Abstract
Purpose On the basis of the social identity and congruity theories, the present research aims to propose that value congruity directly affects customer–brand identification (CBI), affective brand commitment and customer–brand engagement (CBE), which, in turn, paves the way for advancing consumer relationships with hospitality brands, as measured through brand loyalty. As such, this study serves to enhance existing insight into customer relationship management dynamics, with a particular focus on hospitality brands. Design/methodology/approach The present study develops a theoretical framework that is empirically investigated by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling analyses. Data were collected by using a self-administered questionnaire of 340 customers of four- and five-star hotel brands in India. Findings The results suggest value congruity as an important driver of CBI, affective commitment and CBE within hospitality brands. The results also reveal CBI to act as a significant predictor of affective commitment, CBE and brand loyalty. Furthermore, affective commitment and CBE are the significant drivers of loyalty to hospitality brands. Research limitations/implications The research is exploratory in nature and is restricted to four- and five-star hotel customers, thereby reflecting important limitations of this study. Given these issues, ample opportunities exist for further research to further explore and/or validate the reported findings. Practical implications The current research provides new insights for marketing practitioners planning or implementing long-term customer relationship management strategi3es that centre on customer–brand identification, customer–brand engagement and brand loyalty. Originality/value Despite existing insights, empirical investigation into the proposed conceptual relationships remains limited to date, particularly in the hospitality industry. By offering empirical evidence in this area, this study adds to the extant body of knowledge on CBI/CBE-centric customer relationship management.
Highlights
The power of branding is well acknowledged in tourism as well as hospitality brands (So et al, 2017; Rather, 2017)
While scarce investigation has been performed in customer–brand engagement relating to hospitality brand context (Rather, 2018; So et al, 2014), more comprehension of this notion is important despite its recent emergence as an essential marketing variable (Dessart et al, 2015; Hapsari et al, 2017; Hollebeek and Chen, 2014; Islam et al, 2017; Odoom et al, 2017; Rather, 2018; Rather and Shakir, 2018)
Multicollinearity tests suggest that variance inflation factor (VIF) values ranged from 1.52 to 2.38, well below the conservative threshold of 5.3 (Hair et al, 2010), signifying that the results from regression models are not influenced by any multicollinearity effect
Summary
The power of branding is well acknowledged in tourism as well as hospitality brands (So et al, 2017; Rather, 2017). While scarce investigation has been performed in customer–brand engagement relating to hospitality brand context (Rather, 2018; So et al, 2014), more comprehension of this notion is important despite its recent emergence as an essential marketing variable (Dessart et al, 2015; Hapsari et al, 2017; Hollebeek and Chen, 2014; Islam et al, 2017; Odoom et al, 2017; Rather, 2018; Rather and Shakir, 2018). In the view of above-mentioned gaps, based on social identity and congruity theories, the present research develops a model that investigates the interrelationship among VC, customer–brand identification, affective brand commitment, customer–brand engagement and customer loyalty and will fill these gaps in branding, consumer behaviour and hospitality literature. It is based on social identity’s theories (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), along with notions from the marketing field on customer–brand
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