Abstract

Customer Satisfaction is the core of the marketing concept. However, simply satisfying consumers is not sufficient for continuing success in maintaining an intimate relationship between customers and the brand. Companies have to make consumers falling in love with their brand. The purposes of this article are: (1) to explore the functional, experiential, and symbolic values to enhance brand love and customer satisfaction, and thus build brand dependence and loyalty. (2) To examine the relationship between brand love and customer satisfaction, and verify the relationship between these constructs. (3) According to research findings, the authors propose academic and practical implications as well as directions for future research. 130 complete questionnaires were collected from students of three metropolitan universities. The analysis of structural model shows that: (1) brand love is a pure mediator between customer value (functional and symbolic value) and brand relationship (dependence and behavioral loyalty) (H1a, H3a, H4a, H4b and H4c are supported; H2a is not supported). (2) Customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between experiential value and behavioral loyalty (H2b and H5b are supported; H1b, H3b, H5a and H6 are not supported). (3) Customer satisfaction is dominated by brand love which becomes a main precursor of dependence and behavioral loyalty. (4) The research model explains more variation of customer brand relationship than the competition model does.  

Keywords

brand love brand relationship customer value