AN INVESTIGATION OF BRAND PERSONALITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY OF CONSUMERS.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Today's brands serve a variety of functions that benefit consumers and increase a company's financial worth. Consumers can attribute responsibility to a certain manufacturer or distributor by using brands to identify the product's source or creator. Depending on how a product is labeled, consumers may have varied reactions to it. Consumers learn about brands based on their previous interactions with the product and its marketing campaign. They determine which brands meet their requirements and which do not. As people's lives become more complicated, harried, and time-constrained, a brand's capacity to simplify decision-making and decrease risk becomes increasingly important. By defining how the brand is tied to the goals of consumers, brand positioning is critical to the development and management of a successful brand (Ekhlassi, Nezhad, Far, and Rahmani, 201).

Conversely, Nigerian customers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied, particularly in terms of brand personality, resulting in an increase in brand flipping. According to Reichheld (1994), pleased clients are not always loyal customers. Despite studies indicating that customer happiness is crucial, it is ineffective in obtaining customer loyalty, indicating that a pleased consumer may not necessarily be loyal (HennigThurau and Klee 1997). Consumers may indicate preference for brands, services, stores, product categories, and hobbies by displaying a behavior of similarity to something.

Customer loyalty has been defined in several ways in marketing literature. Here, a few instances that show agreement with the concept's attitudinal and psychological standpoint will serve. Customer loyalty, according to Jacoby and Chestnut (1978), is a biased behavioral reaction displayed over time by certain individuals toward one or more alternatives out of a collection of alternatives. Customer loyalty is a psychological process, as evidenced by this finding. Oliver (1999) agreed wholeheartedly, claiming that the notion refers to a customer's strong commitment to repurchase or re-patronize a favored product/service in the future, independent of situational and/or marketing factors that would encourage switching behavior. Customer loyalty, according to Dick and Basu (1994), is a persistent set of positive beliefs held by a customer toward the brand purchased. The extent of a customer's positive beliefs and feelings toward a product in comparison to competing brands in the market; how committed he or she is to the product; and his or her willingness to recommend the product to others, all of which are tied to brand personality, are all measures of these beliefs.

The notion of brand personality is a metaphor for depicting the interaction between a company and its customers (Aaker 1997, Plummer 1985). It's a determining factor for a brand's added value. Brand personality ensures a consistent brand image through time while also allowing customers to express themselves. Customers' attitudes and behaviors toward a given brand are influenced by brand personality associations that are highly engaged in memory (Valette-Florence et al. 2011). As a result, a client might recognize himself as being associated with a brand based on the brand's fit with his own personality (Louis and Lombart 2010). Furthermore, each brand has its own personality, which we can see in a variety of ways and in different situations. Customers are more likely to assume that a product with a good and strong brand personality would be less dangerous than a competing product with no distinct brand personality as they get more accustomed and comfortable with it. That is to say, every buyer would purchase a product with personalities that matched their own hence the influence of brand personality on satisfaction and loyalty of customers .

1.2 Statement of the problem

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the role of brand loyalty in today’s competitive market. Brand loyalty is one of the most-cited concepts in marketing literature, and both academic and practitioners have accepted the range of benefits derived from it. Jani, D. and Han, H. (2014) asserts that most firms attempt to measure satisfaction and loyalty for their brand, this is because the vital view whether a product successful or failed are customer loyalty. But, they do not think about vital influences to build satisfaction and loyalty. However, a major problem with this kind of effort is that measuring satisfaction and loyalty does not tell anybody how to achieve it. One of essential strategies to accomplish satisfaction and loyalty in branding strategy is brand personality.

Notably, in the history of development loyalty, brand personality has been thought of as a key factor in brand theory; it is become more significant for companies. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the impact of brand personality on brand satisfaction and loyalty (Lombart, and Louis, 2012). Further, creating loyalty in today’s competitive market has become complicated due to standard similarity in consumer perception of product quality, increase in variety of superior brands and alternatives, low risk and high expectations of the customer's brand switching have completely changed. Based on the above issues, the present study was designed to determine the effect of brand personality as an important antecedent to brand loyalty in today's competitive market.

1.3 Objective of the study

The broad objective of this study is to present an An investigation of brand personality and its impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of consumers. Specifically, the study will:

1.        Examine if brand personality such as perfection and strength exert any influence on customer satisfaction

2.        Determine if brand image such as product quality and price fairness exert any influence on customer loyalty

3.        Ascertain if brand personnel quality and  trust on product would lead to customer loyalty

1.4 Research Hypotheses

HO1:  Brand image such as product quality and price fairness does not exert any influence on customer loyalty

HO2:  Brand personnel quality and  trust on product would not lead to customer loyalty

1.5 Significance of the study

Findings from the study will be relevant to notable brands as this will equip them with information vital to strategic management  and enable them with knowledge on brand personality improvement  which would give them an edge in the competitive market. Empirically, the study will contribute to the general body of knowledge and serve as a reference material to both scholars and student who wishes to conduct further studies in related field.

1.6  Scope of the study

The scope  of this study borders on  an investigation of brand personality and its impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of consumers.  The study will examine if brand personality such as perfection and strength exert any influence on customer satisfaction. It will determine if brand image such as product quality and price fairness exert any influence on customer loyalty. It will ascertain if brand personnel quality and  trust on product would lead to customer loyalty.

1.7       Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing to the nature of the discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. More so, the choice of the sample size was limited  as few respondent were selected to answer the research instrument hence cannot be generalize to other corporate organizations. However, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.9       Definition of terms

Brand Personality: Brand personality is a framework that helps a company or organization shape the way people feel about its product, service, or mission. 

Customer Loyalty: Customer loyalty describes an ongoing emotional relationship between you and your customer, manifesting itself by how willing a customer is to engage with and repeatedly purchase from you versus your competitors.

Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is defined as a measurement that determines how happy customers are with a company's products, services, and capabilities.

REFERENCE

Aaker, J. L. (1997) 'Dimensions of brand personality', Journal of Marketing research, 347-356

Ekhlassi, A., Nezhad, M. H., Far, S. A. and Rahmani, K. (2012) 'The relationship between brand personality and customer personality, gender and income: A case study of the cell phone market in Iran', Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 20(3), 158-171.

Haghkhah, A., Hamid, A., Ben, A. B., Ebrahimpour, A., Roghanian, P. and Gheysari, H. (2013) 'Commitment and Customer Loyalty in Business-To-Business Context', European Journal of Business & Management, 5(19).

Jani, D. and Han, H. (2014) 'Personality, satisfaction, image, ambience, and loyalty: Testing their relationships in the hotel industry', International Journal of Hospitality Management, 37, 11-20

Lee, J. W. (2009) 'Relationship Between Consumer Personality and Brand Personality As Self-Concept; From The Case Of Korean Automobile Brands', Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 13(1), 25-44

Lombart, C. and Louis, D. (2012) 'Consumer satisfaction and loyalty: Two main consequences of retailer personality', Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(6), 644-652.

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