When Brand Attitudes Affect the

Customer Satisfaction-Loyalty
Relation: The Moderating Role of
Product Involvement

Suh, J. C., & Youjae, Y. (2006). When brand attitudes affect the customer
satisfaction-loyalty relation: The moderating role of product involvement.
Journal of consumer psychology, 16(2), 145-155.
CONTENT

DEFINITIONS PAPER STRUCTURE

HYPOTHESIS RESULTS

RESEARCH QUESTION FINDINGS

INTRODUCTION STRUCTURE COMPONENTS

DEFINITIONS

Customer satisfaction: an evaluative summary of Loyalty: A consequence of satisfaction and brand

(direct) consumption experience, based on the attitudes (Oliver, 1999). Is inferred from repurchase
discrepancy between prior expectation and the intentions.
actual performance perceived after consumption
(Tse & Wilton, 1988; Yi, 1990).
Product involvement: It is the extent of consumers’
interest and effort put in for purchasing of a product
Brand attitude: Predisposition to respond
or brand. Product involvement, quite intuitively, can
favorably or unfavorably towards a brand based on be of two types: Low or High
the shopper’s beliefs regarding product
performance relative to key evaluative criteria.
HYPOTHESIS
THE EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION ON BRAND
LOYALTY WOULD BE LESS
WHEN INVOLVEMENT IS
HIGH THEN WHEN IT IS LOW.
RESEARCH
QUESTIONS How product involvement
moderates the effect of brand
attitudes in the customer
satisfaction-loyalty relation ?
INTRODUCTION STRUCTURE

● INTRODUCTION

● RESEARCH CONTEXT, THEORIES AND METHODOLOGY

● RESEARCH NOVELTY

● FINDINGS
PAPER STRUCTURE

● ABSTRACT ● METHOD:
● INTRODUCTION: Legitimation and how to ○ Pretest
enrich market theories ○ Participants
○ Interview
● THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ● RESULTS
○ Definition of constructs ○ Measurement model
○ The satisfaction-Loyalty Relation ■ Validity
○ Advertising and Corporate Image as ■ Reliability
■ Test for metric invariance
Antecedents of Brand Attitudes
■ Structural model
○ Indirect Effects ■ Alternative hypothesis
○ The Moderating Role of Involvement ■ Additional analysis
○ Customer satisfaction as a malleable ● DISCUSSION
construct. ● ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
○ Diagnosticity for judgment. ● REFERENCES
RESULTS
● Surveys in two communities in South Korea: a big city in a metropolitan area and a small city
in a suburban area
● 3 eligibility criteria
● 926 participants concerning cosmetics and 1,014 concerning household goods

To compare the path coefficients in the high- and low-involvement groups, a multiple- group
analysis was used. These analyses were conducted with the use of maximum-likelihood estimation.
Measurement model

Validity: We have postulated that customer satisfaction, brand attitudes, attitudes toward ads, corporate image,
and brand loyalty are distinct constructs. To Chi-square difference tests were conducted to test whether each of
the factor correlation was significantly different from unity. All of the chi-square differences were significant,
suggesting that all the latent constructs were mutually distinctive constructs; discriminant validity was thus
achieved (Bagozzi et al., 1991; Gerbing & Anderson, 1988).
Reliability: The measures of the proposed constructs achieve high reliability as well as convergent and
discriminant validity.

Test of metric invariance: The measurement invariance test assesses whether a measurement model is equivalent
across groups. Allowed to vary freely across groups. The partial invariance model was used in subsequent
analyses.
Structural model
Simultaneously estimate the high versus low-involvement cases with partial invariance models suggested
previously.

The paths from consumer satisfaction to loyalty and brand attitudes were higher in analyses of judgments
pertaining to household goods than in analyses of judgments pertaining to cosmetics. In contrast, the effects of
corporate image and attitudes toward the ad on brand attitudes, and the effect of brand attitudes on loyalty, were
less in the former case than in the latter.
Alternative hypothesis:
Other interpretations of the difference between the two product categories are possible (lipstick and
lotion, facial soap and dish detergent). Chi-square analyses of the difference in path coefficients of
the hedonic and utilitarian products were not significant in any case, as shown in Table 4. These
data suggest that differences in the hedonic versus utilitarian character of the products we
considered at different levels of involvement do not provide an alternative explanation of the effects
of this variable.

Additional analysis:
Brand attitudes fully mediate the effects of ad attitude and corporate image on loyalty, providing
support for the basic formulation of the model.
FINDINGS
Firms should focus on corporate and brand
advertising to increase repurchase rates and
subsequently gain market share in high product
involvement cases.

On the other hand, in low product involvement

cases firms should concentrate on improving
product quality because product attributes and
their related satisfactions determine repurchase
rates.
There exists an indirect route from customer
satisfaction to brand loyalty through brand
attitudes, along with a direct link from
customer satisfaction to brand loyalty.
COMPONENTS

● AUTHORS: Suh, J. C., & Youjae, Y.

● TITLE: When brand attitudes affect the customer satisfaction-loyalty relation: The moderating role of
product involvement.
● YEAR: 2006.
● JOURNAL: Journal of consumer psychology.
● ABS CATEGORY: 4
● NUMBER OF CONSTRUCTS EXAMINED: 5
● PRODUCTS/ INDUSTRIES: Household goods and Cosmetics.
● COUNTRY: South Korea