Influences of consumer brand relationship quality on word of mouth

COMMITMENT I would like to commit that this thesis, “Influences of Consumer-brand relationship quality on Word-of-mouth”, was accomplished based on my independent and serious study and

NGUYỄN VĂN LONG SƠN

INFLUENCES OF BRAND RELATIONSHIP QUALITY

CONSUMER-ON WORD-OF-MOUTH

MASTER THESIS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012

NGUYỄN VĂN LONG SƠN

INFLUENCES OF BRAND RELATIONSHIP QUALITY

Dr NGUYỄN THỊ MAI TRANG

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012

I would like to especially thank to all members of my family: my Mom, my wife, and my son for their love and their support, encouragement and assistance with this thesis

Ho Chi Minh City, October 2012, Nguyễn Văn Long Sơn

COMMITMENT

I would like to commit that this thesis, “Influences of Consumer-brand relationship quality on Word-of-mouth”, was accomplished based on my independent and serious study and scientific research The data was collected in reality and it has clear origins In addition to that, the data would be trust-worthily handled and it has never been released in any menu

Nguyễn Văn Long Sơn

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT 1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 2

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Research Objectives 3

1.3 Research methodology and Research scope 4

1.4 Significances of the research 4

1.5 Structure of the research 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Consumer-Brand Relationship and Its Quality 6

2.2.1 Consumer-Brand Relationship 6

2.2.2 Consumer-brand relationship quality 7

2.3 Conceptual model and hypotheses 9

2.3.1 Six dimensions of consumer-brand relationship: 9

2.3.1.1 Love and Passion 9

2.3.1.2 Self-connection 9

2.3.1.3 Commitment 9

2.3.1.4 Interdependence 10

2.3.1.5 Intimacy 10

2.3.1.6 Trust 11

2.3.2 Word-of-Mouth (WOM) 11

2.3.3 Proposed conceptual model and hypotheses 14

2.4 Summary 15

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Introduction 16

3.2 Research design 16

3.2.1 Research methodology: 16

3.2.2 Research process 17

3.3 Measurement scales and questionnaire development 17

3.3.1 Measurement scales: 17

3.3 2 Questionnaire development 20

3.4 Pilot study 21

3.4.1 Qualitative pilot study 21

3.4.2 Quantitative pilot study 22

3.5 Quantitative main study 22

3.5.1 Research sampling 22

3.5.2 Collecting data 23

3.5.3 Methods of data analysis 23

3.5.4 Data cleaning 23

3.5.5 Reliability assessment of measurement scales (Cronbach alpha) 24

3.5.6 Validity assessment of measurement scales (EFA) 24

3.5.7 Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) 24

3.5.8 Correlation Analysis 25

3.5.9 F-test 25

3.6 Summary 26

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 27

4.1 Introduction 27

4.2 Descriptions of sample 27

4.3 Reliability and validity of the measurement scale 29

4.3.1 Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) 29

4.3.2 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) 32

4.3.2.1 EFA implementation for independent variables 33

4.3.2.2 EFA implementation for dependent variable 37

4.4 Adjust the research model and the hypotheses 38

4.4.1 The adjusted research model 38

4.4.2 The research hypothesis 39

4.5 Testing the adjusted research model and the hypotheses 39

4.5.1 Testing correlations of constructs 39

4.5.2 Testing residuals of dependent variable 40

4.5.3 Testing research model and hypotheses 41

4.6 Summary 47

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 49

5.1 Introduction 49

5.2 Findings 49

5.3 Recommendations 49

5.4 Practical implications 50

5.5 Limitation and future research 50

LIST OF REFERENCES 51

APPENDIX 1 THE QUESTIONNAIRES (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 59

The Questionnaire 1 (Used to interview consumers of motorcycles) 59

The Questionnaire 2 (Used to interview users of bank services) 63

APPENDIX 2 CRONBACH’S ALPHA ANALYSIS 67

APPENDIX 3 EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (EFA) 71

APPENDIX 4 MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS (MLR) 76

Appendix 4.1: Testing correlation of constructs 76

Appendix 4.2: Testing assumptions for residuals of dependent variable 77

Appendix 4.3: The MLR analysis of with the sample of 267 participants of study on motorcycle and bank services 78

Appendix 4.4: The MLR analysis of with the sample of 135 parcitipations of study on motorcycles 79

Appendix 4.5: The MLR analysis of with the sample of 132 parcitipations of study on bank services 80

LIST OF TABLE

Table 2.1 The six dimensions of brand relationship quality suggested by Fournier

(1998) 8

Table 3.1 Measurement scales of independent variables 19

Table 3.2 Measurement scales of dependent variable 20

Table 4.1 Frequency Table of Product/Service 27

Table 4.2 Frequency Table of Brand 28

Table 4.3 Statistical report of Demographic variables 29

Table 4.4 Cronbach’s alpha of variables 31

Table 4.5 KMO and Bartlett's Test 33

Table 4.6 Total Variance Explained 34

Table 4.7 Rotated Component Matrix 35

Table 4.8 EFA results of independent variables 36

Table 4.9 EFA results of dependent variable 38

Table 4.10 Correlations 40

Table 4.11 MLR results using Enter technique 41

Table 4.12 ANOVA 42

Table 4.13 MLR variables coefficients 42

Table 4.14 Results of testing the hypotheses 44

Table 4.15 Results of testing H5 46

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 2.1 Proposed conceptual framework 15

