Investigating the Impact of Brand Personality and its Dimensions on Brand Love, Loyalty and WOM (Case study: online retailers and chain stores)

One of the most important factors for making distinction in the competition between brands is to create consumers desire for the brand and coordination between their perceptions and expectations about products and services that brands provide. In this context, paying attention to brand personality and various personality traits which is considered for it and also the relationships between brand personality and the other variables that effect people's perception and interest such as brand love, loyalty and word of mouth is too important. The purpose of the present research is to investigate the impact of brand personality on brand love, loyalty and WOM by a new scale for brand personality and also to determine the most important dimensions of brand personality in this relation. The present study is descriptive in nature and practical in purpose and it's established by survey research method. The statistical populations of the present study include all online retailers and chain stores in Tehran. The research's data is collected by questionnaire andStructural equation modeling with Partial Least Squares approach is used for the analysis of data. The result of the research indicates that in both societies, brand personality has significant effect on brand love and loyalty. In the first society it has indirect effect on WOM and in the second society it has direct and indirect effect on WOM. The most influential brand personality dimension has been responsibility, and then activity and emotionality in both societies and the Aggressiveness dimension has had little effect. The mediating role of brand love and loyalty in the relationship between the two variables of brand personality and WOM has confirmed. Brands should pay the most attention to responsibility dimension in order to make brand love and loyalty in consumers by showing responsibility and stability. Also, Emotionality and Activity dimensions should be considered in brand personality presentation.