The influences of brand ethnicity on Chinese consumers’ brand attachment, brand trust and purchase intention: focused on domestic brand

Purpose This study aims to research the impact of brand ethnicity on consumers’ purchase intention and the psychological mechanism of native consumers under the stimulus of brand ethnicity in the context of domestic brand consumption. Design/methodology/approach Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this research constructed a chain mediation model with brand ethnicity as the independent variable and conducted three empirical studies on Chinese consumers to explore the relationship between brand ethnicity and purchase intention. Findings The empirical results of three studies demonstrate that the five dimensions of brand ethnicity – domestic identity, political stance, national contribution, market performance and national culture – exert a significant and positive influence on Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions. Furthermore, brand attachment and brand trust play independent and chain mediating roles between brand ethnicity and purchase intention. Originality/value Consumers’ purchase intention is affected by many factors including brand symbolic meaning. Brand ethnicity is one emerging classification of brand symbolic meaning which can influence consumers’ purchase intention. To explore the mechanism, this study has constructed a chain mediation model with brand ethnicity as the independent variable.