Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 2619–2625
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Journal of Business Research
Effects of advertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia on brand heritage
Altaf Merchant ⁎, Gregory M. Rose 1
University of Washington Tacoma, 1900 Commerce Street, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA
⁎ Corresponding author at:Milgard School of Business, U1900 Commerce Street, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA. Tel.: +14523.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. [email protected] (G.M. Rose).
1 Tel.: +1 253 692 5687; fax: +1 253 692 4523.
0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. Alldoi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.05.021
a b s t r a c t
a r t i c l e i n f oArticle history:Received 24 August 2011Accepted 17 May 2012Available online 12 June 2012
Keywords:NostalgiaBrandsBrand heritageAdvertising
Why do people feel emotional attachment to events occurring before they were born? This paper examines ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia‐induced longing for a time period that an individual did not live through. Vicariousnostalgia impacts brand heritage and leads to stronger brand attachment. Qualitative research (Study 1) and aliterature review identify two vicarious nostalgia dimensions—fantasies about past eras and emotions. Initialquantitative research (Study 2) refines thesemeasures, while subsequent quantitative research (Study 3) relatesvicarious nostalgia to both antecedents (alienation, fantasy proneness, and nostalgia proneness) and conse-quences (brand heritage and brand attachment). Self-referencing moderates the relationship between nostalgiaproneness and fantasies, while vicarious nostalgia partially mediates the relationship between nostalgia prone-ness and brand heritage. Both individual propensities (nostalgia proneness) and advertising-evoked vicariousnostalgia enhance or build brand heritage perceptions.
© 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
A brand's heritage tells a wonderful tale. Aaker (1991, 2004)describes the importance of heritage in building corporate and productbrands. Coca Cola, Ivory, and Budweiser provide examples of companiesthat frequently leverage brand heritage to bolster their brands. Con-sumers tend to associate a brand's longevity and stability with heritage(Urde, Greyser, & Balmer, 2007). Evoking heritage appears instrumentalin driving brand strength (George, 2004) and brand personality (Kellerand Richey, 2006). Stability and continuity are crucial, especially duringtimes of crises (financial, economic, or political), because a brand'sheritage imparts a sense of grounding and safety.
Marketers often reassure consumers and provide a sense of securitythrough nostalgic advertising (Boyle, 2009). These ads can precipitateconsumer longing for their lived past (personal nostalgia) (Sullivan,2009) or evoke emotional feelings for a time period before the con-sumer's birth (vicarious nostalgia). For example, Sears evokes vicariousnostalgia in their advertising campaign, “Sears, where else” (Elliott,2002), by using now-and-then spots to recreate scenes of everydaylife throughout the 20th Century. These ads remind consumers that
niversity ofWashington Tacoma,253 692 5684; fax: +1 253 692
chant),
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Sears sold their ancestors everything from farm equipment to saddleshoes. Numerous examples exist for many other products and servicesthat utilize vicarious nostalgia, such as Levi's jeans, Total cereal,Volkswagen, Wawa, and Macy's (Elliott, 2002; Horovitz, 2011).
This paper posits that advertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia is in-strumental in building consumers' brand heritage perceptions. Whileprevious studies examine nostalgia, they focus mainly on ad-evokedpersonal nostalgia. To date, academic studies ignore vicariousnostalgia's effects on brand heritage perceptions. This research aims tofill this gap by conceptually developing and empirically testing amodel that examines the impact of advertising-evoked vicarious nostal-gia on brand heritage. Measures of these constructs are also developedbased on both qualitative and quantitative research. Study 1 develops aconceptual model, ten research hypotheses and preliminary measuresof the focal constructs by reviewing the literature and synthesizingthe results of five focus groups. Study 2 refines the measures ofadvertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia and brand heritage, whileStudy 3 empirically tests the hypotheses.
This research: (1) proposes and examines several antecedents(nostalgia proneness, fantasy proneness, alienation, and vicariousnostalgia) in brand heritage's nomological network; (2) contributes tothe nostalgia literature by explicating advertising-evoked vicariousnostalgia as a two-dimensional experience that includes fantasiesabout past eras and emotions; (3) establishes that both individual pro-pensities (nostalgia proneness) and advertising-evoked vicariousnostalgia enhance or build brand heritage perceptions; and (4) revealsthat advertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia is a positive experiencethat enhances consumer comprehension and interpretation of thebrand's meaning, which augments emotional attachment.
