1 Sample and product selection
The data were derived from a sample of Islamic Azad university students. The relative
homogeneity of students in terms of their age, intelligence and income (Liu et al., 2012)
is one reason for choosing university students as sample in this study. The Islamic
JFMM
19,4 Perceived quality

H6
H2
H9 H3
474 Personality
congruence
H4

H5
H10

Brand H1
Brand
Brand prestige H8
attitude loyalty

H7
H12

User Imagery H11

Congruence
H14 H13

Figure 1. Brand tribalism

The proposed model

Azad University has the most share of student than other universities in Iran[2].
This study chose watches and sunglasses as two luxury product categories based on
interviews of experts and studies of O’Cass and Frost (2002) and Liu et al. (2012).

3.2 Instrument
A 35-item scale measuring was adopted from previous studies. All English items were
translated into Persian, and then back-translated by a second bilingual person to ensure
meaning consistency. For personality congruence, five-item measurement was adopted
from Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale. Participants evaluated the items both for
themselves and also for their most preferred luxury brand. The absolute differences
between brand personality and self-personality for each item subtracted from five
(as five-point scale was used) represent the respondent’s brand personality congruence.
The measurement for perceived quality and brand prestige was also adopted from
Eren-Erdogmus and Budeyri-Turan (2012). The measurement for perceived quality
includes eight statements and for brand prestige has four statements that are each
rated on a five-point Likert scale. The four-item measurement of brand user imagery
congruence was borrowed from Sirgy et al. (1997) and the eight-item measurement
of brand tribalism was developed based on Taute and Sierra (2014). Brand attitude
was measured by three items adopted from Sengupta and Johar (2002) and finally
brand loyalty was measured by three items adopted from Algesheimer et al. (2005).
The measurements scale of brand tribalism was examined by experts and was
validated its content. Since the scales (excluding scale pertaining brand tribalism) were
exactly borrowed from previous studies and represented the concept about which
generalizations were to be made, their content validity was assured (Eren-Erdogmus
and Budeyri-Turan, 2012) (Table I).
 Factor
A study on
Dimension/scale Items loading luxury brands
Personality congruence
Five-point scale, end terms being “very Sincerity 0.66
low (1)” and “very high (5)” Excitement 0.54
Competence 0.69 475
Sophistication 0.63
Ruggedness 0.70
Perceived quality
Five-point scale, end terms being It is elegant 0.68
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly It is attractive 0.60
agree (5)” Products having this brand’s name are of good
quality 0.78
The fabric used in this brand’s products is of good
quality 0.73
Its construction quality is good 0.81
Its products are flawless 0.68
Its products are durable 0.71
Its products are reliable 0.74
Brand prestige
Five-point scale, end terms being It represents the latest lifestyles 0.55
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly This brand is very prestigious 0.67
agree (5)” It tells something about one’s social status 0.82
It is associated with wealth 0.91
Brand user imagery congruence
Five-point scale, end terms being People who use this brand are much more like me
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly than people who use other brands 0.81
agree (5)” I can identify with those people who prefer this
brand over other brands 0.77
I am very much like the typical person who prefers
to use this brand rather than other brands 0.78
The image of the user of this brand is highly
consistent with how I see myself 0.69
Brand tribalism
Five-point scale, end terms being Owners or users of this brand have a bond 0.60
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly This brand owners or users are bound together 0.66
agree (5)” People who own or use this brand differentiate
themselves from non-owners or non-users of this
brand 0.72
I identify uniquely with others who own or use this
brand 0.77
Whenever this brand is put down, I react strongly 0.78
I won’t own or use any competitor of this brand 0.79
I see myself as part of this brand community 0.86
When the opportunity presents itself, I refer to
other owners or users of this brand as “us” or “we” 0.79 Table I.
Measurement of
independent and
(continued ) dependent variables
JFMM Factor
19,4 Dimension/scale Items loading

Brand attitude
Five-point scale, end terms being I think this brand is a very good product 0.81
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly I think this brand is a very useful product 0.80
476 agree (5)” My opinion of this brand is very favourable 0.90
Brand loyalty
Five-point scale, end terms being I intend to buy this brand in the near future 0.83
“strongly disagree (1)” and “strongly I would actively search for this brand in order to
agree (5)” buy it 0.85
Table I. I intend to buy other products of this brand 0.64

Table II shows the average variance extracted (AVE) for the model’s constructs.
The convergent validity was supported since factor loadings of all items in the
same construct were above 0.5 (Chin and Newsted, 1999). The discriminant validity of
all constructs was checked by the Fornell and Larcker’s formula and supported.
Discriminant validity will be supported when AVE scores for all factors are above 0.50,
and the square root of the AVE of each construct is larger than the correlation of the
specific construct with any of the other constructs in the model (Fornell and Larcker,
1981). In present study, for example, for the brand prestige, AVE score was 0.68 which
was above 0.5; and square root of AVE of brand prestige construct (0.824) was larger
than the correlation of it with other constructs (with perceived quality: 0.481;
personality congruence: 0.225; brand user imagery congruence: 0.282; and brand
tribalism: 0.35).

