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REVISITING ANTECEDENTS OF BRAND LOYALTY:
IMPACT OF PERCEIVED SOCIAL MEDIA
COMMUNICATION WITH BRAND TRUST AND BRAND
EQUITY AS MEDIATORS
Rizwan Ali Khadim, University of Lahore
Mian Ahmad Hanan, University of Management and Technology
Arooj Arshad, University of Lahore
Noshina Saleem, University of Punjab
Noman Ali Khadim, University of Lahore
ABSTRACT
Social media is constantly changing the brand communication tools in the corporate
world by playing a significant role in how consumers learn, research and share information
about their brands. Similarly, brands are also using social media networks for the sponsorship
and advertisement of their products and services to make sustaining relationships and
developing trust with their customers. Hence, it is worth noticing to inspect the impact of social
media communication, brand trust and equity on brand loyalty using different social media
websites. Therefore, the primary aim of the study was to test the mediating role of Brand Trust
(BT) and Brand equity (BE) in explaining the more pronounced impact of social media
communication (FCSMC & UGSMC) on Brand loyalty (BL). An online survey was conducted
through social media forums (Facebook, Skype &Twitter) to collect data from different top
garment brands (Uniworth, Outfitters, Levi’s). The findings from the SEM Path analysis
revealed a partial mediating role of BT and BE in the relationship between social media
communication (FCSMC & UGSMC) and BL. The findings help the brand managers and
marketing professionals to understand consumer behavior about garment brand by not only
social media communication, but by developing brand communities that increase trust and
equity among customers. Also, the findings fill the gap in the existing literature by conclusively
providing a significant model that incorporates both personal (BT & BE) and social factors
(FCSMC & UGSMC) for improving brand loyalty for garment industry.
Keywords: Social Media, Marketing Communication Tools, Garment Brands, Consumer
Behavior, Brand Loyalty.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The rapid growth of information technology has brought revolution in social media
communications. Moreover, it has replaced traditional media in corporate communications
(Coulter, Bruhn, Schoenmueller & Schäfer, 2012; Khadim, Zafar & Younis, 2015). Since, the
advent of social media networks, it is building and expanding significant ways to attract users all
over the globe. Social networking sites not only give an opportunity for consumers to connect
with others, rather, it provides users to interact with their target audience better thus making a
brand community where brand managers and marketers can communicate more efficiently
regarding their brands (Dutta, 2013; Ismail, 2017). On the other hand, these social media
communication strategies also provide opportunities for learning customer's perceptions and
opinions, so making it a two-way flow of branding. As Kaplan & Haenlein (2012) rightly stated
that brands are using social media networks for sponsorship and advertising of their products and
services. For example, Coca-Cola is using Twitter, Instagram and other social mediums for the
communication enhancement and preserving a sustaining relationship with the users.
