Untangling cognitive–affective pathways from film brand attachment to destination loyalty

Abstract

Purpose: This study conceptualizes the film brand as a holistic brand entity and examines how attachment to film brands is associated with destination brand loyalty. Drawing on attachment theory and consumer–brand relationship theory, the study develops and tests a serial mediation model that explains the cognitive, affective, and hybrid cognitive–affective pathways linking audience–film identification to destination loyalty through film immersion, audience involvement, tourist–destination identification, and destination brand love. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through an online survey of 587 Vietnamese audiences who had watched films featuring specific destinations and had prior visitation experience at those destinations. The proposed serial mediation model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The results support the cognitive and hybrid pathways, with particular emphasis on the hybrid sequence in which audience–film identification is associated with destination brand loyalty through film immersion or audience involvement, tourist–destination identification, and destination brand love. While individual emotional paths showed weaker support, the hybrid path indicated that destination loyalty becomes sustainable when cognitive identification with the destination is transformed into brand love. Research limitations/implications: Focusing on post-visit film tourists in Vietnam and primarily reflecting the experiences of younger film tourists, the findings may not be fully generalizable to other age groups or national contexts. Future research could adopt comparative or longitudinal designs to test the proposed framework across different tourist segments and cultural contexts. Originality/value: This study contributes to the film tourism literature by conceptualizing film brands at the level of the overall brand rather than as discrete attributes. It integrates attachment theory with consumer–brand relationship theory to provide a process-oriented explanation of how attachment to a film brand is transformed into destination loyalty through cognitive–emotional–behavioral mechanisms. The results also have practical implications for destination managers seeking to leverage film brands to build sustainable relationships between tourists and destinations