Journal of Product & Brand Management

Individual determinants of brand affect: the role of the personality traits of extraversion and openness to
experience
Kurt Matzler Sonja Bidmon Sonja Grabner-Kruter

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Kurt Matzler Sonja Bidmon Sonja Grabner-Kruter, (2006),"Individual determinants of brand affect: the role of the personality
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Individual determinants of brand affect: the

role of the personality traits of extraversion
and openness to experience
Kurt Matzler
Department of International Management, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria, and

Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

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Department of Marketing and International Management, Institute of Business Administration, Management and Economics,
University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among two personality traits (extraversion and openness), hedonic value, brand
affect and loyalty. It argues that individual differences account for differences in the values sought by the consumer and in the formation of brand affect
and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach Two samples are drawn (running shoes and mobile phone users) and the effect of personality traits on the other
constructs have been tested using the Partial Least Squares approach (PLS) to structural equation modeling.
Findings It was found that extraversion and openness are positively related to hedonic product value and that the personality traits directly
(openness) and indirectly (extraversion, via hedonic value) influence brand affect which in turn drives attitudinal and purchase loyalty.
Research limitations/implications The paper introduces personality as determinants of perceived value and brand affect. Future studies should
aim at including the other personality traits of the Big-Five (Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) as possible determinants and
utilitarian value as dependent variables.
Practical implications Combined with lifestyle segmentation approaches, personality variables can be useful to determine which market segments
seek hedonic values and which tend more to experience high levels of brand affect, which in turn leads to higher loyalty. The results suggest that
customers who score high on extraversion and openness respond stronger to affective stimuli. As a consequence, these findings are of relevance to
market segmentation and targeting.
Originality/value Affective responses to brands are of central importance to brand management as they strongly drive brand loyalty. In this study
we investigate the role of two personality traits (extraversion and openness) as antecedents of hedonic value sought by the consumer and brand affect,
which have been neglected so far.
Keywords Personality, Brand loyalty
Paper type Research paper

constructs such as attitudes, awareness, image, and

knowledge and company related outcomes like market
share, prices, revenues and cash flow (Ailawadi et al., 2003).
Hence, there is great interest on how brand equity is formed
and how it drives loyalty and firm performance.
In this context, affective responses to brands are of central
importance. It has been shown that brand affect is a strong
driver of brand loyalty (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001).
Brands that make the customer happy, joyful or
affectionate cause a stronger attitudinal commitment and
purchase loyalty.
In this paper we investigate two drivers of brand affect:
Hedonic value and personality traits. We hypothesize that
hedonic value (defined as the pleasure potential of a product
class) influences brand affect. We also hypothesize that two
personality traits (extraversion and openness to experience)
influence the perceived hedonic value of a product and brand
affect. Finally, we relate brand affect to attitudinal and
purchase loyalty.
In the following sections we develop the theory and
hypotheses and present the results of two empirical studies.

An executive summary for managers and executive

readers can be found at the end of this article.

1. Introduction
Brand affect and brand loyalty are central aspects in brand
management (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). It has been
shown that brands are valuable intangible assets (Rao et al.,
2004; Srivastava et al., 1998). Brand equity, defined as the
marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with
its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the
same product did not have the brand name (e.g. Aaker, 1991;
Ailawadi et al., 2003; Keller, 2003) influences consumer-level
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Journal of Product & Brand Management

15/7 (2006) 427 434
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610420610712801]

427

Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

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2. Personality traits, hedonic value, and brand

affect

perceive and experience hedonic values of products stronger

than individuals who score low on openness. The link between
openness and hedonic value has also been hypothesized by
Olver and Mooradian (2003). However, they found no
empirical evidence in their study on personality and value
priorities of students. The lack of a significant relationship in
their study could be attributed to the fact that they measured
value priorities in general and not values in a specific situation.
As our study focuses on hedonic value in a specific
consumption situation, values could have a stronger meaning
to the consumer than value priorities in general.
Individuals who score high on openness may also be more
open to affective responses to brands and perceive and
experience brand-related affect stronger than closed
individuals. Therefore, it is hypothesized that:
H1. The personality trait openness is positively related to
the hedonic value of a product and brand affect.