Figure 3.1 Research process 18

Figure 4.1 The adjusted research model 38

Figure 4.3 The revised research model 45

The results showed that to Vietnamese consumers, word-of-mouth would not

be influenced by Self-connection while Passion and Trust have very strong influences on Word-of-mouth; Intimacy also has positive influences on Word-of-mouth but weaker

By comparison between users of services and consumers of products, Trust plays the most important role on word-of-mouth to users of services while Passion

is the most important factor influencing on word-of-mouth to consumers of products

These findings suggest that managers should establish high-quality consumer-brand relationships in order to get positive word-of-mouth among consumers

This study provides firms with the knowledge needed to more effectively implement relationship-marketing activities As the economy of Vietnam continues

to grow, competition intensifies, and to ensure service excellence, firms need to establish strong relationships with their consumers as the quality of the consumer-brand relationship can increase word-of-mouth behavior

KEYWORDS: brand relationship quality, word-of-mouth, Ho Chi Minh city

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Branding plays an important role in marketing In advanced economies, both marketing academics and practitioners pay a lot of attentions in branding during the past years (e.g., Aaker, 1991; Aaker, Fournier, & Brasel, 2004; Woodside & Walser, 2007; Yorkston, Nunes, & Matta, 2010) However, little attention has been paid to branding issues in the developing world, especially in countries that have recently transformed their economies from centrally planned economies to market-oriented economies, such as Vietnam (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2011)

In Vietnam, the role of branding has only recently become of interest to Vietnamese practitioners in recent years for the urgent of loosing Vietnamese brands to foreigner firms in international market (e.g., the situation of Buon Me Thuoc coffee brand registered by a China-based firm in China, Phu Quoc fish-sauce brand registered by a HongKong-based firm in China, Viet Huong fish-sauce registered by a US-based firm in the US and later in European countries and Australia, …)

Before 1986, most Vietnamese firms did not recognize the importance of brands and branding Unbranded practice or the use of a company’s name as a brand name to distinguish one product from others was a common approach

From 1986, the introduction of the open-door policy of the Vietnamese government, which led to the entry of multinational enterprises into the market, together with the launching and promoting of international brands by multinational enterprises has shifted Vietnamese consumers’ shopping habits from buying products to buying brands Also, this development has encouraged Vietnamese firms to adopt branding practices, resulting in the launching of several local brands,

such as MissSaigon (perfume) and Yomilk (yogurt; Nguyen, Nguyen, & Barrett, 2008)

Academics and practitioners have focused on how to build a strong brand (e.g., Aaker, 1991; Woodside and Walser, 2006) Accordingly, a number of approaches have been developed which characterize the strength of a brand Some stem from cognitive psychology, i.e., based on consumer cognitive processes, such

as brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand associations (e.g., Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993) Others come from information economics, i.e., based

on the signal of the brand to the consumer such as brand credibility and brand clarity (e.g., Erdem and Swait, 1998) Although based on different perspectives, their common focus is on what makes a brand become strong, i.e., building a high quality relationship between the brand and the consumer (Fournier, 1998; de Wulf

et al., 2001)

The relationship between brands and consumers has been studied by academics for several years (e.g., Aaker et al., 2004; Fournier, 1998; Veloutsou & Moutinho, 2009) Marketers are also increasingly trying to build the relationship between their brands and consumers Fournier offered a comprehensive model of brand–consumer relationships This model covers all aspects that contribute to a high-quality relationship between a brand and its consumer

1.2 Research Objectives

As mentioned above, building strong consumer-brand relationships is an important objective in marketing Research on consumer-brand relationship quality has focused heavily on advanced economies Little research has been devoted to investigating this important issue in the developing world, especially in transition markets like Vietnam The objective of this study is building and testing theoretical framework on the relations between consumer-brand relationship quality’s dimensions and word-of-mouth in context of Vietnam to investigating the influences of consumer-brand relationship quality dimensions on word-of-mouth

1.3 Research methodology and Research scope

This study comprises 2 stages: pilot study and main study

In the pilot study, a qualitative approach was used to explore whether the scales for measuring the constructs are suitable or not Then, some necessary adjustments have been made The pilot study was carried out in Ho Chi Minh city

In the main study, a quantitative approach was employed By interviewing the consumers in Ho Chi Minh city, who have experiences in using motorcycles and bank services, data were collected for analysis This phase is to test the reliability of the measurement scales using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Multiple Linear Regression analysis (MLR) was employed to test the research model and hypotheses SPSS software version 16 was used for data analysis

1.4 Significances of the research

This study are practically meaningful in brand literatures with the result from testing the measurement scales of consumer-brand relationship quality’s dimensions and word –of-mouth with Vietnamese consumers samples

The results of this study are expected to enhance firms’ understanding of brand relationship quality and it’s dimensions as well as their roles to word-of-mouth Such an understanding will help companies to design suitable communication programs to promote their brands in the market

