Examining the relationships between political advertisements, party brand personality, voter satisfaction and party loyalty

Purpose Although the concept of political party brand personality has received substantial recognition in the political marketing literature, however, no study as yet has contributed in identifying a causal relationship between the party brand personality and voter behaviour. Therefore, this paper aims to address this gap in the academic literature by determining the relationship between the multifaceted advertising-brand personality-satisfaction-loyalty constructs in political context. Design/methodology/approach The sample for the study consisting of 930 responses was drawn from the major cities of Punjab state in India through multistage stratified random sampling. AMOS-based structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed model. Findings Results revealed that voters' attitude towards political advertisements had a significant effect on their satisfaction and loyalty when brand personality had a mediating role in this effect. Additionally, the influence of party brand personality on satisfaction and loyalty of voters was different for the selected four political parties. Practical implications - The study carries strong implications for the political parties and the political marketers to develop pertinent marketing and communication strategies that are consistent with their personality traits, with an endeavour to enhance the satisfaction and loyalty of voters. Originality/value The most imperative discovery of this study is to determine the mediating role of party brand personality on relationship between political advertisements, voter satisfaction and party loyalty. Such a study of an emerging economy contributes significantly to the marketing theory and practice owing to the diversity and fragmentation across India with respect to religion, caste, creed and race of voters.