Brand equity drivers, brand affect, and brand engagement in the automobile market of Pakistan

• Main Author: Farhat, Kashif
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: HD28-70 Management. Industrial Management; HF5001-6182 Business
• Online Access: https://etd.uum.edu.my/9866/1/s902514_01.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/9866/2/s902514_02.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/9866/3/references_s902514.docx; https://etd.uum.edu.my/9866/

Globally, the automobile industry is under immense competitive pressures with a pressing need to develop marketing strategies to effectively engage customers and compete in the market. However, sheer paucity exists in the research literature to address the mounting competitive pressures in the automobile market through brand engagement strategies, particularly in the emerging economies such as Pakistan. This study aims to identify the antecedents that persuade customers to purchase imported reconditioned car brands in Pakistan which in turn creates competition for local car manufacturers in the country. Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) and relationship marketing theories identify that the brand equity drivers and relational motivations are instrumental in enabling the automobile brands to perform optimally in the market. Thus, this study investigated how the CBBE drivers; brand identity, brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes, and brand affect influence the brand engagement of the automobile brands in Pakistan. Following multistage cluster sampling, based on 426 survey responses collected through mall intercept method from the automobile customers in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, the PLS path modeling analysis revealed a significant impact of brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes on brand affect and a significant impact of brand affect on brand engagement. The bootstrapping results supported the indirect relationship between brand engagement and brand personality, brand experience, and brand attributes through the mediating role of brand affect. However, brand identity displayed an insignificant direct relationship with brand affect and an insignificant indirect relationship with brand engagement through brand affect. The implications of the study include theoretically linking the brand equity drivers with brand engagement and enabling the local automobile brands in Pakistan to compete effectively with the imported reconditioned automobile brands. The study also addresses the limited nomological knowledge on brand engagement from the theoretical lenses of CBBE and relationship marketing.