Toward a Unified Brand Engagement Construct Definition

Abstract

We offer a theoretically grounded operational definition of the brand engagement construct, an area of demonstrated importance to practitioners and of growing interest amongst academics. We construct our definition following a grounded theory approach. Our investigation comprised a review of the relevant literature along with an associated multi-stage qualitative data collection employing both young adults and academic experts. Research on construct development best practices informed the development of our conceptualization so as to maximize its future potential. Our proposed definition of brand engagement not only provides a missing link between academic and practitioner understanding of the subject, but brings reconciliation to questions concerning brand engagement’s meaning. This provides direction to future research in this area. While our brand engagement definition provides clarity in understanding this important new construct, it also raises important areas for future research. One clear next step is the development of a brand engagement measurement scale.