Development of brand loyalty model by explaining the role of brand personality and brand social responsibility (case study of Padideh Shandiz restaurants in Tehran)

Commercial Management Major International Marketing

Abstract:

The relationship between social, political, environmental, and economic roles in business has increased. The challenge that organizations face is that they must simultaneously increase profitability and respond to new social expectations, and then simultaneously manage these two seemingly contradictory consequences that require the development of practical strategies and have positive effects on both society and the organization. Brands can take on personality traits similar to humans. The right brand personality can encourage a person to establish a deep relationship with the brand. In this research, it has been tried to develop and re-evaluate the model of brand loyalty by explaining the role of brand strength and the image of social responsibility of the brand (the case of the study of Padideh Shandiz restaurant in Tehran) and to identify and examine each of the factors affecting brand loyalty in the said restaurant. The statistical population of this research is made up of the customers of Padideh Shandiz restaurant in Tehran. The necessary data was collected with a 32-question questionnaire from 364 customers (unlimited sample). Laserl software was used to test the model. The results showed that the image of brand social responsibility affects the image of product and service quality and brand personality, and the image of product and service quality and brand personality has a significant relationship at the 99% confidence level with brand loyalty.

Key words: brand social responsibility image, product quality image, service quality image, brand personality, brand loyalty

Chapter 1

Overview of the plan Research

-1 Introduction

Managers of restaurants and other businesses make strategic decisions, they hope to improve the image of their company and as a result help to achieve an advantage over their competing companies (Serji 1996, Tse 1988). Since the relationship between social, political, environmental and economic roles in business has increased, organizations face new dynamics. have become The challenge that organizations face is that they must simultaneously increase profitability and respond to new social expectations, and then simultaneously manage these two apparently contradictory consequences that require the development of practical strategies and have positive effects on both society and the organization. The implementation of social responsibility at the organization level is one of the effective mechanisms or strategies in this regard. In fact, today, in addition to performing their traditional duties, organizations are required to perform other activities, the purpose of which is to respond to society's expectations, and it is referred to as the organization's social responsibility. In this era, effective management is a management that frees itself from the scope of the organization's thinking and thinks about society and wider environments, because neither organizations can separate themselves from society, nor can society continue without organizations (Salehi and Azari, 2009; Karnami, 2015).

What is certain is that since the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, public awareness about the dependence of organizations, society and the environment on each other has increased and everyone has realized On the one hand, the organizations reach their goals by relying on the facilities in the society, and on the other hand, the actions of the organizations should have benefits and achievements for the society. Therefore, there has always been an effort to improve the interests of organizations in such a way that the people of the society benefit from the organizations more than the costs they have paid, and in other words, the organizations have value creation in addition to profit creation. In fact, in order to maintain their full legitimacy and survival, organizations must accept that they have public and social roles and responsibilities.

The brand, as the pillar and basis of today's competitive game, is an element that must be carefully defined, created and managed so that organizations and companies can rely on this pillar of their business to achieve as much profitability as possible (Bahabadi 2018). It has an economic structure, it also has a social structure. One of the famous and valid concepts in the field of marketing is "loyalty to the name and brand". This concept plays an important role in creating long-term benefits for the company, because loyal customers do not need extensive promotional efforts, they are willing to pay more for the benefits and quality of their favorite brand.Loyalty to the name and brand has been the central theme of marketing theory and practice in creating a sustainable competitive advantage. A large number of loyal customers to a brand is considered an asset of the company and is known as the main indicator of brand equity, and the sensitivity of loyal customers to price changes is less compared to non-loyal customers. While most researchers in the field of loyalty focus on repeat purchases of consumer goods (Miller et al., 2006).

For a potential customer, a brand is an important guide. A brand is an abstract of identity, originality, characteristic and difference. A brand evokes this information concentrated in a single word or symbol. This is why brands are vital for business transactions (Qarbanlu, 2015, Kapferer)

The brand is actually a part of the company's activity that connects the customer with the company. In today's highly competitive world where the speed of new competitors entering the market and providing different services is very high, it is very important to maintain current customers due to the high costs of finding new customers. For this purpose, it is very important to have a deep relationship with customers, and we can achieve this goal by using the credibility of our brand. Brands can take on personality traits similar to humans, and what is certain is that all brands have personality. The right brand personality can encourage a person to establish a deep relationship with the brand. It has been repeatedly stated in researches that brand personality affects factors such as trust, affiliation and brand commitment (Lewis and Lombard 2010).

Loyal consumers usually tend to pay more for branded products, because they perceive unique values ??from a brand, compared to other names. When loyal consumers see a lack of attachment to a particular brand, they immediately tend to brand names that have better status. The reason for buying products with a familiar brand is because it saves time and reduces perceived risk (Blumer, 1995). Acker (1996) introduced brand loyalty indicators including: the amount consumers are willing to pay compared to other competing brands, and satisfaction and intention to repurchase the product or service. It is important to point out that repeated purchases are not a sufficient sign of brand loyalty. "Brand loyalty is one of the most important benefits of creating a positive mental image and is a manifestation of the brand's special value (Keller, 1998). Research by Kim et al. (2001), and Brooks et al. (2007) showed that brand loyalty is largely influenced by brand personality (Florence et al., 2009). Restaurants also have personalities and brands of interest in different societies, which are constantly competing with each other, and now we are witnessing the multiplicity of international brands in the restaurant industry.

In this research, an attempt has been made to develop the brand loyalty model by explaining the role of brand strength and the brand's social responsibility image (the case study of Padideh Shandiz restaurant in Tehran). And in some cases, issues have been created that lead to changes in society (Zitmal, 1984).  One of these issues that is of growing importance is the limited attention paid to social responsibility in the hospitality literature (Parsakhan, 1993). In many of these literatures, the content of social responsibility has been mostly discussed. These articles are "Age/experience and gender as effective factors in the moral development of hotel managers and students (Friedman et al., 1990). The foundations in the literature of this research had to deal with the commitment of the company to the shareholders, and on the opposite side, the articles related to social responsibility are covered for For example, "job satisfaction, job commitment, job security, and customer focus of quick service restaurant employers include issues of social responsibility but not a focus on the value perspective of social responsibility (Deinhart et al., 1993). Research by Kim et al. (2001), and Brooks et al. (2007) showed that brand loyalty is largely influenced by brand personality (Kim et al., 2001, Florence et colleagues, 2009) in today's marketing world, brand personality has an attractive and catchy concept. Effective and appropriate brand management, in addition to including the brand's personality, is also very effective in achieving goals such as customer orientation, loyalty, and profitability.