Likewise, as in the contemporary world, social media platforms such as Twitter, Flickr,
Facebook and YouTube have usually changed interaction approaches among people because
people like to spend more time on social media platforms. Similarly, brand managers have also
been utilizing different intermediates to create brand awareness, brand perception and to promote
brands for many years and now the most popular intermediate is social media content, which is
either generated by users or firms towards a specific brand and company related messages
(Berthon et al., 2008). Now, social media channels encourage the value of trusting associations
between brand and consumer, making it important intermediate to develop brand loyalty. Hence,
it is interesting to explore the contribution of both firm created and user generated social media
communication in enhancing and maintaining relationships with the customers. Moreover,
investigating the possible mediating role of BT (Brand Trust) and BE (Brand Equity) in the
relationship between social media communication (Firm Created & User-Generated) and BL
(Brand Loyalty) makes a holistic model that is of more assets and values for the e-marketers. The
empirical testing of the current model makes a unique contribution to the brand loyalty literature
by not only highlighting the role of FCSMC (Firm Created Social Media Communication) and
UGSMC (User-Generated Social Media Communication) in building sustained relationships
with customers, but also give shared importance to brand trust and equity as mediating variables
that were not explored till now in the existing marketing literature.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Due to the swift evolution of social media communication in the development of brand
communities, the brand scholars over the period gradually motivate brand owners to participate
in more social media branding to make loyal customers. These suppositions are in line with the
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that explains user's behavior regarding the use of
computer and other technologies to facilitate customer behavior intentions. This theory focuses
on the explanation of plan to employ a particular service or technology. It points out that two
variables influence an individual's attitude regarding the use of technology; perception of
usefulness and other one is the use of technology. Where former defined as how useful a
particular system is to improve his or her job performance, while, the latter one refers to as the
rate to which the individual thinks that the utilization of the system is both physically and
mentally free of effort (Ami-narh & Williams, 2012). As the principal aim of current research is
to identify the factors that likely increase the brand loyalty of the customers, it is thus explicit
from this theory which argues that the more the individual perceives the usefulness of the social
media communication technologies the more he/she will likely to adopt these technologies. It
then leads to more purchase intention of that particular brand, thus gradually enhances brand
loyalty.
On the other hand, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) explains that besides social
factors (technologies adoption and perception of its usefulness) increases brand loyalty. Still,
personal factors like brand trust and brand equity are equally important for customer purchase
intentions (Vallerand, Pelletier, Deshaies, Cuerrier & Mongeau, 2000). Both of these frameworks
between brand communication and brand equity. Moreover, the study of Hanna, Rohm &
Crittenden (2011) about social media campaigns, emphasized the features that call to consumers,
can create brand benefits. So, firm-created social media communication should be supposed by
individuals as publicity to touch brand perception and brand awareness. Hence, these previous
research findings urge the researcher to formulate the following hypotheses.
Additionally, the level of personal significance and importance of a user-generated social
media communication both influence the degree of association with a particular brand
(Christodoulides, Jevons & Bonhomme, 2012). As user-generated communication can be
supposed with brands in the form of involvement because the brand related user generated
content is a form of consumption-related activity (Muntinga, Smit & Moorman, 2012). Also,
regarding the effect of UGSMC on brand equity, it acknowledges that UGSMC is not usually
directed by company control (Ghannam, 2011).
Brand Trust and Brand Equity-
Many scholars (Buil, De Chernatony & Martínez, 2008; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001)
stated that brand trust is a different brand framework, but it has a direct impact on brand equity.
Brand trust has direct benefits for a brand, as (Aaker, Kumar & Day, 2007; Zhou et al., 2012)
had pointed out in their model that "enhancing customer's confidence" is directly linked to the
brand equity dimensions, which finally leads to brand equity. They highlighted that a worldwide
brand might attempt to overcome on the other local brands by acting local valued. For instance,
Coca-Cola has invested in the infrastructure to produce clean water in many developing
countries. It is beneficial for both, the company and the local population (Alden, Steenkamp &
Batra, 2006). So the trust will have a positive impact on brand equity.
Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty-
Many scholars (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Chiu, Huang & Yen, 2010; Harris &
Goode, 2004; Hong & Cho, 2011; Kang, Lee, Kim & Lee, 2011) argued that trust is one of the
backgrounds of loyalty. A number of meanings have been recognized after the idea of BL which
was generated by Copeland (1923). Loyalty basically consists of a repeated purchasing of a
product from the same brand or company. A consumer’s attitude towards a brand is
multidimensional that relies upon a cognition and an affective component (Oliver, 1999). Lau &
Lee (1999) argued that BT contributes to the behavioral intention of BL. Brand expectations;
brand capability and brand repute appear to be important in developing consumer's trust in the
brand. Hartmann & Ibáñez (2007) hold that BL is influenced by customer satisfaction and BT.
Also, BT affects directly and positively on BL, according to Delgado-Ballester & Luis Munuera-
Alemán (2005).
