Connecting the Dots of Customer-Based Brand Equity to Brand Engagement: Using the Disjoint Two Stage Approach of PLS-SEM

Purpose – The study aims to theoretically establish brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes, and brand affect as antecedents of brand engagement. Additionally, this study seeks to enhance customer-based brand equity and relationship marketing theories in relation to brand engagement behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Through a survey questionnaire, 426 responses were collected from automobile customers. Following the multistage cluster sampling technique, respondents were contacted through the mall intercept method. The respondents’ data was analyzed through PLS-SEM path modeling using the disjoint two-stage approach. Findings and implications – Brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes, and brand affect significantly the brand engagement behavior being explained, especially, brand affect mediated between these antecedents and brand engagement. Limitation – The cross-sectional research design of the study has some limitations. Further, brand affect, as a mediator, has explained 40.7% of the variation in brand engagement. Other mediators may explain the rest of the variation in brand engagement. As the study is related to the automobile market in Pakistan, the results may not be generalized to other parts of the world. Originality – It is the first study to examine brand affect as a mediator that theoretically links brand personality, experience, attributes to brand engagement in an integrative framework, specifically for automobile brands. The disjoint two-stage approach of PLS-SEM in this study has been rarely used in marketing and business management research.