A study of the impact on brand loyalty

of customer experiences within the

context of online communities

REVIEW
An online community is a valued business medium for companies in terms of
disseminating information and retaining customers. It is considered as a key
strategy for online marketing that can help to build brand loyalty effectively.
Online customer experience is a fundamental concept in understanding
customers perceptions, attitudes and behaviour in online communities. Online
customer experience is an essential factor for e-marketers. Additionally as a
consequence of creating unique customer experiences, which is helping to
attract repeat purchases and differentiate a firm from its competitors (Pine and
Gilmore, 1998). This study discusses the underlying impacts of customers'
interaction experience dimensions on brand loyalty within the context of online
communities. Particularly, this study examines the influence of customers
interaction experience dimensions on trust, satisfaction and brand loyalty and
whether this influence is mediated by customer satisfaction and trust. Few
studies have examined how customers' interaction experiences affect brand
loyalty. Furthermore, satisfaction and trust are expected to be antecedents to
brand loyalty. Little studies have pointed out the link between trust and
satisfaction and how this link can facilitate to drive brand loyalty efficiently
within the context of online communities. This study proposes a framework for
testing the relationships between customers interaction experience dimensions,
satisfaction, trust and brand loyalty.
Keywords: customer experiences,
online communities,
pragmatic experience,
hedonic experience,
usability experience and sociability experience.
Introduction
As a core objective of marketing activities, maintaining and enhancing brand
loyalty have been widely acknowledged (Aaker, 1991; Baldinger and Rubinson,
1996). Brand loyalty value is self-evident for a company (Reichheld, 1996). With
the growing importance of online communities, such as Apple Inc (Macintosh,
iPod, iPhone), researchers and marketers have emphasized that an online
community has an effective impact on participants experience. Participants
experience helps to understand the strategic value of an online community. An
online community is a key for a companys online marketing strategy that can
help to build brand loyalty effectively. Moreover, an online community enables
customers to interact with a company and among themselves.
Marketing activities have focused on success in the product marketplace by
examining the physical aspects of products and services such as quantity,
quality, functionality, availability, accessibility, delivery, price and customer
support. Recently, marketing managers underline the importance of creating
value for their customers (Fudenberg, 2000; McAlexander et al., 2002). The
current orientation in marketing is to create positive and unique experiences for
the customers (Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Gilmore and Pine, 2002). A study by
Shaw and Ivens (2002) shows that about 85 per cent of business leaders approve
those traditional elements like price, delivery are no longer an effective business
strategy .The new differentiator today is customer experience.
Recently, the concept of customer experience has used as a key strategy for
online marketing that, can help to gain competitive advantages. Wherefore, this
study seeks to examine the impact of customer experience demotions on brand
loyalty and whether that impact is moderated by customers satisfaction and
customers trust within the context of online communities.
Research Background
Customer experience
The Customer experience concept has been studied across a range of business
situations, including online business, service delivery, tourism and retailing
(Arnold et al. 2005; Bonnin 2006; Jones 1999; Quan and Wang 2004; Tsai 2005).
Customer experience is defined as the internal and subjective response that
customers have to any direct or indirect contact with a company (Meyer and
Schwager, 2007, p. 118). Over the past few years, both marketers and
academics have showed an interest in the measurement and assessment of
customer experiences. Customer experience is considered as a psychological
concept, which is a comprehensive, subjective response developed from
customer contact with companies. This contact could include different levels of
customer participation (Gentile et al 2007; Lemke et al, 2011). Customer
experience is used to enhance the competitive advantage that is difficult to be
imitated (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). As a consequence, an outstanding customer
experiences is critical to marketers in todays global marketplace and can result
in brand awareness, gain customer loyalty and eventually increase profits (Gruen
et al.,Michael, et al, 2006).

