Enhancing customer-brand relationship by leveraging loyalty program experiences that foster customer-brand identification

Purpose This study aims to investigate ways in which hotel loyalty programs can be designed to enhance customer’s identification with a hotel brand and develop a sustainable customer-brand relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a cross-sectional design survey questionnaire for d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of contemporary hospitality management 2020-12, Vol.32 (12), p.3991-4016
Main Authors: Shin, Minjung, Back, Ki-Joon, Lee, Choong-Ki, Lee, Young-Sub
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brand identification
Brand loyalty
Consumers
Consumption
Customer relationship management
Customer services
Hotels & motels
Loyalty programs
Marketing
Shopping
Social identity
Tourism
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Summary:Purpose This study aims to investigate ways in which hotel loyalty programs can be designed to enhance customer’s identification with a hotel brand and develop a sustainable customer-brand relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a cross-sectional design survey questionnaire for data collection and used structural equation modeling data analysis to test the conceptual model. Findings The three loyalty program experiences proposed (member-to-member similarity, memorable loyalty program experience and loyalty program social benefits) exerted significant positive effects on customer-brand identification (CBI), which, in turn, influences customer-brand relationship elements, including trust, commitment and switching resistance. Originality/value This study expands the scope of CBI literature, which previously focused substantially on brand level experiences, by being the first to explore a new set of CBI antecedents with a focus on loyalty program experiences. Furthermore, the current study’s findings delineate specific strategies to uphold the social and experiential aspects of loyalty programs that can develop sustainable customer-brand relationships.
ISSN:0959-6119
1757-1049
DOI:10.1108/IJCHM-06-2020-0550