Brand Equity and Brand Loyalty-
There is a critical role of brand equity in the development of BL that is based on
consumer perception. Companies should try to build and fix the brand equity in the customer's
mind (Yoo, Donthu & Lee, 2000) as it is positively related to brand association and BL. Keller,
Heckler & Houston (1998) stated that BE is distinct from BL. They said that a brand acquires
positive customer-based BE when customers responded more positively for a product. This
situation becomes steadier with the statement of Aaker, Kumar & Day (2007), who argued that
BL can be measured as an outcome and a dimension of BE.
Hypotheses of the Study
The above given theory and literature provides the basis for following research
hypotheses which is shown in Figure 1:
H 1 : Firm Created Social Media Communication (FCSMC) and User Generated Social Media Communication (UGMC) positively and significantly predict Brand Loyalty.
H 2 : Firm Created Social Media Communication (FCSMC) and User Generated Social Media Communication (UGMC) are positively associated with Brand Trust.
H 3 : Firm Created Social Media Communication (FCSMC) and User Generated Social Media Communication (UGMC) are found to be positively associated with Brand equity.
H 4 : Brand Loyalty and Brand Equity increases with the increase in the level of Brand Trust for a product.
H 5 : Brand Trust mediates the relationship of FCSMC and UGMC with Brand Loyalty
H 6 : Brand Equity mediates the relationship of FCSMC and UGMC with Brand Loyalty.
FIGURE 1
PROPOSED THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
Firm-Created Social Media Communication Brand Trust
Brand Equity
Brand Loyalty
User-generated Social Media Communication
variables are assessed using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for "strongly disagree" to 5 for
"strongly agree".
Common Method Bias
As the study employed survey method for data collection on both the independent and
dependent variables, where the same respondents responded at one point in time, thus raising
potential common method variance as false internal consistency might be present in the data
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee & Podsakoff, 2003). To rule out this possible bias called as
Common Method Bias (CMB) is through Harman's single factor score, in which all items
(measuring latent variables) are loaded into one common factor was employed and if the total
variance for a single factor is less than 50%, it suggests that CMB does not affect the study data
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee & Podsakoff, 2003). For this purpose, Principle Component Factor
analysis was conducted and the % of the variance (see Table 2) highlighted that none of the
variance % is below 50 thus indicating the absence of CMB in the data.
DATA ANALYSIS
Reliability and Validity Analysis
Reliability and validity analysis was done through SPSS 17. The internal consistency was
assessed using Cronbach's alphas reliability coefficients. They were FCSMC, UGSMC, BE, BT
and BL were 0.88, 0.78, 0.86, 0.77 and 0.81 respectively, which shows the reliability of all scales
were adequate (α<0.60); (Burns & Burns, 2008) to carry out further analysis. The validity
analysis was done through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for checking the validity of the
instrument and the findings were presented in Table 1. All the items of the questionnaire were
having factor loading more than 0.60, which demonstrates good factor loading and validity for
all the items in this study.
Table 1 SHOWING RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS AND FACTOR LOADINGS FROM CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS
Construct Factor Loadings Company-generated Communication (α=0.88) “I am satisfied with the company’s social media communications for [brand]” 0. “The level of the company’s social media communications for [brand] meets my expectations” 0. “The company’s social media communications for [brand] are very attractive” 0. “This company’s social media communications for [brand] perform well, when compared with the social media communications of other companies”
Overall% of Variance 70.72% User-generated Communication (α=0.78) “I am satisfied with the social media communications expressed by other users about [brand]” 0. “The level of the content generated on social media sites by other users about [brand] meets my expectations”
“The content generated by other users about [brand] is very attractive” 0. “The content generated on social media sites by other users about [brand] performs well, when compared with other brands”
Note: CMIN=16.571; AGFI=0.99; df=5; CFI=0.88; NFI=0.93; CMIN/df=4.485; RMSEA=0.01; RMR=0.071.