The past 15 years have seen a revitalization of personality

scholarship (Funder, 2001) after decades of disparate theories
and equivocal findings. This resurgence was facilitated in part
by the emergence of a consensus understanding that traits are
well organized within five broad domains (i.e. the FiveFactor Model or Big Five (Goldberg, 1990)) comprising
Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience (or
Intellect), Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. These five
domains encompass numerous narrower, more contextspecific facets in a hierarchy of individual differences (John
and Srivastava, 1999; McCrae, 2004) and have been
identified in numerous empirical studies (Tupes and
Christal, 1992) constituting the pattern of traits across
individuals and are considered the fundamental dimensions of
personality (McCrae and John, 1992). Numerous researchers
from many traditions were able to replicate the findings,
thereby sustaining the theory of five basic dimensions of
personality. This structure emerges across observers (e.g. selfand peer-reports), across methodologies (questionnaires and
lexical inventories), across the lifespan, across languages and
cultures (John and Srivastava, 1999; McCrae, 2004;
Mooradian and Swan, 2006; Saucier and Ostendorf, 1999).
In marketing research, personality traits have been adopted
to study a variety of emotional responses, such as emotions
and customer satisfaction (e.g. Matzler et al., 2005;
Mooradian and Olver, 1997) and ad-evoked feelings (e.g.
Mooradian, 1996). In this study, the focus is on two
personality traits that are expected to be positively related to
hedonic values in consumption and to brand affect:
Extraversion and Openness to experience.
Openness to experience (which often has been labeled as
intellect) is related to active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity,
attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety,
intellectual curiosity, and independence of judgment (Costa
and McCrae, 1992). Individuals with high scores on openness
are curious about both inner and outer worlds, and they are
willing to entertain novel ideas and unconventional values,
and they experience both positive and negative emotions more
keenly than do closed individuals (Costa and McCrae, 1992).
Highly open people display intellectual curiosity, creativity,
flexible thinking, and culture (Dingman, 1990). The facets of
openness are related to fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions,
ideas and values.
The concept of hedonic value reflects the experiential
paradigm in consumer behavior theory, which in contrast to
the information-processing paradigm pursues the more
subjective, emotional, aesthetic and symbolic aspects of
consumption (Holbrook and Hirschmann, 1982; Mano and
Oliver, 1993; Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). Chaudhuri
and Holbrook (2001) define hedonic value as the pleasure
potential of a product, whereas utilitarian value is
conceptualized as the ability of a product to perform
functions in the everyday life of a consumer. Products with
a high pleasure potential provide nontangible, symbolic
benefits and are likely to hold a greater potential for evoking
positive emotions in a consumer.
Due to the higher tendency of open individuals to be curious
about both inner and outer worlds, to have experientially richer
lives, to experience both negative and positive emotions more
keenly than closed individuals, it can be assumed that they

