Investigating the relationship between conflict and brand loyalty (a case study of pasta and pasta products)

Master's Thesis in Business Management, Insurance Orientation

Summer

1390

Abstract

The food industry can be considered the most key industries of any country. This industry plays a key role in the economy by meeting the basic needs of families and is known as part of strategic systems in countries. Due to the importance of this industry in our country and also considering the available capacities, today we are witnessing an increase in the production capacity in this sector of the industry in our country. This issue in itself has led to an increase in the level of competition and has led organizations to use scientific and practical marketing capacities. On the other hand, the attraction and retention of customers has caused organizations to spend heavy budgets on their promotional activities, which is one of the concerns of managers. For this purpose, identifying consumer behavior in order to improve processes is one of the functional priorities. One of the most important indicators of consumer behavior is the pattern of consumer involvement in the purchase process and its consequences on his decision-making and post-purchase behavior. Due to the importance of this topic, the investigation of the relationship between brand loyalty and engagement was put on the agenda of this research. For this purpose, the engagement model with variables, interest, pleasure, symbolic dimensions, risk probability and risk importance was used in this research.

In order to collect information in this research, library sources and questionnaires were used. The statistical population of this research consists of consumers of macaroni and pasta products, who were sampled through random sampling; The sample size of the research is 384 people. Based on the purpose of the research, this research is practical and in terms of the method of data collection, it is descriptive – It is a survey. In this research, in order to investigate the research hypothesis, which consists of " There is a significant relationship between the level of customer involvement and brand loyalty in pasta and pasta products. A questionnaire consisting of 25 questions based on a 5-point Likert scale was developed and after testing its validity and reliability, it was distributed among 400 potential consumers of macaroni and pasta products in the city of Tehran who were randomly selected, and due to the face-to-face nature of the questionnaire distribution, 384 questionnaires were returned. To analyze the data obtained from the questionnaire, methods such as Cronbach's alpha test, Kolmogorov test – Smirnov and ratio test and correlation test as well as Friedman's ranking test were used.

  In order to reject or confirm the research hypotheses, the obtained information was analyzed and the research hypotheses were confirmed. Based on the obtained results, there is a direct and meaningful relationship between the elements of interest, pleasure, symbolic dimensions and the importance of risk with brand loyalty. In the case of the risk probability variable, a relationship with loyalty has been proven, but this relationship is inverse and significant.

Key words: marketing, conflict, loyalty, brand, 

Introduction

In this research, we try to investigate the relationship between brand loyalty and product conflict. Brand loyalty is one of the most important criteria. It is for organizations because this loyalty ultimately leads to repurchase behaviors. On the other hand, it is these repurchase behaviors that ultimately guarantee the long-term profit of organizations. Attracting new customers to organizations is very expensive, so it will be very important for organizations to maintain and create loyalty among them.

The increasing competition in the market, the increasing complexity of consumers and the increasing bargaining power of retailers and wholesalers, and the increasing limitation of resources are all phenomena that are among the important challenges facing manufacturers at the moment. As a result, organizations must have a correct and deep understanding of the market and their consumers. So that they can optimally divide and allocate their resources between different tools and step on the path of growth and profitability. One of the most important assets of organizations in today's era is the power of their name and brand. Having a prominent name and logo (brand) and accepted in the market leads to increasing the effectiveness of the organization's activities and improving the perception of consumers about the products.The primary choice of prominent brands in the markets by consumers is much more likely, which in turn is an important step in achieving success in the marketing activities of different organizations in different industries, especially in the consumer products market.

On the other hand, creating loyal customers is becoming more difficult and expensive for organizations every day. Important issues that can be seen in the current markets, such as the increase in the level of competition, deeper divisions in the market, individualism in marketing processes, and purchasing and bargaining power, have faced people and consumers with a wide range of choices. As a result, the purchasing processes of consumers become more complicated every day. Consumers choose a set of these brands to make their choices among the brands in the market. Factors that are effective in choosing these brands include the value of a person's time, the emotions that govern the purchase process and the experiences formed in the person's mind, the risk associated with the decision-making process, the severity of the risk and its consequences for the consumer, the social position of the person and the image that he gains from consuming this product, and finally the perceived difference between the different brands that are available in the market. All in all, these items can be identified as the constituent factors of consumer involvement.

Also, the studies conducted show that there is a significant relationship between brand loyalty and the level of individual involvement. These relationships have been investigated and confirmed in the case of products that are involved in the nature of feathers. Therefore, researchers believe that a high level of involvement leads to a more accurate purchase process, which gives the person a better feeling and experience, which ultimately leads to repeated purchases and loyalty to the brand. 2-1-Statement of the problem: The country's pasta industry is one of the industries with a long history in Iran, which has always seen different and well-known manufacturers in the field of competition. The number of products produced in this industry is increasing due to the increase in the acceptance of the products produced by this industry in the market and the increase in the amount of consumption, which in itself leads to an increase in competition in this industry. In the 1370s, pasta products affected the market of these products due to the production problems that existed at that time and the technological weakness and knowledge of the production of these products. In the following years, with the increase in the level of scientific competition among the producers, the quality level of these products increased sharply, which brought more acceptance of these products in the household food basket. As a result, in these years, the market of these products became an attractive market for manufacturers, and new competitors entered the market. In total, these issues led to the fact that the per capita consumption of these products increased by about two times in about eight years. Due to the increase in manufacturers and the increase in the right to choose in this industry, various companies are trying to direct the attention of customers to their brand, stimulate them to choose their brand, and finally make them among the loyal customers of their organization. The very high increase in marketing costs, on the other hand, the concern about the effectiveness of this category of costs is one of the most important everyday issues of these organizations.

What is the nature of pasta and pasta in terms of the nature of the conflict and what is the relationship between the level of conflict and brand loyalty in pasta and pasta products.

On the other hand, with the increase in the level of competition in the market, in modern marketing books and articles, we come across this phrase that retaining customers is much more appropriate and cost-effective than attracting new customers. This is not possible unless organizations prepare and adjust approaches to create loyalty in their customers. Creating customer loyalty is a costly and complex process in itself.

Creating customer loyalty is often based on a psychological pattern that differs from person to person  It is a face during which the level of involvement of the person with the product increases in the first place and then the level of commitment of the person to the brand increases psychologically and ultimately leads to the creation of a model of loyalty to the brand by the consumer.