4. Data collection and analyses

In all, 500 questionnaires were distributed personally in Islamic Azad University and
totally, 450 usable questionnaires were obtained. The majority of respondents
(58.7 per cent) were female. Around 18.7 per cent of the respondents were born between
1997 and 1982, 38 per cent between 1983 and 1988, and 40.7 per cent between 1989
and 1994.

4.1 Structural model

The proposed model was tested using LISREL and the model fit indices showed that
the model provides a good fit to the data (GFI: 0.84; IFI: 0.95; CFI: 0.95; NNFI: 0.94;
RMSEA: 0.072; RFI: 0.91). Figure 2 shows results for the hypotheses.

AVE

Personality congruence 0.649

Perceived quality 0.700
Brand prestige 0.680
Brand user imagery congruence 0.675
Table II. Brand tribalism 0.660
Average variance Brand attitude 0.869
extracted Brand loyalty 0.690
 3.05** A study on
Personality Perceived luxury brands
congruence quality

2.24*
4.67** 7.67** 6.29**
477
6.98** Brand 9.13**
Brand Brand
prestige attitude loyalty

4.13**

Brand
tribalism
Figure 2.
Notes: * |t|.1.96 is significant at p 0.05 level; ** |t|.2.58 is significant at p 0.01 The revised model

As seen above, personality congruence had positive and significant effects on only
perceived quality ( β: 0.17, t-value: 3.05, p: 0.000) and brand prestige ( β: 0.28, t-value:
4.67, p: 0.000), but the direct effect of personality congruence on brand attitude and
brand loyalty was not observed. Similar to personality congruence, brand prestige
did not exert a direct impact on brand loyalty, but it had positive and significant
effects on brand attitude ( β: 0.41, t-value: 6.98, p: 0.000) and perceived quality ( β: 0.47,
t-value: 7.67, p: 0.000).
Perceived quality had positive and significant effect on brand attitude and brand
loyalty ( β: 0.35, t-value: 6.29, p: 0.000; β: 0.13, t-value: 2.24, p: 0.000). It was not
observed the positive effect of brand user imagery congruence on brand attitude and
brand loyalty. Brand tribalism had direct and positive effect on brand attitude
( β: 0.24, t-value: 4.13, p: 0.000), but it did not exert a direct effect on brand loyalty.
And finally, brand attitude had a direct and positive impact on brand loyalty ( β: 0.65,
t-value: 9.13, p: 0.000). Eight of 14 hypotheses found full support.
H4, H5, H7 and H13 were partially accepted. Personality congruence and brand
prestige both had positive effect on brand loyalty mediated by perceived brand quality.
The positive effect of personality congruence on brand attitude was also mediated by
perceived brand quality and brand prestige. Moreover, brand tribalism had positive
impact on brand loyalty through brand attitude.

