The Effects of Value-Oriented Consumption on Emotional Value and Brand Loyalty in Eco-Friendly Bakeries

This study aimed to empirically investigate the impact of individuals’ value-oriented consumption on brand loyalty toward eco-friendly bakeries, with emotional value as a mediating variable. Value-oriented consumption was categorized into three sub-dimensions: ethical value, self-expressive individuality value, and sustainable life value. Brand loyalty was measured by repurchase intention and word-of-mouth/recommendation intention. Data were collected from 351 consumers residing in metropolitan and urban areas through an online survey, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The results revealed that self-expressive individuality and sustainable life values significantly influenced emotional value, which in turn had a strong positive effect on repurchase and recommendation intentions related to eco-friendly bakeries. Ethical value did not show a statistically significant mediating effect through emotional value. Emotional value played a partial or full mediating role in several of the structural relationships. These findings suggest that emotional experience serves as a critical mechanism in shaping brand loyalty in the context of eco-friendly product consumption. In particular, the study highlights that self-expressive and sustainable values more strongly drive consumer affect and behavioral intentions than ethical values alone. This contributes to academic understanding of value-based and emotion-driven consumer behavior and provides practical implications for developing marketing strategies in the eco-friendly bakery industry.