Ideal Self-Congruence: Its Impacts on Customer Love and Loyalty to Luxury Brands in Indonesia

Purpose: This research is conducted to examine the influence of ideal self-congruence on customer love and loyalty to two luxury brands. Theoretical Framework: Luxury brands have three dimensions, namely functional, experiential, and symbolic. A brand is said to be luxurious if it has some characteristics such as high quality, high price, sensuality, beauty, exclusivity, historicity, and uniqueness. Customer loyalty to brand is a crucial strategy choice for companies struggling to maintain business continuity. The organizations believes that brand loyalty can provide benefits for organization. Brand love is one of the determinants of brand loyalty. The concept of love developed in the context of interpersonal relationships. Design/Methodology/Approach: Sample random sampling technique used as sampling method in this study, this research collected 214 data through self-administrative survey from respondents of two luxury handbag brands in Indonesia. Analysis method in this research using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Findings: There are significant relationships between ideal self-congruence and customer love to brand, between ideal self-congruence and customer loyalty to brand, and between customer love and customer loyalty to brand. Research/Practical/Social Implications: On the theoretical level, this research contributes to a better understanding of how to create customer loyalty to brand through tracking the self-congruence construct and the customer love to brand. On the managerial level, this research provides a very useful actionable guidance to loyalty program managers on how to create luxury brand which incorporates customer ideal self-congruence and simultaneously arises a strong emotional bonding to brand. Originality/Value: The contemporary interest in customer loyalty to brand has resulted in a variety research of it conducted in many areas. Our investigation indicates that there are a few researches which address the relationship between ideal self-congruence, brand love, and customer loyalty to luxury brands.