From interaction to experience: Sequential mechanism of rapport and swift Guanxi in driving affective brand experience

This study examines the process through which employee–customer interaction influences the formation of affective brand experience by investigating the mediating roles of rapport and swift Guanxi. Grounded in service-dominant logic, a conceptual model is developed and tested, positing that positive interaction facilitates the formation of rapport, which subsequently enhances affective brand experience both directly and indirectly via swift Guanxi. By employing a multisource data strategy for enhanced external validity, Study 1 uses a survey of 459 young consumers in China, and Study 2 offers complementary empirical support through a text analysis of 11939 online reviews for a branded boutique hotel chain. The results confirm the hypothesized model. This study offers key contributions to service and brand theory by mapping the sequential relational antecedents of brand experience and empirically demonstrating how value is cocreated through operant resources, thereby bridging service-dominant logic with cultural branding to articulate value co-creation process in cultural contexts.