Modeling Buying Intentions the Role of Nostalgic Value, Authenticity and Brand Attachment

Abstract

The present study is a first effort to test a model of buying intentions incorporating the variables of nostalgic value, authenticity and brand attachment. The results confirm the impact of nostalgic value on authenticity perceptions with fruitful implications for the automotive industry. Furthermore authenticity seems to play a key role in affecting directly brand attachment and buying intentions. This means that the automotive industry needs to pay attention on identifying the messages communicated to prospects that will enhance authenticity expecting positive impact on both brand attachment and buying intentions. This means that the image automotive companies create for each of their models needs to reflect the personality of the consumers. The most important authenticity dimension appears to be ‘projection’. Clients search in their car models for identification cues concerning their life-style, personality and character. The second more important is ‘singularity’ meaning that clients search for models that are unique. This conclusion holds for models that do not pertain to the luxury products segment. ‘Origin’ seems to have no impact and this may be explained due to the fact that many companies decide to build their models everywhere in the world but also at the design level it is rare that a characteristic points out to the origin of the product.