Can after sale service generate brand equity?

Abstract

PurposeThis research attempts to empirically expand the Aaker's consumer based brand equity model in hybrid business firms by incorporating after sales service as a new dimension. Exploring and understanding the drivers of consumer based brand equity in a hybrid business context will help in building industry specific competitive barriers and generating brand wealth.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from Pakistani adults using a structured questionnaire based on established scales. Convenience sampling was used to gather data from 205 respondents across the major cities of Pakistan. To test the proposed research model the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsThe results support the proposed five‐factor model of consumer based brand equity for the automotive industry. The results support the notion that after sales service is related but is a separate dimension of consumer based brand equity in the automotive sector.Research limitations/implicationsThis proposed CBBE model was tested in the automotive sector of Pakistan. However, the automotive industry is special in the sense that it builds brands at dual level. This study only investigates consumer based brand equity at marque level. Future studies can expand on this work by investigating consumer based brand equity both at marque and model levels.Practical implicationsThe establishment of after sale services as a separate but independent dimension of consumer based brand equity for the hybrid business organizations provides a fresh reminder regarding the possibilities of new sources for building brand equity. Managers can focus on delivering excellent after sale services to build and enhance the equity of their brands in hybrid business organizations.Originality/valueThis study expands Aaker's brand equity model by empirically establishing after sales service as a fifth dimension for the firms operating on hybrid business model.

Political Brand Equity Model: The Integration of Political Brands in Voter Choice

“…Therefore, the data collected from the most representative-data across all the possible spectrum of the whole region -geographical areas, professions, sections of the society and gender within the brand loyalty) as the reflective constructs to measure the brand equity. In the same line, Ahmed and Butt (2012) have used indirect approach to measure Customer based brand equity by employing multiple reflective indicators. Furthermore, the other relevant constructs of the brand equity including attitude and purchase intention (Fornell andBookstein, 1982, Jarvis et al, 2003) and brand preferences (Rajagopal, 2010) Following is the goodness of fit criteria used for evaluating the goodness of fit of the model;…”

The impact of TQM practices on key performance indicators: empirical evidence from automotive dealerships

“…It is apparent that the car brand quality and the level of service delivered to customer s are principally two different concepts (Ahmad & Butt, 2012). Nevertheless, the importance of after-sales as a main pillar of competitive advantage and business opportunity requires a transition from the conventional productorientation to customer-orientation, where the after-sales service plays the role as it is the main costumer voice.…”

End of Ban on Women Driving in Saudi Arabia- Implications for Automobile Brands

“…Automobile sector operates on a hybrid model which makes it dependent on authorized dealers providing assistance through sales and after sales service. Previous research has suggested that authorized dealers providing sales assistance and after sales service in automobile sector play a critical role in branding (Ahmad & Butt, 2012). After sales service is also found to enhance the perception of a brand and can be used as a tool to counter competition (Asugman et al, 1997;Rigopoulou et al, 2008).…”

“…After sales service is also found to enhance the perception of a brand and can be used as a tool to counter competition (Asugman et al, 1997;Rigopoulou et al, 2008). Research has also shown that the knowledge of a brand depends on the availability of after sales service for the customers (Ehinlanwo & Zairi, 1996), and the after sales service is also found to influence brand equity (Eagle et al, 2003;Ahmad & Butt, 2012). Thus the following hypothesis is formulated: H1: After sales service has a positive effect on brand equity.…”