An Examination of Brand Loyalty Development and the Effect of Customer Satisfaction

This study aimed to identify four stages of brand loyalty development based on Oliver's theory (1997) in a family restaurant segment; (2) examine the effect of satisfaction on cognitive, affective, conative, and behavioral brand loyalty. For this study, three brands of family restaurant chain (Outback Steakhouse, TGI'F, and Bennigan's) were selected through the in-depth interview. A total of 267 survey sample were collected and analysed in SPSS and AMOS. The results of this study supported H1(Cognitive BL→Affective BL), H2(Affective BL→Conative BL), H3(Conative BL→Behavioral　BL), which indicate the four stages of brand loyalty development. Among four hypotheses showing the relationship between customer satisfaction and each stage of brand loyalty development, H4(CS→Cognitive BL) and H5(CS→Affective BL) were supported except H6(CS→Conative BL) and H7(CS→Behavioral BL). These results imply that customer satisfaction has not only direct effect on early stages of brand loyalty development (cognitive and affective brand loyalty) but also indirect effect on conative and behavioral brand loyalty via cognitive and affective brand loyalty.