Simplified structural modeling of loyalty acquisition based on the conceptual clustering model

摘要

The paper evaluates the role of brand image and the mediating effects of perceived value on customer loyalty in a branded café setting. While customer satisfaction is typically a necessity for customer loyalty, customer satisfaction does not necessarily equate to acquisition of customer loyalty for reasons that there are other situational variables involved. The proposed structural equation methodology forgoes the construct of perceived quality that had appeared in most of conventional models. Instead, the study treats perceived quality as a latent variable of perceived value while bypassing another independent construct (customer satisfaction) in the customer loyalty linkage. Drawing upon a large sample of patrons from Dazzling Café, the findings suggest that customer loyalty is predicted by perceived value. While brand image has an indirect effect on customer loyalty via perceived value, the correlation between brand image and customer loyalty is ambiguous.