Corporate Reputation and eWOM: exploring the moderating role of Brand Love

This study analyzes the relationships between corporate reputation, customer satisfaction, customer brand engagement and electronic word of mouth (eWOM), with a particular focus on the moderating effect of brand love. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling- partial least squares (SEM-PLS) on a sample of 317 customers who purchased automobiles during 2020-2022. Corporate reputation, mediated by satisfaction, increases customer brand engagement, which in turn drives eWOM for car brands. Brand uniqueness and perceived price fairness are robust predictors of corporate reputation. The impact of this reputation on customer satisfaction with the car dealership is weaker for customerswho love the car brand purchased. This work is novel in explaining eWOM through corporate reputation, satisfaction and customer brand engagement. It also provides new insights by unveiling: (i) the negative moderating effect of brand love in the corporate reputation-satisfactionrelationship (ii) the mediating effect of satisfaction in linking corporate reputation to customer brand engagement; (iii) how corporate reputation can be explained through the effects of brand uniqueness and perceived price fairness of the car dealership.