An integrative approach to investigate antecedents, moderators and consequences of brand equity

The results show that all moderators have moderating effect on the influences of brand association and perceived quality on brand equity. Furthermore, involvement, switching costs, age, income, and loyalty program participation have moderating effect on the influence of brand equity on purchase intention. In contrast, gender and relationship age with brand have no moderating effect on the influence of brand equity on purchase intention. Since previous studies regarding the moderators of brand equity are limited and none of these studies has integrated these moderators into a more comprehensive model, the results of this study can provide an important reference for academicians and professionals to develop brand management strategies.

Vu Thanh Tu ANH - Fulbright University in Vietnam, USA

Le Xuan BA - Centural Institude for Economic Managerment, Vietnam

Hervé B BOISMERY - University of La Reuinion, France

H Eric BOUTIN - Toulon Var University, France

Nguyen Thi DOAN - Vietnam Learning Promotion Association, Vietnam

Haasis HANS - Dietrich - Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (isl) Bremen - Germany

Le Quoc HOI - National Economic University, Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Bich LOAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam

Nguyen Hoang LONG - Thuong mai University, Vietnam

Nguyen MAI - Vietnam Economist Association, Vietnam

Duong Thi Binh MINH - University of Economics HoChiMinh City, Vietnam

Hee Cheon MOON - Korean Trade Research Association, South Korea

Bui Xuan NHAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam

Luong Xuan QUY - Vietnam Economicst Association, Vietnam

Nguyen Van Song - Vietnam National University of Agriculture

Nguyen TAM - California State University, USA

Truong Ba THANH - University of Danang, Vietnam

Dinh Van THANH - Institude for Trade Research, Vietnam

Do Minh THANH - Thuong mai University, Vietnam

Le Dinh THANG - University of Québec à Trois Riviéres, Canada

Tran Dinh THIEN - Vietnam Institute of Economics, Vietnam

Nguyen Quang THUAN - Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam

Le Nhu TUYEN - Grenoble École de Managment, France

Washio TOMOHARU - Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan

Zhang YUJIE - Tsinghua University, China

THE Members

Deputy Editor in Chief

SECTRETARY OF EDITORIAL OFFICE

PHAM MINH DATEditor in EnglishNGUYEN THI LAN PHUONGEditorial SCIENTIFIC COUNCILDinh Van SON - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - President

Pham Vu LUAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - Vice President

Nguyen Bach KHOA - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - Deputy President

Trade Science

C O N T E N T S

1 Nguyen Thi Phuong LIEN - Solutions to Develop Government Bond Market in Vietnam

2 Nguyen Tran HUNG - Attract Online Customers to Job Websites in Vietnam

3 Nguyen Thi Kim OANH - Research Factors Affecting Hanoi Consumers Buying Decisions of

Fashion Products

4 Chu Viet CUONG - Trade development in the mountainous region of northern Vietnam: Lessons

from Chongqing and Yunnan, China

5 Dang Thi Minh NGUYET - Factors Affecting Productive Efficiency of Vietnam Joint Stock

Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade

6 Ying-Kai LIAO and Vu Minh QUAN and Alfiyatul Qomariyah - An Integrative Approach to

Investigate Antecedents, Moderators and Consequences of Brand Equity

Page

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33

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I INTRODUCTION

Over the past decades, brand equity has been

exten-sively discussed by academicians and practitioners It

becomes one of the most popular and important

mar-keting concepts (Atilgan, et al., 2005), because strong

brand equity may lead to higher business success(Shamma and Hassan, 2011) Brand equity is a strate-gic role in gaining competitive advantages and helpingmanagers to make strategic management decisions(Buil, et al., 2013) It can be an appropriate measure-

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Ying-Kai LiaoNanhua University, Taiwan Email: yksuper889@nhu.edu.tw

Vu Minh QuanNanhua University, TaiwanEmail: quanvu.griggs@gmail.comAlfiyatul QomariyahChinese Culture University, TaiwanEmail: alfiyatul.qomariah@gmail.comReceived: 16th January 2017 Revised: 15th February 2017 Approved: 20th February 2017