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2. Hypotheses development
2.1. Vicarious nostalgia
Personal nostalgia encompasses a longing for the lived past(Merchant, LaTour, Ford, and LaTour, forthcoming). Vicarious nostalgiaon the other hand, “deals with nostalgia for a period outside of theindividual's living memory” (Goulding, 2002, page 542) that wasnever directly experienced by the consumer (Baker and Kennedy,1994). Vicarious nostalgia, also referred to as historical nostalgia, exam-ines the experience of emotionally connecting to and fantasizing aboutexperiences and associations from past eras (Stern, 1992). Recentresearch links vicarious nostalgia to positive ad and brand attitudes(Marchegiani and Phau, 2011; Muehling, 2011). Rose and Wood(2005) allude to fantasy elements in vicarious nostalgia. Previousdescriptions indicate that vicarious nostalgia can influence the purchaseof automobiles (Leigh, Peters and Shelton, 2006), cigarettes, tea (Holak,Matveev and Havlena, 2008), beverages, sneakers and apparel(Horovitz, 2011). Companies frequently attempt to evoke vicariousnostalgia through advertising across a variety of products, includingcars (e.g., Chrysler, Chevrolet), alcoholic beverages (e.g., Jack Daniel's),non-alcoholic beverages (e.g., Mountain Dew), and banks (e.g., WellsFargo). Vicarious nostalgia serves to build, detail, and reinforce theheritage of the advertised brand.
2.2. Brand heritage
The Cambridge dictionary defines heritage as “features belonging tothe culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or build-ings, which come from the past and are still important” (http://tinyurl.com/buqc2no). Urde et al. (2007, page 4) describe brand heritage as “adimension of a brand's identity found in its track record, longevity, corevalues, use of symbols and particularly in the organizational belief thatits history is important.” Over a period of time, a history composed ofaccumulated brand-related experiences shape brand perceptions(Aaker, 1991). Heritage provides an important driver. The brand'searly roots add sincerity and differentiation, especially as the brand'shistory and origin are re-interpreted in contemporary times (Aaker,2004). In some instances marketers extol a brand's real history andheritage (Beverland and Luxton, 2005). In other cases, marketers em-bellish, augment, or create a fictitious heritage (Beverland, Lindgreen,and Vink, 2008; Holak et al., 2008). Brand heritage creates brand associ-ations (Aaker, 2004) that potentially enhance brand personality andbrand equity (Keller and Richey, 2006), reduce perceived risk, andenable a brand to command a price premium (Stewart-Allen, 2002).
2.3. Study 1: qualitative research
The literature and a qualitative study comprising five focus groupsinform the conceptual model. The qualitative study's objectives wereto enhance the understanding of the antecedents and consequences
Fig. 1. Concept
of advertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia and their impact on brandheritage perceptions. Each focus group consisted of six-seven con-sumers and lasted for about 90 minutes. Participants included 19females and 14 males. Respondents were selected from a variety ofdifferent ages, incomes, and educational backgrounds. The participantprofile was homogenous in each group and heterogeneous acrossgroups. Initially, respondents were asked general questions aboutnostalgia. They were then exposed to four television commercials(Chrysler cars [ad available at: http://tinyurl.com/chryslerhome],Wells Fargo bank [http://tinyurl.com/wellsbg], Jack Daniel's whiskey[http://tinyurl.com/2a3o5mu], and Mountain Dew [http://tinyurl.com/yh5u7r3]), one at a time and their reactions were noted. Each adattempts to evoke vicarious nostalgia through imagery and music. Forexample, the Wells Fargo ad (set in the times of the California goldrush) depicts the relationship between young Charlie and Wells Fargobank as he saves enough money to send for his sweetheart. Similarly,the Jack Daniel's commercial presents a series of black and whiteimages, which morph through scenes depicting the life of Jack Daniel.A narrative describes how Jack Daniel first created his brand of whiskeyand grew his distillery.
The order of the ads was rotated across the groups. The discussionswere audio recorded and transcribed. In-depth transcript analyseswere conducted by two assessors. Each reviewer evaluated the tran-scripts independently, and then the assessors met to discuss andachieve consensus on the results. Respondents’ names are changed tomaintain confidentiality.
