Repair as Commitment: The Role of Brand Loyalty
(A2023-114206)

AUTHORS

Aylin Cakanlar, Stockholm School of Economics/Jönköping University; (Joyce) Jingshi Liu, Bayes Business School, City, University of London; Gergana Nenkov, Boston College

ABSTRACT

This research aims to design effective marketing messages that increase consumers’ willingness to repair products rather than replace them. Across five studies, we demonstrate that consumers’ brand loyalty determines the types of messages that can effectively increase the likelihood of their repairing products: framing repair behavior as a commitment to one’s branded possessions can increase loyal consumers’ willingness to repair their products, as compared to both their baseline tendencies and the common framing of repair behavior as an environmental effort. We provide evidence of these findings by measuring and manipulating brand loyalty and examining consumers’ willingness to repair their products in different consumption domains. Our findings provide managerial insights into how companies offering repair services and nonprofit organizations promoting repair can frame their marketing communications to increase consumers’ motivation to prolong the use of their possessions.