台灣電信業消費者品牌參與之實證研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程 International MBA Program College of Commerce National Chengchi University. 碩士論文政治. 大. 立Master’s Thesis. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. 台灣電信業消費者品牌參與之實證研究 er. io. An empirical study on consumer brand engagement in the. a. n. v l C service providers context of mobile n i in Taiwan hengchi U. Student: Michalina Jendrzejczyk Advisor: Professor Glen Brodowsky. 中華民國106年四月 April 2017.

(2) 台灣電信業消費者品牌參與之實證研究 An empirical study on consumer brand engagement in the context of mobile service providers in Taiwan. 研究生：葉秋焱. Student: Michalina Jendrzejczyk. 指導教授：白德傑. 政治大國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 立. Advisor: Glen Brodowsky. ‧. 商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程碩士論文. er. io. sit. y. Nat. A Thesis. n. a to International MBA Program Submitted iv l C n U NationalhChengchi University engchi. in partial fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Master in Business Administration. 中華民國106年四月 April 2017.

(3) Acknowledgements Firstly, I wish to thank the Professors that I had the pleasure to meet in the course of IMBA program for giving me the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally. Secondly, I would like to thank Professor Glen Brodowsky for helping me develop a passion for marketing, for being understanding and patient, for continuously providing me with words of encouragement and guidance, thus pushing me to the best of my abilities. Also, a huge thank you to my mum and dad, sister, brother in law and each family member for. 治政 their endless support. For believing in me throughout my大 long academic journey. 立 I would like to thank Marcia, my best friend and someone to look up to, for her guidance, ‧ 國. 學. endurance, patience and support, regardless of the circumstances.. ‧. I wish to thank my friends Trixie, Daniela, Alena, Violet, Chelsea, Mariam, Leo, Nanbei, Mark, Daniel who have made these past two years in Taiwan a memorable experience, who have. y. Nat. er. io. sit. always supported me, give me strength and hope, been there for me for good and bad, listened to my complains, and made me feel like I am home. Thank you Kasia, Karolina, Zuzia and. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Beata for sending me strength and words of support back from Poland.. engchi. I am grateful to Mrs. Li-chi and Chloe for their administrative support during the duration of the program, their likable and warm personalities and for always keeping their doors open to any of us regardless of the their own heavy load.. i.

(4) Abstract An empirical study on consumer brand engagement in the context of mobile service providers in Taiwan By Michalina Jendrzejczyk While the focal point in marketing discussion is moving away from goods and getting closer. 政治大. towards service, highlighting the importance of consumer experience and the significant role. 立. of customers as value co-creators, the notion of consumer brand engagement and consumer. ‧ 國. 學. engagement in general, are receiving attention both among scholars and brand decision makers. However, despite the growing attention, the empirical research on the antecedents and. ‧. consequences of CBE is limited and provides inadequate proof of the substantial role that CBE. Nat. sit. y. plays in building customer brand loyalty. This paper investigates the drivers and outcomes of. n. al. er. io. consumer brand engagement among the consumers of mobile service brands in Taiwan. It. i n U. v. explores the influence of satisfaction, trust, commitment, involvement, participation and self-. Ch. engchi. expressive brand on the increase or decrease in loyalty and the mediating role of CBE dimensions, including cognitive processing, affection and activation. By validating existing conceptual framework and proposing a new conceptual model, this paper provides empirical evidence of the CBE impact on brand loyalty. Also, this papers aims to provide a useful managerial insight for marketing professionals seeking to enhance firm’s business performance via establishing strong relationships with their customers.. Keywords: Consumer brand engagement, consumer engagement, mobile service, brand loyalty, customer-brand relationship. ii.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction………………………………………..…………………………………..1 1.1. Overview …………………………………………………………………………….1 1.2. Research Problem……………………………………………………………………1 1.3. Research Questions…………………………………….……………………………3 1.4. Research Objectives………………………………………………………………….3 1.5. Research Context……………………………………………………………………4. 學. ‧ 國. 2.. 治政 1.6. Thesis Structure……………………………………………………………………5 大立 Literature review………………………………………………………………………….7 2.1. Overview……………………………………………………………………………..7. ‧. 2.2. The theoretical foundations of consumer engagement…………………………………7 2.2.1. Consumer culture theory……………………………………………………..8. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 2.2.2. Relationship marketing………………………………………………………9 2.2.3. S-D logic…………………………………………………………………….10. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. 2.3. The concept of consumer engagement……………………………………………….12. engchi. 2.4. Engagement in the context of mobile service providers………………………………19 2.5. Research context: Taiwan mobile service providers – industry overview……………20 3. The conceptual model……………………………………………………………………..23 3.1. Overview…………………………………………………………………………….23 3.2. Definition of constructs and hypotheses.....................................................................23 3.3. Measures and hypotheses……………………………………………………………25 3.3.1. Antecedents of consumer brand engagement…………………………….……26 3.3.1.1. Customer satisfaction……………………………..……………………..26 3.3.1.2. Trust……………………………………………………………………27. iii.

(6) 3.3.1.3. Commitment……………….…………………………………………….27 3.3.1.4. Involvement……………………………………………………………..28 3.3.1.5. Participation……………………………………………………………30 3.3.1.6. Self-expressive brand………………………………………………….30 3.3.2. Consumer brand engagement dimensions…………………………………..31 3.3.2.1. Cognitive Processing…………………………………………………….32 3.3.2.2. Affection……………………………………………………………….32. 政治大 3.3.3. Consequences of customer brand engagement………………………………32 立 3.3.3.1. Brand loyalty……………………………………………………………32 3.3.2.3. Activation………………………………………………………………..32. ‧ 國. 學. 4. Research Methodology…………………………………………………………………..35. ‧. 4.1. Overview……………………………………..………………………………………35 4.2. Research approach…………………………………………………………………..35. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 4.3. Data collection……………………………………………….………………………36 4.3.1. Pretest survey…………………………………………………………………37. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. 4.3.2. Main survey…………………………………………………………………..38. engchi. 4.4. Measurement of constructs…………………………………………………………39 4.5. Questionnaire design…………………………………………………………………41 5. Results and discussion……………………………………………………………………43 5.1. Overview……………………………………………………………………………..43 5.2. Socio-economic characteristics……………………………………………………..43 5.2.1. Constructs’ descriptive statistical characteristics…………………………….46 5.3. Descriptive analysis…………………………………………………………………49 5.3.1. Factor analysis………………..……………………………………………….49 5.3.2. Reliability of the constructs……………………………………………….50. iv.