2.4. Conceptual model
Fantasy proneness and alienation influence the consumer's nostal-gia proneness. Nostalgia proneness affects brand heritage perceptions,both directly and indirectly through ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia(fantasies about past eras and emotions). Self-referencing moderatesnostalgia proneness' effect on fantasies about past eras. Fantasiesabout past eras influence emotions. These emotions influence brandheritage perceptions, which affect brand attachment. Thus, fantasiesabout past eras mediate nostalgia proneness' effect on emotions,while emotions mediate the effect of fantasies on brand heritage.Fig. 1 shows the conceptual model.
2.4.1. Antecedents
2.4.1.1. Nostalgia proneness. Some individuals show higher propensitiesor proneness for nostalgia than others (Holbrook, 1993). McKechnie(1977) finds that nostalgia prone individuals enjoy antiques and histor-ical places, appreciate artifacts of earlier eras, and frequently collectobjects for emotional reasons. An individual's life stage and otherpersonality factors influence nostalgia proneness.
2.4.1.2. Fantasy proneness. Fantasy proneness is an individual's procliv-ity to indulge in fantasies (Lynn and Rhue, 1986). Fantasy prone
ual Model.
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individuals get highly involved imaginatively while reading, playingand even during religious activities (Lynn and Rhue, 1988). High fantasyprone individuals are more creative, imaginative, and easily getabsorbed in stories as compared to low fantasy prone individuals(Merckelbach, Horselenberg and Muris, 2001).
Since nostalgia involves imagining or recollecting the past, the con-sumer's generalized fantasy proneness likely influences the consumer'sproclivity toward nostalgia. This relationship is particularly importantin the context of vicarious nostalgia, which involves the imagining of amythical but not lived past. This behavior also emerged in the focusgroups:
“I frequently get lost inmy fantasies and day dreams…. When I saw thisad (Wells Fargo) I started imagining what it would have been likeliving 100 years ago….the clothes, the houses, the simplicity, warmthin relationships…..that would have been nice.” (Jane, 55 year oldfemale)
Therefore,
H1. Fantasy proneness positively influences nostalgia proneness.
2.4.1.3. Alienation. Alienation refers “to the separation of human beingsfrom fellow human beings and from their institutions” (Kanungo, 1979,page 120). Alienation likely influences the consumer's propensity to getnostalgic. Nostalgia allows consumers to indulge in idealized, commu-nity values of the past. Imaginative transportation to another erathrough vicarious nostalgia likely heals the sense of insecurity andmarginalization felt by alienated individuals. An example from thefocus group includes:
“You know relations are not what they were in the past. I know manypeople but do they really know me? ….I often long for the medievaltimes, the times of chivalry and bravery. I think of that and imagine thatI was also one of those knights, bonding with the other knights. Throughthe internet I know some other guys who also have such fantasies.”(Ichiro, 31 year old male)
Accordingly,
H2. Alienation positively influences nostalgia proneness.
Nostalgia proneness plays a significant role in shaping consumptionpreferences across products (e.g., music, movies, fashionmodels, classiccars) (Holbrook and Schindler, 1996). Nostalgia proneness positivelyaffects evaluations of product quality, brand image, and feelings to-wards the brand (Reisenwitz, Iyer and Cutler, 2004). Keeping thesefindings in mind, nostalgia proneness also likely impacts perceptionsof brand heritage, since nostalgia prone consumers tend to be pastoriented. Thus,
H3. Nostalgia proneness positively influences perceptions of brandheritage.
2.4.2. Ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia and its consequences
2.4.2.1. Ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia. The experience of nostalgiaincludes cognitive and affective elements (Davis, 1979). Studyingmuseum visitors, Grayson and Martinec (2004) allude to the central-ity of fantasy in experiencing vicarious nostalgia. The word fantasyhas roots in the Greek word ‘phantasia’ regarding the human capacityto imagine (Rook, 1988). In Structure and Functions of Fantasy, Klinger(1971) describes fantasy as imagining a complex object or event inconcrete details (through images), where the object of imaginationmay or may not exist. Leigh et al. (2006) find that owners of the Britishsports car MG frequently fantasize about living and driving their MG inpast time periods. This behavior is consistent with the antiquarianismliterature, which illustrates that some consumers purchase antiques
and other things (e.g., old clothes, old houses) associated with thepast. These consumers often imagine that they live during the timeperiod when the object was created (McKechnie, 1977; Taylor andKonrad, 1980).
