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The Effects of Perceived Quality Factors on the Customer Loyalty: Focused on the Analysis of Difference between PB and NB (지각된 품질요인이 고객충성도에 미치는 영향: PB와 NB간의 차이분석)

  • Ye, Jong-Suk;Jun, So-Yon
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.1-34
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    • 2010

  • Introduction As consumers' purchase behavior change into a rational and practical direction, the discount store industry came to have keen competition along with rapid external growth. Therefore as a solution, distribution businesses are concentrating on developing PB(Private Brand) which can realize differentiation and profitability at the same time. And as improvement in customer loyalty beyond customer satisfaction is effective in surviving in an environment with keen competition, PB is being used as a strategic tool to improve customer loyalty. To improve loyalty among PB users, it is necessary to develop PB by examining properties of a customer group, first of all, quality level perceived by consumers should be met to obtain customer satisfaction and customer trust and consequently induce customer loyalty. To provide results of systematic analysis on relations between antecedents influenced perceived quality and variables affecting customer loyalty, this study proposed a research model based on causal relations verified in prior researches and set 16 hypotheses about relations among 9 theoretical variables. Data was collected from 400 adult customers residing in Seoul and the Metropolitan area and using large scale discount stores, among them, 375 copies were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 and Amos 7.0. The findings of the present study followed as; We ascertained that the higher company reputation, brand reputation, product experience and brand familiarity, the higher perceived quality. The study also examined the higher perceived quality, the higher customer satisfaction, customer trust and customer loyalty. The findings showed that the higher customer satisfaction and customer trust, the higher customer loyalty. As for moderating effects between PB and NB in terms of influences of perceived quality factors on perceived quality, we can ascertain that PB was higher than NB in the influences of company reputation on perceived quality while NB was higher than PB in the influences of brand reputation and brand familiarity on perceived quality. These results of empirical analysis will be useful for those concerned to do marketing activities based on a clearer understanding of antecedents and consecutive factors influenced perceived quality. At last, discussions about academical and managerial implications in these results, we suggested the limitations of this study and the future research directions. Research Model and Hypotheses Test After analyzing if antecedent variables having influence on perceived quality shows any difference between PB and NB in terms of their influences on them, the relation between variables that have influence on customer loyalty was determined as Figure 1. We established 16 hypotheses to test and hypotheses are as follows; H1-1: Perceived price has a positive effect on perceived quality. H1-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of perceived price on perceived quality. H2-1: Company reputation has a positive effect on perceived quality. H2-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of company reputation on perceived quality. H3-1: Brand reputation has a positive effect on perceived quality. H3-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of brand reputation on perceived quality. H4-1: Product experience has a positive effect on perceived quality. H4-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of product experience on perceived quality. H5-1: Brand familiarity has a positive effect on perceived quality. H5-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of brand familiarity on perceived quality. H6: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. H7: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer trust. H8: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer loyalty. H9: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer trust. H10: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty. H11: Customer trust has a positive effect on customer loyalty. Results from analyzing main effects of research model is shown as