(7) 5.4. Correlations………………………………………..…………………………………53 5.5. Common method bias ………………………………………………………….….53 5.6. SEM results for Model 1 – Relationship quality model……………………………..54 5.7. SEM results for Model 2 – Leckie, Munyaradzi & Johnson’s model……………….57 5.8. SEM results for Model 3 – Combined research model………………………………61 5.9. Managerial implication…………………………………………………………….65. 政治大 5.11. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….67 立. 5.10. Research limitation and area for further research…………………………………..66. ‧ 國. 學. References……………………………………………………………………………………68 Appendix 1: Research questionnaire in English………………………………………………72. ‧. Appendix 2: Research questionnaire in Chinese………………………………………………79. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v. i n U. v.

(8) List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Conceptual model. .................................................................................................... 15 Table 1: Definitions of customer engagement…………………………………………………18 Table 2: Constructs, scales and respective items………………………………………………40 Table 3: Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents……………………………….45 Table 4: Mobile service characteristics……………………………………………………...46 Table 5: Constructs’ mean, std. deviation, Skewness, Kurtosis ............................................... 49. 治政 Table 6: Measures, factor loadings and Cronbach’s alpha大 of contructs. .................................. 52 立 Table 7: Correlations, means and standard deviations. ............................................................ 53 ‧ 國. 學. Table 8: GOF indices for Model 1. ........................................................................................... 55. ‧. Table 9: Structural model 1 results.. ......................................................................................... 57 Table 10: GOF indices for Model 2 .......................................................................................... 58. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Table 11: Structural model 2 results and comparison. .............................................................. 59 Table 12: GOF indices for Model 3. ......................................................................................... 61. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Table 13: Structural model 3 results and comparison. ............................................................. 65. engchi. vi.

(9) 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview Chapter One provides an introduction to the research problem and the topic that will be investigated within this paper. First section describes the study question placing it within the marketing discipline and the changes that were shaping it during recent decades. Second section. 政治大. explains what the aim of this empirical study is and what questions are to be answered by the. 立. end of the paper. It also provides the context of the research including basic information on the. ‧ 國. 學. Taiwanese telecom industry.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. 1.2. Research Problem. n. al. er. io. During the past three decades, the marketing discipline has undergone vast changes, with the. Ch. i n U. v. paradigm shifting from the goods oriented to service oriented offerings and from transactions. engchi. to relationships. The reason it had to transform was because the customers have changed. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) indicate that ‘the emergence of connected, informed, empowered, and active consumers’ is challenging the traditional belief that firms can create their offerings without any cooperation with the customers. They argue that in the new reality that new type of customers is challenging businesses by ‘wanting to interact with firms and thereby “co-create” value’. It is therefore critical for brands seeking business profitability and. 1.

(10) growth to create, build, and enhance customer brand relationships, thus involving in customer engagement activities. But before the firms could do so, a deeper understanding of the concept must have been developed. Hence, since the emergence of the consumer engagement and value co-creation concepts in marketing, scholars have been expressing a particular interest in the topic. Understanding consumer engagement as customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a. 政治大. brand or firm beyond purchase, which results from motivational drivers’ the Marketing Science. 立. Institute announced consumer engagement to be a Top Priority topic for years 2010-2012 and. ‧ 國. 學. again from 2014-2016 (MSI, 2010;2014). However, despite the undeniable attention received. ‧. and many papers published in recent years across various disciplines, the concept still has not. y. Nat. er. io. sit. received a sufficient amount of investigation. As most of the past studies are conceptual in nature, a considerable lack of empirical qualitative study still exists. Due to the deficiency of. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. research, the interactions between the drivers and outcomes of customer brand engagement (CBE), as well as the mediating variables of CBE are yet not clear. In order to provide assistance and advice for managers seeking to build new marketing strategies and ways of engaging customers and exert greater impact on the company by enhancing behaviors beneficial for the firm, such as loyalty, word of mouth, brand evangelism, and purchase, further research on consumer brand engagement is indispensable.. 2.

(11) 1.3. Research Questions This study examines the potential antecedents and consequences of consumer brand engagement. Thus, the key questions to address within this study are: Q1: What are the factors that have an effect on consumer brand engagement?. 政治大. Q2: What dimensions of consumer brand engagement lead to an increase or decrease in brand loyalty?. 立. Q3: What are the factors of consumer brand engagement that have a direct effect on brand. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. loyalty?. 1.4. Research Objectives. y. Nat. er. io. sit. The main focus of this study is to understand the role of consumer brand engagement and how it influences the relationships between the consumer and the brand. It also aims to determine. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. what drives customer brand engagement and how it affects brand loyalty, especially since brand loyalty is in fact the factor that firms are trying to establish with their customers. More specifically, this papers examines the role and the level of influence of antecedents on the mediating variables of CBE, including cognitive, behavioral and emotional dimensions. Also, the purpose of this study is to determine the level of increase or decrease in the strength of relationships between each of the independent and the mediating variables. Furthermore, the objective of this research is to investigate whether consumer brand engagement dimensions. 3.

(12) have a positive or negative impact on brand loyalty and provide managers with directions on how to increase, or prevent the decrease in the level of brand loyalty. Moreover, this study aims to investigate whether the drivers or CBE can affect directly brand loyalty, if yes, establish the positive/negative effect and its intensity. Furthermore, since many scholars are calling for the validation of their findings, it is the purpose of this study is to replicate and validate the existing. 政治大. conceptual model by Leckie et al. (2016) by incorporating it in the conceptual model developed. 立. in this paper and verify the results.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 1.5. Research Context. Nat. io. sit. y. This research is positioned in the context of mobile service providers in Taiwan (R.O.C). The. n. al. Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd,. er. Taiwanese mobile market is divided between five main telecom companies, including. v i n C hEasTone Telecommunications Far engchi U. Group, Taiwan Mobile. (formerly Taiwan Cellular), Taiwan Star Telecom and Asia-Pacific Telecom with the former three occupying almost 80% of the market share. With a highly mature market, high saturation index, the annual growth is marginal (in low single digits) and the competition amongst the players is fierce causing profitability to be challenging. With little space for growth, except for the LTE (i.e. Long Term Evolution, a high-speed wireless communications standard) services experiencing a significant growth since the introduction to the market, turnover threat, customer. 4.