Focus group findings reveal two dimensions to advertising-evoked vicarious nostalgia. Ads precipitated fantasies about pasteras that led to emotions. This result is consistent with the narrativetransportation literature, which states that consumers can becomeso drawn into a narrative story that they get swept away (Greenand Brock, 2000). Evidently, nostalgic ads provide the consumer abrief conduit to the past. Some examples from the focus groupsinclude:
“Imagine what it would have been living in the times of mygrandmother- the clothes they used to wear, living at home and takingcare of kids, the excitement ofWorldWar II, working on the horse radishplant…times were simpler then, I wish I could just visit those times andreturn.” (Mary, 39 year old female, in response to the Chrysler ad)
“I experienced a range of emotions…happiness, comforted…” (Jim,33 year old male, in response to the Wells Fargo ad)
In light of these discussions, nostalgia proneness likely influencesad-evoked vicarious nostalgia experienced by the consumer. Nostalgiaprone consumers more likely fantasize about past eras that generateemotions in response to an advertisement that invokes vicariousnostalgia.
H4. Nostalgia proneness positively influences fantasies about past eras.
H5. Fantasies about past eras positively influence emotions.
H6. Fantasies about past eras mediate the effect of nostalgia prone-ness on emotions.
2.4.2.2. Moderating role of self-referencing. Consumers may or maynot relate messages when they are exposed to an advertisement.Burnkrant and Unnava (1995) state that self-referencing is a processwhere the consumer relates the information embedded in a messageto his or her self experiences or expectations. Escalas (2007) proposesthat when a consumer self-references, he or she becomes absorbed inthe story and gets transported by the narrative. When consumersimagine themselves in the ad (self-reference) they become moreengaged, evaluate the product favorably, and display positive atti-tudes towards the ad and the brand (Escalas, 2007). The resultsof the qualitative study were also consistent with the notion thatself-referencing moderates consumers' reactions to ads aimed ateliciting vicarious nostalgia. High self-referencing evokes more fanta-sies about past eras.
“I recently got engaged and found it cute that Charlie (character inWells Fargo ad) saved money and got his wife from the east Coast.It would have been very tough for them, but it would have helped thatthey could trust the people around them.” (Tim, 38 year old male)
Conversely, low or no self-referencing for an ad among specificindividuals fails to evoke fantasies about past eras.
“I could not relate to the Wells Fargo ad, as I dread to think of howAfrican Americans would have been treated in the 1800s.” (John,29 year old male)
Therefore,
H7. The effect of the consumer's nostalgia proneness on fantasiesabout past eras will be stronger when self-referencing is higher.
Table 1Vicarious nostalgia and brand heritage items and factor loadings.
Item EFA CFA***
Fantasies about past eras .91a,.90b
.95a,
.95b
I fantasized about the past when watching the ad .75 .87I imagined I was living in the past period shown in the ad .75 .86The ad took me back in time .71 .85When I saw the ad, I became lost in the time period(s) shown .67 .85I imagined I was there in the simple and pure times shown in the ad .69 .84I fantasized I was wearing the clothes in the time periods shown inthe ad
.68 .84
I imagined I was participating in the traditions and rituals of thepast shown in the ad
.66 .80
The ad made me nostalgic for the time period shown .74 .77After seeing the ad, my imagination was like an avalanche, I thoughtof all different things about the past
.66 .74
Emotions .95a,.95b
.93a,
.93b
Happy .94 .88
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2.4.2.3. Effects on brand heritage. Leveraging brand heritage providesan emotionally engaging means of bonding with the consumer.Brand heritage is an integral part of a brand's story that can providea foundation for the brand's promise (Blackshaw, 2008). For example,a recent study of 58 MG owners, Leigh et al. (2006) find that theheritage associated with the MG is one of the main elements of thatbrand's identity. Brand heritage denotes feelings of longevity, conti-nuity, and authenticity, which drive trust and credibility. Leigh et al.(2006) posit that nostalgia potentially underlies brand heritage. TheMG evoked vicarious nostalgia among customers by psychologicallytransporting the driver to epochs in the past in which he/she didnot live. Focus group findings corroborate this experience of transpor-tation and suggest that emotions related to ad-evoked vicariousnostalgia impact consumer perceptions of the brand's heritage.
