Brand Trust and Brand Evangelism of Healthcare Firms in South- South Nigeria: The Moderating Role of Brand Love

Abstract

When we consider that humans, plants and animals receive their wellness and wellbeing from medical products and services in modern society, we see that it is vitally important that firms in the healthcare ecosystem recognize and nurture customers’ trust and love for their brands. This study carefully investigated the impact of brand trust on brand evangelism of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria and the moderating role of brand love. In spite of the growing insight into customers’ brand relationship and its impact on brand evangelism in developed economies, brand trust and evangelism for healthcare brands in south-south Nigeria, remains tenuous, revealing a significant gap in literature. Addressing this gap, we adopt the Commitment-trust Theory perspective to uncover how customers’ trust in healthcare brands can impact on brand evangelism. A quantitative and exploratory research design was the methodological approach employed to investigate customers of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria. Due to the infinite nature of the population, the cluster probability sampling technique was used and the population divided into twenty (20) clusters of adults within the ages of 25-55years in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers State. Hence, one hundred (100) copies of questionnaire in a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree were designed and administered to obtain primary data. With the aid of the International Business Machine (IBM), Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 23, multiple linear regression was used to determine the degree of impact brand trust has on brand evangelism while Andrew F. Hayes’ PROCESS Procedure for SPSS Version 4.2 was used to determine the extent of moderation of brand love on the impact of brand trust (brand credibility and brand integrity) on brand evangelism of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria. In view of the test result