1. Introduction
Nowadays, the smartphone is a part of our daily life (Goldman, 2010; Shin, 2012; Filieri et al., 2017). The number of populations across the world has currently owned the smartphone at 40%
or 3.2 billion people, which can refer to the market shares statistic of the operating system has found the Android operating system has covered to 87%, and the iOS has dominated 13% (Statista, 2019). Google developed the Andriod system that has no charge, which can decrease market shares of influential brands like Samsung (Rezaei, Mazaheri, Azadavar, 2017). The premium smartphones segment has price surpassing than USD 400, and they have been using the high-end materials and hardware for made them premium smartphones. The global market Apple led the premium segment with a 57% market share, followed by Samsung and Huawei (Counterpointresearch, 2020).
International Journal of Technology Management and Information System eISSN: 2710-6268 [Vol. 2 No. 3 September 2020]
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijtmis
BRAND EXPERIENCE, BRAND LOVE, AND BRAND ADVOCACY: A CASE OF PREMIUM SMARTPHONE
Anon Khamwon1* and Pongpanit Masri2
1 2 Faculty of Business Administration and Accountancy, Khon Kaen University, THAILAND
*Corresponding author: [email protected] Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 8 June 2020 Revised date : 6 August 2020 Accepted date : 10 August 2020 Published date : 25 September 2020 To cite this document:
Khamwon, A., & Masri, P. (2020).
BRAND EXPERIENCE, BRAND LOVE, AND BRAND ADVOCACY: A CASE OF PREMIUM SMARTPHONE.
International Journal Of Technology Management And Information System, 2(3), 24-30.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the interrelationship among Brand Experience, Brand Love, and Brand Advocacy of the premium smartphone in Bangkok, Thailand. Questionnaires were used as tools in collecting data from 200 customers. Data collection was analysed using Path Analysis. The results of the study revealed that Brand Experience, consisting of sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual, has direct and indirect influence on Brand Advocacy through Brand Love.
Keywords: Brand Experience, Brand Love, Brand Advocacy.
and Apple have the market shares over 50%. Additionally, the premium smartphone from China has taken Thailand's market share of the premium smartphone industry such as Huawei, Xiaomi.
Nowadays, users tend to change the new smartphones if there is a retardation of the current smartphone's operating system and if arising of dissatisfaction with the existing brands (Levesque and McDougall, 1996; Junaid, Hou, Hussain and Kirmani, 2019). Therefore, the researcher is interested in the study of the branding and marketing of a premium smartphone for retaining the current consumers in the long-term.
2. Literature Review Brand Experience
Brakus et al. (2009) theorize brand experience as sensory, affective, cognitive, behavioral, and social responses. It was evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand’s design and identity (e.g., colors, shapes, slogans), packaging, communications, and environments. Barnes et al. (2014) developed a tool consisting of 12 questions to measure destination brand experience in the context of tourist attractions. The work of Shahzad, Bilal, Xiao, Yousaf (2019) showed the impact of smartphone brand experience on brand equity. The findings illustrated that the hedonic feelings, practical emotions and brand personality mediate the relation between brand experience and brand equity.
Brand Love
Brand love is the structural relationship part between consumers and brand, which is more intense than liking (Heinrich et al., 2012; Fetcherin and Heinrich, 2014). Consumers with a brand relationship can express their feelings about the brand through the story of love because consumers have relationships and emotions with the brand (Halilovic, 2013). According to consumers begin to have the relationship and emotional along with brand (Batra et al., 2012). Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) have defined the degree of consumer expression toward the brand into five-level includes the passion for the brand, attachment to the brand, positive evaluation of the brand, positives emotions in response to the brand, and declarations of love for the brand.
Brand Advocacy
Brand advocacy can be defined as when a customer of the brand talks in favor of the brand and its offering. The influential consumers have built with substantial connection with the brand or company at a fundamental, emotional level. These consumers are not merely repeating purchasers of a brand. They were profiled as those who are passionate about a brand, those who feel that a brand or company’s product is a must-have not only a nice-to-have, and those who wouldn’t stop talking to other consumers about how the brand changed their life (McConnell and Huba 2003;
Yaverbaum et al. 2006). The advocacy of word-of-mouth is strong when the message is conveyed in a firm, assertive, and passionate manner and through the usage of body language (e.g., gestures, eye-contact). The significant event on both the source and receiver when the message involves rich
2.1 Problem Statement
This study aims to investigate the interrelationship among Brand Experience, Brand Love, and Brand Advocacy of the premium smartphone.
3. Method
This quantitative research utilized the field-survey questionnaires to study the interrelationship among Brand Experience, Brand Love, and Brand Advocacy of the premium smartphone in Thailand. Data collection is primarily analyzed by using Path Analysis.
