An appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness

Recent academic discussions about the concept of brand happiness have introduced brand happiness as a promising new branding asset and a key research area. There is scientific evidence that its strong desirability, its characteristic of greatest emotional fulfillment, and its superior power to influence brand behavior qualify brand happiness as an important brand goal and differentiate it from other emotional-relational concepts (e.g., emotional brand attachment, customer delight). However, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of brand happiness. To provide essential new insights in this research field, the authors theoretically develop an appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness and empirically verify it in four industry sectors. On the cross-industry level, brand relationship quality, brand self-relevance, brand goal-congruence, and actual and ideal brand self-congruence are confirmed to be important brand appraisal determinants of brand happiness, and pleasantness, fairness, and certainty are confirmed to be important situational appraisal determinants of brand happiness. The behavioral power of brand happiness was supported by showing that brand happiness strongly predicts five coping strategies; namely, the problem-focused coping strategies of (re-)purchase intention and price premium, and the emotion-focused coping strategies of word-of-mouth, brand evangelism, and brand forgiveness. On an industry-specific level, differences are observed regarding the influence of some of the brand appraisal determinants on brand happiness and regarding the influence of some of the situational appraisal determinants on brand happiness across the four analyzed industry sectors.