Summary articles
Consumer Behavior
Article Page
Bloemer & Kasper (2015) 2
Zhang & Bloemer (2008) 6
Shiv & Fedorikhin (1999) 9
Huber et al. (2004) 12
Van Birgelen et al. (2009) 14
Delcourt et al. (2013) 16
Till et al. (2008) 18
Pochepstova et al. (2008) 21
Neghina et al. (2016) 24
Radboud University Nijmegen
Master Business Administration – Marketing
2016-2017
1
,Bloemer & Kasper (1995) Workgroup 1
The complex relationship between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
This study investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction and true brand loyalty,
moderated by the amount of elaboration.
Amount of
elaboration
Consumer True
satisfaction brand loyalty
Aim = identify factors which have an impact on the relationship between consumer satisfaction and
brand loyalty.
Previous research has focused already on the relationship between customer satisfaction and brand
loyalty, but these studies have a number of drawbacks:
1. Most of them did not take into account the difference between repeat purchasing behaviour
and brand loyalty on the one hand and spurious and true brand loyalty on the other hand.
This research makes this distinction deliberately.
2. Most studies have concentrated on the amount of satisfaction as the independent variable,
with no distinction being made between different types of satisfaction. This study
distinguishes between two types of satisfaction. This distinction is based on the amount of
elaboration upon the evaluation of the brand by the consumer. This amount of elaboration
depends on the motivation and the capacity of the consumer to evaluate the brand. The
authors will show that elaboration is a moderator variable in the relationship between
customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. This means that the impact of manifest satisfaction
on brand loyalty differs from the impact of latent satisfaction on brand loyalty.
Two types of brand loyalty
There is a difference between repeat purchasing behaviour and brand loyalty. Repeat purchasing
behaviour is the actual rebuying of a brand, but brand loyalty not only concerns the behaviour of
rebuying, but also takes into account that actual behaviour’s antecedents.
1. True brand loyalty = “the biased (i.e. non-random), behavioural response (i.e. purchase),
expressed over time, by some decision making unit, with respect to one or more alternative
brands out of a set of such brands, which is a function of psychological (decision making,
evaluative) processes resulting in brand commitment”. In other words: the degree of the
consumers’ commitment to a brand when (s)he rebuys a brand. A true brand loyal customer
is committed to the brand, because of this commitment (s)he insists on buying the same
brand the next time (s)he needs to buy the product again.
2
, 2. Spurious brand loyalty = “the biased (i.e. non-random), behavioural response (i.e. purchase),
expressed over time, by some decision making unit, with respect to one or more alternative
brands out of a set of such brands, which is a function of inertia”.
A spurious brand loyal customer is not committed to the brand, therefore (s)he might buy
the same brand the next time (s)he needs to buy the product again, but (s)he might also buy
a different brand very easily.
The most important difference between the two concepts is that true brand loyalty is based on brand
commitment and spurious brand loyalty is not. Brand commitment = “the pledging or binding of an
individual to his/her brand choice”.
In this research the authors assume that there is a continuum between true brand loyalty and
spurious brand loyalty. In this way, brand commitment enables the authors to define the degree of
true brand loyalty.
Spurious brand loyalty True brand loyalty
Not based on commitment Based on commitment
Brand satisfaction = “the outcome of the subjective evaluation that the chosen alternative (the
brand) meets or exceeds the expectations”.
Two types of satisfaction
1. Manifest brand satisfaction = is the result of an evaluation which is well elaborated upon.
2. Latent brand satisfaction = is the result of an implicit evaluation which is not elaborated
upon.
The amount of elaboration = determined by the motivation and capacity of a consumer to elaborate
upon a brand choice. Motivation is operationalised as brand choice involvement, and capacity as
brand deliberation (overweging).
Hypothesis of the relationship between consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty
The positive relationship between manifest satisfaction and true brand loyalty is stronger than the
positive relationship between latent satisfaction and true brand loyalty. This is based upon the
assumption that the greater the amount of elaboration, the more manifest in the satisfaction.
Methodology
The authors sent a questionnaire to 1078 interested customers. 838 of them were used as a
representative sample of the Dutch population and the market shares of the products used in this
study: blank audio cassettes and shampoo. The authors chose these types of products because they
were clearly branded non-durables that were bought quite often by the majority of the population.
The authors expected that these products would differ in the degree of consumer satisfaction and
brand loyalty. Besides, the marketing mix for both products differs markedly in terms of product,
pricing, promotion and distribution strategy in the Netherlands. To test the relationship the authors
used validated scales with 5-scale Likert items on brand commitment, brand involvement and brand
deliberation. The commitment scale together with the chance of buying the same brand the next
time was used to measure true brand loyalty. The involvement and deliberation scale were used to
determine the degree of elaboration in order to classify the type of satisfaction (latent or manifest).
