1. European University of Lisbon; kkxiang@gmail.com
2. European University of Lisbon; hyunsuag@gmail.com
3. European University of Lisbon; chenming23@gmail.com

*             Correspondence: chenming23@gmail.com

Keywords: luxurious brands, emotional values, buying decision making process, brand loyalty, consumer involvement

1. INTRODUCTION

There are two important concepts that explain certain choices of consumer purchase. i.e., brand Loyalty and involvement. Building a strong brand is one of the most significant goals of product and brand managers. There are various factors used in examining the emotional brand attachment of consumers towards brands through customer involvement [1]. Customers who are more involved in a particular brand are more likely to feel committed to that brand, which results in a higher level of brand loyalty from those customers. A strong emotional attachment is one of the conditions that has been recommended as a prerequisite for loyalty. [2] An application of a theoretical framework with the purpose of investigating the relationship between customer involvement and brand loyalty in the presence of emotional attachment as a moderator. In the course of conducting this study, the researchers will be conducting an analysis of the three most important factors: customer involvement, emotional attachment, and brand loyalty. In most cases, the characteristics of luxury goods brands have been differentiated by the use of a small number of “High-status Brand Names” [3]. The reason for this is that when it comes to making decisions about purchases, values that are considered to be emotional, such as brand involvement and lovingness, can be significant [4]. Knowing that this strategy would not be very effective for customers of luxury brands is one reason why. While the actual product of the brand is being consumed, the emotional values give the pleasure of an experience of ownership that is unforgettable. The importance of maintaining an emotional connection with customers as a means of fostering long-term customer loyalty has received a lot of attention in the marketing literature [5]. However, the effect of customer involvement on brand loyalty in the presence of emotional attachment to the brand on the part of the customer has not yet been investigated. This study helps luxury brand managers in the area of “Resource Allocation” by arranging resources according to customer involvement, which has a greater impact on loyalty, which can be impacted by the moderation of customer emotional attachment so that constructed in the most cost-efficient management [6]. This study also contributes to luxury brand managers in “Resource Allocation.”The connection between having an emotional attachment to a brand and being loyal to that brand has been the subject of an investigation by a large number of researchers. Because of the globalization of the luxury manufacturing industry and the rapid advancement of technology, customers of luxury goods now have access to a wide variety of other competing brands, which has resulted in a cutthroat level of competition between various companies and brands [7]. When looking at things from the perspective of the customer, on the other hand, the qualities that belong to luxury brands convey “multi-faceted” benefits such as “social status,” “identify confirmation,” and “sense of belonging” [8]. Though, this branding strategy is not so effective with today’s luxury customers reason behind this is that during decision-making about purchases, values considered as emotional could be significant, like brand involvement and lovingness with brands while making purchase decisions. These defined emotion-related values provide the best and most unforgettable experience with the consumption of a specific brand [9]. As far as customer involvement is concerned, the “Supplier’s Innovation Process” refers to if the manufacturer is going toward New Product or service development, then activities taken by the customer. There are a few benefits that customer involvement suggested by a study [10] that “Businesses should cooperate with lead users, who face needs before others in the market place and advantage from providing solution what they want. Involvement of customer can lead toward the efficiency of NPD by cutting down the revolution’s time to market [11].”

