Brand nostalgia and consumers’ relationships to luxury brands: A continuous and categorical moderated mediation approach

Abstract

This study investigates the role of nostalgia in the consumer-brand relationships in the luxury sector. Results indicate that the nostalgic luxury car brands (vs. futuristic luxury car brands) lead to stronger consumer-brand relationships. Moreover, brand nostalgia has a direct positive effect on brand attachment and separation distress. Brand attachment is also a partial mediator between brand nostalgia and separation distress. In addition, the influence of two moderating variables is examined. We show that past temporal orientation reinforces the relationship between (1) brand nostalgia and brand attachment, and between (2) brand nostalgia and separation distress. Finally, consumers’ need for uniqueness reinforces the relationship between brand attachment and separation distress. On a methodological side, the study shows the ability of the PLS approach to handle higher order latent variables both in the context of continuous and categorical latent moderated mediation variables.