The result of the study is a source of reference for marketing researchers in Vietnam market

1.5 Structure of the research

The structure of this research consists of five chapters: chapter 1 presents research background of the study, research objectives, research methodology, and research scope Chapter 2 reflects the current knowledge of marketing scholars regarding consumer-brand relationships quality and word-of-mouth Based on these

literatures, the author suggested 7 hypotheses and proposed a conceptual model for this study Chapter 3 presents the research methodology used to modify and evaluate the measurement scales, the research model, and the hypotheses Chapter 4 discusses the analysis of data related to the evaluation of measurement scales, research model and hypotheses Chapter 5 presents the main conclusions and recommendations based on the results of the study in chapter 4 The limitations of this study is also presented in chapter 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Chapter 2 introduces literature review of consumer-brand relationship quality and word-of-mouth Further more, a conceptual model and hypothesis were proposed This chapter consisted of 3 main parts: (1) literature review of consumer-brand relationship quality, (2) literature review of word-of-mouth, (3) proposed conceptual model and hypothesis of the study

2.2 Consumer-Brand Relationship and Its Quality

2.2.1 Consumer-Brand Relationship

The idea that consumers and brands can relate to each other is referred to as

“brand relationship” or “consumer–brand relationship” (e.g Fournier, 1998; McAlexander et al., 2002; Parvatiyar and Sheth, 2001; Webster, 1992) The consumer–brand relationship concept is an important research topic because of advantages: reduced marketing costs, ease of access, acquiring new customers, customer retention, brand equity and more profit (Blackston, 2000; Dowling, 2002; Reichheld, 1996; Winer, 2001) For a long time, firms invested a lot of money and time in acquiring new customers but paid less attention in reinforcing relationships with existing consumers This philosophy, however, has changed completely Strengthening relationships with consumers is now the focus of marketing activities (Peelen, 2003)

Firms recognize the need to invest in relationships between their brands and consumers The development and support of customer relationships is important to the long-term survival and enhanced profitability of firms Therefore, investments

in long-term relationships with consumers are of critical importance for the development of firms (De Wulf, Odekerken-Schoroder, & Iacobucci, 2001) Success in building such relationships will lessen a major concern of every firm,

that is, customer switching Research has indicated that the cost of recruiting new customers is very high because of advertising, personal selling, setting up new accounts, and customer training (e.g., Mittal & Lassar, 1998) More important, profits generated by loyal customers increase significantly over time (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990) Accordingly, establishing, developing, and nurturing high-quality relationships between brands and consumers, with an aim of decreasing the customer switching rate, are among key tasks that marketers should always take into account when formulating their marketing strategies

Blackston (1991) suggests that consumer-brand relationship is a combination

of cognitive, emotional, behavioral processes that occur between consumers and brands Fournier (1998) suggests that consumers build an individual relationship with product/brand they purchase in the same way that people initiate and nurture relationships with other people Hence, consumer-brand relationship indicates that consumers and brands contribute to each other in a win-win partnership

2.2.2 Consumer-brand relationship quality

Consumers have a relationship with many brands in everyday life, and brand relationship quality makes a strong consumer-brand relationship (Seong-Yeon Park and Eun Mi Lee, 2005) Brand relationship quality refers to the strength and depth

of the relationship between the individual consumer and the brand (Smit, Bronner,

& Tolboom, 2007) Consumer-brand relationship encompasses cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects (Fournier, 1998) Fournier (1998) suggests six dimensions of brand relationship quality: love and passion, self-connection, interdependence, commitment, intimacy, and brand partner quality

Table 2.1 The six dimensions of brand relationship quality suggested by

Brand partner quality Aaker et al (2004) used four dimensions of Fournier’s conceptualization (i.e., commitment, intimacy, self-connection, and satisfaction) to measure brand relationship quality These researchers used brand partnership quality as an antecedent of brand relationship quality Kressmann et al (2006) used four dimensions (i.e., love and passion, intimacy, interdependence, and partnership quality) They argued that self-conception is similar to self-congruity, and commitment is closely related to brand loyalty Smit et al (2007) included trust in their brand relationship quality measures Their empirical investigation results in two factors Therefore, in this study, the author modified the conceptualization of consumer-brand relationship quality suggested by Fournier (1998) by using trust instead of partner quality as a component of brand relationship quality Trust plays

an important role in the business relationship literature, and the concepts of trust and partner quality are closely related, i.e., relationship partners are willing to fulfill their promises (Aaker et al., 2004) In addition, trust and partner quality were combined into one factor in Kressmann et al.’s (2006) study

In sum, in this study, consumer-brand relationship quality comprises six components: passion, self-connection, commitment, interdependence, intimacy, and trust

2.3 Conceptual model and hypotheses

In this study, the author proposed a conceptual model, depicted in Figure 2.1

In this model, consumer-brand relationship quality comprised six dimensions: passion, self-connection, commitment, interdependence, intimacy, and trust

