From awe to emotional brand attachment: a cognitive appraisal perspective on VR brand experiences

Purpose Prior research on awe in relation to virtual reality (VR) has treated awe as a response to technological stimuli, leaving the consumer appraisals through which awe arises underexplored. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory, this paper aims to address this gap by investigating whether aesthetic, sensory and content appraisals of a VR brand experience predict awe and whether awe mediates the relationships between these appraisals and emotional brand attachment. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via a survey of 334 Generation Z participants who experienced an in-person brand encounter via a VR headset and were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling in LISREL. Findings Aesthetic, sensory and content appraisals positively predict awe, which, in turn, predicts emotional brand attachment. Awe also mediates the relationships between each of the three appraisal and emotional brand attachment. Originality/value At the intersection of the cognitive psychology of VR and emotional branding, this paper reframes the origins of awe in VR brand experiences, shifting from a stimulus-centred to an appraisal-centred account. It also identifies aesthetic, sensory and content appraisals as the experiential predictors of awe and extends emotional branding to self-transcendent emotions by showing how awe translates experiential appraisals into emotional brand attachment.