The most important factor for existing in China mobile market which is full of severe competitions is to keep customers having brand loyalty.
Aaker (1991) had addressed that brand loyalty is an important concept of brand equity which shows attachment...
The most important factor for existing in China mobile market which is full of severe competitions is to keep customers having brand loyalty.
Aaker (1991) had addressed that brand loyalty is an important concept of brand equity which shows attachment degree to a certain brand, i.e, it is the final aim of brand management activities. In one word, the activities those reinforce brand awareness and brand image improve customer satisfaction and make positive attitude to a brand, and furthermore induce continuos purchase and use of a certain brand product.
There are numerous studies on brand loyalty, especially, on the antecedent factors of brand loyalty. However, it is clear that we had overlooked brand benefits, an important antecedent factor of brand loyalty. Keller (1993) and Aaker (1996) et al. had mentioned the importance of brand benefits and classified them into a few dimensions. However, they failed to do empirical research. By contrast, Na et al. (1999) had done the empirical research, but they had limitations in the classification of brand benefits.
In this study, I classified customer perceived brand benefits to functional, symbolic, as well as experiential dimensions according to the antecedent studies and revealed an integrated model for the effects of brand loyalty through perceived value, brand image, satisfaction, trust, as well as brand attitude.
To investigate the magnitude of impacts on brand loyalty that caused by theoretical variables including the 3 dimensions of brand benefits, to reveal the relationship of mediator variables of image - attitude dimension and relational dimensions, I suggested 15 hypotheses based on previous literatures. The data used for hypotheses testing were collected from office clerks, undergraduates and graduates living in China major cities. All the collected data are analyzed using structural equation modeling.
The main results of the study are as follows: First, it was proved that there was a significant relationship among functional benefits, symbolic benefits, as well as experiential benefits, which represents 3 dimensions of perceived brand benefits, for all of them have positive effects on perceived values. Second, it was proved that there was a significant relationship among perceived value, brand image, and satisfaction for perceived value has positive effects on brand image and satisfaction. Third, It was proved that there was a significant relationship among brand image, brand attitude, satisfaction, as well as trust for brand image has positive effects on brand attitude, satisfaction, and trust. However, brand image has no a significant influence on brand loyalty. Forth, it is proved that there was a significant relationship among satisfaction, trust, brand attitude, and brand loyalty for satisfaction has positive effects on the others. Fifth, it was proved that there was a significant relationship between trust and brand loyalty for trust has positive effects on brand loyalty. However, it was proved that there was no significant relationship between trust and brand attitude. Finally, there was a significant relationship between brand attitude and brand loyalty.
In this study, I focused on the perceived brand benefits which were scarcely studied in the previous research, carried out empirical research after classifying brand benefits to 3 dimensions, and investigated the antecedent factors of brand loyalty integrally. In these aspects, the study has its research implications. It also has managerial implication in strategy establishment of effective brand loyalty for loca land foreign enterprises those struggle hard in the China mobile market which is full of severe competitions.
This study has both research and managerial implications, however, it has some inevitable limitations. It is better to have additional studies that reflects the above limitations completely in the future.