2.3.1 Six dimensions of consumer-brand relationship:

2.3.1.1 Love and Passion

Love and Passion concerns strong affection for a specific brand Like their

relationships with other people, consumers exhibit varying feelings of love towards brands, ranging from warmth to obsessive dependency (Fournier, 1998) It is, accordingly, recognized that consumers may feel a sense of love or passion towards brands with which they have a relationship (Fournier, 1998; Kressmann, et al., 2006; Thorbjornsen, et al., 2002) Consumers with strong affection for the brand will feel that something is missing if the brand is not used (Fournier, 1998; Smit et al., 2007)

In this study, Love and passion is determined by the extent to which a consumer feels passionate about a brand

2.3.1.2 Self-connection

Self-connection determined by a consumer’s perceived alignment between

their self-image and the image of a brand Self-connection reflects the extent to which a brand delivers on significant aspects of a consumer’s identity and helps express the consumer’s self (Aaker, et al., 2004; Fournier, 1998) A consumer’s perception regarding whether a brand’s image is similar to how they see themselves will, that is, “the brand is part of the self” (Smit et al., 2007, p 628)

2.3.1.3 Commitment

Commitment refers to the degree to which consumers are loyal to the brand

Consumers feel that the brand is irreplaceable and are willing to make sacrifices to own the brand (Fournier, 1998; Smit et al., 2007) Consumer-brand is developed and maintained through repeated exchange over time (Day, 2000; Gronroos, 1994;

Gummesson, 1997; Rao & Perry, 2002) Dwyer et al (1987) suggest that commitment captures the consumers’ desire to continue a relationship with the brand This is reflected in their definition of relationship commitment as “an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners” (Dwyer, Schurr, & Oh, 1987, p 19) Commitment, therefore, comprises a desire to continue a relationship with a brand, in addition to make effort with the intention of developing and maintaining the customer relationship

2.3.1.4 Interdependence

Interdependence refers to the mutual dependency between the brand and its

consumers (Fournier, 1998; Kressmann et al., 2006) Strong brand relationships are recognised as comprising a high level of interdependence between parties (Fournier, 1998; Thorbjornsen, et al., 2002) The consumer, therefore, depends on the brand and the brand depends on the consumer Consequently, both consumer and brand consider the other to be of high importance Fournier (1998) recognizes that interdependence from a consumer perspective involves frequent brand interactions, increased scope and diversity of brand-related activities, as well as heightened intensity of individual interaction events In research regarding online brand relationships, interdependence is referred to as the degree to which the actions of relationship partners are intertwined (Thorbjornsen, et al., 2002) In more recent research the relationship quality dimension of interdependence is determined according to the extent to which a brand plays an important role in a consumer’s life (Kressmann, et al., 2006)

2.3.1.5 Intimacy

Intimacy reflects customers’ knowledge about, and understanding of, the

brand (Kressmann et al., 2006) Consumers develop elaborate knowledge structures around certain brands and feel the closeness towards them (Fournier, 1998; Thorbjornsen, et al., 2002) This occurs when they perceive that they understand the brand and that the brand understands them in return (Aaker, et al., 2004) There are,

therefore, two elements to relationship intimacy In this study, intimacy is determined by a consumer’s level of perceived knowledge about a brand, as well as the perceived extent of consumer understanding exhibited by the brand

2.3.1.6 Trust

Trustis defined as “the willingness of the average consumer to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated function” (Chaudhuri and Hol-brook, 2001) Brand trust arises after consumers’ evaluation of firms’ offerings If firms provide beliefs of safety, honesty and reliability about their brands to consumers, brand trust will be generated subsequently (Doney & Cannon, 1997) It can be interpreted that brand trust is created and developed by direct experiences of consumer via brands Brand trust is viewed as a long process which can be occurred by thought and

consideration of consumer experiences with brand (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001)

2.3.2 Word-of-Mouth (WOM)

When people want to buy a new product or to use a new service, they usually seek information from family, friends, and other acquaintances This became known

as word-of-mouth (WOM) in the marketing literature (Pollach, 2006)

Word-of-mouth marketing has recently attracted a great deal of attention of both marketing academic researchers and practitioners (Trusov et al., 2009) The probability of the consumers’ reaction to the suggestion of a trusted friend, colleague or advisor is much more than that to a commercial message and this reaction is not limited to gathering information, but it often leads to the purchase of the product (Silverman, 2001) Consumers trust to the opinions of their friends, family and acquaintances because these opinions are sincere and without any prejudice (Podoshen, 2008) The power of the affect of other's recommendations originates from three key factors: First, the way of communicating is an important factor in the word-of-mouth Many discussions with the family or the friends lead to their support from conducting special behaviors Second, contrary to one-way communications such as commercial messages, customer's word-of-mouth is a two-

way communication The power of mutual communication stems from the fact that the person can ask questions, receive explanations and follow useful results Third, customer's word-of-mouth has the vicarious trial quality It means that people talking about products and services have experiences them (Wilklie, 1990)