(13) retention and preventing chunk is the top priority for each of the brands. Companies are seeking for new ways of engaging customers to build strong, long lasting relationships that would ultimately have a positive impact on their profitability and sustainability. Hence, it is fair to conclude, this particular research on customer engagement should be of great significance for Taiwanese mobile service brands.. 1.6. Thesis Structure. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter one serves as an introductory chapter and provides. ‧. the justification for conducting this study. It describes the research problem by putting it in the. Nat. io. sit. y. context of marketing. It provides the key problems to be addressed within this study, the main. n. al. The literature review chapter. er. objectives and research context. It concludes with drawing the outline of this paper.. v i n C h an introduction provides to the engchi U. theoretical foundations of. consumer engagement, describing three marketing theories, namely relationship marketing, culture customer theory, and service-dominant logic. It identifies the existing conceptual and empirical research and provides definitions of consumer engagement and consumer brand engagement found across those studies. Finally, it discusses the consumer engagement concept in the context of telecom brands in Taiwan. The theoretical chapter provides the conceptual model and information on the models it was. 5.

(14) based on, as well as the constructs incorporated. It discusses and provides definitions of the factors used as antecedents, consumer brand engagement dimensions and CBE consequence. In this chapter a set of hypotheses is developed in order to provide basis for this empirical study. The methodology chapter provides a detailed overview of the Taiwanese mobile service market. It addresses the research approach, including research designs and data collection processes.. 政治大. It also provides a description of the process of survey development used for the pretest and. 立. main questionnaire of the research. It discusses the scales that were used to measure each of the. ‧ 國. 學. conceptual model’s construct, and provides the basic contour of questionnaire design.. ‧. The results chapter discusses the findings of this study obtained by employing various statistical. y. Nat. er. io. sit. analysis. It provides information on socio-economic and statistical characteristics of the sample. Also, it discusses the reliability and validity of the scales. It address the research questions by. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. discussing three structural models obtained by employing a structural equation modeling method. Finally, it indicates the managerial implications of this study, and is concluded with information on research limitations and recommendations for future research and overall conclusion.. 6.

(15) 2. Literature review 2.1. Overview Chapter Two provides a relevant literature review in the area of focus. This chapter describes the theoretical foundations of consumer engagement. It also reviews the theories and concepts that, according to many scholars, provide an underpinning for the development of consumer. 政治大. brand engagement. It also provides an overview of those theories, which include: relationship. 立. marketing, consumer culture theory and service-dominant logic including an overview of. ‧ 國. 學. previous research in the marketing literature and concepts developed by those studies. It. ‧. highlights the aspects of consumer engagement in the research’s context of mobile service. Nat. io. sit. y. provider brands. Finally, it provides details of the research context of Taiwanese mobile service. n. al. er. sector and related industry background.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.2. The theoretical foundations of consumer engagement Throughout the past decades marketing focus has been moving away from the product and getting closer to the consumer, where the relationship, and not the transaction is emphasized. The emergence of the relationship marketing perspective in the 1980’s brought a new popular paradigm to marketing that has highlighted the role of services marketing and has been expansively researched in the following decades. In recent years, the term customer engagement. 7.

(16) has gained popularity and been thoroughly researched. Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric, and Ilic (2011) view the foundations of the emerging consumer engagement concept in relationship marketing, consumer culture theory and the newly formulated marketing dominant logic that “addresses interactive experience and value co-creation within marketing relationships.” namely servicedominant (S-D) logic. However, Vivek et al. (2012) highlight the lack of focus on new or. 政治大. potential customers under the relationship marketing perspective. Hence, the incorporation of. 立. consumer engagement and S-D logic will allow brands to enrich their marketing perspective to. ‧ 國. 學. engage both current and potential customers (Brodie et al., 2011b).. ‧ y. Nat. sit. 2.2.1. Relationship marketing. er. io. Relationship marketing refers to ‘attracting, maintaining, and enhancing customer relationships’. al. n. v i n C h and Hunt (1994)Uindicated that ‘relationship marketing (Berry, 1983). In their study, Morgan engchi refers to all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges.’ The domain encourages companies to build long lasting relationships and goals with customers, rather than focusing on a short term oriented transactions (Kotler 1992). Relationship marketing factors that describe the interactions between the company and consumers, and describe the relationship quality between them, include trust, satisfaction, and commitment. In his paper, Berry (1991) declares that trust ‘may. 8.

(17) be the single most powerful relationship marketing tool available to a services company.’ Morgan and Hunt (1994) emphasize that ‘commitment of exchange partners is the key to achieving valuable outcomes’, whereas brand loyalty, on the other hand, is most often mentioned as a consequence of relationship quality factors.. 政治大. 2.2.2. Consumer culture theory. 立. Next to relationship marketing, consumer culture theory (CCT) is another broad area within the. ‧ 國. 學. consumer behavior study field. This particular consumer research ‘addresses the sociocultural,. ‧. experiential, symbolic, and ideological aspects of consumption’ (Arnould & Thompson, 2005).. Nat. sit. y. It provides researchers with an academic foundation about consumption and marketplace. er. io. behaviors (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). The focal study about CCT revolves around ‘hedonic,. al. n. v i n C h of consumptionUand possession practices (Arnould & aesthetic, and ritualistic dimensions’ engchi Thompson, 2005). The theory sees the theme of consumers as identity seekers, who by participating in value co-creation of products and services available in the marketplaces create a version of self. Value co-creation in the cultural context has been heavily investigated in recent years as it has been balancing on the edge across disciplines of CCT, S-D logic and practice theory (Belk et al., 2013). Also, past studies associated with the CCT have included. 9.

(18) many core constructs underpinning consumer behavior, including brand loyalty (McAlexander et al. 2002) and consumer involvement (Coulter et al., 2003).. 2.2.3. S-D logic Vargo and Lush (2004) took a different approach to define the customer participation in value. 政治大. co-creation by providing the conceptual framework to service-dominant logic, further referred. 立. to as the S-D logic. The authors argue for a shift from the traditional goods-oriented marketing. ‧ 國. 學. approach toward a new dominant logic, where the service ‘identifies the logic of interactivity’. ‧. and intangible resources and relationships are central (Vargo and Lush, 2004; 2008). Vargo and. Nat. sit. y. Lush (2004, p.6,12) argue that. n. al. er. io. ‘Service-centered dominant logic implies that value is defined by and cocreated with the consumer rather than embedded in output. (…) It implies that the goal is to customize offerings, to recognize that the consumer is always co-producer, and to strive to maximize consumer involvement in the customization to better fit his or her needs.”. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. As such, in the service-dominant view of marketing both customers and relationships are central. Based on the marketing relationships arising from multiple interactions between the customers and other actors, such as the firm, stakeholders, or other customers, the authors (Vargo and Lush, 2004; 2008) have proposed ten foundational premises, later referred to as FPs, which create the framework and help in understanding the new dominant logic. The ten FPs are:. 10.

