Study on the Impact of Emotional Interaction with Social Robots on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Brand Trust

Abstract

Research Purpose: This research aims to understand the impact of emotional interaction on brand trust and brand loyalty through analysis of such emotional interaction with social robots.

Research Subjects and Methods: This study employs a quantitative research method and takes social robots as its research subject. Via constructing a structural equation model, it examines emotional interaction’s influence on brand trust and brand loyalty.

Research Results: When examining emotional interaction’s influence on brand trust, the standardized path coefficient value is 0.339>0, indicating a significantly positive correlation between the two. When it comes to emotional interaction’s impact on brand loyalty, the standardized path coefficient is 0.258>0, suggesting that emotional interaction has a significant positive impact on brand loyalty. Similarly, the standardized path coefficient for brand trust’s influence on brand loyalty is 0.312>0, reflecting that brand trust significantly contributes to brand loyalty. Considering the mediating path ‘emotional interaction => brand trust => brand loyalty’, the 95% confidence interval does not include the number 0 (95% CI: 0.065 ~ 0.148), so brand trust mediates the relationship between emotional interaction and brand loyalty.

Conclusion: Culture and auditory cues emerge as the most important factors for emotional interaction with social robots, with visual cues following closely behind. Excellent emotional interaction holds the potential to significantly bolster brand trust and brand loyalty. Moreover, emotional engagement with social robots not only directly impacts brand loyalty but also amplifies it through the conduit of brand trust, thereby fostering a deeper sense of consumer allegiance to the brand.