Correlation Analysis
The study hypothesized that FCSMC and UGSMC are positively related to brand loyalty
and the findings from the Pearson Product Moment correlation analysis revealed a significant
positive association between the study variables. These findings further indicated that the
increase in social media communication either through firm-created or user generated means
increases the loyalty of customer's towards a particular brand. Furthermore, the study also
hypothesized that BT, BE and BL are positively associated with each other and the findings also
provide support for the significant positive association that also highlighted that increase in
brand trust and brand equity among customers likely increases the chances for enhancing loyalty
among customers. Also, the study hypothesized that FCSMC and UGSMC are positively
associated with BT and BE and the results efficiently revealed the significant positive association
of firm created and user generated social media communication with brand trust and brand
equity, so these findings provide support for the acceptance of study hypotheses.
Table SHOWING MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND RESULTS OF CORRELATION BETWEEN FCSMC, UGSMC, BT, BE AND BL AMONG GARMENT CUSTOMERS (N=508)
S.No Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 1 FCSMC 3.64 0.63 - 2 UGSMC 3.44 0.73 0.605** - 3 BT 3.66 0.92 0.511** 0.610** - 4 BE 3.05 1.08 0.478** 0.519** 0.680** - 5 BL 3.56 0.67 0.533** 0.535** 0.618** 0.691** - Note: FCSMCT=Firm-Created Social Media Communication; UCSMCT=User-Generated Social Media Communication; BT=Brand Trust; BE=Brand Equity; BL=Brand Loyalty; **p<0.01.
Overall% of Variance 62.66% Brand Trust (α=0.86) “I trust my brand to give me everything, I expect out of it” 0. “I rely on my brand” 0. “My brand never disappoints me” 0. Overall% of Variance 71.29% Brand Equity (α=0.77) “It makes sense to buy [brand] instead of any other brand, even if they are the same” 0. “Even if another brand has the same feature as [brand], I would prefer to buy [brand]” 0. “If there is another brand as good as [brand], I prefer to buy [brand]” 0. “If another brand is not different from [brand] in any way, it seems smarter to purchase [brand]” 0. Overall% of Variance 58.73% Brand Loyalty (α=0.81) “Consider myself to be loyal to the brand” 0. “If the brand is not available at the store, I would buy the same brand from some other store” 0. “I am willing to pay more for my brand” 0. Overall% of Variance 65.43%
Table 3 SUMMARY FOR PATHS ESTIMATES AND DECISIONS
Paths (Direct Effects) Estimates p Decision FCSMC-BL 0.312 0.00 Supported UGSMC-BL 0.351 0.00 Supported FCSMC-BT 0.239 0.00 Supported UGSMC-BT 0.356 0.00 Supported FCSMC-BE 0.081 0.01 Supported UGSMC-BE 0.274 0.00 Supported BT-BE 0.435 0.00 Supported BT-BL 0.475 0.00 Supported BE-BL 0.230 0.00 Supported Path (Indirect Effects) FCSMC-BT-BL 0.13 0.01 Supported UGSMC-BT-BL 0.17 0.01 Supported FCSMC-BE-BL 0.30 0.00 Supported UGSMC-BE-BL 0.27 0.01 Supported
Moreover, the finding reveals the existence of four indirect effects, thus providing
support for the meditational model which is shown in Table 3. As the indirect effect of FCSMC
with BL through BT (β=0.30, p<0.001) and BE (β=0.13, p<0.01) were significant; also the
indirect effect of UGSMC with BL through BT (β=0.27, p<0.001) and BE(β=0.17, p<0.01) were
also significant thus indicated that brand loyalty was not only predicted by FCSMC and UGSMC
rather BE and BT were revealed to be significant third variables that explains that association
better, however, as the direct effects of FCSMC and UGSMC on BL were also significant, so it
provides the support for the partial mediating role of BT and BE in the relationship between
FCSMC and UGSMC with BL.