Extraversion is distinguished by venturesomeness, affiliation,

positive affectivity, energy, ascendance and ambition.
Individuals who score high on extraversion are predisposed
toward positive affect and prefer interpersonal interaction
(Mooradian and Swan, 2006). In psychology, a number of
studies have aimed at correlating personality traits with
affective states (e.g. Larsen and Katelaar, 1991; Rusting and
Larsen, 1997). Extraversion was found to be positively related
to positive emotions in many studies (Costa and McCrae,
1980; Watson and Clark, 1992). In a marketing context, some
studies related extraversion to positive emotions in
consumption situations (Matzler et al., 2005; Mooradian
and Olver, 1997). Hence, we propose that:
H2. The personality trait extraversion is positively related
to the hedonic value of a product and brand affect.
There has been considerable growth in the study of affect and
its role in marketing since the early 1980s (Erevelles, 1998;
Agarwal and Malhotra, 2005). The term affect generally
refers to valenced feeling states and emotions. Emotions are
responses to causal-specific stimuli that are usually intense and
more enduring, especially if emotional traces are stored and
retrieved (Cohen and Areni, 1991). Feelings are responses to
causal-specific stimuli, too, yet less intense and more transient
in comparison to emotions (Agarwal and Malhotra, 2005). A
number of studies found that affect serves as an incremental
and/or primary predictor of consumer behavior (for a literature
review see, e.g. Erevelles, 1998). Several researchers refer to
Wrights (1975) affect referral hypothesis, which suggests
that in the process of making brand choices, consumers often
do not use any specific attribute information, but simply
choose the brand for which the retrieved affect is most positive.
In the context of branding, brand affect characterizes a
certain category of associations consumers may have with a
brand. Brand affect can be seen as a consumers overall
favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the brand (Keller,
1993; Bhat and Reddy, 2001). Chaudhuri and Holbrook
(2001) define brand affect as a brands potential to elicit a
positive emotional response in the average consumer as a
result of its use. (p. 82). Both concepts of brand affect and
hedonic value refer to subjective, emotional aspects of
consumer behavior. Concerning their relationship it can be
expected that the higher the pleasure potential of a product
the greater its potential to elicit positive emotional response in
a consumer. Thus, we propose that:
H3. Hedonic value is positively related to brand affect.
428

Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

In the context of building and maintaining brand

relationships, brand affect has to be considered as an
important antecedent of brand loyalty. Drawing on the
emerging theory of brand commitment in relationship
marketing (e.g. Fournier, 1998; Grundlach et al., 1995),
Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001) propose a strong impact of
brand affect on attitudinal and purchase loyalty. Grundlach
et al. (1995) argue that commitment is associated with
positive affect and that though this may prevent the
exploration of other alternatives in the short run, affective
bonding or attachment may result in steady customer benefits
in the long run. Also Dick and Basu (1994) suggest that
brand loyalty should be higher under conditions of more
positive emotional mood and affect. Brands that make
consumers happy or joyful or affectionate elicit more
purchase and attitudinal loyalty (Chaudhuri and Holbrook,
2001). Hence, based on Chaudhury and Holbrooks (2001)
findings and their theoretical argumentation we propose that:

Ringel, 2004), following Hullands (1999) procedure, who

suggests to evaluate each model in two stages. In the first
stage the individual-item reliabilities, convergent validity, and
discriminant validity for each measure were calculated. In the
second stage the paths between the constructs in the models
(running shoes and mobile phones) were estimated.

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H4.

Reliability and validity

Figure 1 and Figure 2 report the item reliabilities in both
models. The reliability analysis of the two personality traits
openness and extraversion did not yield exactly the expected
results according to the standardized scales (Borkenau and
Ostendorf, 1993). The scales had to be purified by excluding
some of the items with low loadings, making up the scales
with remaining four items for each trait scale. These findings
and the necessary modifications are not surprising, as other
researchers reported similar results of the NEO-FFI scales
computed with Confirmatory Factor Analyses (e.g. Renner,
2002). All other constructs showed very satisfactory item
reliabilities. Figure 1 and Figure 2 also report internal
consistency (IC) and average variance extracted (AVE). All
constructs show high internal consistency. With the exception
of openness, which average variance extracted is slightly below
the threshold of 0.5, all constructs AVE is clearly above 0.5.
Discriminant validity was assessed based on the correlation
matrix of the latent constructs (see Table I and Table II),
where the square roots of the average variance extracted
values calculated for each of the constructs along the diagonal
is reported. The correlations between the constructs are
reported in the lower left off-diagonal elements in the matrix.
Fornell and Larcker (1981) suggest that average variance
shared between a construct and its measures should be greater
than the variance shared between the constructs and other
constructs in the model. Discriminant validity is given, when
the diagonal elements (square root AVE) are greater than the
off-diagonal elements in the corresponding rows and
columns. As can be seen from Table I and Table II,
discriminant validity is very satisfactory. Overall, all the
measures show satisfactory reliability and validity.

