Types of Consumer-Brand Relationships: A systematic review and future research agenda

This article provides the first systematic literature review specifically about consumer-brand relationship types since the foundational paper on brand relationships was published in 1998. This review reveals what we know about brand relationship types by identifying five types that have been the subject of multi-paper investigations–brand love, hate, communal relationships, friendships, and addiction–and by synthesizing the conceptualization of these types as well as known antecedents, moderators, and outcomes. Additionally, it offers insights on how this knowledge was created, including theoretical sources of inspiration and the crucial role of methodological innovations in the development of research streams around new types. Finally, this review outlines where we should go from here with a detailed roadmap for future research on how to build knowledge of more types, further what we know about antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of types, expand the methodological toolbox, and clarify the boundaries and structure of consumer-brand relationship types.