The mediating role of brand trust in the relationship between brand personality and brand loyalty

Abstract

Despite the efforts of organisations to make their consumers loyal to their brands, numerous studies show how loyalty has been declining in recent years without apparent causes. The aim of this research is to study the relationship between personality, trust and brand loyalty, to help understand the role of each of these variables in consumers' relationships with brands. Through a structural model built from data collected from a representative sample of 1015 individuals in the Spanish market, results put forward evidence of an indirect positive influence of brand personality on consumer loyalty, mediated by brand trust. Surprisingly, the results contrast with previous studies and show that there is no direct relationship between brand personality and brand loyalty. The results of this study have implications for both researchers and managers because previous research has analysed the direct influence of brand personality on trust or loyalty but not the mediating role that trust has on the relationship between personality and loyalty.