When brand love is not enough: a conservation–feasibility account of switching under financial constraints

Abstract In today’s economically unstable market, financial pressures prompt even strongly attached consumers to explore more affordable alternatives. This study examines how perceived financial constraints shape brand switching intentions among self-identified brand lovers. Drawing on Consumer–Brand Relationship Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory, and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, it develops and tests a mechanism whereby perceived financial constraints trigger financial anxiety, debt aversion, and perceived financial risk. These factors increase the perceived attractiveness of more affordable alternatives and, consequently, switching intention, despite sustained brand love. Survey data from 430 Turkish apparel consumers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results robustly support the proposed mechanism and reveal that the intensity of brand love does not meaningfully reduce the effects of perceived financial risk or alternative attractiveness on switching intention. This pattern indicates affective–behavioural decoupling : consumers continue to value brand relationships emotionally while becoming behaviourally vulnerable when resource-protection motives dominate decision-making under financial strain. This study contributes to branding literature by qualifying the assumption that brand love functions as an unconditional behavioural safeguard against brand switching. This study demonstrates that the protective influence of brand love is behaviourally constrained when consumers perceive financial constraints. By integrating resource threat and feasibility mechanisms that operate independently of relational affect, the study advances the understanding of brand switching under financial pressure while bridging emotional branding with financial decision-making. From a managerial perspective, the results show that emotional engagement alone is insufficient to sustain loyalty when feasibility barriers arise. This highlights the need for retention strategies that directly address consumers’ sense of financial risk and reduce the attractiveness of more affordable alternatives.