The impact of nostalgic emotion on brand trust and brand attachment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make up the deficiency of theoretical research in nostalgic marketing and is helpful for the original theories of brand marketing and experiential marketing to deepen further. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the approach of the empirical study. Based on the literature review, a theoretical model of the impact of nostalgic emotion (NE) on brand trust and brand attachment is constructed and corresponding research hypotheses are proposed. Then nostalgia-themed restaurants are selected to complete a questionnaire survey, and SPSS22.0 and LISREL8.70 are used for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Findings The results of the paper show that NE consists of four dimensions in the context of China: atmosphere nostalgia, interpersonal nostalgia, family nostalgia and personal nostalgia. Among these, NE has a significant positive impact on brand trust and brand attachment; further, brand trust has a significant positive impact on brand attachment and plays a partial mediating role in the impact of NE on the latter. Research limitations/implications As the nostalgic restaurant industry is the research object, the theoretical model described here may be limited to this specific industry. The potential applicability of the theoretical model to other service industries requires further study. Practical implications The results of the paper are helpful in building a good nostalgic experience, increasing consumer trust in restaurant brands, and strengthening the connection between NE and restaurant brand reconstruction. Social implications The results of the paper on the impact of NE on brand trust and brand attachment provide a referential basis and guide for services’ companies (e.g. restaurants) to revitalize the services’ brands. Originality/value The first contribution is that NE scale is constructed for the nostalgia-themed restaurants. The second contribution is that the paper reveals the mechanism of the impact of NE on brand trust and brand attachment.