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

The emotional attachment of a customer is defined as the valuable bond or relation with the brand or its product, which is raised due to some positive or emotional aspects which could be related to a product or related to an individual’s personal feelings [12]. In the context of the literature pertaining to marketing, this is also considered to be a terrible and vital concept. This bond eventually has an effect on the behavior of consumers towards the brand, which in turn raises the effectiveness of the business and the customer’s long-lasting value. The concept of emotional attachment was taken from “Psychology’s Attachment Theory,” which was initially developed by John Bowlby in 1982. Recently, the applied value of emotional attachment in the context of marketing has been discussed, and it was found that emotional attachment, rather than brand attitude, is the best interpreter for actual purchase, brand purchase share, and brand need [13]. One of the brand assets that contribute to the creation of value is brand loyalty, which can be defined as both a consistent pattern of purchase of a particular brand over the course of time in the form of repurchase and a positive attitude towards a brand or brand [14]. Repurchasing could be the central point for capturing the consumer’s loyalty to the brand of interest, according to a number of social scientists who have discussed and demonstrated this theory. Along the same lines, it was also recommended that attitude is not a relevant tool for determining customer loyalty to a brand [15]. A consumer’s sensation of being connected, liking, and passionate about a brand is referred to as emotional attachment [16]. According to the findings of a research study, brand loyalty is defined as the continuation of a long-term relationship with any given brand, while emotional attachment refers to the consumer’s perception of having such a connection. As customers develop a stronger connection with the brand, it is more likely that they will maintain close proximity to the brand. The reason for this is that the presence of the connection object can evoke feelings of ease, happiness, and a sense of security when associated with that particular brand or organization [17]. A study concluded, following a literature review of approximately 300 studies on brand loyalty, that “the area has been kept active more because of promise than result [18]”. The reason for this is that the majority of researchers were unable to differentiate between loyalty and brand loyalty in their studies. However, notified in contradiction of confusing brand loyalty [19]. Committed customers often agree to stay in a tow way relationship not only but also put their effort into having a sustainable relationship with the brand [20]. Commitment is known as “an essential ingredient for successful long-term relationships.” Business relations are helped by brand knowledge, “as vital information signs for customers to judge a brand or business credibility and the perceived product quality during brand selection from multiple brands [21].” Favorable business unique associations inspire their customers to capture the trust on the brand that brand “will meet their expectations through fulfilling brand promises to capture customer Loyalty and satisfaction.” When consumers perceive the brand to be reliable, infect consumer are willing to increase their emotional trustworthiness on the brands [22]. As the more competitive market of the luxury market grows, more brands and an increase in the number of wealthy customers become fewer loyalties toward the brand; now just, relying only on brand image to satisfy and capture their customers is not a good choice by managers [23]. As an alternative, the luxury brand is going towards the concept of constructing strong customer-brand relationships through emotional involvement and attachment to their brands for unbeatable brand loyalty. So the statement of research for the present study is “To examine the impact of Customer Involvement on Brand Loyalty under the presence of Emotional Attachment as Moderator [24].” From a marketer’s point of view, brand loyalty builds long-term benefits and creates a strong connection between the company and the consumer. Brand loyalty accounts for many things from a consumer’s point of view [25]. It’s not just a product that builds brand loyalty, but other factors like pricing, environment, social benefits, pricing, and brand name are a part of brand loyalty [26]. Brand loyalty relates to the repurchase of the same brand or product. It is the strength of a product that shows in consumer repurchase. These are the positive emotions or attitudes that bind the consumer and the company. In Nigerian study of telecommunication shows that sales promotions have a positive impact on brand loyalty [27]. The incomes of consumers have a major effect on persuading consumers towards promotional products or services. Companies whose have highly competitive in the market use sale promotional techniques to take competitive advantage to attract customers. In the corporate sector, sales promotion is considered to have a significant influence on brand loyalty [28]. Customer loyalty also became a major phenomenon for banks through which they strive to increase their profitability. Customer loyalty created through trust and commitment is the strategic approach of relationship marketing. Martínez saw Customer loyalty as one of the important concepts in marketing, and Customer loyalty is linked with the profitability of the organization. However, the study established that satisfaction has a less significant impact on loyalty in more lucrative sectors. [29] Literature on Customer loyalty in the context of the banking industry and clarify that Customer loyalty developed over time and consider the backbone for any organization to sustain. The literature also highlights the significance of Customer loyalty achieved through the successful implementation of customer relationship marketing techniques and a high level of service quality. The key concept in marketing is Brand loyalty. It is also put forth in brand management and research papers. Managing brand loyalty properly has been a much-focused issue for maximum firms. The research tries to show the relationship between the brand loyalty and emotional attachment through customer involvement. Sub-objectives of this research are to examine the direct relationship between Customer Involvement and brand loyalty and identify the relationship between customer involvement and brand loyalty in the presence of moderation of emotional attachment. All measurements of this study will be obtained using a cross-sectional study. This type of research involves the “analysis of the data collected from the population at one specific point in time.” The questionnaire will be the survey methodology that will be used in the research.

