Emotional branding on fashion brand websites: harnessing the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (P-A-D) model

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>Drawn from the P-A-D approach, the purposes of this study are (1) to investigate the impacts of website attributes on emotional branding process, and (2) to examine the mediating effects of three affective dimensions of pleasure, arousal and dominance on behavioral response towards the fashion brand website.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>By employing the quantitative approach of survey method, data were collected in the US and a sample of 220 participants was used for the analysis. Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to identify hypothesized relationships in the research model.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>Fashion brand website attributes were found to influence consumer affective experiential states and behavioral responses on emotional branding. Specifically, the mediating effects of the dominance and arousal dimensions were of interest to predict the pleasure dimension, leading to a positive response towards the brand. Positing arousal and dominance as predictors of the degree of pleasure on brand website were accentuated in emotional branding.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>This study signifies the role of affect in the emotional branding on websites. Given the academic and practical significance of emotional branding on websites, the findings of the current study provide insights into fashion brands through making possible a fuller understanding of the underlying process of building emotional branding and of how to embed it into consumers' minds when they experience the fashion brand website.</jats:p></jats:sec>