(19) FP1 Service is the fundamental basis of exchange FP2 Indirect exchange masks the fundamental basis of exchange FP3 Goods are a distribution mechanism for service provision FP4 Operant resources are the fundamental source of competitive advantage FP5 All economies are service economies FP6 The customer is always a co-creator of value FP7 The enterprise cannot deliver value, but only offer value propositions FP8 A service-centered view is inherently customer oriented and relational FP9 All social and economic actors are resource integrators FP10 Value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary. 政治大. Among the above ten foundational premises, four premises, namely FP 6, 8, 9, 10 are central to. 立. providing the grounds and supporting the development of consumer engagement concept. ‧ 國. 學. (Brodie et al., 2011). Firstly, as implied by FP6, within the service-centered marketing view. ‧. highlighting the interactive consumer/brand relationships and “continuous-process perspective,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. in which separation of production and consumption is not a normative goal,” “The customer is always a co-creator of value” (Vargo and Lush, 2004; 2008). Secondly, FP8 implies that both. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. customer and relationship are the focal points of the exchange process. Thirdly, FP9 implies that the context of value creation lies within networks, which act as the resource integrators. Finally, FP10 emphasizes the experiential nature and idiosyncratic determination of value cocreation. Concurrently, Pralahad and Ramaswamy (2004) argue that jointly created value, where customer actively participates in creating unique experiences will determine firm’s success in gaining and upholding competitive advantage in the new market reality, where the customer. 11.

(20) and his interactions with the firm, and not the product are the focal point of value creation and extraction.. 2.3. The concept of consumer engagement The term “engagement” has been relatively well developed and studied, with multiple. 政治大. conceptual and empirical papers investigating it across various disciplines, including marketing. 立. (Hollebeek, 2011; Brodie et al. 2011b; Mollen and Wilson, 2010; Bowden, 2009), employee. ‧ 國. 學. engagement (Bowden, 2009), psychology (Avery, McKay, and Wilson 2007), education. ‧. (Fredericks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004; Lutz, Guthrie, and Davis 2006), management. Nat. sit. y. (Fleming, Coffman, and Harter 2005), and information systems (Wagner and Majchrzak 2007). er. io. (Vivek et al., 2014). Nevertheless, the concept of “consumer engagement” has been established. al. n. v i n C h area for additional fairly recently and has still an important research. Hence many scholars have engchi U started to pay attention to it (Vivek et al., 2014) making it an interesting topic in the marketing research field. Consumer engagement refers to the relationship and interactions between the customers, existing or potential, and firm’s offerings, both in the form or products or services that go way beyond the simple purchase. Consumer brand engagement is yet another subject matter derived from the broader customer engagement concept. There is no agreement among marketing scholars as to the exact term representing the construct. It has been referred to by. 12.

(21) many names, including consumer brand engagement, consumer engagement behavior, or consumer engagement process (Vivek et al., 2014).. Bowden (2009) acknowledges that customer engagement, although associated with, is different from customer loyalty. In her study, she defines customer engagement as ‘a psychological. 政治大. process that models the underlying mechanisms by which customer loyalty forms for new. 立. customers of a service brand as well as the mechanisms by which loyalty may be maintained. ‧ 國. 學. for repeat purchase customers of a service brand.’ Bowden (2009) distinguishes between the. ‧. new and returning customers in the process of consumer engagement and investigates how. y. Nat. er. io. sit. individual constructs, including commitment, affective commitment, trust, delight, and loyalty function ‘to drive customer loyalty within a broader psychological framework’.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Sprott, Czellar, and Spangenberg (2009) provide yet a different conceptualization of consumer engagement. These authors indicate the diverse types of engagement with brands and highlight generalized individual difference referred to as “brand engagement in self-concept”. The new construct is defined as ‘an individual difference representing consumers’ propensity to include important brands as part of how they view themselves.’. 13.

(22) In their study, Mollen and Wilson (2010) have discussed the online consumer experience and defined consumer engagement as a ‘cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website or other computer-mediated entities designed to communicate brand value. It is characterized by the dimensions of dynamic and sustained cognitive processing and the satisficing of instrumental value and experiential value.’. 政治大. 立. Kumar et al. (2010) defines customer engagement as “active interactions of a customer with a. ‧ 國. 學. firm, with prospects and with other customers, whether they are transactional or non-. ‧. transactional in nature”. The authors also propose another concept, referred to as customer. y. Nat. er. io. sit. engagement value (CEV), which ‘is comprised of customer purchasing behavior, customer referral behavior, customer influencer behavior, and customer knowledge behavior via feedback. n. al. Ch. to the firm’ (Kumar et al., 2010).. engchi. i n U. v. Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric and Ilic (2011) proposed a general definition on CE that has been derived from and rooted in the theory of S-D logic, CCT and relationship marketing, ‘Customer engagement (CE) is a psychological state that occurs by virtue of interactive, co-creative customer experiences with a focal agent/object (e.g., a brand) in focal service relationships. It occurs under a specific set of context dependent conditions generating differing CE levels; and. 14.

(23) exists as a dynamic, iterative process within service relationships that co-create value. CE plays a central role in a nomological network governing service relationships in which other relational concepts (e.g., involvement, loyalty) are antecedents and/or consequences in iterative CE processes. It is a multidimensional concept subject to a context- and/or stakeholder-specific expression of relevant cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral dimensions.’. 立. 政治大. Vivek, Beatty, and Morgan (2012) describe CBE as ‘the intensity of an individual’s participation. ‧ 國. 學. in and connection with an organization’s offerings and/or organizational activities, which either. ‧. the customer or the organization initiate.’ The authors indicate that the customer engagement is. y. Nat. er. io. sit. multidimensional and consists of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social elements. In another study, after the authors have declared that ‘CE goes beyond purchase and is the level of. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. the customer’s (or potential customer’s) interactions and connections with the brand or firm’s offerings or activities, often involving others in the social network created around the brand/offering/activity (Vivek et al., 2014).. van Doorn et al. (2010) established a concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEBs), which they define as the ‘customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, that results from motivational drivers’ highlighting the behavioral aspects of. 15.

(24) consumer-firm relationships. The authors indicate that consumer engagement behaviors clarify ‘how and why customers behave in ways relevant to the firm and its multiple stakeholders’. Interestingly, the authors draw a clear line between consumer engagement and brand engagement, emphasizing the behavioral focus of customer engagement and indicating consumer psychology aspect of brand engagement, for instance self-brand connection and customer-brand relationships.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Hollebeek (2011a) has provided a conceptual foundation of customer brand engagement. ‧. defining CBE as ‘The level of an individual customer's motivational, brand-related and context-. y. Nat. er. io. sit. dependent state of mind characterized by specific levels of cognitive, emotional and behavioral activity in brand interactions.’ As suggested in the definition, the three dimensions are clearly. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. highlighted. The same three dimensions, cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimension, were established in another empirical study wherein Hollebeek (2011b) similarly to her previous study, defines customer brand engagement as ‘A customer's level of cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment in specific brand interactions.’ Finally, in a more recent study (Hollebeek et al., 2014) sees CBE as ‘A consumer's positively valenced cognitive, emotional and behavioral brand-related activity during, or related to, specific consumer/brand interactions’, where cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimensions were refined to cognitive processing, affection. 16.