3
Consumer Behavior
Article Page
Bloemer & Kasper (2015) 2
Zhang & Bloemer (2008) 6
Shiv & Fedorikhin (1999) 9
Huber et al. (2004) 12
Van Birgelen et al. (2009) 14
Delcourt et al. (2013) 16
Till et al. (2008) 18
Pochepstova et al. (2008) 21
Neghina et al. (2016) 24
Radboud University Nijmegen
Master Business Administration – Marketing
2016-2017
1
,Bloemer & Kasper (1995) Workgroup 1
The complex relationship between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
This study investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction and true brand loyalty,
moderated by the amount of elaboration.
Amount of
elaboration
Consumer True
satisfaction brand loyalty
Aim = identify factors which have an impact on the relationship between consumer satisfaction and
brand loyalty.
Previous research has focused already on the relationship between customer satisfaction and brand
loyalty, but these studies have a number of drawbacks:
1. Most of them did not take into account the difference between repeat purchasing behaviour
and brand loyalty on the one hand and spurious and true brand loyalty on the other hand.
This research makes this distinction deliberately.
2. Most studies have concentrated on the amount of satisfaction as the independent variable,
with no distinction being made between different types of satisfaction. This study
distinguishes between two types of satisfaction. This distinction is based on the amount of
elaboration upon the evaluation of the brand by the consumer. This amount of elaboration
depends on the motivation and the capacity of the consumer to evaluate the brand. The
authors will show that elaboration is a moderator variable in the relationship between
customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. This means that the impact of manifest satisfaction
on brand loyalty differs from the impact of latent satisfaction on brand loyalty.
Two types of brand loyalty
There is a difference between repeat purchasing behaviour and brand loyalty. Repeat purchasing
behaviour is the actual rebuying of a brand, but brand loyalty not only concerns the behaviour of
rebuying, but also takes into account that actual behaviour’s antecedents.
1. True brand loyalty = “the biased (i.e. non-random), behavioural response (i.e. purchase),
expressed over time, by some decision making unit, with respect to one or more alternative
brands out of a set of such brands, which is a function of psychological (decision making,
evaluative) processes resulting in brand commitment”. In other words: the degree of the
consumers’ commitment to a brand when (s)he rebuys a brand. A true brand loyal customer
is committed to the brand, because of this commitment (s)he insists on buying the same
brand the next time (s)he needs to buy the product again.
2
, 2. Spurious brand loyalty = “the biased (i.e. non-random), behavioural response (i.e. purchase),
expressed over time, by some decision making unit, with respect to one or more alternative
brands out of a set of such brands, which is a function of inertia”.
A spurious brand loyal customer is not committed to the brand, therefore (s)he might buy
the same brand the next time (s)he needs to buy the product again, but (s)he might also buy
a different brand very easily.
The most important difference between the two concepts is that true brand loyalty is based on brand
commitment and spurious brand loyalty is not. Brand commitment = “the pledging or binding of an
individual to his/her brand choice”.
In this research the authors assume that there is a continuum between true brand loyalty and
spurious brand loyalty. In this way, brand commitment enables the authors to define the degree of
true brand loyalty.
Spurious brand loyalty True brand loyalty
Not based on commitment Based on commitment
Brand satisfaction = “the outcome of the subjective evaluation that the chosen alternative (the
brand) meets or exceeds the expectations”.
Two types of satisfaction
1. Manifest brand satisfaction = is the result of an evaluation which is well elaborated upon.
2. Latent brand satisfaction = is the result of an implicit evaluation which is not elaborated
upon.
The amount of elaboration = determined by the motivation and capacity of a consumer to elaborate
upon a brand choice. Motivation is operationalised as brand choice involvement, and capacity as
brand deliberation (overweging).
Hypothesis of the relationship between consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty
The positive relationship between manifest satisfaction and true brand loyalty is stronger than the
positive relationship between latent satisfaction and true brand loyalty. This is based upon the
assumption that the greater the amount of elaboration, the more manifest in the satisfaction.
Methodology
The authors sent a questionnaire to 1078 interested customers. 838 of them were used as a
representative sample of the Dutch population and the market shares of the products used in this
study: blank audio cassettes and shampoo. The authors chose these types of products because they
were clearly branded non-durables that were bought quite often by the majority of the population.
The authors expected that these products would differ in the degree of consumer satisfaction and
brand loyalty. Besides, the marketing mix for both products differs markedly in terms of product,
pricing, promotion and distribution strategy in the Netherlands. To test the relationship the authors
used validated scales with 5-scale Likert items on brand commitment, brand involvement and brand
deliberation. The commitment scale together with the chance of buying the same brand the next
time was used to measure true brand loyalty. The involvement and deliberation scale were used to
determine the degree of elaboration in order to classify the type of satisfaction (latent or manifest).
3
