Investigating the role of customer brand engagement and relationship quality on brand loyalty: An empirical analysis

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to investigate the role of customer-brand engagement (CBE) and relationship quality (RQ) when individuals engage online with a brand. The study empirically examines the serial mediation of CBE and RQ between customer participation and brand loyalty. The research included a posttest only, in a quasi-experiment design, with two comparative groups: Purchasers and nonpurchasers. A total of 215 students were invited to engage with a selected brand on Facebook for 5 days consecutively, and for 20 minutes each day. Subsequently, the participants' opinions were collected using a questionnaire. Process Macros was used to test the serial mediation (Hayes, 2013). The results confirm that CBE does not mediate among the purchasers' group, however, CBE and RQ exhibit serial mediation. Also, RQ does not mediate among the nonpurchasers' group. This evidence suggests that purchasers do not exhibit loyalty through engagement alone and confirms that CBE is beyond transactions. Finally, results support the importance of CBE for the management to improve brand loyalty.