    , and moderating effects is shown as
    . Results This study is designed with 16 research hypotheses, Results from analyzing their main effects show that 9 of 11 hypotheses were supported and other 2 hypotheses were rejected. On the other hand, results from analyzing their moderating effects show that 3 of 5 hypotheses were supported and other 2 hypotheses were rejected. H1-1: (SPC: Standardized Path Coefficient)=-0.04, t-value=-1.04, p>. 05). H1-2: (${\Delta}\chi^2$=1.10, df=1, p> 0.05). H1-1 and H1-2 are rejected, so it is prove that perceived price is not a significant decision variable having influence on perceived quality and there is no significant variable between PB and NB in terms of influence of perceived price on perceived quality. H2-1: (SPC=0.31, t-value=3.74, p<. 001). H2-2: (${\Delta}\chi^2$=3.93, df=1, p< 0.05). H2-1 and H2-2 are supported, so it is proved that company reputation is a significant decision variable having influence on perceived quality and, in terms of influence of company reputation on perceived quality, PB has relatively stronger influence than NB. H3-1: (SPC=0.26, t-value=5.30, p< .001). H3-2: (${\Delta}\chi^2$=16.81, df=1, p< 0.01). H3-1 and H3-2 are supported, so it is proved that brand reputation is a significant decision variable having influence on perceived quality and, in terms of influence of brand reputation on perceived quality, NB has relatively stronger influence than PB. H4-1: (SPC=0.31, t-value=2.65, p< .05). H4-2: (${\Delta}\chi^2$=1.26, df=1, p> 0.05). H4-1 is supported, but H4-2 is rejected, Therefore, it is proved that product experience is a significant decision variable having influence on perceived quality and, on the other hand, there is no significant different between PB and NB in terms of influence of product experience on product quality. H5-1: (SPC=0.24, t-value=3.00, p<. 05). H5-2: (${\Delta}\chi^2$=5.10, df=1, p< 0.05). H5-1 and H5-2 are supported, so it is proved that brand familiarity is a significant decision variable having influence on perceived quality and, in terms of influence of brand familiarity on perceived quality, NB has relatively stronger influence than PB. H6: (SPC=0.91, t-value=19.06, p< .001). H6 is supported, so a fact that customer satisfaction increases as perceived quality increases is proved. H7: (SPC=0.81, t-value=7.44, p<. 001). H7 is supported, so a fact that customer trust increases as perceived quality increases is proved. H8: (SPC=0.57, t-value=7.87, p< .001). H8 is supported, so a fact that customer loyalty increases as perceived quality increases is proved. H9: (SPC=0.08, t-value=0.76, p> .05). H9 is rejected, so it is proved influence of customer satisfaction on customer trust is not significant. H10: (SPC=0.21, t-value=4.34, p< .001). H10 is supported, so a fact that customer loyalty increases as customer satisfaction increases is proved. H11: (SPC=0.40, t-value=5.68, p< .001). H11 is supported, so a fact that customer loyalty increases as customer trust increases is proved. Implications Although most of existing studies have used function, price, brand, design, service, brand name, store name as antecedent variables for perceived quality, this study used different antecedent variables in order to analyze and distinguish purchase group PB and NB through preliminary research. Therefore, this study may be used as preliminary data for a empirical study that is designed to be helpful for practical jobs. Also, this study is made to be easily applied to any practical job because SEM(Structural Equation Modeling), most strongly explaining the relation between observed variable and latent variable, is used for this study. This study suggests a new strategic point that, in order to increase customer loyalty, customer's perceived quality level should satisfied for inducing customer satisfaction, customer trust, and customer loyalty. Therefore, after finding an effective differentiating factors in perceived quality in order to increase customer loyalty through increasing perceived quality, this factor was made to be applied to PB and NB. Because perceived quality factors which is recognized as being important by consumers is different between PB and NB, this study suggests how to efficiently establish marketing strategy by enhancing a factor. Companies have mostly focused on profitability in terms of analyzing customer loyalty, but this study included positive WOM(word of mouth). Hence, this study suggests that it would be helpful for establishing customer loyalty when consumers have cognitive satisfaction and emotional satisfaction together. Limitations This study used variables perceived price, company reputation, brand reputation, product experience, brand familiarity in order to determine whether each constituent factor has different influence on perceived quality between purchase group PB and NB. These characteristic variables are made up on the basis of the preliminary research, but it is expected that more precise research result would be obtained if additional various variables are included in study. This study selected a practical product that is non-durable, low-priced and bestselling product in a discount store through the preliminary research because it can be easily estimated by consumers. Therefore. generalization of study would be more easily obtained if more various product characteristics is included. Regarding a sample used in this study, it was only based on consumers who purchase products in a large-scale discount store located in Seoul and in the capital area. Accordingly, this sample has some geographical limitation, If a study is expanded by including more areas, more representative research results may be produced. Because this study is only designed to analyze consumers who purchase a product in a large-scale discount store, some difference may be found according to characteristics of each business type. In other words, there is certainly some application limitation, so research result from this study may not be applied to other business types. Future research may have fruitful results if it adjusts a variable to each business type.

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