INVESTIGATING BRAND LOYALTY OF INTERNAL CUSTOMERS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF BRAND TRUST

Öz

The present study aims to empirically explore the brand loyalty of internal customers. In this context, business characteristics are included as independent variables, and brand characteristics and trust in the brand are included as serial mediators. The comprehensive framework for internal customers has the potential to offer a novel insight into the brand loyalty concept. Indeed, internal customers have more information about the products and the firm. In addition, they have more physical proximity than external customers. Due to these advantages, internal customers are likely to have a higher cognitive awareness of the company and the brand. This provides an important contextual argument to explain brand loyalty more precisely. To operationalize the model in this framework, survey research was conducted on employees working in different roles and positions in the automotive industry in Germany. The survey research collected a data set consisting of 880 units. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hypothesis testing were conducted using SPSS 26.0 and Process Macro extension. The findings indicate that brand and company characteristics have a significant and positive effect on brand trust and brand loyalty. Trust in the brand, which is also a mediating variable, has a significant and positive effect on brand loyalty, which is the dependent variable. In addition, because of both Baron and Kenny's causality analysis and the mediation test conducted within the framework of contemporary Bootstrap methods, it is seen that trust in the brand has a full mediating role in the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Brand Loyalty
• Trust in Brand
• Internal Customer
• Brand Characteristics

OTOMOTİV SEKTÖRÜNDE İÇ MÜŞTERİLERİN MARKA SADAKATİNİN İNCELENMESİ: MARKAYA OLAN GÜVENİN ARACILIK ROLÜ

Öz

Bu çalışma, iç müşterilerin marka sadakatini görgül olarak incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu kapsamda iç müşterinin markaya sadakatini açıklamak için oluşturulan modelde işletme özellikleri bağımsız, marka özellikleri ve markaya duyulan güven de seri aracı değişken olarak yer almaktadır. İç müşterilere yönelik kapsamlı çerçeve, marka sadakati olgusuna farklı bir bakış açısı sunma potansiyeline sahiptir. Nitekim iç müşteriler, dış müşterilere kıyasla ürünler ve firma hakkında daha fazla bilgiye ve fiziksel yakınlığa sahiptir. Bu özelliklerinden dolayı, iç müşterilerin işletme ve marka hakkında daha yüksek bir bilişsel farkındalığa sahip olması muhtemeldir. Bu da marka sadakatini daha net bir şekilde açıklamak için önemli bir bağlamsal argüman sunmaktadır. Bu çerçevedeki modeli operasyonel hale getirmek için, Almanya'daki otomotiv endüstrisinde farklı görev ve pozisyonlarda çalışan personel üzerinde bir anket araştırması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Anket araştırması ile 880 birimden oluşan bir veri seti elde edilmiştir. SPSS 26.0 ve Process Macro eklentisi kullanılarak açımlayıcı faktör analizi (AFA), doğrulayıcı faktör analizi (DFA) ve hipotez testleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bulgular, marka ve şirket özelliklerinin markaya ilişkin güven ve marka sadakati üzerinde anlamlı ve pozitif yönde etki ettiğini göstermektedir. Yine aracı değişken konumundaki markaya olan güven de bağımlı değişken olan marka sadakati üzerinde anlamlı ve pozitif etki etmektedir. Ayrıca hem Baron ve Kenny’nin nedensellik analizi hem de çağdaş Bootstrap yöntemleri çerçevesinde yapılan aracılık testi neticesinde markaya olan güvenin de bağımlı ve bağımsız değişkenler arasındaki ilişkide tam aracılık rolüne sahip olduğu görülmüştür.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Marka Sadakati
• Markaya Olan Güven
• İç Müşteri
• Marka Özellikleri

Kaynakça

1. Afzal, H., Khan, M. A., Rehman, K., Ali, I. & Wajahat, S. (2010). Consumer trust in the brand: Can it be built through brand reputation, brand competence and brand predictability. International Business Research, 3(1), 43–49.
2. Alam, S. S. & Yasin, N. M. (2010). The antecedents of online brand trust: Malaysian evidence. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 11(2), 210–226.
3. Alan, A. K. & Kabadayı, E. T. (2014). Quality antecedents of brand trust and behavioral intention. 10th International Strategic Management Conference, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science, 150, 619–627.
4. Alhaddad, A. (2015). A structural model of the relationships between brand image, brand trust and brand loyalty. International Journal of Management Research and Reviews, 5(3), 137–144.
5. Andreassen, T. W. & Lindestad, B. (1998). Customer loyalty and complex services: The impact of corporate image on quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty for customers with varying degrees of service expertise. International Journal of service Industry management, 9(1), 7-23.
6. Atulkar, S. (2020). Brand trust and brand loyalty in mall shoppers. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 38(5), 559–572.
7. Ay, C. & Kahraman, A. (2014). Atfetme (nedensellik yükleme) teorisi. M. İ. Yağcı & S. Çabuk (Ed.) Pazarlama Teorileri içinde (113-130 ss.), İstanbul: Mediacat.
8. Bloemer, J. M. & Kasper, H. D. P. (1995). The complex relationship between consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Journal of Economic Psychology, 16(2), 311–329.