“When I watched the Jack Daniel's ad, I felt nice; I felt a connectionwith Jack's time period, a connection with something we do not havenow…it's an all American brand.” (Dave, 29 year old male)
Accordingly,
H8. Emotions positively influence perceptions of brand heritage.
The narrative transportation literature suggests that ads thatpsychologically induce a consumer to fantasize positively affect theconsumer's evaluations of the brand (Green and Brock, 2000) andintensify brand experience (Philips and McQuarrie, 2010). Positiveemotions (evoked by narrative advertisements) mediate the effectsof ad-evoked thoughts on brand attitudes (Escalas, 2004). Emotionsgenerated by the vicarious nostalgia ad should, similarly, mediatethe relationship between fantasies about past eras and brand heritageperceptions.
Therefore,
H9. Emotions mediate the effect of the fantasies about past eras onbrand heritage.
Brands with heritage are perceived to be dependable. Longevityencourages trust and enhances the perception that the brand willcontinue to efficiently deliver value (George, 2004). Brand heritagelikely affects consumer choice by presenting a reliable offering in acrowded marketplace (Menkes, 2010). The current inquiry expandson these assertions by specifically relating brand heritage to brandattachment (Park, MacInnis, Priester, Eisingerich and Iacobucci,2010). Consumer perceptions of brand heritage should impact attach-ment to the brand by providing a concrete focus for brand bonding.
H10. Perceptions of brand heritage positively influence brandattachment.
Inspired .81 .84Calm .93 .83Relaxed .90 .82Enthusiastic .85 .81Carefree .93 .76Curious .71 .72Brand Heritage .95a,
.96b.97a,.97b
A brand that has managed the tough times as well as the good times .86 .93A secure brand that won't disappear tomorrow .85 .93A stable brand .79 .92A respected brand .78 .92A reputable brand .86 .91A solid brand .79 .90A dependable brand .74 .88A brand with heritage .75 .88A trustworthy brand .86 .84The brand is an institution .88 .84A reliable brand .71 .84An authentic brand .76 .80
a=Cronbach's alpha, b=Composite reliability; ***all loadings significant at pb .001.
3. Study 2: Measuring ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia andbrand heritage
3.1. Existing scales
A review of the nostalgia literature revealed established scales thatmeasure nostalgia proneness (Holbrook, 1993; McKechnie, 1977), butnot the experience of ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia. Current advertisingscales measure attitudes towards ads (Spears and Singh, 2004), adeffectiveness (Moreau, Markman and Lehmann, 2001), persuasiveness(Reichert, Heckler and Jackson, 2001), and ad-evoked personal nostalgia(Merchant et al., forthcoming). However, none of these scales examinead-evoked vicarious nostalgia. Similarly, scales measure the consumer'sdisposition towards a brand: attitude towards brand (Zhang andSchmitt, 2001), brand attachment (Park et al., 2010), brand loyalty(Sen, Gurhan-Canli and Morwitz, 2001), brand engagement (Sprott,
Czellar and Spangenberg, 2009), and brand equity (Yoo, Donthu andLee, 2000), but no established measure for brand heritage exists.
3.2. Item generation
A comprehensive literature review did not locate any establishedscales for vicarious nostalgia and brand heritage. Summarizing thefindings from the five focus groups generated a list of candidate items.Respondents were asked about the thoughts and feelings evoked byeach of the advertisement. They also were asked if they felt the brandshown in the ad had heritage and the adjectives they would use todescribe the product. An in-depth analysis of the transcripts wasconducted by two assessors. Each reviewer evaluated the transcriptsindependently, and then the assessors met to discuss and achieve con-sensus on the results. 37manifestations for ad-evoked vicarious nostal-gia were identified. The first set (18-items) includes statements relatedto fantasies about past eras dimension; the second dimension identifiesstatements about the emotions experienced (19-items). Lastly, brandheritage includes 16-items.