Brand affect is positively related to purchase and

attitudinal loyalty.

3. Study
Sample
A self-administered questionnaire was developed and data were
collected from a sample of 303 randomly selected individuals.
Subjects have been approached during shopping hours in
shopping streets of two Austrian cities. Data collection took
place between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on five working days. The
interviewers randomly selected passers-by, asked them to
participate in the study (if they owned running shoes or mobile
phones) and to complete the standardized, self-administered
questionnaire. As an incentive, interviewees received a
chocolate bar. Overall, 303 usable questionnaires were
collected (158 for running shoes, and 145 for mobile phones).
Measures
All constructs have been measured with existing and tested
scales. The NEO-FFI approach to measure personality traits,
originally developed by Costa and McCrae (1992) and
translated and validated into (the) German (language) by
Borkenau and Ostendorf (1993), was used to measure the
personality traits openness and extraversion. Brand affect,
hedonic value, purchase loyalty, and attitudinal loyalty were
measured using the scales developed by Chaudhuri and
Holbrook (2001). Brand affect was measured with the items
I feel good when I use this brand, This brand makes me
happy, and This brand gives me pleasure. Two aspects of
loyalty were measured, purchase loyalty was measured with
the statements I will buy this brand the next time I buy a
running shoe and I intend to keep purchasing this brand.
Attitudinal loyalty was measured with the two statements I
am committed to this brand, and I would be willing to pay a
higher price for this brand over other brands. Hedonic value
of a brand was measured with the items I love this product
and I feel good when I use this product. All statements were
measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 strongly agree,
5 strongly disagree).

Path coefficients and predictive ability

PLS uses the bootstrapping method (Efron and Gong, 1983)
to compute the standard errors and thereby evaluate the
significance of the structural coefficients. In both cases 500
bootstrap runs were performed. The results are reported in
Figure 1 and Figure 2. In both studies Openness and
Extraversion significantly influence the customers perception
of hedonic value of the product. In the running shoe sample,
Openness, Extraversion and hedonic value have an impact on
brand affect, explaining 43 percent of its variance. In the
mobile phone sample extraversion has no significant impact
on brand affect.
Hence, the question arises whether this relationship is
mediated by the customers perception of the products
hedonic value. To test this mediating effect, Baron and
Kennys (1986) logic to test mediating effects was applied. A
variable is a mediator when it meets the following three
conditions:
1 the independent variable significantly influences the
mediating variable (path a);
2 the mediating variable significantly influences the
dependent variable (path b); and

Results
The Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach was applied to
estimate the causal models (using SmartPLS; Hansmann and
429

Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

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Figure 1 PLS results for running shoes

value of a product. Consistent with previous studies in

psychology and consistent with studies in the context of adevoked feelings (Mooradian, 1996) and customer satisfaction
(Matzler et al., 2005; Mooradian and Olver, 1997) it has been
shown that extraversion is positively related to positive
affective responses. It has been found that extraverts perceive
stronger hedonic values of a product, which is related to
brand affect. Hence, a positive indirect relationship between
extraversion and brand affect has been found. The
hypothesized relationship between openness to experience
and hedonic value and brand affect has been confirmed
empirically. The results of this study, therefore contribute to
the literature in personality psychology and affective responses
in consumer behavior. It has been demonstrated that
enduring characteristics of the individuals, i.e. extraversion
and openness are related to central constructs in marketing.
These findings are of interest to marketers who want to
affectively bond their customers and to create brand loyalty.
The results suggest that customers who score high on
extraversion and openness respond stronger to affective
stimuli. As a consequence, these findings could be of
relevance to market segmentation and targeting.
Future studies should try to replicate these findings with
larger samples, other product categories and include other
personality traits of the big five that could be related to
hedonic or utilitarian values sought (e.g. conscientiousness)

when path a and path b are controlled, a previously

significant relation between the independent and the
dependent variables is now longer significant.