Figure 01: Theoretical Framework

The above-drawn model shows the conceptual framework for this research. As we can see, customer involvement is the independent variable, and it has an impact on brand loyalty which is the dependent variable. There is a moderating variable of emotional attachment that links both customer involvement and brand loyalty. This research provides new insights about the impact as well as the relationship of customer involvement with brand loyalty. While emotional attachment has an impact on the relationship between customer brand loyalty and customer involvement. The bases of framework hypotheses for the present study are:

H1: There is a direct impact of Customer Involvement on brand loyalty.

Ho: There is no direct impact of Customer Involvement on brand loyalty.

H2: There is an impact of customer involvement on brand loyalty in the presence of moderation of emotional attachment.

Ho: There is no impact of customer involvement on brand loyalty in the presence  of moderation of emotional attachment.

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Research is basically quantitative in its nature, and data was collected through Structured adopted questionnaires. A questionnaire was tested from a sample of N=176 customers who purchased luxury brands. Customers would be undergraduate students. The questionnaire excludes descriptive measures like gender and age because main focus was to measure the effect of customer involvement. N=176 questionnaires were distributed among customers who used luxury brands. The full-use questionnaire was N=165, which shows the response rate was more than 95% a valid response rate. SPSS and AMOS are used to analyze and test the hypothesis of the framework developed for the research. At the same time, AMOS is used to check factor loading values for each factor of each variable. The software SPSS considered for the sake of data analysis; it is a widely used program for statistical analysis in social science and also used by market researchers, health researchers, and survey companies.”

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

AMOS tells factor loading values all 3 variables are there in Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) shown in (Fig-2); this shows the goodness of fit of constraints and its elements as well. As we can see, factor loading values are greater than 0.4, which shows the elements are strongly related to that constraint. Also, the values of RMR is also <0.5, and GFI, AGFI <1, which shows the goodness of fit index as shown in (Table 1).

Table 01: Goodness Index

Model	RMR	GFI	AGFI	PGFI
Default model	.071	.592	.519	.502
Saturated model	.000	1.000
Independence model	.332	.168	.104	.156

Coming toward testing the hypothesis, first of all, check the reliability of the data, which is shown in (Table 2) as we can see, Cronbach’s Alpha is >0.7, which shows the reliability of the data [30]. Now to test the hypothesis, use Moderation Regression Analysis for the test study done factor analysis of data by Graph to check factor reliability of customer involvement, emotional attachment, and brand loyalty shown in (Graph 1). This shows that the factors used to measure each variable is good enough.

Table 02: Reliability of Data

Cronbach’s Alpha	N of Items
.949	27

Table 3 provides the effect of Moderating Variable on the Dependent Variable. Here we see some values which support our data and are useful for the acceptance and rejection of the hypothesis. Durbin-Watson is also good near 2, which shows no autocorrelation with variables. Sig is <0.05, and F change is also having a significant value before and after mediation and also has a positive change which supports our H2. After that value of R square increases from .647 this shows (change predicted without mediation) to .746 shows (change predicted after mediation) which shows two Points first support H1 that there is a direct impact of customer involvement on brand loyalty by .647 and second is that positive change in value while adding moderation effect of emotional attachment on the relation of Customer involvement and brand loyalty valued .746, which supports H2. This shows that moderation exists.

Table 03: Model Summary

Model	R	R Square	Adjusted d R Square	Std. The error in the Estimate	Change Statistics					Durbin- Watson
					R Square Change	F Change	df1	df2	Sig. F Change
1	.804 a	.647	.642	.36833	.647	122.836	1	67	.000
2	.864 b	.746	.739	.31462	.099	25.827	1	66	.000	1.890

Now coming toward the ANOVA table here, we see the F value, which met the threshold condition that the value should be greater than 5. In both conditions, the value is greater than 5 (Table 4), and also values are significant.

Table 04: Sig. of ANOVA Test

Model		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
1	Regression	16.664	1	16.664	122.836	.000a
	Residual	9.089	67	.136
	Total	25.754	68
2	Regression	19.221	2	9.610	97.091	.000b
	Residual	6.533	66	.099
	Total	25.754	68

For Multi-collinearity, use the coefficient table (Table 5). Multi-collinearity is measured by Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) and Tolerance Value, which measures the concept of collinearity statistics between variables in the specific regression model. Variance, Inflation Factor value, should be less than 5; here value for both without and with mediation is less than 5, so the condition is satisfied. Then t value should be greater than 1.96. Here the value is also supporting both hypotheses of direct impact and also for moderation impact.

