Emotional brand attachment: a factor in customer bank relationships
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between customers' emotional attachment toward bank service providers and bank loyalty. In particular, the study examines the impact of the emotional attachment factor while treating established effecting variables by employing a new conceptual framework that integrates these variables. Design/methodology/approach The study employs data collected from a survey involving 436 participants. The study employs Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis methods following a path analysis method and structural equation modeling for testing research hypotheses. Findings The empirical results support the claim that the conceptual framework applied in this study better explains the relationship between customers' emotional attachment toward bank service providers and bank loyalty. Specifically, the findings show a significant, direct and positive relationship between the customer's emotional attachment and bank loyalty; an indi.