Study of Trusov et al (2009) adds further evidence to the view that mouth communication is a critical factor for firms seeking to acquire new customers and that word-of-mouth can have larger and longer lasting effects than traditional marketing activity Marsden (2005) says that word-of-mouth (WOM) is at least twice as powerful as traditional marketing communications in influencing sales, and given the rise of electronic word-of-mouth (mobile and internet), word-of-mouth is now some 50% more influential than it was 30 years ago Research studies generally support the claim that word-of-mouth is more influential on behavior than other marketer-controlled sources Word-of-mouth has been shown influencing a variety of conditions: awareness, expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intentions and behavior Sheth (1971) concludes that word-of-mouth is more important than advertising in raising awareness of an innovation and in securing the decision to try the product Day (1971) infers that this is due to source the reliability and the flexibility of interpersonal communication He computes that word-of-mouth was nine times as effective as advertising at converting unfavorable or neutral predispositions into positive attitudes Mangold’s (1987) reviews of the impact of word-of-mouth in the professional services context concluded that word-of-mouth has a more emphatic influence on the purchasing decision than other sources of influence This is perhaps because personal sources are viewed as more trustworthy (Murray, 1991)

word-of-Word-of-mouth is communication about products and services between people who are perceived to be independent of the company providing the product

or service, in a medium perceived to be independent of the company (Silverman, 2001) File et al (1992) define word-of-mouth as recommending the firm and the service to others Anderson (1998) refers to positive word-of-mouth as relating

pleasant, vivid, or novel experiences, recommendations to others, and even conspicuous display

The information provided by word-of-mouth is perceived as being more credible than that provided commercially since word-of-mouth is from relatives, friends and the third party whom one trusts more Word-of-mouth is a two-way communication, not a one-way propaganda Word-of-mouth provides potential customers with user’s experience to reduce purchase risk and uncertainty Since word-of-mouth is live and can instantly respond to inquiries, it can provide more complete and relevant information Word-of-mouth has been proven to be an effective method of obtaining useful information for purchase decisions (Henricks, 1998; Silverman, 1997)

Word-of-mouth transmission about brand refers to informal communications between consumers about the usage of products or services concerning evaluations

of goods and services (Soderlund & Rosengren, 2007)

Word-of-mouth can influence decisions either positively (Engel et al., 1969; Richins, 1983) or negatively (Tybout et al., 1981; Bolfing, 1989) Westbrook (1987) found that positive and negative feelings due to experiencing a product lead to the internal tendency of the person to transfer the information as the word-of-mouth Positive word-of-mouth communication has been recognized as a particularly valuable vehicle for promoting a firm’s products and services (Gremler et al 2001) Numerous researches reinforced the contention that positive word-of-mouth is a cherished outcome in marketing Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) believe that word-of-mouth is seven times more effective than newspaper ads, four times more effective than direct sales, and twice as effective as radio advertising Day (1971) estimates that word-of-mouth was nine times more effective than advertising in changing consumer attitudes, whereas Morin (1983) shows that “other people’s recommendations” are three times more effective in terms of stimulating purchases

of over 60 different products than was advertising

When brand has good quality relationship with consumers, firms will get benefits from positive word-of-mouth Consumer-brand relationship quality is created when consumers know clearly about brand and have good evaluation on brand during the process of brand consumption As consumers experience brand, they recognize them as active relationship partners (Woodside, 2004) Consumers who have high quality relationship with brand, will talk about their good experiences with products or services to their family, friends and other acquaintances That directly influences on possible consumers’ purchasing (Reichheld et al., 1990)

2.3.3 Proposed conceptual model and hypotheses

The study expects that strong consumer-brand relationships lead to a positive attitude of the customer to give up some privacy protections and a willingness to share personal experiences with products or services to other possible consumers through word-of-mouth Therefore,

- H 1 : Love and passion has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

- H 2 : Self-connection has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

- H 3 : Commitment has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

- H 4 : Interdependence has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

- H 5 : Intimacy has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

- H 6 : Trust has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth

Nguyen Dinh Tho and Nguyen Thi Mai Trang (2011) studied on product brands in Vietnam market and shows that consumer-brand relationship quality plays

an important role in building word-of-mouth These authors suggest to study on service brands to make a comparison to product brands about the relation between consumer-brand relationship quality and word-of-mouth In this study, the author research on both product brands and service brands to make a comparison in the result with an expectation to find out the differentiation in the influences of

consumer-brand relationship quality’s dimensions on word-of-mouth in product brands from in the service brands Therefore,

- H 7 : The influences of consumer-brand relationship quality’s dimensions on word-of-mouth in product brands are different from in the service brands

Figure 2.1 Proposed conceptual framework

2.4 Summary

The main purpose of this chapter was to reflect the current knowledge of marketing scholars regarding consumer-brand relationships quality and word-of- mouth Based on these literatures, the author suggested 7 hypotheses and proposed a conceptual model for this study

Consumer-Brand Relationship Quality

Love and passion

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

In chapter 2, literature concerning the research model of this study was discussed Chapter 3 presents the research methodology used to modify and evaluate the measurement scales, the research model, and the hypotheses This chapter consists of: research design, measurement scales of observation variables, pilot test of measurement scales, and introduction of the main study analysis