Keywords: brand association, perceived quality, brand equity, moderators, purchase intention

ver the past decade, brand equity has been extensively discussed by academicians and practitioners But,there is still a research gap in the development of a comprehensive research framework of the modera-tors of brand equity Therefore, the objectives of this study are first, to develop a comprehensive research model

of the moderators of brand equity; and second, to empirically test the developed research hypotheses.Methodology of this study is questionnaire survey from 323 cosmetics users There are 5 major moderators thatincluded in this study (e.g., experiential moderators, behavioral moderators, psychological moderators, demo-graphic moderators, and relational moderators) The results show that all moderators have moderating effect onthe influences of brand association and perceived quality on brand equity Furthermore, involvement, switchingcosts, age, income, and loyalty program participation have moderating effect on the influence of brand equity onpurchase intention In contrast, gender and relationship age with brand have no moderating effect on the influ-ence of brand equity on purchase intention Since previous studies regarding the moderators of brand equity arelimited and none of these studies has integrated these moderators into a more comprehensive model, the results

of this study can provide an important reference for academicians and professionals to develop brand ment strategies

manage-ment to evaluate long-term impact of marketing

deci-sions

Strong brand equity can distinguish a brand from

its competitor because it shows a signal of favorable

consumer associations and further affects both

finan-cial and non-finanfinan-cial results (Romaniuk and

Nenycz-Thiel, 2013) Positive customer-based brand equity

will lead to greater revenues, lower costs, and higher

profits It also has direct implications for company to

achieve premium price, consumers' willingness to seek

out new distribution channels, the effectiveness of

marketing communications, and the success of brand

extensions and licensing opportunities (Keller, 2003)

Moreover, strong brand equity can enhance consumers'

positive evaluation toward the brand and repurchase

behaviors (Buil, et al., 2013)

Moderating effect is important because it

systemat-ically modifies either the form and/or strength of the

relationship between independent variable and

dependent variable (Sharma, et al., 1981) Previous

studies regarding moderating effects of brand equity

are limited (e.g., Gammoh, et al., 2011; Chen, et al.,

2012) Evanschitzky and Wunderlich (2006) stated

that there are three potential moderating variables

widely used in consumer behaviors research, including

demographic (e.g., gender, age, etc.), relational (e.g.,

relationship age, etc.), and psychological (e.g., product

involvement, commitment, etc.) moderators (Davis

and Mentzer, 2008; Madrigal and Chen, 2008;

Raimondo, Miceli, and Costabile, 2008; Lee and

Ferreira, 2011; Sartore-Baldwin and Walker, 2011;

Chen, et al., 2012; Yoshida and Gordon, 2012; etc.)

However, an integration of relevant moderators of

brand equity is yet to be developed

However, all of the previous studies tended to

examine moderating variables individually They

did-n't focus on developing a comprehensive model

relat-ed with all possible moderators of brand equity This

study attempts to fill that research gap Therefore, the

objectives of this study are first, to develop a

compre-hensive research model of the moderators of brand

equity; and second, to empirically test the developed

hypotheses of the research model

II LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Brand Equity

Brand equity is the additional value to a product(good or service) by a brand name (Farquhar, 1989).According to M'zungu, et al (2010), there are two per-spectives of brand equity The first perspective camefrom North American scholars such as Aaker, Keller,and Berry which emphasized the cognitive customer-based It is well-known as customer-based view ofbrand equity Aaker (1991, 1992) conceptualized brandequity as five components of sources such as brandloyalty, brand awareness, perceived brand quality,brand associations (or brand image), perceived quality,and other proprietary assets (e.g., patents, trademarks,and channel relationships) Furthermore, Keller (1993)viewed brand equity as the level of awareness andfamiliarity; and the strength, favorability, and unique-ness of brand associations that consumers hold inmemory In the service industry context, the companyoften represents the brand itself (M'zungu et al., 2010).Berry (2000) suggested that in addition to brandawareness, brand meaning also contributes to brandequity Brand meaning is the customer's dominant per-ceptions of the brand Consumer's perception brandmeaning is derived from the presented brand, externalbrand communications, and consumer's experiencewith the company

