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Abstract
The purposes of this quantitative study are to identify the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty and to test the moderating role of brand equity and the mediating role of marketing mix strategy on this relationship. The population in this research was selected as customers from four retail chain stores in Taiwan, resulting in 200 individual surveys for analysis. The results indicated brand equity, service quality, and marketing mix strategy have significant and positive relationship on customer loyalty. The results also supported the hypotheses that brand equity moderated the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, and marketing mix strategy presented partial mediating effect on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty through path analysis. Finally, this research generated the recommendations for corporate operations and suggested future scholar studies.
Key Words: Brand Equity, Marketing Mix Strategy, Service Quality, Customer Loyalty, Retail Chain Stores
Introduction and Theoretical Foundation
Current enterprises recognize both service quality and customer loyalty are critical factors to maintain the competency for business development. Deming (1981) and Garvin (1987) identified the service quality is the satisfaction for matching the customers' demand. Customer loyalty has been regards as the key indicator for customer retention. Oliver (1997) claimed the customer loyalty will drive customers to buy the same brand products even competitors' have better offers. Jones and Sasser (1995) indicated the customer loyalty is the behavioral intention to maintain the relationship between customer and service suppliers. The issues of brand equity and marketing mix strategy have been discussed in the academy field and recognized as necessary tools for building corporate competency in business world. Lo (2012) claimed brand equity may strengthen intangible assets and create overall success for companies. Ponnam (2011) indicated the most common brand equity model encompasses five dimensions, such as brand awareness, perceived quality, brand royalty, brand association, and other proprietary asset. This model has been empirically applied in previous researches (Atilgan, Aksoy, and Akinci, 2005; Kim and Kim, 2004; Yoo, Donthu, and Lee, 2000).
The most well known marketing mix strategy tools are the 4 Ps model. McCarthy and Perreault (1994) suggested the 4 Ps model that the marketing mix strategy encompasses four factors, such as Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Service quality has been recognized as...