The moderating effect of individual level collectivist values on brand loyalty ¬リニ

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Brand loyalty Individual level collectivist values Perceived value Brand trust Perceived quality China In today's dynamic business environment the success of a firm often depends on its ability to create brand loyalty. While there is a large body of research exploring brand loyalty and its antecedents, little has been done to examine how the relationship between these antecedents and brand loyalty is moderated by consumer differences in individual level collectivist values. This understanding is important however as consumers high in individual level col-lectivist values have been found to make different brand choices than consumers low in individual level collectivist values. We develop and test theory that suggests consumer differences in individual level collectivist values have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived value, perceived quality, brand trust and brand loyalty. The results show that consumers high in individual level collectivist values are significantly more loyal to a focal brand, especially when brand trust and perceived quality are at relatively low levels. Research indicates that brand loyalty brings with it benefits such as greater sales, increased profitability, a customer base that is less sensitive to the marketing efforts of competitors, and substantial barriers to entry (Aaker, 1992; Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Brand loyalty is 'a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behavior' (Oliver, 1999: 34). Because of its benefits a large number of studies have explored brand loyalty (e. Despite extensive research on perceived value, perceived quality and brand trust as antecedents of brand loyalty, scholars still find large variance in loyalty among consumers (e. studies have tried to explain this variance. For example, Caruana and Ewing (2010) suggest that the addition of corporate reputation and its relation to quality, perceived value, and loyalty may explain part of the variance in brand loyalty among consumers. Further, He, Li, and Harris (2012) note that brand identity and brand identification impact these same antecedents of brand loyalty and may explain why consumers show different levels of brand loyalty. While providing valuable insights that start to explain the variance in brand loyalty, these studies do not look at individual differences among consumers. Individual level cultural values theory suggests that consumers …