Community Based Social Media Fashion Branding: Do Fashion Brands Heritage and Prestige Affect Consumers' Brand Loyalty Intention?

This research explores whether fashion brands heritage and prestige per- ceived by consumers affect their brand loyalty intention. Specifically, the research aims at investigating if heritage and prestige matter in branding strategist based on engaging consumers in social media brand communities. Social media brand com- munities initiated by fashion brands represent the setting of this research. In fact, it has been assessed that members of brand communities usually are more informed on brands products and value than the average consumer. In order to achieve the aim of the research, a moderated structural equation modeling analysis has been developed and tested. Results show that, on the one hand, heritage has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between consumers’ engagement in online communities and brand loyalty intention; and, on the other hand, prestige showed a positive mod- erating effect on such a relationship. Managerial implications and suggestions for future researches are discussed.