(25) and activation respectively, and under such name will be described in this study.. Gambetti, Graffigna, and Biraghi (2012, p. 668) have concluded that CBE to be a multidimensional concept comprising of two dimensions, namely experiential dimension and the social dimension combining such elements as attention, dialogue, interaction, emotions,. 政治大. sensorial pleasure, and immediate activation aimed at creating a total brand experience with. 立. consumers. In their study, authors, similarly to S-D logic authors (Vargo and Lush, 2004, 2008). ‧ 國. 學. and Kumar et al. (2010) highlight the process and the importance of customer’s participation in. ‧. value co-creation in the service marketing domain. Table 1 summarizes the existing operational. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. definitions of customer engagement with their respective authors and dimensions.. Ch. engchi. 17. i n U. v.

(26) Table 1. Definitions of customer engagement. Author(s). Definition. Engagement dimensions. Bowden (2009). Customer engagement is a psychological process that models the underlying mechanisms by which customer loyalty forms for new customers of a service brand as well as the mechanisms by which loyalty may be maintained for repeat purchase customers of a service brand.. Sprott, Czellar, and Spangenberg (2009). Brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) is an individual difference representing consumers propensity to include important brands as part of how they view themselves.. Mollen and Wilson (2010). Consumer engagement is a cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website or other computermediated entities designed to communicate brand value. It is characterized by the dimensions of dynamic and sustained cognitive processing and the satisficing of instrumental value and experiential value.. 1. Cognitive processing 2. Value congruence. Kumar et al. (2010). Customer engagement is active interactions of a customer with a firm, with prospects and with other customers, whether they are transactional or nontransactional in nature.. CEV is comprised of four dimensions: 1. Customer purchasing behavior 2. Customer referral behavior 3. Customer influencer behavior 4. Customer knowledge behavior. 立. 政治大. 1. Cognitive 2. Emotional 3. Behavioral. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric and Customer engagement (CE) is a psychological state that occurs by virtue of Ilic (2011) interactive, co-creative customer experiences with a focal agent/object (e.g., a brand) in focal service relationships. It occurs under a specific set of context dependent conditions generating differing CE levels; and exists as a dynamic, iterative process within service relationships that cocreate value. CE plays a central role in a nomological network governing service relationships in which other relational concepts (e.g., involvement, loyalty) are antecedents and/or consequences in iterative CE processes. It is a multidimensional concept subject to a context- and/or stakeholder-specific expression of relevant cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral dimensions.. y. Nat. van Doorn et al. (2010). Customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) are customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, that results from motivational drivers.. 1. Valence 2. Form of modality 3. Scope 4. Nature of its impacts 5. Customer goals. Customer brand engagement is the level of an individual customer's motivational, brand-related and context-dependent state of mind characterized by specific levels of cognitive, emotional and behavioral activity in brand interactions. Customer brand engagement is a customer's level of cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment in specific brand interactions.. 1. Cognitive 2. Emotional 3. Behavioral. Customer brand engagement is consumer's positively valenced cognitive, emotional and behavioral brand-related activity during, or related to, specific consumer/brand interactions.. 1. Cognitive processing 2. Affection 3. Activation. Hollebeek (2011b). Hollebeek et al., (2014). er. al. n. Hollebeek (2011a). sit. Consumer brand engagement is the intensity of an individual’s participation in and connection with an organization’s offerings and/or organizational activities, which either the customer or the organization initiate.. io. Vivek, Beatty, and Morgan (2012). Ch. n U engchi. 18. iv. 1. Cognitive 2. Affective 3. Behavioral 4. Social. 1. Immersion 2. Passion 3. Activation.

(27) 2.4. Engagement in the context of mobile service providers The Telecom industry is characterized by constant changes resulting from the advancement in the technology. Globally, the mobile service markets tend to be saturated with new offerings, such as products and service plans arriving daily at the market with the intention of keeping up with the changing consumers’ desires. However, the offerings are fairly standardized, therefore. 政治大. the key success factor lies in superior service and customer experience (or, in most cases, price) .. 立. In a market regarded as increasingly competitive, understanding consumers’ needs is. ‧ 國. 學. indispensable to stay ahead of the competition making the objective of creating an experience. ‧. that would help generate more engaged customers is now a top priority for mobile service. Nat. io. sit. y. providers. It is not surprising then to see Telecom companies designating substantial amounts. er. of money to design and run qualitative customer surveys to measure their satisfaction, trust,. al. n. v i n C h Having a deeperUconsumer insight allows firms to build loyalty and overall engagement level. engchi and cultivate strong and long lasting relationships with their customers. Also, knowing which consumer engagement behaviors are likely to positively impact the brand loyalty, brand evangelism or word of mouth (WOM), thus having a positive impact on revenue and the ability to sustain growth or, concurrently, which are not, can help them better serve their customers, hence keeping them from churning out. There are a several ways to engage costumers within the mobile service sector in order to retain, attract and build strong relationships. Firstly, the. 19.

(28) firms should focus on building meaningful interactions, empowering their customers and encouraging to provide feedback and allow them to participate in service development, thus value cocreation. Secondly, telecom companies must at all cost avoid the service gap and deliver what was promised. A recent study by Leckie et al. (2016) indicates that all three dimensions, including cognitive,. 政治大. behavioral and emotional influence brand loyalty in the context of telecom service brands, both. 立. positively and negatively. For instance, behavioral and emotional dimensions have a positive. ‧ 國. 學. effect on brand loyalty, while cognitive processing found to have a negative impact. The authors. ‧. indicate that the negative effect can be caused by fatigue and burnout that highly engaged. y. Nat. er. io. sit. customers’ exhibit once exceeding the optimal point of engagement with the brand (Leckie et al. 2016). Furthermore, scholars point out that consumer brand engagement plays a huge role. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. in service marketing. It can have a positive effect both on retention of current customers and acquisition of new customers and act as a loyalty driver (Bowden, 2009; Hollebeek et al., 2014).. 2.5. Research context: Taiwan mobile service providers – industry overview Taiwan possess one of most innovative, well developed and technologically advanced telecommunication infrastructure worldwide. Taiwan’s mobile service market is highly mature and saturated. In 2016, the subscription number was estimated to reach 29.7m, with market. 20.