3.1 Materials
The study was used questionnaires as a tool for collecting data from a sample group of 200 respondents. The questionnaire has divided into five parts, including 1) general information, 2) screening questions, 3) brand experience, 4) brand love, and 5) brand advocacy.
3.1.1 Samples
The questionnaires are distributed and selected respondents against the judgment sampling technique. The data was collected from 200 respondents, who have been using a premium smartphone and residing in Bangkok, Thailand. The researcher began a collection of data for the study from 1st to 29th February 2019. The majority of 200 respondents are female, accounted for 52%, and 48% of them are male. Their ages are mainly between 20 -25 years old, accounted for 73.5%. Their monthly incomes are between 10,001 - 20,000 baht, accounted for 42%.
3.1.2 Site
The study framework was developed based on a comprehensive review of the literature. The sample size is the 200 respondents that have an appropriate for the reason that sample great for representations toward target populations cite supported from the literature reviews.
3.1.3 Procedures
The conceptual framework of the study, illustrated the relationship between brand experience, brand love, and brand advocacy is revealing in Figure1.
H1 H2
H3
Figure 1: A Conceptual Framework.
BrandExperience Brand Love BrandAdvocacy
brand experience and brand love, H2: There will be a positive relationship between brand love and brand advocacy, and H3: There will be a positive relationship between brand experience and brand advocacy.
3.2 Measurement
The measurement instrument in this research was the questionnaire developed from literature reviews. The brand experience has to adapt from Brakus et al. (2009), consists of 12 questions.
Brand love was adjusted from Halilovic (2013), includes nine questions. Brand advocacy was modified from Kotler (2017), which consists of five questions part. A 7-point Likert scale was utilised for estimation. Similarly, the data were principally examined through Path Analysis.
3.3 Data Analysis
To analyze the data and answer the research question, this study used the SPSS 26.0 program for descriptive statistical analysis and The AMOS 21.0 for Path Analysis.
3.3.1 Validity and Reliability
The analysis revealed that the values of Cronbach's Alpha are higher than 0.70. The values of Cronbach's Alpha are between .77 and .82. Thus, the measurements used in this study are within the acceptable level (Hair et al., 2010; Kline, 2010). Table 1 shows the results of Cronbach’s Alpha. The mean values of questionnaire items were between 4.79 and 5.21, and the values of standard deviation were between 0.97 and 1.08. The values of skewness of the data ranged from - .465 to -.765 and kurtosis ranged from -.017 to 1.54 all values for the items fall within the range of -2 to 2. Hence, the data collected in the study were normally distributed (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). Furthermore, the tests of correlation matrix ranged from .505 to .735, VIF ranged from 1.447 to 2.347, Tolerance ranged from .426 to .691 revealed that no problem of multicollinearity (Stevens, 2009).
Table 1: The results of Cronbach's alpha
Variables Cronbach's Alpha
Brand Experience 0.825
Brand Love 0.779
Brand Advocacy 0.809
4. Results and Discussion
The path analysis revealed the component of brand experience, brand love, and brand advocacy as follows: 1) Brand Experience (12 questions), 2) Brand Love (6 questions), and 3) Brand advocacy (5 questions).
Path Analysis
Figure 2: The Path Analysis Result
The results of the path analysis revealed coherence with empirical data. Brand experience has positive relationship with brand love and brand advocacy. In addition, Brand love has positive relationship with brand advocacy in figure 2.
Table2: Summary of the Findings of the Study.
No. Hypothesis β t-value Result
H1 Brand experience will have a positive relationship with brand love.
0.53 8.799*** Supported
H2 Brand love will have a positive relationship with brand advocacy.
0.65 11.714*** Supported H3 Brand experience will have a positive relationship
with brand advocacy.
0.16 2.893** Supported R2BL =0.28, R2BA =0.56
*P < .05, **P < .01, ***P < .001
From Table 2, The hypotheses can be seen all supported. The standardized evaluations for hypotheses all statistics are significantly (β = .53; P < .001, β = .65; P < .001, β = .16; P < .01).
The results was supported hypothesis from the study is reveal 56% explaining of the variance in brand advocacy.
BrandExperience 0.53 *** Brand Love 0.65 *** BrandAdvocacy
0.16 **
The study can provide some insights into the influence of brand experience to brand love and brand advocacy of the premium smartphone. The result of the study revealed that Brand Experience, consisting of sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual, has direct and indirect influence on Brand Advocacy. The findings of the study help provide a better understanding of the IT branding and help the smartphone brand develop the strategies that appeal to customers and strengthen brand advocacy.
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