Brand Love, Customer Brand Engagement, and Brand Pride as Predictors of Brand Defense among Indonesian iPhone 17 Series Users

Abstract

This study examines how brand love, customer brand engagement, brand pride, and regulatory focus are associated with brand defense among Indonesian iPhone 17 Series users. Cross-sectional data from 350 respondents recruited through purposive sampling were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. Brand love was positively associated with customer brand engagement, which was positively associated with brand defense. The direct association between brand love and brand defense was nonsignificant, whereas the indirect association through customer brand engagement was significant, supporting a pattern of indirect-only mediation. Brand pride also showed a positive direct association with brand defense. Promotion focus and prevention focus did not significantly moderate either the brand love-engagement association or the corresponding indirect association, indicating that regulatory focus did not function as a boundary condition in this context. Together, the proposed predictors explained 50.9% of the variance in brand defense. The findings extend the consumer-brand relationship perspective by identifying customer brand engagement as a relational pathway linking brand love with brand defense and brand pride as a complementary identity-related predictor. These findings provide insight into why consumers defend identity-relevant premium brands and highlight engagement and brand pride as important considerations for brand management.