(29) penetration level reaching 127% (Harpur, 2016). According to the estimates of eMarketer a well-known market research company, as of December 2016, Taiwan had the highest smartphone penetration in the world reaching 73.4% (17.2 m) of the population with 84.5% (19.8 m) of the population being mobile phone users. Due to the characteristics of Taiwanese mobile industry, the market has seen a stagnant growth during recent years, thus is highly. 政治大. competitive with little space for new players. In the end of 2016, there were a total of five. 立. companies offering mobile services: Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone, Taiwan. ‧ 國. 學. Star Telecom and Asia-Pacific Telecom. The majority of market share was captivated by the. ‧. former three, where 37% belonged to Chunghwa, 26% belonged to Taiwan Mobile and 25%. y. Nat. er. io. sit. belonged to Far EasTone by the end of Q4 of 2016 (National Communications Commission, 2016). With five players, the telecommunication industry in Taiwan is characterized by fierce. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. competition mainly among the three major mobile service providers dominating the market. In such a highly competitive business environment understanding the market by continuously gathering and analyzing data can determine a company’s survival and profitability. In this context, by understanding the market we recognize customers’ perceived levels of service quality and satisfaction that are vital to build and sustain a competitive advantage over competition and achieve success in the long-run. Hence, many telecommunication companies are now routinely surveying their customers either directly or with a help of professional market. 21.

(30) research agencies in order to obtain such data and address potential issues to improve the service quality. Many times, such surveys are very superficial and do not provide managers with indepth knowledge on what factors are driving the customers engagement, thus cannot respond to the needs of the market accordingly.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 22. i n U. v.

(31) 3. The conceptual model 3.1. Overview In Chapter Three, the conceptual model and hypotheses are developed. This section presents the conceptual framework of hypotheses concerning the relationships among the constructs in the proposed model. It discusses the sources of conceptual models this study’s model was based. 政治大. upon. This chapter also provides operational definitions and explanation of the constructs that. 立. have been used to develop the conceptual model. It provides a justification and reasoning. ‧ 國. 學. behind the choice of each construct by drawing examples from past research that have. ‧. previously succeeded in indicating their importance as potential antecedents, consequences and. Nat. n. a. l Cand hypotheses 3.2. Definition of constructs. hengchi. er. io. sit. y. customer brand engagement dimensions.. i n U. v. After conducting a thorough review of existing literature on consumer brand engagement, a conceptual model has been developed based on the theoretical foundations of customer culture theory, relationship marketing and the newly formed service-dominant logic. The conceptual model tests the existence and level of potential interactions between the CBE antecedents, CBE dimensions and CBE consequences. Figure 1 shows the conceptual model. In principle, the conceptual model adapts a model developed in a study by Leckie, Nyadzayo and Johnson. 23.

(32) (2016), where service-brand related factors, including involvement, participation and selfservice brand have been recognized as potential CBE drivers. The relationship quality CBE antecedents, namely satisfaction, trust and commitment are then added to the model, which the researcher hypothesizes play an important role in the creation of consumer brand engagement behaviors leading to the positive establishment of brand loyalty. The model is focusing on three. 政治大. customer brand engagement dimensions developed and adapted from Hollebeek et al. (2014). 立. and corresponding to the generic cognitive, emotional and behavioral nature of engagement,. ‧ 國. 學. which have been defined as cognitive processing, affection and activation. All dimensions have. ‧. appeared in past studies in an attempt to define the engagement process. For instance, Schaufeli. y. Nat. er. io. sit. et al. (2002) argued that engagement is a ‘pervasive affective-cognitive state that is not focused on any particular object, event, individual or behavior” that resulted in increasing organizational. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. productivity (Bowden, 2009). Also, emotional engagement can act to increase group morale and cohesion via positive psychological “contagion processes.” (Bowden, 2009; Salanova, Agut, and Peiró, 2005) Brand loyalty was chosen as a potential consequence of the consumer brand engagement. As both studies by Hollebeek et al. (2014) and Leckie et al. (2016) call for further refinement and empirical testing/validation of concepts’ validity, it was important to the researcher to replicate chosen dimensions within their concepts’ theory in order to provide some sort of validation.. 24.

(33) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 1. Conceptual model.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al 3.3. Measures and hypotheses. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In order to measure the consumer brand engagement and test the construct validity of the conceptual model, a set of hypotheses has been developed. Firstly, the research will test, if the potential consumer brand engagement antecedents have a positive impact on the CBE constructs and how these behaviors can further influence the creation of brand loyalty notion amongst the customers. Next, the study will examine, if the potential CBE antecedents, including the relationship quality CBE antecedents comprising of satisfaction, trust and. 25.

(34) affective commitment, and the service-brand related CBE antecedents including involvement, participation and self-expressive brand have a direct positive impact on brand loyalty.. 3.3.1. Antecedents of consumer brand engagement 3.3.1.1.. Customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction refers to a customer’s overall evaluation of the performance of an offering. 政治大 to date (Gustaffson et al., 2005; Johnson & Fornell, 1991). When discussed in a service context, 立. ‧ 國. 學. such as the mobile service being investigated in this research, ‘overall satisfaction is similar to overall evaluations of service quality, which are more likely to influence the customer behaviors. ‧. sit. n. al. er. io. Boulding et al. 1993).. y. Nat. that help a firm, such as positive word of mouth and repurchase’ (Gustaffson et al., 2005;. Ch. i n U. v. Customer satisfaction can act both as a potential CBE antecedent, when related primarily to the. engchi. existing customers (Hollebeek, 2011) and a potential CBE consequence for both new and existing customers. As this study focuses primarily on the existing customers’ base, customer satisfaction was defined as a potential CBE antecedent. Hence, the hypotheses state: H1a: Satisfaction has a positive impact on cognitive processing. H1b: Satisfaction has a positive impact on affection. H1c: Satisfaction has a positive impact on activation.. 26.

(35) 3.3.1.2.. Trust. Trust is a ‘consumer-perceived security and reliability in brand interactions, and the belief that the brand acts in the consumer’s best interests’ (Hollebeek, 2011; Delgado-Ballester et al. 2003; Rotter, 1967). Similar, to customer satisfaction, trust can act both as a potential CBE antecedent, when related. 政治大. primarily to the existing customers (Hollebeek, 2011) and a potential CBE consequence for. 立. both new and existing customers. As this study focuses primarily on the existing customers’. ‧ 國. 學. base, trust was defined as a potential CBE antecedent. Therefore,. ‧. H2a: Trust has a positive impact on cognitive processing.. Nat. n. al. 3.3.1.3.. Ch. engchi. sit er. io. H2c: Trust has a positive impact on activation.. y. H2b: Trust has a positive impact on affection.. i n U. v. Commitment. Relationship commitment is often separated into two major types: affective commitment and calculative (also known as continuance) commitment (Gustaffson et al., 2005). Calculative commitment, as the name suggests, is a result of perceived economic benefits of being in a relationship and being dependent on that relationship, when the customer has no alternative options or has to face high switching costs (Evanschitzky et al., 2006; Meyer and Allen, 1997),. 27.

