Intermediary Role of Brand Trust in the Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty


Customer satisfaction, defined as the adequacy between the expectations of the customers before the purchasing activity and all that is acquired after the purchasing activity, represents a very important concept for businesses. The first step in the formation of customer satisfaction is the correct identification of requests and needs by businesses. Businesses that correctly identify their target audience aim to provide customer satisfaction with the action plan they will develop. Nowadays, the most important problem faced by businesses is the steady decline of loyal customers. Increasing competition and price advantages are the most important factors that trigger this problem. However, customer satisfaction alone is not enough to ensure customer loyalty. Consumers' confidence in the brands that produce the goods and services they demand is of great importance in increasing brand loyalty. This study focused on the intermediary role of trust in the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The aim of this study is to provide the perspective that trust in the brand will form a more dominant loyalty when combined with customer satisfaction for the marketing researchers studying customer loyalty. For this reason, the effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty was initially examined and then a comparative assessment was made by adding the intermediary role of trust in the brand. According to the results obtained from the participants using the same smart phone in their previous choice, it is observed that trust in the brand plays an intermediary role in the effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. In order to determine the variables used in the study, explanatory and confirmatory factor analyzes were conducted and structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses.


Keywords


customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, brand trust

Author : Nur ÇAĞLAR ÇETİNKAYA -Tülin DURUKAN
Number of pages: 127-143
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.29228/TurkishStudies.40285
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Turkish Studies-Economics,Finance,Politics
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