Comparison between online and offline customer experience

There are several differences between the both online and offline customer
experience. The main difference is the degree of personal contact and the lack of
face-to-face contact in online context. The online context enables very rich
information, whereas face-to-face might be more limited. On the one hand,
another main difference between the two contexts is the time period. Customers
purchase, communicate and exchange information online at any time and any
place suite them, specifically with easy Internet access via mobile devices,
whereas, within the offline context it restricted by the opening hours of the
company (Rose et al; 2011).
Customer experience in online environment
The Internet has become one of the most significant and most commonly used
communication media. Customer experience in online environments is defined as
the cognitive state experienced during navigation (Novak, Hoffman, and Yung
2000, p. 22). Tynan and McKechnie, (2009) consider that customer experiences
in online environments as a key issue to be managed. Blumler, (1979) Forgas
(2000) assumes two main components to measure human experience those are
a cognitive component and an affective component. Since the mid-1990s, a
number of researchers have applied this two-dimensional experience framework
to investigate customer experiences in online environments, for instance in the
context of online shopping experience (Babin et al., 1994; Mathwick et al, 2001;
Overby and Lee, 2006; Bridges and Florsheim, 2008), Web browsing behaviour
(Hoffman and Novak, 1996) and online retail behaviour (Jones et al., 2006; Noble
et al., 2005). In general, these studies focus on experience conceptualized as a
monolithic construct such as consumer's Internet experience or as a two-
dimensional construct focusing on utilitarian/hedonic dimensions only.
Customer experience in online communities
The widespread of the Internet and the human demand to connectedness,
knowledge, entertainment and information have integrated new social forms
such as online communities. Rheingold (1993, p.30) defines the online
community as a social aggregation that emerges from the Net with sufficient
human feeling to form a web of personal relationships in cyberspace. Armstrong
and Hegel (1996) mention that an online community is a fundamental method of
a companys online marketing strategy that can help to build brand loyalty
effectively. There is a consequence of creating unique customer experiences in
online communities, which is helping to attract repeat purchases and
differentiate a firm from its competitors (Pine and Gilmore, 1998 Gummerus et al
(2012) reference that customers, in addition to be more satisfied and loyal,
likewise experience relationship benefits from engaging with the brand
community. Nambisan and Nambisan (2008) examine customer perceptions
experiences dimensions within online communities, which include emotional
(flow), utilitarian and social interaction. More recently, Nambisan and Watt (2011)
apply a four-dimensional construct (online community experience) to capture
customer experiences in such online product communities and examine its
influence on customer attitudes regarding the product, the company and the
quality of service.
Online brand loyally, trust and satisfaction
Brand loyalty has been considerably studied in business researches. Brand
loyalty describe the characteristic of consumers, who have a strong commitment
to a brand; because they view a brand as being more satisfactory than the
alternatives ones and this evaluation is reinforced through repeated use. Aaker
(1999, P.25) defines brand loyalty as "the degree of a consumers emotional
attachment to a brand and suggests that it has six dimensions: consumer
willingness to repurchase, price premium, satisfaction rate, switching cost,
preference over brand, and commitment to brand". Consumer participate in an
online brand communities, because the trustworthy information and experiences
customers are likely to be committed to the community, which leads to enhance
brand loyalty (Hee young et al., 2008).
Trust: Trust is a cornerstone in terms of building a long-term business relationship
and partnership. Trust refers to the depth and assertion of feelings based on
conclusive evidence McKnight and Chervany, 2002). Uncertainty and risk are the
necessary conditions that reveal the value of trust (Moorman et al., 1993). Trust
is defined as expectation of the parties in a transaction and a risk associated
with assuming and acting on such expectation (Deutsch, 1958). Chiou (2004)
&Reichheld (2001) suggest that trust is an important antecedent of loyalty,
because it might help to attract new online customers and to retain existing ones
(Gefen et al., 2003a). Consumers perceived trust could affect customer
satisfaction (Chiou, 2004), because trust is an important factor in consumer
outcome evaluation. The trust research literature assumes that there are
differing views on the role of trust and its position as an antecedent or
consequence of experience. According to Yoon (2002) Trust weakens or
strengthens by experience. However, researchers identify that trust is an
antecedent of satisfaction (Grewal et al., 1999). Moreover, Ha and Perks (2005)
indicate that trust is influenced by consumers prior experiences and satisfaction
Chiou (2004) point out that trust affects loyalty and satisfaction directly and
indirectly through perceived value. Ha and Park (2006) find evidence to support a
model of online purchase experience, which demonstrated, trust to be an
outcome of a number of attributes of the purchase environment.
Satisfaction: Satisfaction is overall level of customer pleasure and contentment
resulting from experience with the service (Hellier et al., 2003). Oliver (1997)
defines satisfaction as the consumers fulfillment response. It is a judgment
that a product or service provided a pleasurable level of consumption-related
fulfillment, including levels of under- or overfulfillment (Oliver, 1997, p. 13).
Customer should depend on their direct experience with the technology to form
perceptions of technology performance. Hence, user experience with IT serves
an antecedent of satisfaction, dissatisfaction response (Liqiong el al, 2010). In
1994, Ganesan demonstrates that satisfaction is a positive affective reaction to
an outcome of a previous experience and is a central factor to succeed the
business. Several researchers have examined the relationship between
satisfaction and brand loyalty. Accordingly, Bitner (1990) indicates customers
satisfaction has an indirect influence on brand loyalty, mediated by perceived
quality.
 Additionally, brand loyalty is directly influenced by customer satisfaction.
Satisfaction and loyalty are not replacement for each other (Bloemer & Kasper,
1995; Oliver, 1999). It is possible for a customer to be loyal without being highly
satisfied. Research by Kennedy et al (2001) shows that customer satisfaction is
an antecedent of trust. Consequently, Szymanski and Hise (2000) claim reflect
the findings of Szymanski and Hise (2000) that position online financial security
as the second most important factor driving online satisfaction. Though, with
some notable exceptions, to date, empirical research that focuses on exploring
the trust satisfaction link have largely been limited to studies (Furnell & Karweni,
1999; Ratnasingham, 1998).

