DETERMINANTS OF BRAND LOYALTY: EXAMINING THE MEDIATING ROLE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND SWITCHING COSTS

Abstract

This paper will examine the brand loyalty determinants within the smartphone industry in Pakistan by applying the mediating power of customer satisfaction and moderating power of social media and switching cost. Data were gathered with the help of a cross-sectional survey design, which was analyzed using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping and including 600 smartphone users as the subjects. Findings show that customer satisfaction is strongly predicted by product quality (b = 0.208), service quality (b = 0.210), price of the product (b = 0.183), brand image (b = 0.238), and brand trust (b = 0.182) and this in turn is a very strong predictor of brand loyalty (b = 0.623). All the five antecedents have a significant moderating effect on brand loyalty which occurs via customer satisfaction although brand image has the largest indirect effect (b = 0.148). The social media have a small negative direct relationship with customer satisfaction (b = [?]0.088) and a strong positive effect on all antecedent-satisfaction relationships, which has supported moderated mediated effects. Switching costs are neither a direct predictor of brand loyalty (b = [?]0.034) nor a mediator of the satisfaction-loyalty relationship (b = 0.076, ns). The results indicate that customer satisfaction is a central factor in the formation of loyalty and social media represents an important boundary condition that determines the satisfaction and loyalty rates.