2.2 Hypotheses Development2.2.1 The Moderating Effect of ExperientialModerators

This study proposes that there are six variables ofexperiential moderators which will moderate the influ-ences of brand association and perceived quality onbrand equity Experiential moderators consist of expe-riential perception, entertainment value, aestheticvalue, brand attachment, enjoyment value, and hedonicattitude Experiential perception is the interactionsbetween a customer and a brand's product which pro-vokes a reaction (LaSalle & Britton, 2003; Shaw &Ivens, 2005) Entertainment value can be defined as apleasant experiential state which includes physiologi-JOURNAL OF

cal, cognitive, and affective components (Vorderer et

al., 2004) Aesthetic value is the appreciation of the

formal, expressive, and symbolic quality of a brand's

product (Fiotre and Kimle, 1997) Brand attachment is

the strength of the cognitive and affective bond's

con-nection of the brand and customers themselves (Park et

al., 2006) Enjoyment value is the extent to which the

shopping activity is perceived to provide

reinforce-ment in its own right, apart from any anticipated

per-formance consequences (Childers et al., 2001)

Hedonic attitude is the consumption of a brand's

prod-uct which involves emotional arousal (Holbrook &

Hirschman, 1982)

Several previous studies have examined the role of

experiential variables as moderating variables (e.g.,

Bennett, et al., 2005; Rodgers, et al., 2005; Lee and

Murphy, 2008; Polo-Pena, et al., 2013; Yoon, et al.,

2013; Frank, et al., 2014) Thus, this study proposes

that experiential moderators (e.g., experiential

percep-tion, entertainment value, aesthetic value, brand

attachment, enjoyment value, and hedonic attitude)

will moderate the influences brand association and

per-ceived quality on brand equity Therefore, the

follow-ing hypotheses are developed:

Hypothesis 1 Experiential moderators such as (a)

experiential perception, (b) entertainment value, (c)

aesthetic value, (d) brand attachment, (e) enjoyment

value, and (f) hedonic attitude have moderating effect

on the positive influence of brand association on brand

equity

Hypothesis 2 Experiential moderators such as (a)

experiential perception, (b) entertainment value, (c)

aesthetic value, (d) brand attachment, (e) enjoyment

value, and (f) hedonic attitude have moderating effect

on the positive influence of perceived quality on brand

equity

2.2.2 The Moderating Effect of Behavioral Factors

Behavioral moderators consist of brand

personali-ty, brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand

commit-ment Brand personality can be defined as human

char-acteristics which associated with a brand (Aaker,

1997) Brand satisfaction is the favorable affective

response of customer toward a brand, brand trust iscustomers' confidence about a brand's reliability andintegrity, and brand commitment is customers' desire

to maintain a relationship with a brand Franco, et al., 2009)

(Sanchez-Pappu and Quester (2006) examined based retailer equity would vary according to con-sumer satisfaction levels with the retailer They foundthat brand awareness, brand associations, and per-ceived quality vary significantly according to con-sumer satisfaction levels with the retailer Ha (2009)examined the moderating effect of brand loyalty on therelationship between physical and overall retail servicequality and brand equity Thus, this study proposes thatbrand personality, brand satisfaction, brand trust, andbrand commitment will moderate the influences ofbrand association and perceived quality on brand equi-

consumer-ty Therefore, following hypotheses are developed:Hypothesis 3 Behavioral moderators such as (a)brand personality, (b) brand satisfaction, (c) brandtrust, and (d) brand commitment have moderatingeffect on the positive influence of brand association onbrand equity

Hypothesis 4 Behavioral moderators such as (a)brand personality, (b) brand satisfaction, (c) brandtrust, and (d) brand commitment have moderatingeffect on the positive influence of perceived quality onbrand equity

2.2.3 The Moderating Effects of PsychologicalModerators

This study proposes that there are two variables ofpsychological moderators which will moderate therelationship between brand association, perceivedquality, and brand equity as well as between brandequity and purchase intention Those variables areinvolvement and switching costs First, involvement isimportant for consumers' purchasing behavior becauseit's based on their needs, values, and interests (Seiders,

et al., 2005) Chen, et al (2012) posited that theinvolvement moderates the relationship between brandequity and purchase intention, but the result was notsignificant Thus, this study argues that when con-

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sumers are highly involved, highly associated, and

have high perceived quality with a brand, it is likely to

enhance brand equity Therefore, the following

hypothesis is developed:

