Customer satisfaction, brand trust and variety seeking as determinants of brand loyalty

Abstract

Loyalty is without doubt a crucial construct in marketing and has major implications for any businesses, since in the modern world it is not sufficient to merely attract new customers – retention and re-purchase is a key component of success. One of the most common determinants of loyalty is customer satisfaction and although it plays a major role, there are other variables, especially intrinsic to the consumer, which also affect loyalty and repurchase behaviour. This paper shows that customer loyalty can be explained by customer satisfaction, perceived value, trust and variety seeking, and shows the direct and indirect effects among those constructs and other constructs. The model suggested by this study may be seen as an extension of the American/European customer satisfaction index (CSI) model. Within the limitations of the study, the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. Key words: Customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, perceived value, brand trust, variety seeking, brand switching, structural equation modelling (SEM).