9. Chaudhuri, A. & Holbrook, M. B. (2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: The role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65(2),81–93.
10. Chinomona, R. (2016). Brand communication, brand image and brand trust as antecedents of brand loyalty in Gauteng province of South Africa. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 7(1), 124–139.
11. Das, G. (2016). Antecedents and consequences of trust: An e-tail branding perspective. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 44(7), 713–730.
12. Delgado-Ballester, E. & Munuera-Alemán J. L. (2005). Does brand trust matter to brand equity? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 14(3), 187–196.
13. Delgado-Ballester, E. & Munuera-Alemán J. L. (2001). Brand trust in the context of consumer loyalty. European Journal of Marketing, 35(11/12), 1238–1258.
14. Diallo, M. F., Moulins, J. L. & Roux. E. (2021). Unpacking brand loyalty in retailing: a three-dimensional approach to customer–brand relationships. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 49(2), 204–222.
15. Dunne, P. A. & Barnes, J. G. (2000). Internal marketing: a relationships and value-creation view. in Varey, R.J. and Lewis, B.R. (Eds), Internal Marketing: Directions for Management, Routledge, London, 196–222.
16. El Naggar, R. A. Z. & Bendary, N. (2017). The impact of experience and brand trust on brand loyalty, while considering the mediating effect of brand equity dimensions, an empirical study on mobile operator subscribers in Egypt. The Business and Management Review, 9(2), 16–25.
17. Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C., & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological methods, 4(3), 272.
18. Farner, S., Luthans, F. & Sommer, S. M. (2001). An empirical assessment of internal customer service. Managing Service Quality, 11(5), 350–8.
19. Flipo, J. P. (2000). Effectiveness implies leaving myths aside. Varey, R.J. Varey ve B.R. Lewis (Ed.), Internal Marketing: Directions for Management içinde (63-74 ss.), London: Routledge
20. Foreman, S. K. (2000). Get close to the internal customer or keep your distance? R.J. Varey ve B.R. Lewis (Ed.), Internal Marketing: Directions for Management içinde (125–138 ss.), London: Routledge.
21. Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 343-373.
22. Garas, S. R. R., Mahran, A. F. A., & Mohamed, H. M. H. (2018). Internal corporate branding impact on employees' brand supporting behavior. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 27(1), 79–95.
23. Gounaris, S. & Stathakopoulos, V. (2004). Antecedents and consequences of brand loyalty: An empirical study. Journal of Brand Management, 11(4), 283–306.
24. Grace, D. & Iacono, J. L. (2015). Value creation: An internal customers’ perspective. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(6/7), 560–570.
25. Gilmore, A. (2000). Managerial interactions of internal marketing. R.J. Varey ve B.R. Lewis (Ed.), Internal Marketing: Directions for Management içinde (75–92 ss.), London: Routledge.
26. Gupta, S., Schivinski, B. & Brzozowska-Woś, M. (2017). Antecedents and consequences of brand loyalty, Handel Wewnętrzny, 5, 200–212.
27. Hashmi, F. K. H., Khalid, F., Akram, M. A., Saeed, U., & Rizwan, M. (2014). An empirical study of brand loyalty on Samsung electronics in Pakistan. Journal of Sociological Research, 5(1), 350-364.
28. Hinkin, T. (1995). A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21(5), 967–988.
29. Howard, M. C. (2016). A review of exploratory factor analysis decisions and overview of current practices: What we are doing and how can we improve? International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 32(1), 51–62.
30. Huang, C. C. (2017). The impacts of brand experiences on brand loyalty: mediators of brand love and trust. Management Decision, 55(5), 915–934.
31. Koo, B. & Curtis, C. (2020). An examination of the role of internal brand management: impact of contractual models, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(4), 503–525.
32. Kwon, J. H., Jung, S. H., Choi, H. J. & Kim, J. (2020). Antecedent factors that affect restaurant brand trust and brand loyalty: Focusing on US and Korean consumers. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 30(7), 990–1015.
