Loyalty Regardless of Brands? Examining Three Nonperformance Effects on Brand Loyalty in a Tourism Context

Abstract

The conventional wisdom holds that consumers’ brand loyalty is a function of their perception of brand performance. However, recent studies have shown that loyalty may be affected by nonperformance factors, such as brand parity, brand market share, and loyalty proneness. This study explores the effects of three nonperformance factors on brand loyalty in a tourism context and lends partial support to their direct effects on loyalty. Specifically, it is revealed that respondents’ attitudinal loyalty is significantly and positively related to their propensity to be loyal, and their behavioral loyalty is significantly and positively related to a brand’s market share. However, brand parity does not seem to affect respondents’ attitudinal loyalty but is found to have a slightly positive effect on respondents’ behavioral loyalty. These results suggest that the three effects on loyalty could be more complicated than originally believed.