How Experiences and Values Shape Engagement:Evidence from a National Study of Japanese Consumers

This study investigates the mechanisms underpinning customer–brand engagement (CBE) by examining the dynamic interplay among value congruity (VC), customer experience (CX), and customer-brand identity (CBI). Drawing on relational perspectives of identity and value alignment as well as experiential perspectives from service-dominant logic, the research develops and empirically validates a unified structural model of engagement. Data were collected through a two-stage survey of a nationally representative Japanese household panel, ensuring broad coverage across diverse product categories. The findings reveal a robust framework in which CX, VC, and CBI reinforce one another to enhance engagement, which in turn fosters brand loyalty. CBI emerges as the strongest direct antecedent of CBE, while both VC and CX significantly shape CBI and engagement outcomes. Importantly, CX not only directly drives engagement but also enhances VC, highlighting an underexplored but theoretically consequential relationship that strengthens the explanatory power of engagement research. This study makes a significant theoretical contribution by bridging previously fragmented relational and experiential streams into a holistic and empirically validated model. Managerially, the results underscore the importance of designing experiences that reflect consumer values and reinforce identity, thereby cultivating enduring engagement and loyalty in both traditional and digitally augmented product markets.