Table 05: Multi-collinearity and Coefficients

Model		Collinearity Statistics
		Tolerance	VIF
1	(Constant)
	Customer Involvement	1.000	1.000
2	(Constant)
	Customer Involvement	.434	2.306
	Emotional Attachment	.434	2.306

Beta value shows how much the impact of moderation; here in our research, before the moderation value, 0.433 means 1 unit change in Brand Loyalty is predicted by 0.433 units by customer involvement here also support H1. But after the moderation value goes to 0.485 means 48.5%, the impact is of moderation, so H2 also accepted that there is an impact of moderation of Emotional Attachment. To check the skewness in data, use the histogram plot shown in (Graph 2) which shows data is normally skewed. This also supports our data. In the context of the literature pertaining to marketing, this is also considered to be a terrible and vital concept. This bond eventually has an effect on the behavior of consumers towards the brand, which in turn raises the effectiveness of the business and the customer’s long-lasting value. The concept of emotional attachment was taken from “Psychology’s Attachment Theory,” which was initially developed by John Bowlby in 1982. Recently, the applied value of emotional attachment in the context of marketing has been discussed, and it was found that emotional attachment, rather than brand attitude, is the best interpreter for actual purchase, brand purchase share, and brand need [13]. One of the brand assets that contribute to the creation of value is brand loyalty, which can be defined as both a consistent pattern of purchase of a particular brand over the course of time in the form of repurchase and a positive attitude towards a brand or brand [14]. Repurchasing could be the central point for capturing the consumer’s loyalty to the brand of interest, according to a number of social scientists who have discussed and demonstrated this theory. Along the same lines, it was also recommended that attitude is not a relevant tool for determining customer loyalty to a brand [15]. A consumer’s sensation of being connected, liking, and passionate about a brand is referred to as emotional attachment [16]. According to the findings of a research study, brand loyalty is defined as the continuation of a long-term relationship with any given brand, while emotional attachment refers to the consumer’s perception of having such a connection. As customers develop a stronger connection with the brand, it is more likely that they will maintain close proximity to the brand. The reason for this is that the presence of the connection object can evoke feelings of ease, happiness, and a sense of security when associated with that particular brand or organization [17]. A study concluded, following a literature review of approximately 300 studies on brand loyalty, that “the area has been kept active more because of promise than result [18]”. The reason for this is that the majority of researchers were unable to differentiate between loyalty and brand loyalty in their studies. In the context of luxurious brands, the results obtained from a selected data sample show that there is a moderate impact of emotional attachment, but the analysis also supports the idea that there is a direct impact of customer involvement on brand loyalty. Customers of luxurious brands develop an emotional attachment to the brand, which ultimately has an effect on the customer’s brand loyalty [31]. In the context of luxurious brands, the results also demonstrate that there is a direct impact of customer involvement on brand loyalty (Hypothesis 1) [32]. The findings support the second hypothesis, which postulated that an emotional attachment would significantly moderate the effect of customer involvement on brand loyalty. According to the findings of the extended study, a relationship and an autocorrelation did not exist between the variables, indicating that the model and the data are both accurate [33]. Following the completion of the investigation, the findings have been interpreted to suggest that there are no controlled variables utilized in the investigation, such as age or gender [34]. It is therefore recommended that demographic variables be utilized in subsequent studies as controlled variables. Despite this, there are some phenomena that are difficult to minimize that subjectively seem to be the most likely candidates [35]. This study, like other research, has a few caveats or restrictions attached to it.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The effect of customer involvement on brand loyalty has been studied in the marketing literature; however, the moderation of emotional attachment in luxury brands has not been studied. This study draws on previous research on topics such as customer involvement, emotional attachment, and brand loyalty. Luxury brand customer involvement questionnaire. According to the findings, emotional attachment acts as a moderator in the relationship between customer involvement and brand loyalty, which shows that customer involvement directly affects brand loyalty. Participation from customers increases their loyalty to a brand. The study can assist managers in “Resource Allocation” by arranging resources according to customer involvement, which has a greater impact on loyalty, which can be impacted by the moderation of customer emotional attachment to construct the most cost-efficient management. This helps construct the most cost-effective management structure.

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