(36) whereas affective commitment is an ‘emotional factor that develops through the degree of reciprocity or personal involvement that a customer has with a company’ (Gustaffson et al., 2005; Morgan and Hunt 1994) and is governed by customer’s free will (Evanschitzky et al., 2006). This study examines the role of the affective commitment as a potential CBE antecedent having a positive effect on CBE dimensions. Similar, to customer satisfaction and trust,. 政治大. commitment can act both as a potential CBE antecedent, when related primarily to the existing. 立. customers (Hollebeek, 2011) and a potential CBE consequence for both new and existing. ‧ 國. 學. customers. As this study focuses primarily on the existing customers’ base, commitment was. ‧. defined as a potential CBE antecedent that can positively affect CBE dimensions. Past research. y. Nat. customer engagement. Hence, the hypotheses are:. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. by Vivek et al. (2014) found affective commitment to be closely related to the dimensions of. i n U. v. H3a: Commitment has a positive impact on cognitive processing. H3b: Commitment has a positive impact on affection. H3c: Commitment has a positive impact on activation.. 3.3.1.4.. Involvement. Consumer involvement refers to an individual’s level of interest and personal relevance in relation to a focal object depending on one’s basic values, goals, and self-concept (Hollebeek,. 28.

(37) 2011; Mittal, 1995; Zaichkowsky, 1985). Oliva, Oliver, and Bearden (1995) claimed that the level of loyalty increased over the long run with the intensification of involvement going on between customers and brands that suggests the existence of a positive association relationship between the involvement ascendant and CBE. Also, past study by Vivek et al. (2012) has found positive relationship between the involvement antecedent and CBE when conducting research. 政治大. among managers and customers proposing that ‘an individual’s level of participation will be. 立. positively associated with the intensity of his or her focus of engagement’.. ‧ 國. 學. Likewise, several of the past studies indicate that ‘product involvement significantly influences. ‧. consumers’ cognitive and behavioral responses—including memory, attention, processing’. y. Nat. er. io. sit. (Coulter et al., 2003; Laaksonen, 1994). Analogously, it is fair to conclude, that in this study the involvement will have a positive relationship with both cognitive and behavioral dimensions. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. of consumer brand engagement, represented accordingly by cognitive processing and affection constructs. In order to further validate the association between involvement and consumer brand engagement dimensions, the hypotheses are developed as below: H4a: Involvement has a positive impact on cognitive processing. H4b: Involvement has a positive impact on affection. H4c: Involvement has a positive impact on activation.. 29.

(38) 3.3.1.5.. Participation. Customer participation refers to the degree to which the customer is involved in producing or delivering the service (Dabholkar 1990). It creates an interactive relationship between the customers and company, can lead to the information exchange and value co-creation and can produce higher levels of enthusiasm and increased level of engagement with the brand (Bagozzi. 政治大. and Dholakia 2006). Vivek et al. (2012) provide empirical evidence of participation serving as. 立. antecedent of customer engagement, when targeting either current or potential customers. As. ‧ 國. 學. past researches highlight the importance of consumer participation both in the context of service. ‧. marketing, for instance S-D logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004) and consumer brand engagement,. Nat. io. sit. y. the hypotheses state:. er. H5a: Participation has a positive impact on cognitive processing.. n. al. H5b. i n C himpact on affection. : Participation has a positive engchi U. v. H5c: Participation has a positive impact on activation.. 3.3.1.6.. Self-expressive brand (Self expressiveness of brand). Self-expressive brand describes ‘the consumer’s perception of the degree to which the specific brand enhances one’s social self and/or reflects one’s inner self’ (Carroll & Ahuvia 2006). In the study of Leckie et al. (2016) self-expressive brand has been found to have a positive impact. 30.

(39) on two of the three CBE dimensions, namely cognitive processing and affection; no positive association was found between the self-expressive brand and activation dimension of CBE. To validate Leckie’s et al. (2016) research findings, the developed hypotheses state: H6a: Self-expressive brand has a positive impact on cognitive processing. H6b: Self-expressive brand has a positive impact on affection.. 政治大. H6c: Self-expressive brand has a positive impact on activation.. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 3.3.2. Consumer brand engagement dimensions Cognitive processing. ‧. 3.3.2.1.. sit. y. Nat. Cognitive processing relates to the cognitive nature of CBE and is defined as “a consumer's. n. al. er. io. level of brand-related thought processing and elaboration in a particular consumer/brand. Ch. interaction” (Hollebeek et al., 2014).. engchi. i n U. v. Past research by Hollebeek et al. (2014) have found a positive impact of cognitive processing on brand loyalty. However, a study by Leckie et al. (2016) found a negative impact of cognitive processing on brand loyalty, hence in order to further validate the results the hypothesis states, H7a: Cognitive processing has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. 31.

(40) 3.3.2.2.. Affection. Affection discusses the emotional nature of CBE and can be referred to “a consumer's degree of positive brand-related affect in a particular consumer/brand interaction” (Hollebeek et al., 2014). Past research by Hollebeek et al. (2014) and Leckie et al. (2016) have found a positive impact that affection had on brand loyalty. Therefore,. 政治大. H7b: Affection has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 3.3.2.3.. Activation. Activation refers to the behavioral aspect of CBE and is defined as “a consumer's level of energy,. ‧. sit. y. Nat. effort and time spent on a brand in a particular consumer/brand interaction” (Hollebeek et al.,. n. al. er. io. 2014). Past research by Hollebeek et al. (2014) and Leckie et al. (2016) have found a positive. Ch. impact that activation had on brand loyalty. Thus,. engchi. i n U. v. H7c: Activation has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. 3.3.3. Consequences of customer brand engagement 3.3.3.1.. Brand loyalty. Brand loyalty can be defined as a customer’s attachment to a brand (Aker, 1991) or customer’s tendency to purchase focal brand as a primary choice (Oliver, 1996; Yoo, Donthu, 2001). Two major concepts of brand loyalty are often discussed in the literature: attitudinal brand loyalty. 32.