3.3. Item reduction
Data were collected from 102 undergraduate students in anAmerican university. The sample was 48% male with an average ageof 27 years. Each respondent was exposed to one of the two TV com-mercials that used vicarious nostalgia themes: Wells Fargo bank,Chevrolet Sunshine [ad available at: http://tinyurl.com/2abefls] andresponded to the 37-items related to ad-evoked vicarious nostalgiaand the 16-items on brand heritage.
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Exploratory factor analyses were run separately for the vicariousnostalgia items and the items related to brand heritage (Gerbingand Anderson, 1988). Statistical criteria for item retention were: a)item-to-total correlations above .50, b) an average inter-item correla-tion above .30, and c) a factor loading above .60 (see Spector, 1992).The first factor analysis yielded 12-items loading on brand heritage.The second factor analysis resulted in 16-items loading on the twofactors of ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia: fantasies about past eras(nine-items) and emotions (seven-items). For types of emotions,the findings reveal that ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia comprisespositive emotions. Even though several negative emotions (e.g., sad,anxious) were in the initial item pool, they were eliminated fromthe final inventory based on the factor analysis and the major emo-tions described by the focus groups. The measurement items, factorloadings, and reliability coefficients are presented in Table 1.
4. Study 3: hypotheses testing
4.1. Overview
Datawere collected from 265 respondents in the U.S., participating inan on-line consumer panel. The sample had amean age of 48 years—with31% being in the age group of 18–40 years old, 42% being between40–60 years old, and 27% being over 60. In terms of gender, 51% weremale and 49% female. Approximately 37% of the respondents indicatedan annual household income of less than $50,000, 30% indicated an in-come of between $50,000 and $100,000, and 33% reported an incomeof greater than $100,000.
4.2. Methods
Respondents first answered questions related to the antecedents.Fantasy proneness was measured using the 16-items developed byMerckelbach et al. (2001). Alienation was measured using the eight-item scale developed by Dean (1961). Nostalgia proneness was mea-sured using the 11-item scale developed by McKechnie (1977). Eachrespondent was then exposed to either the previously discussedWells Fargo or the Jack Daniel's TV commercials. Self-referencingwas assessed using the four-item measure developed by Debevecand Iyer (1988). Ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia (16-items) andbrand heritage (12-items) were assessed using the measures devel-oped in study 2. Additionally, the subjects responded to the four-item brand attachment scale (Park et al., 2010).
4.3. Confirmatory factor analyses
A confirmatory factor analysis (using AMOS 16) of the completemeasurement model was run to evaluate the measurement proper-ties of the endogenous and exogenous variables. Convergent validityis indicated by large and significant standardized loadings of the con-structs on their posited indicators (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).Items with standardized factor loadings less than .50 were judged to
Table 2Correlations, shared variance, and AVE.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Fantasy proneness (.52)c .48b .10 .41 .18 .00 .222 Alienation .69a (.53) .14 .25 .05 .01 .073 Nostalgia proneness .32 .38 (.45) .28 .10 .08 .104 Fantasies about past eras .64 .50 .53 (.68) .49 .08 .465 Emotions .43 .23 .32 .70 (.66) .17 .406 Brand heritage .06 .09 .28 .29 .41 (.78) .237 Brand attachment .47 .26 .31 .68 .63 .48 (.83)
a=Correlation; b=Shared variance (squared correlation); c=Average varianceextracted; Chi-square differences satisfied Anderson and Gerbing (1988) test of dis-criminant validity.
lack convergent validity and were dropped. Items cross-loading onmultiple dimensions were dropped. To improve the fit, five pathsthat had a very high modification index and which could besupported theoretically were added. All five paths were correlationsbetween the error terms of two items measuring the same construct(e.g., two items of fantasy proneness), which can be theoreticallyexpected because similar variables might be impacting the indicatorsof any given latent construct. The resulting 56 item model exhibitedacceptable fit (χ2 (1458)=2294, pb .05, χ2/d.f.=1.57, RMSEA=.05,CFI=.93, IFI=.93, TLI=.93). All the constructs demonstrate suffi-cient reliability.
All constructs exhibited discriminant validity. The shared variancebetween each pair of constructs was lower than the average varianceextracted (AVE) for those two constructs (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).The correlations between constructs, shared variance and AVE arepresented in Table 2.
