Brand Essence and Customer Loyalty in Commercial Banks in Kenya
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between brand essence
and customer loyalty in commercial banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on the
theory of planned behaviour which holds that people reason before they act and their
decisions are based on some factor. This idea was supported by the attitude theory of
consumer behaviour which implies that the consumers can have a liking or a disliking
attitude towards a brand. The study was inclined to the positivist philosophy and it
followed a descriptive research design because it sought to determine the relationship
between brand essence and customer loyalty. The study conducted a census of all the
42 commercial banks. The data was collected though structured questionnaires
targeting the personnel in the marketing department at the head office of the
commercial banks. The data was analysed through SPSS version 25 to obtain
descriptive and inferential statistics. Apart from normality the assumptions of linear
regression were confirmed. Since the normality assumption was not fulfilled, the data
for dependent variable was transformed to natural logarithm normalize it. The
analysis obtained R and R-Square as 0.756 and 0.572 respectively. The positive
coefficient of correlation – R, indicates that the relationship is statistically significant.
Since the R-Square was around 0.572, the two statistics show that the brand essence
and customer loyalty have a positive, moderately strong relationship. The coefficient
for brand essence was 0.167 which is positive and the significant value was 0.000
which imply that brand essence has a positive statistically significant effect on
customer loyalty. According to the R-Squared, brand essence explains 57.2%
variations in customer loyalty. A unitary change in brand essence causes 0.167
changes in customer loyalty, based on the analysed data. Based on the analysed data
from the commercial services firms, this study concludes that brand essence has a
positive influence on customer loyalty. That means that commercial banks can use
their brand essence to improve their customer loyalty. the study recommends that the
managers of the financial services firm should craft, build and sustain distinct brand
essence that can communicate the unique promise that the organizations exists to
meet. The brand essence should be simple and no be changed often because it is
meant to create a lasting memory in the mind of the clients of the financial services
firm. The financial services firms should align their strategic and operational goals to
their brand essence.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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