Making sense of sensory brand experience: Constructing an integrative framework for future research

Abstract

This study asserts that conceptualizing sensory brand experience (SBE) as an independent construct is critical to expanding our understanding of experiences provided by brands. To achieve this goal, a rigorous examination of its foundational knowledge structure underpinning the construct is urgently required. Using co-citation analysis examining 151 SBE-related articles with 4038 citations over more than two decades (1994–2019), six knowledge fields deemed to have constitutive influence on SBE literature have been identified: atmospherics, product evaluation, sensory marketing, service marketing, experiential marketing and brand experience. Combining the results of a hierarchical cluster analysis and a metric multidimensional scaling analysis, the authors located three fundamental premises: (1) brand settings are arbiters of brand meaning; (2) the intrinsic processing of SBE involves the entrainment of exteroceptive and interoceptive processes; and (3) SBE outcomes are non-representational. At the end of the paper, these findings are organized into an integrative framework, highlighting research concerns and research gaps at the antecedent, processing and outcome stages. In doing so, this paper contributes to the conceptual development of SBE by constructing a doctrinal schema for future research undertakings.