4.4. Structural model and results
The structural model demonstrates a reasonably good fit to thedata [(χ2 (1472)=2660, pb .05, χ2/d.f. = 1.81, RMSEA=.06,CFI=.90, IFI=.90, TLI=.90). The model explains 14%, 31%, 49%,19%, and 25% of the variance in nostalgia proneness, fantasies aboutpast eras, emotions, brand heritage, and brand attachment, respec-tively. Hypothesis 1, which proposes a positive link between fantasyproneness and nostalgia proneness, is supported (β1=.23, t=3.29,pb .01). Alienation significantly and positively impacts nostalgiaproneness as well (β2=.30, t=3.92, pb .001), supporting H2. Nostal-gia proneness positively affects brand heritage (β3=.15, t=2.13,pb .05) and fantasies about past eras (β4=.56, t=7.74, pb .001),supporting H3 and H4 respectively. Fantasies about past eras signifi-cantly affects emotions (β5=.70, t=11.30, pb .001), supporting H5.Hypothesis 6 states that the effect of nostalgia proneness on emotionsis mediated by fantasies about past eras. Consistent with Iacobucci's(2008) procedure for testing mediation, the model was fit with oneadditional path (nostalgia proneness→emotions). The paths fromnostalgia proneness→ fantasies about past eras and from fantasiesabout past eras→emotions were statistically significant. The directpath from nostalgia proneness→emotions was statistically non-significant (β=− .08, t=−1.20, n.s.). The Sobel's test statistic(6.00, pb .001) indicates a significant finding for the paths between:nostalgia proneness→ fantasies about past eras→emotions. Thisresult suggests fantasies about past eras completely mediates the ef-fect of nostalgia proneness on emotions; supporting H6. Hypothesis7 posits that the effect of nostalgia proneness on fantasies aboutpast eras is moderated by self-referencing. To evaluate the moderat-ing effect of self-referencing, the sample was split according to themean score of self-referencing (2.6). Respondents who scored abovethe mean were termed as high self-referencing and those below themean were termed as low self-referencing. A two group AMOS modelsubsequently determined any significant difference in the structural pa-rameters between high and low self-referencing groups. Initially, theparameter for the path nostalgia proneness→ fantasies about pasteras was constrained equal across groups. Then the parameter wasfreely estimated (not constrained) across groups. The difference in thechi-square between the two models was significant (Δχ(1)=7.80,pb .01), indicating that self-referencing significantly moderates the im-pact of nostalgia proneness on fantasies about past eras. Comparingunstandardized path coefficients, the effect is stronger for high self-referencing consumers as compared to low self-referencing consumers(βHigh Self-referencing=.64; βLow Self-referencing=.21); supporting H7.
H8 is also supported. Results support a positive link between emo-tions and brand heritage (β8=.36, t=5.42, pb .001). Hypothesis 9 statesthat the effect of fantasies about past eras on brand heritage is mediatedby emotions. To test this hypothesis, themodelwas fit with one addition-al path (fantasies about past eras→brand heritage). The paths from
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fantasies about past eras→emotions and from emotions→brand heri-tage were statistically significant. The results do not confirm a directpath from fantasies→brand heritage (β=− .13, t=−1.35, n.s.). Sobel'stest statistic (5.47, pb .001), furthermore, indicates that emotionscompletely mediate the effect of fantasies about past eras on brand heri-tage; supporting H9. Finally, brand heritage leads to higher levels ofbrand attachment (β10=.50, t=8.44, pb .001), supporting H10.
5. Implications
This study examines the impact of advertising-evoked vicarious nos-talgia on brand heritage. Vicarious nostalgia, a longing for a period thatan individual did not personally live through (e.g., Baker and Kennedy,1994; Goulding, 2002; Stern, 1992), remains relatively under-researched and represents an evolving area in marketing. Previous in-vestigations of nostalgia center primarily on personal nostalgia, involv-ing emotions connected to actual previously lived experiences (e.g.,Batcho, 1998; Holak and Havlena, 1998; Sierra and McQuitty, 2007).Merchant et al. (forthcoming) recently develop a scale to measure ad-evoked personal nostalgia consisting of four dimensions, the recall ofpast imagery, positive and negative emotions, and physiological reac-tions. Previous conceptualizations discuss the potential of individualsto experience vicarious or historical nostalgia for periods outside oftheir experience (e.g., Goulding, 2002; Leigh et al., 2006; Stern, 1992).Recent empirical research also finds that historical nostalgia influencesconsumer attitudes (Marchegiani and Phau, 2011; Muehling, 2011).This inquiry augments the current understanding of vicarious nostalgiaby decoupling the experience of ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia. Ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia involves fantasies about past eras and emo-tions, which impact brand heritage and enhance brand attachment.