(41) referring to customer’s attitudinal predisposition towards a brand and an intention of purchase, and behavioral brand loyalty highlighting the actual purchase behavior (Russell-Bennett et al., 2007). This study focuses on the former. In the past studies, it is argued that brand loyalty serves as a CBE consequence (Hollebeek et al., 2014), however, many of the potential CBE antecedents are recognized and validated in the existing marketing literature as direct drivers. 政治大. for brand loyalty. Thus, it is within the scope of this research to investigate, whether there exist. 立. a direct relationship between the CBE antecedents and consequence that is brand loyalty.. ‧ 國. 學. Consumer satisfaction has been for decades viewed in the business environment as one of the. ‧. most important factors to understanding customers, adjusting firms’ offerings and leading to. y. Nat. er. io. sit. higher retention, brand loyalty and, more importantly, higher revenues. It has been found in many studies that increasing overall satisfaction leads to greater repurchase intentions, as well. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. as to actual repurchase behavior (Anderson and Mittal, 2000). Furthermore, Russell-Bennett et al. (2007) recognize the importance of satisfaction acting as a brand loyalty antecedent in both the consumer and business marketing literatures. Also, study by Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002) has found that satisfaction has a direct or indirect impact on customers’ loyalty. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude: H8a: Satisfaction has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Trust next to satisfaction and commitment was found to have a direct or indirect impact on. 33.

(42) loyalty (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002). H8b: Trust has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Commitment, as mentioned above was also found to have an impact on customer’s loyalty (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002). H8c: Commitment has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. 政治大. Involvement has been well studied in the consumer behavior literature. Past research by. 立. Russell-Bennett et al. (2007) found a significant relationship between attitudinal loyalty. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. category involvement. Therefore, H8d: Involvement has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. In past study by Leckie et al. (2016) participation did not have a direct impact on brand loyalty. To validate the significance of this finding, the study hypothesizes:. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. H8e: Participation has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Despite the limited availability of studies using a self-expressive brand as one of the constructs, the recent research conducted by Carrol and Ahuvia (2006) have shown a positive direct impact that self-expressive brand had on brand love. As brand love is highly correlated with brand loyalty, it can stand for a potential consequence of CBE. Hence, the paper examines: H8f: Self-expressive brand has a positive impact on brand loyalty.. 34.

(43) 4. Research Methodology 4.1. Overview In Chapter Four, the questionnaire is developed. It provides the framework for research methodology by describing the research approach, including sampling processes, the process of survey development used for the pretest and the main survey of the research. It also highlights. 政治大. the procedures used for data collection and discusses the results of the pretest survey. By. 立. providing the scales and items used in the questionnaire development, it explains the. ‧ 國. 學. measurement of constructs and concludes by providing a questionnaire design.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. 4.2. Research approach. n. al. er. io. The aim of this research is to study the relationship between the potential antecedents,. Ch. i n U. v. comprising the relationship quality factors, such as satisfaction, commitment and trust,. engchi. antecedents derived from the consumer culture theory, including participation, involvement and self-expressive brand and the consumer brand engagement behaviors. Furthermore, it is within the scope of this study to examine the mediating variables defined as engagement behaviors and the role they play in developing brand loyalty amongst customers. With the limited amount of research on the topic, it is crucial to both validate and refine existing conceptual frameworks or think of a new conceptual theory to test this specific research area. The study aims to bridge. 35.

(44) the gap between the theory and practice, and provide managers, especially within the telecom service business field, with clear instruction on how to engage their customers in order to build a long lasting relationship with the brand. As the market becomes more saturated with similar offerings, gaining competitive advantage is crucial for businesses, which are constantly focusing their operations on growth and value creation. Hence, it is also vital to grasp and. 政治大. understand the changes that have taken place in the modern marketplace, where customers are. 立. seeking more interactions with brands, in order to become a co-creator of their desired. ‧ 國. 學. product/service. The knowledge of customer brand engagement and ultimately, brand loyalty is. ‧. indispensable.. er. io. sit. y. Nat 4.3. Data collection. al. n. v i n C inh March 2017 andUtargeted mobile service consumers in The online survey was conducted engchi Taiwan. It was built to determine respondents’ attitudes and brand engagement level toward the telecom brands in Taiwan. The questionnaire was designed to help respondents intuitively and expeditiously navigate through the survey. To ensure completion, all answers within each section must be answered before proceeding to the next and completing the form. For all relevant questions targeting the engagement level, its antecedents and consequences, a sevenlevel Likert scale with level of agreement/disagreement being the dimension was used, with. 36.

(45) “extremely disagree” and “extremely agree” being the anchor responses. In order to reach an average mobile service consumer in Taiwan and do not unintentionally limit the survey respondents’ to those able to communicate in English, the initial questionnaire was written in English and then translated into Chinese with the use of traditional characters, that are officially in use in Taiwan. In addition, the translated survey was sent to three native Chinese speakers. 政治大. fluent in English for translation approval. The back-translation technique was then used for. 立. assuring linguistic validity. The data collection procedure was conducted in two stages: a pilot. ‧ 國. 學. survey and the main survey. Both the pilot and main survey were self-administered and. ‧. designed by the researcher using an online survey software tool SurveyMonkey1.. er. io. sit. y. Nat 4.3.1. Pretest survey. al. n. v i n C within A pilot survey was launched online close environment in order to detect U h e nthegresearcher’s i h c any flaws in questioning and correct these prior to publishing the main survey. A sample of N=57 was obtained and analyzed for item reliability. All scales were kept and no significant changes were made to the survey content. During the pre-analysis of the pilot test results, a principal component analysis revealed that some of the items designed to measure the constructs had unacceptable commonalities and cross-loaded with some factors. Each of the. 1. https://www.surveymonkey.com/. 37.

(46) scales comprised of such items was then once more verified with its original source. As the problematic items proved no differences with the original source, the translation was once again checked with a different group of native speakers of Chinese language. All items were kept for the main survey.. 4.3.2. Main survey. 立. 政治大. The full-scale questionnaire was delivered via publishing online on various platforms, such as. ‧ 國. 學. Facebook, no outside research agency was employed. The researcher relied on the respondents’. ‧. willingness to actively participate in the study and commit to answering questions as accurately. Nat. io. sit. y. as possible. The survey was presented in three stages: introduction, questions describing the. er. consumer brand engagement level and socio-demographics. In order to determine the eligibility. al. n. v i n of the respondents, a screeningC question was used in h e n g c h i Uthe beginning of the survey. Those considered ineligible were restricted from the participation in the study. The qualified respondents who answered positively on owning a mobile phone were then to choose the mobile service provider they currently use. In case a participant was subscribed to more than one service provider, (which is not unlikely taking into consideration the extremely high level of mobile market penetration in Taiwan) he/she would be expected to select the main supplier only or input both suppliers using the “other” option. In order to provide a solid basis to analyze. 38.