Unpacking Brand Fandom: Triadic Brand-Related Perceptions and Fan Behaviors

Abstract

This study examines the influence of consumers’ brand-related perceptions on brand fandom behaviors. In particular, the study focuses on how brand experience, consumers’ perceived product value, and perceived brand innovativeness affect sharing and advocacy behaviors as well as creation behaviors, mediated by self-transcendent emotion and self-brand connection. This study also investigated the moderating role of the need for self-expression in these mediating pathways. To test the proposed hypotheses in the context of high-tech brands, structural equation modeling was employed, and data were collected from 635 Tesla owners and prospective buyers in the United States and Republic of Korea. All ten hypothesized paths were significant. The two mediators, however, correlated only weakly with each other while each correlated strongly with the behaviors, indicating two largely independent routes to the same fan behaviors rather than two indicators of a single bond. The need for self-expression strengthened all four second-stage paths, so brand fandom is best described as a two-stage process with two distinct routes and a shared expressive condition. The findings suggest that designing for only one of the two routes reaches only part of a brand’s potential fan base.