33. Lau, G. T. & Lee, S. H. (1999). Consumers' trust in a brand and the link to brand loyalty. Journal of Market - Focused Management, 4(4), 341–370.
34. Lee, D., Moon, J., Kim, Y. J. & Yi, M. Y. (2015). Antecedents and consequences of mobile phone usability: Linking simplicity and interactivity to satisfaction, trust, and brand loyalty. Information & Management, 52(3), 295–304.
35. Liao, S. H., Chung, Y. C., Hung, Y. R. & Widowati, R. (2010). The impacts of brand trust, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty on word-of-mouth. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 1319–1323.
36. Liao, Y. K. (2015). The role of trust on brand loyalty and brand equity. Joint International Conference, 603–612. Lin, M. Q. & Lee, B. C. (2012). The influence of website environment on brand loyalty: brand trust and brand affect as mediators. International Journal of Electronic Business Management, 10(4), 308–321.
37. Loureiro, S. M. C., Sarmento, E. M., & Le Bellego, G. (2017). The effect of corporate brand reputation on brand attachment and brand loyalty: Automobile sector. Cogent Business & Management, 4(1), 1360031.
38. Mabkhot, H. A., Shaari, H. & Salleh, S.M. (2017). The influence of brand image and brand personality on brand loyalty, mediating by brand trust: An empirical study. Journal Pengurusan, 50, 1–18.
39. Mahnert, K. F. & Torres, A. M. (2007). The brand inside: The factors of failure and success in internal branding. Irish Marketing Review, 19(1-2), 54–63.
40. Matanda, M. J. & Ndubisi, N. O. (2013). Internal marketing, internal branding, and organizational outcomes: The moderating role of perceived goal congruence. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(9-10), 1030–1055.
41. Matzler, K., Grabner-Kräuter, S. & Bidmon, S. (2008). Risk aversion and brand loyalty: The mediating role of brand trust and brand affect. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 17(3),154–162.
42. McKinney, M. E. & Benson, A. (2013). The value of brand trust. Journal of Brand Strategy, 2(1), 76–86. Mohr-Jackson, I. (1991). Broadening the market orientation: An added focus on internal customers. Human Resource Management, 30(4), 455–467.
43. Nakıboğlu, M. A. (2014). Bağlılık-güven teorisi (Commitment-trust theory). M. İ. Yağcı & S. Çabuk (Ed.) Pazarlama Teorileri içinde (113-130 ss.), İstanbul: Mediacat.
44. Pfau, B., Detzel, D. & Geller, A. (1991). Satisfy your internal customers. Journal of Business Strategy. 12(6), 9–13. Romaniuk, J. & Bogomolova, S. (2005). Variation in brand trust scores. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 13(4), 363–373.
45. Schoemann, A. M., Boulton, A. J. & Short, S. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(4), 379-386.
46. Setyawan, A. A. & Kussudiyarsana, I. (2015). Brand trust and brand loyalty, An empirical study in Indonesia consumers. British Journal of Marketing Studies. 4(3), 37–47.
47. Sichtmann, C. (2007). An analysis of antecedents and consequences of trust in a corporate brand. European Journal of Marketing, 41(9/10), 999–1015.
48. Soleimani, M., Dana, L. P., Salamzadeh, A., Bouzari, P. & Ebrahimi, P. (2022). The effect of internal branding on organizational financial performance and brand loyalty: mediating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. https://doi.org/10.1108/JABES-08-2021-0122
49. Srivastava, N., Dash, S. B. & Mookerjee, A. (2015). Antecedents and moderators of brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 32(5), 328–340.
50. Sung, Y. & Kim, J. (2010). Effects of brand personality on brand trust and brand affect. Psychology & Marketing, 27(7), 639–661.
51. Swaminathan, S., Anderson, R., & Song, L. (2018). Building loyalty in e-commerce: Impact of business and customer characteristics. Journal of Marketing Channels, 25(1-2), 22-35.
52. Şahin, A., Zehir, C. & Kitapçı, H. (2011). The effects of brand experiences, trust and satisfaction on building brand loyalty; An empirical research on global brands. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 24, 1288–1301.
53. Tampi, G. S. & Heggde, G. (2018). The mediating role of brand commitment and brand loyalty between brand identification and brand citizenship behaviour: Evidence from it companies in Bangalore. SJCC Management Research Review, 8(1), 90–103.
54. Tucker, W. T. (1964). The development of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing Research, 1(3), 32–35.