Examining the effects of brand love and brand image on customer engagement: An empirical study of fashion apparel brands

Organizations are making huge investments to embrace customer engagement. Customer engagement has become a central concept in customer-brand relationships. The empirical investigation of customer engagement is covered in previous literature, yet none of the studies so far have empirically examined the relationships between brand image and brand love simultaneously with regard to customer engagement in the fashion apparel context. This study is the first to investigate customer engagement in the context of fashion apparel. It examines the effects of brand image and brand love on customer engagement. Customer loyalty as an outcome of customer engagement is also studied. To collect data, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 430 students, of whom 403 students returned the completed questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 20.0 software was used to test the hypotheses. Results reveal that brand image and brand love significantly influence customer engagement. Brand love was also found to act as a mediator between brand image and customer engagement. The results also reveal that customer engagement influences customer loyalty. The results can prove helpful to practitioners in engaging customers while branding and marketing their fashion apparel brands so as to build a loyal customer base. The development of the research model can also provide a stage for scholars to undertake future research.