Relationship norms and media gratification in relational brand communication

Brands are increasingly engaging in relational communications, which are personalized or privative messages sent to regular customers as part of a company's relationship marketing strategies. However, little is known regarding the underlying processes governing the creation of targeted relational outcomes. Drawing on the social theory of relationship norms, this study shows that by influencing the nature of media gratification, contextual communal norms rather than exchange norms have a stronger effect on how gratification contributes to attitudes toward the media and brand gratitude as significant media-related antecedents of brand commitment. Of particular interest, this study reveals that communal media gratification (in contrast to exchange media gratification) contributes the most to gratitude outcomes, whereas it only slightly influences media attitudes. The implications of these findings are significant for brand communication researchers and managers.