Hence, first the direct path from Extraversion and Openness

to brand affect without the variable hedonic value was tested
in both studies. The results are presented in Table III. In both
cases the hedonic value perception mediates the relationship
between the two personality traits and brand affect. In the
mobile phone study, the path Extraversion ! Brand Affect
relationship is fully mediated by hedonic value. The other
paths are partially mediated, as the impact of the independent
variables (personality traits) on the dependent variable (brand
affect) is reduced, when the mediating variable (hedonic
value) is controlled.
In both studies (see Figure 1 and Figure 2) brand affect
predicts attitudinal and purchase loyalty. It is interesting to
note, however, that in the mobile phone study, the
relationship between brand affect and purchase loyalty is
much weaker than in the running shoes study and the brand
affect-attitudinal loyalty relationship in both studies.

4. Discussion and conclusion

It has been shown that the two personality traits openness and
extraversion are positively related to the perceived hedonic
430

Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

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Figure 2 PLS results for mobile phones

Table I Latent variables correlations (running shoes)

Brand affect
Openness
Attitudinal loyalty
Purchase loyalty
Extraversion
Hedonic value

Brand affect

Openness

Attitudinal loyalty

Purchase loyalty

Extra-version

Hedonic value

0.90
0.30
0.77
0.64
0.21
0.60

0.66
0.22
0.16
20.11
0.11

0.88
0.56
0.08
0.57

0.95
0.23
0.43

0.73
0.22

0.92

Note: Square root of AVE in diagonal

Table II Latent variables correlations (mobile phones)

Brand affect
Openness
Attitudinal loyalty
Purchase loyalty
Extraversion
Hedonic value

Brand affect

Openness

Attitudinal loyalty

Purchase loyalty

Extra-version

Hedonic value

0.89
0.35
0.60
0.38
0.19
0.57

0.69
0.20
0.06
0.01
0.23

0.89
0.40
0.13
0.50

0.95
0.13
0.39

0.73
0.32

0.92

Note: Square root of AVE in diagonal

431

Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

Table III Results of the mediator test

Direct path (Personality Brand Affect)

Running shoes
Openness ! Brand Affect
Extraversion ! Brand Affect
Mobile phones
Openness ! Brand Affect
Extraversion ! Brand Affect

Indirect path (Hedonic value as mediator)

0.33 * * *
0.25 * * *

Openness ! Brand Affect

Extraversion ! Brand Affect

0.26 * * *
0.11 * * *

0.21 * * *
0.37 * * *

Openness ! Brand Affect

Extraversion ! Brand Affect

0.24 * * *
0.02n.s.

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Note: *p , 0.010; **p , 0.005; ***p , 0.001; n.s. not significant

and negative emotions (neuroticism). In the context of brand

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as studies have shown that people who score high on this
personality trait tend to trust more than individuals with low
scores on this trait (Mooradian et al., 2006). Extraversion
which is strongly related to pleasant relationship with others
could be of relevance to the study of brand communities
(Algesheimer et al., 2005).