DISCUSSION
The current study tested the much-needed model for the brand scholar’s literature, where
it supports that both personal and social factors are important for making customers loyal
towards particular garment brands. So besides social media communication either through firm
created or user generated means; trust and equity regarding an individual brand are also found to
be related positively to brand loyalty. As expected, these findings are consistent with the
previous research findings of Bruhn, Schäfer & Schoenmüller (2012) highlighting the significant
positive effect of social media communication on the customers and therefore the
communication perception of the client about brand affect positively. Moreover, previous
researchers (Khadim, Younis, Mahmood & Khalid, 2015; Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016;
Schivinski & Dąbrowski, 2013) hold that social media communication has a solid relationship
with BL and it is beneficial to increase customer loyalty to brand.
Furthermore, most of the previous studies (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Kang et al.,
2011) found that creating and enhancing trust can make the customers more loyal to the brand.
The significant positive association regarding BE and BL are also aligned with the findings of
(Yoo, Donthu & Lee, 2000; Aaker, 2007) that empirically revealed that BE is positively
associated with the BL. The role of mediation variables BT and BE are also critical and they
were also found positively significant. BT and BE have positive significance with BL, FCSMC
and USMC. They play a vital role to support the independent variables to the dependent variable.
The findings of this study are well backed by previous studies.
As far as the mediation model is concerned; the current study significant mediating
findings of BT and BE in between social media communication (FCSMC & UGSMC) and brand
loyalty are in line with the previously highlighted suppositions from the TAM and TPB models.
As they postulated about user friendly adoption of technology and personal factors collectively
explain more variance in customers brand loyalty compared to only social media communication
in increasing customers buying and purchase intention of specific garment brand.
Conclusions and Managerial Implications
Social media is a very well-built platform and it has substantial and significant impact on
BL. It becomes an apparent tool for consumers. They can very easily get in touch with others at
any time. Everything goes on social media much faster as compared to traditional media. Users
can respond quickly to every comment and praise. Social media communication works from both
sides and consumers can send their suggestions very quickly. With social media, a brand can
send their messages to a lot of audiences and collect a lot of recommendations after the
conversation of users. Now the world is going very fast and everything is changing very quickly.
Social media is a forum where a brand can judge how consumers think and what they want from
a brand. It helps the customers to build a trust on a brand. Once the trust develops, it makes a
good reputation in the eye of consumers. After this, it makes sense of brand awareness and then a
standard and superior brand gives perceived quality as their customers want. With this activity,
consumers become loyal to their brand. Social media communication offers full and dark brand
perception measurement that also gives a path for brand performance over time. It also creates
greatest and maximum opportunities for prospective improvement. This model makes the
consumers loyal to their brand. Also, this model helps the companies and brand managers to
think forward. It gives an understanding of positive brand perception towards the forward-
thinking.
Research Limitations and Future Research
There is no doubt that this research plays a significant role in the contribution of social
media communication, consumer brand perception and behavior literature. There are some
limitations of the current study that can provide guidelines for future research, first, as the study
targeted only a single industry that limits study generalization so future studies should recruit the
broader range of industries. Secondly, besides Facebook and twitter other leading SNSs should
also be investigated to gain a more in depth exploration of the impact of social media
communication strategies on consumer's behaviors and attitudes.
Furthermore, other organizational variables that can influence brand loyalty of companies
particular customers like financial performance indicators and competitive, sustainable
advantage, the size of the organization and consumer purchase intention will also be controlled
for a broader understanding of the benefits that social media brand communication can have on
brand loyalty. Also, future researchers should conduct experimental studies by incorporate
comparison group to evaluate better the influence of social media communication tools in
enhancing brand loyalty compared to traditional media in a single study to assess more precisely
the importance of the advent of social networking sites as a more pronounced tool. Additionally,
one should consider controlling effect of gender, age and typology of internet users to
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