From uniqueness to consumer behaviour: the mediating role of brand passion and brand addiction in masstige human brands

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elucidate consumers’ perceptions of celebrities as masstige human brands (Study 1) and to develop a novel comparative framework that incorporates two distinct mediating variables, brand passion and brand addiction (Study 2), which shape the relationship between human brands as masstige brands and key consumer behaviours, including loyalty and compulsive buying. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative study (Study 1) used Leximancer software to conduct content analysis of textual data from 42 interviews with consumers. In the quantitative study (Study 2), 365 valid responses were collected with a questionnaire, and the proposed conceptual model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The analysis in Study 1 revealed that consumers perceive celebrities as both human and masstige brands. The results obtained in Study 2 confirmed that brand passion and brand addiction are mediators between the three dimensions of celebrity masstige brands and both loyalty and compulsive buying. The model with the brand addiction mediator is a better fit for the data than the brand passion model. Originality/value These studies offer new insights into human and masstige brands, showing that a masstige strategy can be implemented by celebrity human brands.