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Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

Corresponding author

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 61 No. 1,

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Sonja Bidmon can be contacted at: sonja.bidmon@uniklu.ac.at

Executive summary
This executive summary has been provided to allow managers and
executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those
with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the
article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive
description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full
benefit of the material present.
Understanding customers personality traits
A walk down any street in any town swiftly reveals that people
are different. The days when marketers could treat them as
being the same are long gone. They died a death when after
post-Second World war reconstruction demand ceased
outstripping supply for the majority of consumer goods.
They died a death when trade liberalization and globalization
brought choice and superior quality.
Research into peoples personality is back in vogue after a
quiet period. The emerging consensus points to five
personality traits within broad domains. These are
extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience (or
intellect), agreeableness, and conscientiousness. While any
model of this type can be open to charges of being simplistic,
it has proved a useful classification for brand managers
seeking to better understand the role of personality in areas
such as loyalty to a given brand.
A survey by researchers from Johannes Kepler University
Linz and the University of Klagenfurt in Austria sought to
further explore aspects of personality in relation to brand
affect and loyalty, focusing on those within the groups of
extroversion and openness to experience normally associated
with hedonic, or purchasing patterns linked to pleasure.
To do this they walked around the streets of two Austrian
cities asking those who either owned a mobile phone or
running shoes to complete a self-administered questionnaire.
They did indeed reveal that people are different. They also
revealed findings that marketers can usefully pick up upon
when determining market segments and making targeting
decisions.
In two consumer purchasing decisions, at least, hedonism
and aesthetics rule!
Positive brand affects
Extrovertism is associated with energy and ambition and
venturesomeness. Openness to experience with an active
imagination and aesthetic sensibility. At first sight they may
not seem like the likeliest candidates for loyalty. Yet there is an
opportunity to develop it with the right approach. Blandness,
for example, wont cut it.
The hedonic sensibility too is associated with aesthetics, as
well as emotion and pleasure. An unstated calculation being
computed by our extrovert self and that part of ourself
demonstrating openness of mind is what does this product do
for me, what pleasure will it bring, is it aesthetically pleasing
enough for me to wish to part with my cash.
To bring in another important concept, brand affect is
normally considered to precede brand purchase, a positive
brand affect making a consumer much more likely to buy. In
the study of mobile phone users there was a clear correlation
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Individual determinants of brand affect

Journal of Product & Brand Management

Kurt Matzler, Sonja Bidmon and Sonja Grabner-Krauter

Volume 15 Number 7 2006 427 434

between extroversion and brand affect, mediated by hedonic

values. However, the relationship between brand affect and
purchase loyalty is weaker than in the running shoes one.
Tuning into emotion is the key. Brands that make
customers feel happiness, joy or affection are most likely to
get a positive response. Rationality among consumers is only
half the story, if that at all. It doesnt help all that much in
understanding purchase decisions when customers are buying
with their heart.

understanding of extroversion and openness in relation to

brands. As behavioral and other social research progresses
then the weight of understanding of customer groups will
increase. Personality has been a somewhat neglected area
previously, although this is now changing.
New millennium brand managers seeking to bond with
customers as a means of building brand loyalty need to take
note and act. Not all customers are the same, and not all
customers respond to the same stimuli. Greater sophistication
of approach is the key, as it has become in terms of market
segmentation and targeting. Customers with a high score on
extroversion and openness respond stronger to affective
stimuli than other groups.
The old adage of knowing your customers has never felt
more like the truth. With research, though, comes the
opportunity to further segment and customize approaches to
particular groups. Personality research facilitates this. It
provides one of the bases from which information-based
brand marketing strategies can thrive. It has been a long time
since one size fitted all, in fact for the consumer one size never
did quite fit. In a new world of customerization, matching
personalities is vital.

Ideas to go
What can be concluded from the Matzler, Grabner-Krauter
and Bidmon study? The most significant conclusions that can
be drawn are that:
.
There is a positive relationship between openness and
extroversion and the perceived hedonistic value of a
product;
.
Extroversion is positively related to positive affective
responses;
.
A positive indirect relationship has been found between
extroversion and brand affect.
So far so technical, but what are the implications for
marketers?
There is a deepening of understanding of human
personality as it relates to brand affect, and ultimately brand
loyalty. However, more specifically, the study aids the

(A precis of the article Individual determinants of brand affect:

the role of the personality traits of extraversion and openness to
experience. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

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