Hypothesis 5 High involvement consumers will

strengthen the positive effects of (a) brand association

and (b) perceived quality on brand equity

Hypothesis 5c High involvement consumers will

strengthen the positive effect of brand equity on

pur-chase intention

Second, switching costs can be economic,

psycho-logical, and emotional terms (Yang and Peterson,

2004; Aydin et al., 2005) In the psychological term, it

has effect on the consumers' psychology of becoming

new consumer of a new brand, and on the time and

effort involved in buying a new brand (Kim et al.,

2003) Results of previous studies have showed that

switching costs has a significant moderating effect on

customer loyalty through satisfaction (e.g., Lee, Lee,

and Feick, 2001); on customer satisfaction through

customer sensitivity (e.g., Hauser, Simester, and

Wernerfelt, 1994); on relationship commitment

through trust and satisfaction (Sharma and Patterson,

2000); and on purchase intention through brand equity

(Chen and Chang, 2008) This study thus proposes that

switching costs will moderate the relationship between

brand association, perceived quality, and brand equity

as well as between brand equity and purchase

inten-tion Therefore, the following hypothesis is developed:

Hypothesis 6 High switching costs will strengthen

the positive effects of (a) brand association and (b)

perceived quality on brand equity

Hypothesis 6c High switching costs will

strength-en the positive effect of brand equity on purchase

intention

2.2.4 The Moderating Effects of Demographic

Moderators

This study proposes that there are three

demo-graphic moderators which will moderate the

relation-ship between brand association, perceived quality,

and brand equity and the relationship between brand

equity and purchase intention The first variable is

age Age is one of important demographic istics of which previous researches have been exam-ined (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Mattel andKamakura, 2001; Yoshida and Gordon, 2012).Previous researches have showed that younger con-sumers' choice decisions rely more on process-basedservice evaluations than on outcome-based productevaluations (Homburg and Giering, 2001) and theinfluences of brand equity and relationship equitywere stronger for younger consumers than for olderconsumers because younger consumers are moreinfluenced by brand image (Yoshida and Gordon,2012) Thus, this study proposes that age will moder-ate the relationship between brand associations, per-ceived quality, and brand equity as well as betweenbrand equity and purchase intention Therefore, thefollowing hypothesis is developed:

character-Hypothesis 7 Younger consumers will strengthenthe positive effects of (a) brand associations and (b)perceived quality on brand equity

Hypothesis 7c Younger consumers will

strength-en the positive effect of brand equity on purchaseintention

The second variable is gender Previous studieshave also shown that gender has influence on con-sumer decision-making (Homburg and Giering, 2001;Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Yoshida and Gordon,2012) Similar to younger consumers, women con-sumers' purchasing behaviors are strongly influenced

by the personal interaction process (Homburg andGiering, 2001) Previous studies results have shownthat the relationship between consumer satisfactionand loyalty is stronger for men than for women(Homburg and Giering, 2001; Mittal and Kamakura,2001) This study thus proposes that gender will mod-erate the relationship between brand equity and pur-chase intention Therefore, the following hypothesis isdeveloped:

Hypothesis 8 Women consumers will strengthenthe positive effects of (a) brand associations and (b)perceived quality on brand equity

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Hypothesis 8c Women consumers will

strength-en the positive effect of brand equity on purchase

intention

The last variable is personal income On previous

studies, personal income has been examined to have

strong effect on purchasing decisions (Homburg and

Giering, 2001) Consumers with higher income tend to

engage more in information processing and seeking

new information about a product and their purchasing

decision are based on the evaluation of that

informa-tion Thus, this study proposes that income will

mod-erate the effect of brand equity on purchase intention

Therefore, the following hypothesis is developed:

Hypothesis 9 High income consumers will

strengthen the positive effects of (a) brand associations

and (b) perceived quality on brand equity

Hypothesis 9c High income consumers will

strengthen the positive effect of brand equity on

pur-chase intention

2.2.5 The Moderating Effects of Relational

Moderators

Previous studies have identified two relational

moderators which will moderate the relationship

between brand equity and purchase intention The first

moderator is relationship age Previous studies also

suggested that relationship age enhances the predictive

power of consumer satisfaction on behavioral

conse-quences (Yoshida and Gordon, 2012; Raimondo et al.,

2008; Seiders, et al., 2005; Verhoef, et al., 2002)

Verhoef (2003) and Verhoef, et al (2002) found that

relationship age can moderate the relationship between

satisfaction and retention and the number of serviced

purchased Therefore, the following hypothesis is

developed:

