No abstract

Distinctive packaging design and strong brand association are essential elements to increase brand quality and customer loyalty which can insulate a company against competitive actions in a retail environment. However, there is a relative scarcity of studies on the impact of packaging on brand quality and loyalty through the mediating effect of brand association in the overthe-counter health market. Against this background, the current study aimed to investigate the packaging's effect on brand quality and loyalty through the intervening effect of brand association in the over-the-counter health market. Using a systematic sampling technique, survey questionnaires were distributed to 348 customers shopping in the over-the-counter market. The data gathered were statistically analysed using structural equation modelling via SPSS Amos 20. The research revealed that brand association partially mediates the path between packaging and brand quality but fully mediates the packaging's effect on brand loyalty in the over-the-counter health market. The study also found that brand quality plays a partial role in the impact of brand association on loyalty in the over-the-counter health market. The study, therefore, established that the interplay of product packaging and brand association are crucial elements for enhancing the brand quality and the customers' loyalty in the over-the-counter health market. Besides, the research confirmed that enhanced association and quality are pre-requisite for developing and enriching loyalty in the over-the-counter health market.

Enhancing brand quality, association and awareness can generate greater loyalty which may lead to a sustainable edge in a competitive market. And yet, there is a relative paucity of studies on the influence of awareness and quality on loyalty via the mediating impact of association, particularly in the traditional health market. Hence, this study sought to investigate the influence of awareness and quality on loyalty via the intervening role of the association in the traditional health market. Based on Aaker`s customer-based brand equity framework, eight hypotheses were stated and examined through structural equation modelling. Data were gathered from a sample of 348 customers through systematic sampling. The research found that association perfectly mediates the path between awareness and loyalty, but plays a partial role in the path between perceived quality and loyalty. The study, therefore, contributes to advancing the limited branding literature in the traditional medicine industry. First, the study establishes the starring role of awareness, association, and quality as antecedents of loyalty in the context of brand management in the traditional medicine industry. Not only this but also the research confirms that association acts as a mediator in the relationships among awareness, association, quality and loyalty in the context of brand management in the traditional medicine industry.

In today`s competitive business environment, packaging and brand equity provide a competitive advantage to a firm which may increase and maintain its market share. However, the role of packaging in supporting the brand equity is relatively new in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical market and currently, there is a lack of empirical research to uncover its significance in this product segment. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of packaging on brand equity through the mediating effect of dimensions of brand equity in the over-the-counter drug market in Kumasi metropolis. Based on Aaker`s customer-based brand equity model, eight hypotheses were formulated and tested through structural equation modelling. Using systematic sampling, data was collected through survey questionnaires from a sample of 348 consumers who patronize in herbal medicines from herbal stores in Kumasi Metropolis. The study found that packaging significantly contributes to support brand equity of plant medicines through the mediating effect of brand awareness, brand association and brand loyalty. These results indicate that brand managers in the plant medicine industry need to consider packaging as an important brand-building tool in their marketing strategy to enhance brand equity in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical market. This will enh0ance their competitive distinctiveness in the over-the-counter market.

Brands with a high level of awareness, credibility, quality and loyalty provide a platform for strengthening customers` favourable word-of-mouth, which may contribute to increasing market share in a competitive environment. However, there is few or no research on the effect of awareness, credibility and quality on word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty, particularly in the traditional medicine market. Consequently, this research aims to evaluate the effect of awareness, credibility and quality on word-of-mouth via the impact of the dimensions of loyalty in the traditional medicine market. Survey questionnaires were administered to 265 customers chosen from the traditional medicine market through a systematic sampling strategy. The data collected were statistically analyzed using structural equation modelling through SPSS Amos 20. The study revealed that awareness, credibility and quality positively influence word-of-mouth through the impact of behavioural loyalty. The research further found that awareness and credibility significantly influence positive word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty in the traditional medicine market. Therefore, this paper extends the prior studies by exhibiting the potential role of brand awareness, credibility and quality in strengthening word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty, particularly in the traditional medicine market. This paper also advances managers` knowledge about creating and exploiting brand awareness, credibility, perceived quality, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty to increase positive word-of-mouth in the traditional medicine market