Brand equity and customer satisfaction: a comparative analysis of international and domestic tourists in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationships between brand equity, customer satisfaction and cultural distance for a tourism destination. The mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of cultural distance in these relationships are assessed. Design/methodology/approach The direct–indirect–moderating relationships were assessed by applying covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM), mediating and multi-group analysis. A paper survey was used to collect data from 618 tourists (domestic and international tourists) visiting a destination in Vietnam. Findings The findings support direct positive links between the dimensions of brand equity and customer satisfaction, except for the effect of destination brand awareness on destination brand loyalty. This work further demonstrates the mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the indirect relationships between the dimensions of brand equity. Cultural distance was found to moderate the connections between the research concepts. Research limitations/implications Future research should explore the model’s relationships based on comparisons in different destinations, to better understand the impact of cultural factors. Originality/value This study identifies specific factors to increase branding efficiency by developing and testing the relationship between brand equity and customer satisfaction. Using moderating variables through the lens of cultural distance, it proposes a mediated model. This work contributes to practice by informing destination managers on how to improve brand equity and satisfaction based on the cultural characteristics of international and domestic visitors.

Stakeholder and Visitor Reflections of Sport Brand Positioning in South Africa

“…A fair indication (27.9%) to post-visitor stays were indicated for longer than 5 days after the event which show potential interest from event visitors in tourism products and destination offerings. What is more, variables relating to repeat visits/ revisiting intentions and promoting the destination to others scored favourably (above 50%) across sport event visitors which further translate to brand equity/ value (Tran et al, 2020;Chi et al, 2020). For the destination to fully realise (long-term) benefits from sport tourism, secondary motivations thus need to be stimulated.…”

“…This is particularly important for tourist destinations that offer similar tourism products and possess comparable destination characteristics. In consideration of the foregoing, emerging literature focusses on the empirical investigation of brand equity based on consumer satisfaction and travel (re-visit) intentions (Chi, et al, 2020;Indrie et al, 2020;Tran et al, 2020).…”

Linking self-congruity, perceived quality and satisfaction to brand loyalty in a tourism destination: the moderating role of visit frequency

“…TS contributes to DBL and is expressed by re-visitation or recommendation to others (Buhalis et al, 2020;Cakici et al, 2019). Studies (Tran et al, 2020) have confirmed a relationship between TS and DBL. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:…”

“…Self-congruity has been demonstrated to be an important factor affecting TS (Kumar, 2016;Kim and Thapa, 2018;Ranjbarian and Ghaffari, 2018). Studies have also evaluated the positive influence of PDQ on tourist contentment (Tran et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2017). Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: H2.…”

Tourism destination brand equity, brand authenticity and revisit intention: the mediating role of tourist satisfaction and the moderating role of destination familiarity

“…However, as the last dimension has no direct relationship with customers’ brand cognition, it is often ignored in marketing research (Lu et al , 2015). Therefore, subsequent scholars mostly proposed different classification methods in the foundation of the four brand equity dimensions given by Aaker (1991), according to different research contexts and business types (Tran et al , 2021; Bose et al , 2021).…”