Hypothesis 10 Longer relationship age consumers

will strengthen the positive effects of (a) brand

associ-ations and (b) perceived quality on brand equity

Hypothesis 10c Longer relationship age

con-sumers will strengthen the positive effect of brand

equity on purchase intention

The second moderator is loyalty program

participa-tion Loyalty program is company initiatives which

targeting consumers who agree to exchanges that may

be complementary to their purchase transactions(Seiders, et al., 2005) This loyalty program canincrease consumers' retention by increasing con-sumers' trust and commitment and by enhancing theperception of consumers of the relationship investment(Rust, Lemon, and Zeithaml, 2004) De Wulf et al.(2001) found that relationship programs promoteretention by enhancing consumers' perceptions of afirm's relationship investment This study proposesthat relationship program participation can moderatethe relationship between brand equity and purchaseintention Therefore, the following hypothesis isdeveloped:

Hypothesis 11 More loyalty program participationwill strengthen the positive effects of (a) brand associ-ations and (b) perceived quality on brand equity.Hypothesis 11c More loyalty program participa-tion will strengthen the positive effect of brand equity

on purchase intention

Based on the above hypotheses development, acomprehensive research model is shown in Figure 1below: (Figure 1)

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 Data Collection

The data were collected through both paper-basedsurvey and online survey Totally, 361 data were col-lected from cosmetics users in Taiwan and Indonesia.Among them, 301 are from Taiwan and 60 are fromIndonesia Online questionnaire was conducted onlyfor Indonesian respondents Due to some missing data,only 323 usable questionnaires were used for furtheranalysis

3.2 Construct MeasurementThis study operationalized 8 major constructs Allmeasurement items used 7-point Likert Scale from1="strongly disagree" to 7="strongly agree" Theantecedents of brand equity are brand awareness,brand associations, and perceived quality The meas-urement items of brand awareness (5 items), brandassociations (7 items), and perceived quality (5 items)were adapted from Yoo et al (2000) and Netemeyer et

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al (2004) The measurement items of brand equity

were adapted from Yoshida and Gordon (2012) and

consists of value equity (5 items), psychological

equi-ty (8 items), and relational equiequi-ty (5 items) The

con-sequence of brand equity is purchase intention The

measurement items of purchase intention (5 items)

were adapted from Yoshida and Gordon (2012)

The moderator variables of this study consist of

experiential moderators, behavioral moderators,

psy-chological moderators, demographic moderators, and

relational moderators Experiential moderators consist

of experiential perception (6 items), entertainment

value (5 items), aesthetic value (7 items) which

meas-urement items were adapted from Sheng and Teo

(2012); brand attachment (5 items) which

measure-ment items were adapted from Corroll and Ahuvia

(2006); enjoyment value (5 items) which measurementitems were adapted from Chaudhuri and Holbrook(2001), and Childers et al (2001); and hedonic attitude(5 items) which measurement items were adapted fromSarkar (2011) Behavioral moderators consist of brandpersonality (11 items) which measurement itemsadapted from Geuens et al (2009) and Emari et al.(2012); brand satisfaction (5 items) which measure-ment items were adapted from Ragunathan and Irwin(2001); brand trust (5 items) which measurement itemsadapted from He, Li, and Harris (2012); and brandcommitment (5 items) which measurement items wereadapted from Coulter, Price, and Feick (2003).Psychological moderators consist of involvementand switching costs The measurement items ofinvolvement (5 items) were adapted from Trijp, Hoyer,JOURNAL OF

Figure 1: Research Model

Purchase Intention

Psychological Moderators Involvement Switching Costs

Demographic Moderators Age Gender Income

Brand Equity

Relational Moderators Relationship Age Loyalty Program Participation

Behavioral Moderators Brand Personality Brand Satisfaction Brand Trust Brand Commitment

Antecedents

Brand Association

Perceived Quality

Experiential Moderators Experiential Perception Entertainment Value Aesthetic Value Brand Attachment Enjoyment Value Hedonic Attitude

amd Inman (1996), and Malär et al (2011) and the

measurement items of switching costs (5 items) were

adapted from Jones, Mothersbaugh, and Beatty (2000)

Relational moderators consist of loyalty program

par-ticipation and relationship age The measurement

items of loyalty program participation (5 items) were

adapted from Rosenbaum, Ostrom, and Kuntze (2005)

and relationship age has 1 measurement item which

adapted from Verhoef, Franses, and Hoekstra (2002)

IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Descriptive Analysis

Table 1 shows the characteristics of respondents

such as gender, age, education, working experience,

current career, and annual income More than 85% of

the respondents are female with more than 75%

between 18-25 years old More than 70% of the

respondents are students and have bachelor degree as

education background 45.5% of the respondents

have working experience less than 3 years and 86.7%

of the respondents have annual income less than 0.5

million NTD (Table 1)

4.2 Factor Analysis and Reliability

This study conducted factor analysis, item-to-total

correlation, and Cronbach's alpha tests to ensure the

dimensionality and reliability of the research

con-structs Table 2 shows that factor loadings of all the

questionnaire items are higher than 0.6 (0.631-0.931),

all item-to-total correlation coefficients are higher than

0.5 (0.547-0.886) except one item of relationship

equi-ty which is 0.496, and Cronbach's alpha of all the

fac-tors are also higher than 0.8 (0.813-0.938) All the

val-ues exceed the generally accepted guideline from Hair,

et al (2010) which we can conclude that all of the

questionnaire items are appropriated to be used for

fur-ther analysis because it shows high degree of internal

consistency (Table 2)

4.3 Hypotheses Results

4.3.1 Moderating Effects of Experiential

Moderators

To test the moderating effect of experiential

mod-erators (e.g., experiential perception, entertainment

value, aesthetic value, brand attachment, enjoyment

value, and hedonic attitude), this study divided therespondents into four groups as the between-subjectsfactors in ANOVA model based on two levels of eachindependent variable (high vs low) and two levels ofeach experiential moderator (high vs low) Based onFigure 2, customers with high experiential perception,high entertainment value, high aesthetic value, highbrand attachment, high enjoyment value, and positivehedonic attitude tend to stimulate higher influencebrand association (F=61.961-79.288 all with p=0.000)

on brand equity

Customers with high brand association and highexperiential perception (X = 5.56), high entertainmentvalue (X = 5.63), high aesthetic value (X = 5.62), highbrand attachment (X = 5.66), high enjoyment value(X=5.55), and positive hedonic attitude (X = 5.58) tend

to stimulate higher brand equity than customers withlow brand associations (X = 4.76-4.92) In terms ofperceived quality, the result of cluster analysis showsonly three groups of respondents without high experi-ential perception, high entertainment value, high aes-thetic value, high brand attachment, high enjoymentvalue, and positive hedonic attitude-low perceivedquality respondents This situation seems to suggestthat respondents in high experiential perception, highentertainment value, high aesthetic value, high brandattachment, high enjoyment value, and positive hedo-nic attitude do not experience on low perceived quali-

ty, they always perceived the brand product as highquality Customers with high experiential perception(F=103.424, p=0.000), high entertainment value(F=102.732, p=0.000), high aesthetic value(F=122.608, p=0.000), high brand attachment(F=144.011, p=0.000), high enjoyment value(F=111.367, p=0.000), and positive hedonic attitude(F=114.818, p=0.000) tend to stimulate higher influ-ence of perceived quality on brand equity Thus, H1and H2 are supported (Figure 2)

4.3.2 Moderating Effects of Behavioral Moderators

To test the moderating effect of behavioral ators (e.g., brand personality, brand satisfaction, brandtrust, and brand commitment), this study divided the

moder-JOURNAL OF

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_ _ _ _ _

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Table 1: Characteristics of Respondents

Classification Frequency Respondents Percentage (%)

respondents into four groups as the between-subjects

factors in ANOVA model based on two levels of each

independent variable (high vs low) and two levels of

each behavioral moderator (high vs low) Based on

Figure 3, customers with high brand personality, high

brand satisfaction, high brand trust, and high brand

commitment tend to stimulate higher influence of

brand association (F=57.384-113.863 all with

p=0.000) on brand equity

Customers with high brand association and highbrand personality (X = 5.41), high brand satisfaction(X = 5.43), high brand trust (X = 5.37), and high brandcommitment (X = 5.57) tend to stimulate higher brandequity than customers with low brand association(X=4.56-4.94) In terms of brand trust, the result ofcluster analysis shows only three groups of respon-

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Table 2 Factor Analysis and Reliability

Variables Number of items Loadings Factor Eigen value

Percentage of VarianceExplained

Item to total correlation Cronbach's á Brand

_ _