The Effect of Brand Anthropomorphism on Customers Loyalty with the Mediating Role of Brand Personality, Case study: Users of Domestic Automobile

Nowadays, the competition in the automobile manufacturing industry has significantly increased through the interance of foreign manufacturers in our domestic market. Hence, automobile manufacturers conduct various programs to increase customers brand loyalty. One of the effective factors in this context is the notion of brand anthropomorphism which has entered into marketing literature in the recent years. The aim of current research is to investigation the effect of brand anthropomorphism on brand loyalty with mediating role of brand personality. This research is an applied reserach in term of goal and descriptive-correlational in term of data collection. Data gathering was done using Guido and Peluso (2015) brand anthropomorphism questionnaire, Aaker (1997) brand personality questionnaire and Zhang (2008). The sample volume was determined as 384 people according to the uncertainty of the statistical population and the research questionnaire was distributed using multi-stage cluster sampling method among the domestic automobile users in Khorassan Razavi province. Furthermore, validity of the questionnaire was assessed via content and construct validity based on specialists’ opinions and factor analysis respectively, and its reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha. The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling via Lisrel software. The results showed that brand anthropomorphism (Human Body Lineaments, Human Facial Physiognomy and Self-Brand Congruity) impacts on brand personality, which in turn has a positive effect on brand loyalty. Also, the mediating role of brand personality in the effect of brand anthropomorphism on brand loyalty was confirmed.