Beyond Taste: How Emotional Bonds and Behavioral Habits Drive Repurchase Intention in Heritage Food Brand

Abstract

Understanding repeat purchase drivers in established culinary brands is critical as classical sensory marketing assumptions may not apply universally across market maturity stages. In mature markets where brands have operated for decades, the relative importance of functional, emotional, and habitual mechanisms remains inadequately explored, creating a significant knowledge gap in consumer behavior literature. This study examines and compares the relative influence of taste, brand attachment, and consumer inertia on repurchase intention in heritage food brands, investigating whether sensory attributes maintain predictive dominance or whether emotional and habitual mechanisms eclipse functional drivers. Data were collected from 150 repeat customers of Sekarmaju heritage food stall in Cirebon, Indonesia, through structured questionnaires. The study employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0, using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples to test four hypotheses examining direct effects individually and simultaneously. Results challenge classical sensory marketing assumptions. Taste shows no significant effect (β = 0.008, p = 0.896), while brand attachment emerges as the strongest predictor (β = 0.531, p < 0.001, f² = 0.383), followed by consumer inertia (β = 0.431, p < 0.001, f² = 0.210). The model explains 84.5% of variance (R² = 0.845). In heritage brands, taste shifts from motivator to hygiene factor, with emotional bonding and behavioral automaticity constituting more powerful retention mechanisms. Findings identify boundary conditions in sensory marketing theory, suggesting established businesses should prioritize relationship building over product improvements. This extends consumer behavior theory by demonstrating lifecycle effects fundamentally alter purchase driver importance.