Online satisfaction, trust and loyalty, and the impact of the offline parent brand

Abstract

Purpose -The objective of this paper is to examine online brand relationships, and the linkage between satisfaction, trust, and loyalty on the web site level. The web site is considered to be an extension of the parent brand. It also seeks to explore the effects of offline experiences on web site-level experiences. Design/methodology/approach -Hierarchical regression analysis is applied in order to test the hypotheses. The data are based on an online survey (n ¼ 867) conducted on a Finnish consumer-magazine web site. Findings -The research findings support the results of earlier studies suggesting that satisfaction and trust on the web site level are determinants of web site loyalty. However, they also show that brand-level experiences affect online satisfaction, trust, and loyalty differently, depending on the consumers' relationship with the brand. Interestingly, in this case the length of user history and registration on the web site had a negative effect on web site trust. Two of the reasons behind this type of result are believed to be the prevalent culture in web site discussion forums and the degree of fit between the parent brand and the brand extension. Originality/value -The paper synthesises the literature on online and offline brand relationships and brand extension. The results of the study, which was based on a large-scale survey, give researchers and practising managers alike valuable information on how parent-brand experiences relate to the attitudes and commitment of customers to online brand extensions. The context of the study, i.e. the magazine publishing industry, has attracted less research attention, even though several publishers have extended their brands online.

E-Loyalty: Its Antecedents, Implications and Differences between Developed and Developing Countries

“…Prior study was also found that the higher the level of e-satisfaction, the higher the level of e-loyalty (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003;Luarn & Lin, 2003), in other words, that e-loyalty was significantly influenced by e-satisfaction Research done by Kassim & Salaheldin (2009) found that both e-Satisfaction and e-Trust significantly affected e-Loyalty, however the relationship between e-Satisfaction and e-Trust was not significant. To the contrary, another empirical investigation found the existence of a relationship between e-Satisfaction and e-Trust (Horppu, et al, 2008;C. Kim, et al, 2008).…”

“…E-service quality dimensions also had significant relationship to e-trust (Floh & Treiblmaier, 2006;Horppu, Kuivalainen, Tarkianinen, & Ellonen, 2008) and e-service quality as represented by web site quality also had a significant and positive impact on e-trust (Chang & Chen, 2008). Some studies have found that e-loyalty was significantly influenced by e-service quality and Parasuraman et al, (2005) have identified relationships between each of the e-service quality determinants and eloyalty.…”

“…E-loyalty was determined by a complex equation involving a set of variables (eg. Chi, Yeh, & Jang, 2008;Floh & Treiblmaier, 2006;Horppu, Kuivalainen, Tarkianinen, & Ellonen, 2008;Kassim & Salaheldin, 2009). …”

Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

“…From the customer's viewpoint, it has created new and possibly less costly ways of participating in commercial activities [182]. From the business perspective, market globalization, along with the decreasing effectiveness of offline marketing, has motivated organizations to shift their plans to include Internet marketing [120]. Hence, consumers have increasingly favoured online shopping [166], gradually leading more Business-to-Customer (B2C) companies to establish an Internet presence in an effort to attract new and maintain existing customers for long-term profitability [203].…”

“…Consequently, creating customer loyalty and satisfaction is the major objective for online companies to increase profitability and obtain and maintain competitive advantage. To do so, companies need to develop a thorough understanding of the antecedents of loyalty on the World Wide Web [120]. Shankar et al [181, p. 154] note that -firms need to gain a better understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty in the online environment to allocate their online marketing efforts between satisfaction initiatives and loyalty programs‖.…”