Revealing the Insights on Brand Heritage: A Systematic Review and Future Research Directions

Overview

This peer reviewed review article synthesises what global scholarship has discovered about brand heritage and how it strengthens brand meaning, credibility, and long term value. Using a systematic literature review approach, the study consolidates evidence from 79 journal articles published between 2007 and 2023, then maps how the field has evolved and where research should go next. The paper also proposes a future research agenda using the TCCM framework (Theory, Context, Characteristics, Methodology), offering a structured foundation for both researchers and practitioners.

What the study covers

The review draws articles primarily from Web of Science and Scopus, then cross checks additional databases to reduce the risk of missing relevant studies. It summarises publication trends over time, identifies highly influential works, maps country level patterns in empirical studies, reviews the most common research methods, and highlights the main theoretical lenses used to explain brand heritage effects. The article then integrates the literature into a conceptual framework that outlines antecedents, mediators, moderators, and consequences of brand heritage.

Key findings and insights

• Brand heritage research is growing, but the field is still developing and remains fragmented across themes, methods, and contexts.
• Empirical evidence spans 21 countries, with research concentrated in a limited set of markets, indicating the need for stronger cross cultural and emerging market coverage.
• The most common study design is survey research (n = 25), followed by case studies (n = 20), showing a mix of generalisable testing and deep qualitative explanation.
• Brand heritage is repeatedly linked to outcomes such as stronger perceived authenticity and credibility, higher trust, stronger customer attitudes, and improved behavioural intentions including loyalty and willingness to pay a premium.
• The review highlights that brand heritage is not just nostalgia. It becomes valuable when firms actively translate history into a coherent identity, credible signals, and consistent experiences over time.
• The proposed research agenda points to overlooked areas including measurement refinement, multi country comparisons, boundary conditions, and stronger causal designs.

Why this matters for organizations

For brands competing in crowded markets, heritage can function as a strategic asset when it is managed deliberately rather than treated as a passive history. The findings support a practical direction for organisations: clarify truly distinctive heritage elements, communicate them consistently, and build trust through credible proof points, not just storytelling. The framework also helps practitioners anticipate when heritage narratives will be more persuasive, and when they may require adaptation based on consumer culture and expectations.