Linking platform interaction quality to brand loyalty through brand love: an empirical study in the car e-hailing context

Though emotional attachment emerges as a crucial component in explaining the relationship between platform interaction quality and brand loyalty, the empirical evidence in the theoretical framework of a car e-hailing service is rare. Genuinely in the present business climate, brand love has a strategic importance in explaining the way of achieving brand loyalty. Therefore, by incorporating the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory, this study investigates the role of the attributes of platform interaction quality, namely platform arrangement, interface responsiveness, and trustworthiness, in influencing brand loyalty by considering brand love as the mediator. Using purposive sampling techniques, a total of 240 usable responses from Gojek car e-hailing users in the Greater Jakarta, Indonesia, were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that interface responsiveness and trustworthiness positively influence brand love, whereas platform arrangement does not. Brand love enhances brand loyalty and mediates the effects of interface responsiveness and trustworthiness on loyalty, but not those of platform arrangement. These findings highlight the strategic role of emotional attachment in fostering brand loyalty in the competitive car e-hailing market and provide practical guidance for managers to strengthen user experience through effective interface design and trust-building strategies.