Integrating intrinsic motivation into the relationship between product design and brand attachment: a cross-cultural investigation based on self-determination theory

Previous marketing investigations have broadly predicted brand attachment by linking extrinsic motives. However, intrinsic motives of attachment have been surprisingly disregarded in the literature. To address this gap, this study integrates intrinsic motivation into the relationship between product design and brand attachment. To this end, we studied individuals from three countries, and the self-determination theory was found to generalise across individuals from Pakistan, South Korea, and China. The effects of three product design dimensions on each form of psychological need satisfaction and the subsequent brand attachment were greater for Pakistanis than for Koreans and Chinese. In particular, relatedness satisfaction was found to be a stronger driver of brand attachment for Pakistanis and Chinese than for Koreans, whereas autonomy satisfaction was found to more promising at explaining consumer attachment to brands for Koreans than for Chinese. Competence and relatedness satisfaction failed to capture brand attachment for Koreans. Finally, implications for theory and practice are discussed.