THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE THREE NEEDS THEORY TO BRAND LOVE FOR FASHION BRANDS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Abstract

Brand love is a comparatively recent construct in the marketing literature, describing the passionate emotional attachment that a satisfied consumer holds for a particular brand. Although the antecedents of brand love have attracted growing attention, the psychological motives that drive consumers toward emotional bonds with brands remain underexplored, particularly in the fashion category and in emerging-market settings. This study examines the relationship between McClelland’s three needs the need for power, the need for affiliation, and the need for achievement and brand love for fashion brands. Using a structured, 46-item questionnaire measured on a five-point Likert scale, data were gathered from 160 respondents through convenience sampling in Karachi, Pakistan. The instrument demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .916). Three simple linear regression models were estimated in SPSS. All three needs exerted a positive and statistically significant effect on brand love (p < .001). The need for power was the strongest predictor (β = .553, R² = .306), followed by the need for achievement (β = .482, R² = .233) and the need for affiliation (β = .398, R² = .158). Consequently, all three hypotheses were supported. The findings indicate that attending to the symbolic, self-expressive, and social dimensions of a brand allows consumers to enhance their social image and express their actual self, producing durable brand-love relationships. Implications for fashion-brand strategy are discussed, alongside limitations and directions for future research.