5. Discussion and implications

This study presented and tested a brand loyalty model for the luxury brands on
Generation Y consumers. This generation was chosen because they form more than
one-third of Iran’s population. The results of hypotheses testing indicated a positive
and direct effect of brand attitude on brand loyalty, as previous studies (Eren-Erdogmus
and Budeyri-Turan, 2012; Liu et al., 2012). Among the personality congruence,
perceived quality, brand prestige, brand user imagery congruence and brand tribalism,
only perceived quality had direct effects on both brand attitude and loyalty. According
to results, personality congruence and brand user imagery congruence affected neither
JFMM brand attitude nor brand loyalty directly. Although Liu et al. (2012) have also not
19,4 observed any significant effect of personality congruence on the brand attitude in their
study, but they found that brand user imagery congruence is a strong predictor of
brand attitude and loyalty. Personality congruence had a positive effect on brand
attitude and brand loyalty mediated by perceived brand quality and brand prestige
had a positive effect on brand loyalty through perceived brand quality and brand
478 attitude. Brand tribalism also had a direct, positive effect on brand attitude, as was
suggested in literature (Taute and Sierra, 2014), and its effect on brand loyalty
was mediated by brand attitude. Then perceived brand quality was a better predictor
of brand attitude and brand loyalty. This supported Eren-Erdogmus and
Budeyri-Turan’s (2012) study.
Usually, customers judge the quality of a product based on the information obtained
from its internal and external attributes, its performance and appearance. Therefore,
paying attention to issues such as the quality of materials used in a product (internal
attributes), price (external attribute), colour, design, fashion compliance (appearance),
durability and perfection (performance) is of great importance in terms of planning
elements of marketing mix and different stages of designing and producing luxury
goods for Generation Y. Receiving feedback from consumers would lead to making
effective decisions in this regard. In addition to conducting marketing research,
retailers can also provide useful information through consumers’ opinions on a
product’s quality and how they use it.
With consideration of the relationship between brand prestige and its perceived
quality, if Generation Y’s consumers consider a brand prestigious, they expect it to
be of a higher quality. Thus, creating a prestigious image for a brand should be taken
into account while formulating a luxury brand’s communication strategies. Prestige
is related to maintaining a positive social identity. Hence, a product’s being approved
by people who Generation Y is greatly inclined to make its own models, could be
very much effective in creating a prestigious image of a brand. Identifying opinion
leaders and creating incentives to gain their support is a suitable strategy in this
regard. Generation Y has access to various media tools which should be taken
into consideration by marketing managers to create a suitable image of a brand.
Another method of creating a prestigious image for a brand is using celebrities,
who are Generation Y’s favorites, in popular TV programmes and advertisements
to approve a luxury brand.
Similar to brand prestige, brand personality congruence can cause a positive
perception about a brand’s quality in Generation Y’s consumers. Conducting marketing
researches is one of the effective methods for identifying more of the personality
characteristics of the said Generation’s consumers. Recognizing these characteristics
could help creating and managing a brand personality, which is congruent with
personality characteristics of its consumers. The existing congruence between brand
and consumer personality should be emphasized in different promotional programmes
such as advertisements, public relations and personal sales.
Through brand attitude, brand tribalism has a positive effect on brand loyalty.
Using emotional messages which address brand users as “us” and show them
distinct from users of other brands, marketing managers can motivate a tribal feeling
for a specific brand in its consumers. In order to arise a feeling of identity that separates
a member of a group of users from users of other brands, one can apply integrated
marketing communications. In other words, the social structure and defending a tribe
which consists of brand users are emphasized through different promotional tools.
 By recruiting young people as trend-finders and observers, companies can have A study on
access to a continuous flow of consumer information, in different ways like pictures, luxury brands
videos and text messages. By sending these individuals to events such as celebrations,
concerts and other similar gatherings and creating necessary incentives and facilities
for them, they can get valuable information from young consumers. With consideration
of the broad access of Generation Y to new communication technologies, a company
can share relevant opinions on a product so that word-of-mouth would be created 479
among effective consumers and their social networks.

6. Conclusion, limitations and future research direction

This study has been performed with the aim of examining the combined effects of
functional (perceived quality) and symbolic (personality congruence, user imagery
congruence, brand prestige and brand tribalism) brand associations on brand attitude and
loyalty of Generation Y’s consumers towards two categories of luxury fashion brands.
The findings reveal that, among the examined variables, perceived quality is the better
predictor of brand attitude and brand loyalty. Therefore, paying attention to issues related
to quality is of great importance in terms of planning elements of marketing mix and
different stages of designing and producing luxury goods for Generation Y. Receiving
feedback from consumers would lead to making effective decisions in this regard.
The context of this study is limited to Iran. Different cultural and economic
experiences in different countries may cause varied characteristics in Generation Y’s
consumers. One of the criteria for categorizing generations as Generations X, Y and Z is
the use of media and the most dominant ones during their lifetime. Due to the historical
delay in the entrance and publicity of modern information and communication
technologies in Iran compared with the western societies, the emergence of different
generations based on their use of new media has been delayed as well. Hence, the
studied generation in this paper might not be completely conformed to the mentioned
characteristics of Generation Y in terms of using media. So, results of this study should
be interpreted with caution for other countries.
Moreover the data were only collected using university students in order to keep
relative homogeneity in age, intelligence and income. Therefore an important part of
Generation Y’s consumers were ignored. Since Generation Y is an attractive target
market in Iran, recognition other possible variables that may affect brand loyalty in
Generation Y and examining them are suggested for future research. Future studies
should also include other product categories.

Notes
1. Available at: [Link]
2. Available at: [Link]

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