3.2 Research design

3.2.1 Research methodology:

This study is conducted in 2 main phases: (1) pilot study and (2) main study

In the first step, the pilot study was carried out by performing group discussions There were 2 groups One group comprising of 5 participants, who have experiences in using motorcycles, discussed about motorcycle products and the other group comprising of 5 participants, who have experiences in using bank services, discussed about bank services The purpose of this step is to check the content and meaning of words which were used in the measurement scales Based

on the results, necessary adjustments were made and the final questionnaire could

be completed for the main study

In the second step, an initial collection of 106 samples was made to test the reliability of the variables in order to refine the measures Cronbach’s alpha reliability and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were employed to assess the scales Cronbach’s alphas of all the variables were shown to be higher than 70 Following Nunnally (1978), an alpha of 70 or greater is desirable for each variable to have a level of internal consistency The results showed that Cronbach’s alphas of the

scales were all higher than 70 indicating all scales passed the reliability requirements

After the pilot study, the main study was conducted using paper questionnaire survey method The purposes of this study were to assess the measurement scales, to test the hypotheses and to confirm the proposed research model

3.2.2 Research process

3.3 Measurement scales and questionnaire development

3.3.1 Measurement scales:

Brand relationship quality consisted of six dimensions: passion, connection, commitment, interdependence, intimacy, and trust Each of these dimensions was measured by three items These items were based on Aaker et al (2004) and Smit et al (2007) All items were measured using 7-point Likert scales anchored by 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree

self-Figure 3.1 Research process

Cronbach’s Alpha + EFA

Table 3.1 Measurement scales of independent variables

PS1 I feel very lovely when talking about X

PS2 I feel great affection for X

PS3 I feel very peaceful when mentioning about X

CM1 I always stick with X

CM2 To me, X is an irreplaceable brand

CM3 I am very loyal to X

ID Interdependence

ID1 The success of X is my success

ID2 I feel embarrassed when someone criticizes X

ID3 When some one criticizes X I feels insulted

IM1 I have a deep understanding of X

IM2 I deeply sympathize with X

IM3 I become very knowledgeable about X

TR1 X is capable of delivering what it promises

TR2 I always receive what X promises to provide

TR3 My experiences with X show that X never promises what it doesn’t have

Word-of-mouth was measured by three items These items were based on File et al (1992) All items were measured using 7-point Likert scales anchored by

1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree

Table 3.2 Measurement scales of dependent variable WOM Word-of-mouth

WOM1 I recommend others use X as soon as possible

WOM2 I introduce to others that X is the best

WOM3 I talk directly about my experiences with X

3.3 2 Questionnaire development

A questionnaire or called measuring instrument is a formalized set of questions for obtaining information from respondents (Malhotra, 1996) Any questionnaire has three specific objectives First of all, it should transform necessary information related to the study into a list of questions that the respondents could answer Secondly, the questionnaire should bring about good dynamic, thus encourage respondents to participate in the interviews and complete the questionnaire Thirdly, the questionnaire should ensure minimum response errors (Malhotra, 1996)

Surveys were translated and back-translated into Vietnamese in line with cross cultural translation procedures (Harkness & Schoua-Glusberg, 1998) Translation procedure used the committee approaches Committee or parallel translation requested the participation of some translators Based on the original questionnaire, as instructed by Brislin (1980) (cited in Harkness & Schoua-Glusberg, 1998), the translations were simultaneously and independently carried out After that, the translators compared different translation versions and chose the final one

In this study, author used the committee with 2 friends in same MBA course as the translators

According to Harkness & Schoua-Glusberg (1998), the term back translation was the method transforming the translated version back to the source language The purpose of back translation was to compare and refer the translated version with the source language version, so that the quality of the translated version could

be evaluated

The survey instrument of this study consisted of 2 questionnaires Questionnaire 1 was used to interview consumers of motorcycles, questionnaire 2 was used to interview users of bank services Every questionnaire contained 2 main sections In the first section, the interviewees were asked about their personal information: gender, age, income, education In the second section, the interviewees were asked to choose a brand of motorcycle (questionnaire 1) or of bank services (questionnaire 2) they like the best Then, the respondents were asked to identify the extent to which they agree/disagree with 21 statements related to their behaviors to the brand they had chosen These 21 statements were used to measure 7 observation variables in the research model Each item was measured on seven-point Likert-type scales on which 1 represents “strongly disagree” and 7 represents “strongly agree”

3.4 Pilot study

3.4.1 Qualitative pilot study

When the translation of the questionnaire was completed, the pretest or called alpha test would be carried out with the participation of 10 persons divided into 2 group studying in the same MBA course who are experienced in online shopping Participants of this study would not be interviewed in the main study in next step The comments related to the translation of the questionnaire were mainly suggestions concerning words and phrases that make the translations better and the questions more understandable for Vietnamese respondents After the revision finished, the author had the final draft questionnaire

3.4.2 Quantitative pilot study

In this quantitative pilot study (or beta test), the author used the final draft questionnaire completed in the above qualitative pilot study to carry out interviews with subjects of the study The author distributed 60 paper sheets of questionnaire for motorcycle survey and 60 paper sheets for bank service survey and received back 52 available sheets of motorcycle sample and 54 sheets of bank services sample from the respondents Based on the data collected, the evaluation of the questionnaire was the processed, e.g did the subjects of the study understand the questions correctly? Did they have information to answer? Were they willing to provide information? The reliability and validity of the measurement scales was preliminarily tested with collected data using Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis Based on the preliminary results, the author made necessary adjustments, so that the final questionnaire could be ready for the main study