Past research assesses the importance of several antecedents onnostalgia, including discontinuity, recovery from grief, loneliness, andage (Batcho, 2007; Holbrook, 1993; Merchant et al., forthcoming). Thepresent investigation builds on previous nostalgia research, not onlyby empirically establishing the importance of vicarious nostalgia, butalso by explicitly conceptualizing and testing the nostalgia proneness'role (a generalized trait) on ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia, and concep-tually linking and empirically examining two antecedents of nostalgiaproneness (alienation and fantasy proneness).
Vicarious nostalgia involves fantasies about past eras and ad-evokedemotions. This research demonstrates that emotions relating to ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia positively affect brand heritage. Further,emotions mediate the effects of fantasies about past eras on brandheritage. This finding implies an affect transfer from the emotionalexperience of processing the vicarious nostalgia ad on to brand atti-tudes. This finding supports prior research examining the impact ofthe ad-evoked affect on attitudes towards brands (e.g., Batra and Ray,1986; Yoo and MacInnis, 2005). This investigation emphasizes the im-portance of self-referencing in facilitating fantasies about past erasand emotions. This research also provides a means of empiricallyassessing ad-evoked vicarious nostalgia and introduces an empiricaloperationalization of brand heritage.
Prior discussions of brand heritage generally remain embedded ingeneral conceptual discussions of brand characteristics, such as brandstrength (George, 2004) and brand personality (Keller and Richey,2006). This study extends these discussions by empirically articulatingthe importance and role of brand heritage in shaping brand attitudes.Further, this inquiry reveals that a consumer's nostalgia pronenessaffects brandheritage both directly and indirectly through ad-evoked vi-carious nostalgia (Total Effects NP→BH=.28; Direct Effect NP→BH=.15;Indirect Effect NP→Vicarious Nostalgia→BH=.13). The partially mediated na-ture of the relationship between nostalgia proneness and brandheritagehighlights the importance of effective advertisements in creating andenhancing brand heritage and deepening brand attachment.
These findings yield several managerial implications. Marketerscan promote a brand's heritage by evoking the brand's history and/
or a brand's origins through vicarious nostalgia based advertising.Linking the history to a brand's core principles should increase ad-vertising effectiveness. Promoting brand heritage bonds the con-sumer to the brand by enhancing trust, reinforcing perceptions ofstability, creating positive emotions, and communicating the consis-tency of the brand's promise over time. The brand heritage and vicar-ious nostalgia measures developed in this research, furthermore,provide a means of evaluating an advertisement's effectivenesswhen employing nostalgia.
6. Limitations and suggestions for future research
This study explores brand heritage within a specific culturalcontext—the U.S. Tradition-oriented interdependent cultures, suchas India and China, may attach particular importance to a brand'sheritage. Additionally, studying the specific types of brand narrativescreated within specific types of cultures would provide an interestingavenue for future research. Future research also could assess the impor-tance of personality variables, such as risk taking and time orientation.Research examining existing perceptions about specific historical erasacross age groups could potentially provide a baseline to constructsuccessful appeals. Content analyzing advertising appeals that invokea brand's heritage offers another area to explore. This study examinesad-evoked vicarious nostalgia among a limited set of product categoriesand brands. Although the present study examined multiple productcategories, suggesting a certain degree of generalizability, researchexamining additional product categories and brands appears in order.Probing nostalgia related negative emotions provides another avenuefor future research. Finally, research could explore the interactionbetween individual differences (e.g., age, time orientation), specificadvertising appeals (e.g., evoking specific historical eras), and specificbrand personality characteristics (e.g., sincerity, ruggedness) (Aaker,1997).
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