Impacts of retail brand personality and self-congruity on store loyalty: The moderating role of gender

• Explore the symbolic retail brand benefits-store loyalty links.
• Also explore the moderating role of gender in these symbolic retail brand benefits-store loyalty links.
• Results reveal that symbolic retail brand benefits have positive impacts on store loyalty and gender significantly moderates these impacts.
• The findings have implications for retailing theory and managerial practice.

The present study was an effort to investigate the impacts of both retail brand personality and self-congruity, using them together in the same study, on store loyalty. Subsequently, this study explored the moderating role of gender in these relationships of retail brand personality and self-congruity with store loyalty. Questionnaire was used to collect data (n=355) using systematic sampling from department store shoppers of age 18 years and above in Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India. Multivariate data analysis techniques like exploratory factor analysis, structural equation modeling were used to analyse the data. Results revealed that both retail brand personality and self-congruity constructs have positive impacts on store loyalty and gender significantly moderates these impacts. Arguably, this paper is the first to examine the three constructs namely, retail brand personality, self-congruity and store loyalty using them together in the same model. Academic and managerial implications are further discussed.