Abstract Purpose: This study examines the relationship between brand equity and customer behavioral intentions to repeat purchases, willingness to pay a price premium, switch and provide positive word of mouth. It further explores the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating impact of customer age, education and gender on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from two hundred and eighty-three (283) banking customers and analyzed with structural equation modeling. Findings: The results supported a strong relationship between brand equity and all four measures of behavioral intent with customer satisfaction partially mediating these relationships. In addition, the results supported the moderating effect of customer age and education on the customer satisfaction-switch relationship. Implications: The study provides a useful perspective on the impact of brand building investments on consumers behavioral intentions, which bank managers can use to monitor and evaluate the outcome of branding initiatives and relationship management strategies. Originality/value: The study provides a nuanced understanding of the effect of brand equity on consumer behavioral intentions. It also explains the mediating and moderating effects of customer satisfaction and demographical characteristics. Paper Type: Research Paper

۱٫ INTRODUCTION

The resilience of brands in today’s fragile and competitive environment have emphasized the strategic importance of effective branding. Arguably, strong brands boost customer acquisition, retention, market share, and profitability. However, in banking services, the benefits of brands are more intricate, given that names illuminate invisible purchases with comfort and reassurances. This point is supported by Berry (2000): “a strong brand is a heaven for services given invisibility of services makes them an appealing proposition for customers. It is the foundation for developing a trust-base relationship with customers. A strong service brand is essentially a promise of future satisfaction” (p. 129). The literature on brand equity is heavily focused on its antecedents (Rambocas, Kirpalani and Simms, 2014; Pinar et al., 2016; Fatma, Rahman and Khan, 2015; Jahanzeb, Fatima and Butt, 2013). Much less work examined the outcome of brand equity on performance parameters (Christodoulides and De Chernatony, 2010; Buil, Martínez and de Chernatony, 2013). This paucity is significant to bank managers and brand owners throughout the world given today’s harsh business environment and consistent calls to justify expenditure on brand building initiatives. Consequently, evaluating the impact of marketing efforts should be on the front burner of banking literature. To this end, the relationship between brand equity and performance indicators is attracting the attention of scholars (Baldauf, Cravens and Binder, 2003; Tolba and Hassan, 2009). The marketing literature is brimming with studies which evaluated the financial consequences of brand investments on sales revenue, profit margins, and share price (Baldauf et al., 2003; Kim, Kim and An, 2003; de Mortanges and Van Reil, 2003; Buil et al., 2013). Baldauf et al. (2003) support the impact of perceived brand equity on favorable firm and consumerrelated outcomes including profitability, sales volume and value. Likewise, Kim, Kim and An (2003) tested the effect of customer-based brand equity on the financial performance of hotels and concluded that hotels with high customer-based brand equity have higher sales revenue and enjoy favorable financial results. Buil et al. (2013) investigated the influence of brand equity on customer responses and supported a robust and direct relationship between brand equity and customer brand preference, willingness to pay price premiums, brand extension and purchase intentions. However, although important, these studies have ignored the financial industry and have failed to account for the uniqueness of this service category.

چکیده

هدف: این مطالعه رابطه ی بین ارزش ویژه برند و تمایلات مشتری را برای تکرار خرید، تمایل به پرداخت (نرخ) حق بیمه و جایگزینی و بازار یابی دهان به دهان میسنجد. علاوه بر آن، این مطالعه نقش غیر مستقیم رضایت مشتری و تاثیر متقابل سن، تحصیلات و نوع این روابط را بررسی میکند.
طرح / روش شناسی/ رویکرد: اطلاعات از دویست و هشتاد و سه (۲۸۳) مشتری بانکی گرد آوری شد و با مدل سازی ساختاری مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت.
یافته ها: نتایج غیر مستقیم از رابطه ی قوی بین ارزش ویژه برند و تمامی چهار معیار تمایلات با رضایت مشتری پشتیبانی میکند. علاوه بر این از تاثیر متقابل سن و تحصیلات مشتریان بر رابطه رضایت- (نارضایتی) تغییر رابطه پشتیبانی میکند.
مفهوم: این مطالعه یک چشم انداز کاربردی درباره ی تاثیر سرمایه گذاری ساخت برند بر تمایل های رفتاری مشتری عرضه میکند، که مدیران بانک میتوانند با بازبینی و ارزیابی نتایج بدست آمده از ابتکارهای عمل برند سازی و راهبرد های مدیریت روابط استفاده کنند.
اصلیت/ روش: این مطالعه برداشت مختصری درباره ی تاثیر کیفیت برند بر تمایلات مشتری فراهم میکند. همچنین اثرات غیر مستقیم و متعادل رضایت مشتری و ویژگی های جمعیتی را بیان میکند.
نوع مقاله: پژوهشی