• The Influence of Brand Personality and Consumer-Brand Identification on Behavioral Loyalty: Moderating Roles of Consumer Inertia and Word of Mouth

Abstract

With shopping online becoming more common, one of the most critical issues in online

marketing is how to provide a satisfactory complaint handling and service recovery program.

However, the roles of service recovery satisfaction, brand personality, and consumer-brand

identification (CBI) in promoting online brand loyalty and behavioral intention have rarely

been examined in a systematic and meaningful way. Furthermore, the moderating effects of

word-of-mouth (WOM) and consumer inertia have also received relatively little attention.

This study thus developed a research model and empirically tested it with fourteen hypotheses.

The data was collected using an online survey of 351 online shoppers from Taiwan with

experience of service complaints and service recovery efforts. The results indicated that,

while service recovery satisfaction has a significant impact on creating consumer loyalty and

behavioral intention, brand personality and CBI are more important mediators with regard to

enhancing brand loyalty and behavioral intention. Furthermore, while WOM is a positive

moderator that can enhance the influence of brand loyalty on repurchase intention; consumer

inertia is a negative moderator that may adversely affect the level of behavioral intention. The

results of this work imply that promoting brand personality and CBI is essential in the

process of service recovery, especially for those customers with lower levels of inertia and

higher levels of WOM.

Keywords: Brand Personality, Consumer-Brand Identification, Behavioral Loyalty, Consumer Inertia, Word of Mouth