مطالعات مدیریت راهبردی (Dec 2023)
Development of service brand judgment model from customers' point of view
Abstract
IntroductionThe purpose of this study is to investigate the service brand verdict model as one of the most widely used service brand models in the Karafarin Bank as one one the privates banks of Islamic Republic of Irand and its development. Therefore, in the first phase of this research, after collecting literature related to service brand models and studying the background of service brand verdict model, the researcher reached his proposed model in this research. This model suggests that bank customers form a mindset of brand quality in their minds before verdict a brand. The next point is that the research literature led the researcher to the conclusion that the service brand model does not end with the customers verdict the brand; Therefore, it is assumed that after judging the brand, the intention to buy again and then loyalty to the brand occurs.Methodology The research method used in this article is a mixed method. In the qualitative section, the proposed research model which is extracted from the study of literature and research background by the researcher, with Fuzzy Delphi Technique has been evaluated by a panel of experts including five banking specialists and five university marketing professors. After that, the extracted model was presented to the panel of experts in the first phase and their opinions were collected in the next stage, and according to the extent of their disagreement in the two stages, it was decided which variables remain in the model. Then, according to the final model which accepted by the panel of experts, the questionnaire was prepared as a measurement tool in the quantitative section and after confirming its reliability and validity, the questionnaire was distributed and collected among a sample of 384 customers of Karafarin Bank in Tehran (capital of Iran) by cluster random sampling. In this research the data analysis was performed by Structural Equation Modeling using Smart PLS software.Results and Discussion The research findings confirmed the relationships between the hypotheses and showed that the effect of brand hearsay on brand evidence. In this research the effect of brand hearsay which consist of controlled variables (advertisments and promotions) and uncontorolled variables (publicity and word of mouth) on customer satisfaction has been proven. The brand evidence which is consist of brand name, brand value or price, core service, physical environment, service provider employee, feelings and self-image congruity also affects on customer satisfaction.Based on the findings of the research the effect of brand evidence and brand hearsay on brand attitude has been confirmed by the customers of Karafarin Bank. Customer satisfaction affects the attitude towards the brand. Brand attitude affects the perceived quality. Also it is proven that the perceived quality affects the brand verdict. According to the findings of this research the brand verdict affects the repurchase intention of the customer. It has been proven that at the end of this path and as an conclusion of the model customer loyalty will appear.Conclusion Brand loyalty is strongly influenced by both types of service cues, namely brand hearsay and brand evidence. Both the tangible dimensions of the service and its intangible dimensions, along with advertisements and promotion programs, strongly affect the consumer's behavior at every stage of his brand experience consist of his satisfaction, attitude, perception of quality, vedict toward the brand, intention to repurchase and finally becoming a loyal customer. Therefore, the results of this research suggeste that bank's programs must be planed based on strategies that use brand dimensions to lead customers to loyalty to their services. This model gives bank managers and decision makers a written program of the effective aspects of banking services on customer satisfaction and their attitude towards the bank brand, which ultimately leads to having loyal customers.This study, like other studies, has limited generalizability and its results cannot be used in all service sections. Although the researcher has tried to increase the validity of the results by selecting a large number of respondents, but due to the self-expression of the participants and also the large number of questions in the questionnaire, the ambiguity may arise that the questions were not answered with great accuracy and patience. Future researchers can study and evaluate this model in the wider statistical community or study it in other service sections in addition to the banking system to increase the generalizability of this model.It is also possible to examine the model of this research in the cultural contexts of other cities in the country and study the effects of cultural diffrences on the variables of the model and the relationships between them.
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