Crafting brand love: role of perceived brand localness, foreignness, coolness and consumer identities in digital retail banking

Purpose This study seeks to examine the effects of perceived brand localness and foreignness on brand love via perceived brand coolness by incorporating the moderating impacts of local and global consumer identities on brand love while controlling the confounding effects of brand familiarity in the context of local and foreign digital retail banks. Design/methodology/approach This study collected 1,960 online responses (on local and foreign banks) from 980 consumers who often used local and foreign digital retail banking services. The analysis was performed on 1,766 responses through co-variance-based structural equation modeling. Findings This study discovered that perceived brand localness and foreignness were essential factors for driving brand love and perceived brand coolness toward local and foreign digital retail banks. However, perceived brand foreignness was a more effective driver than perceived brand localness. Importantly, perceived brand coolness emerged as a key mediator for shaping brand perceptions and love. Additionally, local and global consumer identities were effective moderators and brand familiarity was significant in enhancing brand love for local and foreign digital retail banks. Practical implications This study gives managers essential knowledge about crafting positioning, relationships and segmentation strategies to boost brand love and perceived coolness for local and foreign digital retail banks. Originality/value This novel study contributes new insights to the stimulus-organism-response and cultural identity theories by examining consumers’ brand perceptions and their impacts on consumer behavior in digital retail banking.