The Impact of Brand Image on Customer Loyalty for Chinese Tea Brands Through The Mediating Roles of Perceived Value and Customer Engagement

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to investigate 1) the impact of brand image on customer loyalty, 2) the impact of brand image on customer loyalty through the mediating role of perceived value and customer engagement, 3) the mediating role of perceived value in the impact of brand image on customer loyalty, and 4) the mediating role of customer engagement in the impact of brand image on customer loyalty. The research methodology combined qualitative research and quantitative research. The qualitative research was conducted using in-depth interviews with 12 experts and 20 non-experts (tea enthusiasts) in the tea industry. The quantitative research was done through a survey; the questionnaires were distributed to 600 consumers of five tea brands in Sichuan Province, China. The research instrument used in qualitative data analysis was analytic induction while statistics used for quantitative data analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation. For hypothesis testing, Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was the statistical method used. The results of hypothesis testing indicate that brand image has a positive and significant impact on customer loyalty. In addition, brand image, through perceived value and customer engagement as mediating variables, has a highly significant impact on customer loyalty. Separately, brand image, through perceived value as a mediating variable, has a highly significant impact on customer loyalty, and brand image, through customer engagement as a mediating variable, has a highly significant impact on customer loyalty. All these findings were statistically significant at a level of .001.