The Grounded Theory approach to consumer–brand engagement: the practitioner’s standpoint
Rossella C. Gambetti and Guendalina Graffigna
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Silvia Biraghi
Università IULM
Background
Consumer–brand engagement (CBE) is a recent concept in the marketing literature expanding the domain of relationship marketing (Vivek et al. 2011), presently emphasised as a fundamental driver of both consumer decision-making process (Bowden 2009; Sprott et al. 2009) and brand equity (Schultz & Block 2011), being generally considered by marketers as a priority in branding strategies (Hollebeek 2011a).
However, currently in the marketing literature exists neither a clear nor a...