3.5 Quantitative main study

3.5.1 Research sampling

Sample size: In this study, the author used the theory proposed by Hair et al

(2006), in which the sample size should be at least 50, at best 100 and the observation/items rate should be 5:1, so that the exploratory factor analysis could be applied It means that each item would require at least 5 observations In addition, Tabachnick & Fidell’s (1989) (as cited in Green, 1991) suggested that number of subjects for each predictor or independent variable in regression analysis should be 5-to-1 In this study, due to the fact that there were a total of 38 items in the questionnaires, the required sample size of this study was 190 Therefore the total of

274 valid responses for sample size the author received in this study was satisfied

Sample strategy: The author selected customers in Ho Chi Minh city, who

have experienced in using motorcycles and bank services as population in this research Samples were selected based on non-probability convenience sampling method Convenience sampling involves using samples that are the easiest to obtain

and is continued until the sampling size that is need is reached The bias with the convenience sampling is that it is hard to generalize to the wanted population (Saunders et al., 2007)

3.5.2 Collecting data

In the main qualitative study, the author collected data by distributing 300 paper sheets of questionnaire for motorcycle brand survey and 300 paper sheets for bank service brand survey The participants of this study mostly were students of postgraduate courses and gradute courses of the University of Economic, Ho Chi Minh city The others were the author’s acquaintances The author received back

215 sheets of motorcycle brand sample and 236 sheets of bank service sample After cleaning, the author had a data of 267 qualified respondents including of 135 consumers of motorcycle and 132 users of bank services to use in data analysis

3.5.3 Methods of data analysis

this research Data collected from questionnaires was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 For data processing, four statistical techniques were used for different purposes These included frequency, descriptive statistics, validity and reliability test, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis

3.5.4 Data cleaning

any possible mistakes which are probably missing data or unreasonable answers (Nguyen, 2011, p.275) The author reviewed all the questionnaire sheets and eliminated 184 disqualified sheets for missing data Finally, the author got 267 qualified respondents including of 135 consumers of motorcycle and 132 users of bank services to use in data analysis step

3.5.5 Reliability assessment of measurement scales (Cronbach alpha)

repeated measurements made (Malhotra, 1996) A popular approach to measure reliability is to use the coefficient alpha (Malhotra, 1996) The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient is traditionally reported in statistics as the measure of internal consistency of responses across the set of items (Schumacker & Lomax, 2004) This method allowed the analyst to get rid of irrelevant variables and restrict junk variables in the scales For variables that the item-total correlations were higher or equivalent to 30, they would be qualified (Nunnally & Bermstein, 1994) A measurement scales would be considered reliable if Cronbach’s alpha coefficient varies from 70 to 80 If the Cronbach’s alpha is bigger or equivalent to 60, the scale is acceptably reliable (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994)

3.5.6 Validity assessment of measurement scales (EFA)

analysis and the unreliable variables were eliminated, the author implemented the exploratory factor analysis (or shorted as EFA) to assess the validity of the scales and at the same time downsize and summarize the data The EFA method would help to identify the collection of variables necessary for the study matters and find out the relations between variables

3.5.7 Multiple Linear Regression (MLR)

this study Seven variables (interdependence, passion, self-connection, commitment, intimacy, trust, and word-of-mouth) were entered Multiple regressions will determine the significant relationship between dependent and independent variables, the direction of the relationship, the degree of the relationship and strength of the relationship (Sekaran, 2006) Multiple regression are most sophisticated extension

of correlation and are used to explore the predict ability of a set of independent

variables on dependent variable (Pallant, 2001) The data was edited to detect errors and certify that data quality standard is achieved Proportions were the summary measured used to describe the dependent and independent variable

relationship between the dependent and independent variables The convention of value has been set as of 5% i.e .05 used as evidence of a statistical association between the dependent and independent variables

of the major elements that has influences on word-of-mouth The researches question was addressed and all the variables that have influences on word-of-mouth were considered

3.5.8 Correlation Analysis

used to measure the significance of linear bivaritate between the independent variables and dependent variables thereby achieving the objective of this study (Sakaran, 2006) Correlation is a bivariate measure of association (strength of the relationship) of the relationship between two variables It varies from 0 (random relationship) to 1 (perfect linear relationship) or -1 (perfect negative linear

variance explained (Hair et al, 2006) the used of partial correlation is usually restricted to simple model of 3 or 4 variables, 5 most (Cohen & Cohen, 1983)

3.5.9 F-test

The function of F-test is to see and understand the influence of both independent variables toward dependent variables Steps of this test:

- Create the hypothesis formulation

from the independent variable (X) together against the dependent variable (Y)

the independent variable (X) together against the dependent variable (Y)

- Determine the level of the significant of 5%

- Tested the hypothesis with the provision If the significant < 05; so Ha

accepted

- Interestingly the conclusion was based on result of testing

3.6 Summary

research was conducted in two main stages: pilot study and main study In the first stage, the pilot study used qualitative method carrying out with 2 groups of 10 people (5 people per group) who are experienced in using motorcycles, while main study was accomplished by quantitative method using online questionnaire Then, the measurement scales were tested with 106 responses to use in the main study The questionnaires were distributed directly to the respondents There were total of

