This paper investigates the determinants of port service quality from a resources-based approach. The research model is derived from the relevant literature in port management, service quality, and resource-based theory. It is hypothesized that tangible and intangible resources contribute to port service quality, which in turn leads to the enhancement of reputation and loyalty to ports. To test this, a questionnaire survey is undertaken on three major ports in Korea: Busan, Incheon, and Gwangyang; the collected data are then analyzed using partial least squares. It is suggested that both tangible resources and intangible resources have a positive influence on general service quality and that general service quality has a positive influence on customer satisfaction, thus improving port reputation and loyalty. The contribution to the literature is that resource-based theory is applied to a port service quality model and the model is verified. In addition, an augmented model is adopted to examine the effect of individual resources on service quality. It is also possible for port managers to use the constructs to monitor their resources and develop more specific strategies to gain reputation and loyalty from customers.
It is said that customers buy not products but brands embedded in their mind, so that they are used as a key tool of strong marketing strategy. The present paper is a study on service brand equity, on which much research has not been conducted. The purpose of the present study is to propose the way to manage service brand equity which is essential to gaining competitive superiority by examining the effect of the factors of marketing communication on it. The researcher presented a research model by inquiring into existing researches on marketing communication and service brand equity and set up a research hypothesis. Internet service was chosen as the subject of the study. The reason for this is that it is the most intangible and there is no difference in price and quality, so that it is actively being marketed. The present positive study verified the relation between the factors of marketing communication such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and word-of-mouth advertising and brand recognition, brand image, and brand loyalty. The results of the positive study are as follows. Advertising, sales promotion and word-of-mouth advertising had an effect on brand recognition. Public relations, sales promotion and word-of-mouth advertising had an effect on brand image. Brand image and brand recognition affected brand loyalty.
Purpose: The online market is growing the most in history due to the expansion of non-face-to-face commerce. In addition, as consumers' interest in health, food safety, and environment increases, interest in and consumption of eco-friendly agricultural products is also increasing. Therefore, in the case of a specialty store that sells eco-friendly organic agricultural products, a marketing strategy that can increase customer loyalty by reflecting these consumer needs is necessary. In this study, the store attributes of eco-friendly food stores are classified into location, assortment, price, quality, and employee service, and the effect of each store attribute on utilitarian and hedonic value is investigated. Research design, data, and methodology: The subjects of this study were customers who visited an eco-friendly food store. Of the 511 survey responses, 311 were used for statistical verification, excluding 200 who had not visited within the last 3 months. For statistical analysis, Smart PLS 3.0 was used, and after checking the validity and reliability of the items, hypothesis testing was performed. Result: As a result of the study, it was found that assortment, quality, and employee service among store attributes had a positive (+) effect on utilitarian and hedonic value. Second, location had no significant effect on utilitarian and hedonic value. Third, price did not appear to have a positive (+) effect on the utilitarian value, and it was found to have a positive (+) effect on the hedonic value. Fourth, It was investigated whether the presence or absence of delivery service had an effect on store attributes between utilitarian and hedonic value, and it was found that there was a significant effect between employee service and hedonic value. Conclusions: Among eco-friendly food store environment management will be required in order to provide food that meets the tastes and needs of consumers by diversifying the taste, standard, and quality grade of food, and to maintain or improve the quality. In order to unlike other stores, eco-friendly food stores have high price resistance from the point of view of consumers, so it is necessary to diversify promotional media such as YouTube and SNS to raise awareness of eco-friendly organic food.
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