Investigating the Moderating Role of WOM Role and WOM Valence in the Relationship between Self-congruity and Brand Loyalty

Abstract

Due to globalization business market has become unpredictable and the competition in marketing has become more intense than ever Some studies and reports have pointed out that millennials are not brand loyalists It is especially hard for the global fashion apparel industries to maintain consumer loyalty due to the high competition Many studies have confirmed that consumers with brand loyalty can bring many benefits to brands and that brand loyalty can be increased when consumers perceive self-congruity with a similar brand Therefore improving consumers’ brand loyalty through their perceptions of self-congruity is still an important issue for marketers and thus a focal interest of this study Another interest of this study is to investigate the moderating Role of WOM valence and WOM Role in the relationship between actual self-congruity ideal self-congruity and brand loyalty The research conducted an online survey on Taiwanese consumers who had purchased one of the five most popular fast fashion brands in Taiwan in the past six months A total of 506 valid questionnaires were collected and the structural equation modelling(SEM) and multi-group SEM were used to verify all hypotheses Results indicates that (1) Actual and ideal self-congruity both have a positive effect on brand loyalty (2) WOM valence has no moderating effect in the relationship between actual and ideal self-congruity and brand loyalty (3) WOM Role has no moderating effect in the relationship between actual self-congruity and brand loyalty (4) WOM Role has a moderating effect in the relationship between ideal self-congruity and brand loyalty

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ya-Hui Kuo (Supervisor)