267 responses suitable for the research The author used Cronbach’s alpha’s coefficients and EFA to verify the reliability and validity of the measurement scales

In addition, multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was the method using to test the proposed model and hypotheses of the research All data analyzing techniques are processed by SPSS version 16

4.2 Descriptions of sample

This research was undertaken in Ho Chi Minh city The consumers of this study are Vietnamese people who were over 18, and using motorcycles and/or bank services Totally, 500 paper sheets of questionnaire were sent and there were 345 received back The authors used only qualified 267 in the sample because the others were not qualified for errors of missing data The sample included 135 (50.6%) for motorcycle and 132 (49.4%) for bank services

Table 4.1 Frequency Table of Product/Service Product/Service Frequency Percent

and Agribank; the same 3 (1.1%) Suzuki and HSBC; the same 1 (0.4%) Piaggio, Citibank, Techcombank, SCB

Table 4.2 Frequency Table of Brand Product/Service Brand Frequency Percent

of income, 189 (70.8%) consumers had a monthly income less than VND 10 million,

47 (17.7%) consumers had a monthly income from VND 10 million to VND 20 million and 31 (11.5%) consumers had a monthly income greater thanVND 20 million In term of education, 37 (13.9%) consumers were undergraduated, 166 (62.2%) were graduated and 64 (24%) consumers were postgraduated

Table 4.3 Statistical report of Demographic variables

4.3 Reliability and validity of the measurement scale

In this study, the reliability of the measurement scale was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analysis and the validity of the measurement scales were evaluated by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

4.3.1 Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha)

The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is the popular method to assess the internal consistence of the scales The coefficient helps to eliminate disqualified observed variables with regards to the reliability of the scale The measurement scales require the use of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, in which junk variables could

be dismissed before EFA method could be applied If this order is not respected, the junk variables could create fake factors For variables that the item-total correlation value is less than 30, they would be expelled Furthermore, a measurement scale is considered good if the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient varies from 70 to 80 If the

Cronbach’s alpha is bigger or equivalent to 60, the scale is acceptably reliable (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994)

The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients in Table 4.4 showed that measurement scales were reliable The corrected item- total correlation values were high (the smallest value fall on the ID1 variable: 570 ≥ 30) In addition, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values of measurement scales were satisfactory (the smallest is the Intimacy (IM) 820)

In detail, Passion (PS) was measured by 3 items (PS1, PS2, PS3) and had

a Cronbach’s alpha of 874, Self-connection (SC) was measured by 3 items (SC1, SC2, SC3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 929, Commitment (CM) was measured

by 3 items (CM1, CM2, CM3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 890, Interdependence (ID) was measured by 3 items (ID1, ID2, ID3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 833, Intimacy (IM) was measured by 3 items (IM1, IM2, IM3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 820, Trust (TR) was measured by 3 items (TR1, TR2, TR3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 900, Word-of-mouth (WOM) was measured by 3 items (WOM1, WOM2, WOM3) and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 830

Based on the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients calculated, the measurement scales comprised of 21 observed variables satisfied the reliability and could be used for exploratory factor analysis in the next step to evaluate the validity of scale

Table 4.4 Cronbach’s alpha of variables

Mean If Item Deleted

Scale Variance If Item deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted Passion (PS) : Cronbach’s Alpha = 874

4.3.2 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)

Since Cronbach’s alpha coefficients could only value the reliability of the measurement scales, it’s also required to assess the validity of the measurement scale The author used EFA method to evaluate the validity of the scale, including convergent validity and discriminant validity

EFA method belongs to the group of interdependence techniques, meaning that there are no dependent or independent variables; and it depends on the interrelationship between the variables In addition to that, EFA is also a technique

to downsize and summarize the data The EFA method would help to identify the groups of variables necessary for the research problem and find out the interrelationship between variables In the implementation of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), researchers usually pay attention to some criteria as follows:

(1) Sample size: Hair et al (2006) indicate that using the EFA method, the sample size should be at least 50, better 100 and the observation/items rate should

be 5:1, meaning that 1 measurement variable would require at least 5 observations,

at best 10:1 In this study, the sample size was 267 and 12.7 times bigger than the observed variables (21) So the sample size was eligible for the use of EFA method

(2) Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s Test: If the KMO indicator runs from 5 to 1, EFA would be applicable (Kaiser, 1974) The Bartlett’s Test shows that p < 05, it means that the variables have correlation together and the application of EFA is suitable

(3) Factor Loading: According to Hair et al (1998), factor loading is an indicator ensuring practical significance of EFA method If factor loading ≥ 30, it’s at minimum level; if factor loading ≥ 40, it is necessary and if it is ≥ 50, it is considered practical significance Furthermore, Hair et al (1998) advised that if factor loading ≥ 30, the sample size should be at least 350 If the sample size is about 100, we should choose the factor loading ≥ 55 If the sample size is about 50, the factor loading should be ≥ 75