Research Gap
The importance of online communities in online business and commutation is
increasing. Additionally, the online business is contributing a large amount of
economic action in the marketing domain (Muniz & OGuinn, 2001). Customers'
interactions in such online communities could help companies to improve
products or services (Fller; el al, 2007). Nambisan and Watt (2011) study how
can manage customer experiences in online product communities, propose a
four dimensional construct of an online community experience to help capture
customer experiences in online communities and examine its impact on
customer attitudes regarding the product, the company and the quality of
service. They argue that there might be other possible impacts of customers
interaction experience in online communities on many others factors such as
brand loyalty. There is a need to pay more attention to study these potential
impacts. A growing body of research in brand communities area (Lycos
Quote.com case study) admit that building an online community has a positive
impact on improved brand loyalty. (Participate.com, 2001b) Moreover, this
increased in brand loyalty has measurable results for each consequence
predicted in: affective, cognitive, and behavioural.
Although there is a dynamic growth in managing and studying customer
interaction experiences within an online community, (Dholakia et al; 2004; Gruen
et al; 2006;Nambisan & Watt, 2011), it is critical for researchers and marketers to
understand what are the customer experiences dimensions of interaction in such
online community and how customers' perceptions about their interaction
experience in the online community could impact their loyalty. There have been
many studies of the factors influencing loyalty, such as service quality, product
quality, information quality, corporate image, price and commitment (Devaraj, et
al 2001; Lee & Kim, 2005; Nguyen & Leblanc, 2001),nevertheless little work
combining brand loyalty with the online community concept. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to address the gap in the literature concerning this area
of research by developing and empirically testing a model for experience
dimensions of customers interaction experience in an online community.
Moreover, this study aims to point out the impact that customers experience
dimensions have on brand loyalty. In other words, the statement of the study
problem is what the dimensions of customer experiences are and what the
impact of these dimensions on brand loyalty? In addition, past research studies
identify several dimensions and sub-dimensions of customer experiences.
However, further studies may provide benefits in considering other dimensions
like virtual experience (Guttentag, 2010). Therefore, this study will examine the
experience dimensions such as pragmatic experience, hedonic experience,
sociability experience, usability experience (Nambisan & Watt, 2011) and virtual
experience (Guttentag, 2010) and its impact on brand loyalty mediated by
satisfaction (Hye, 2004) and trust (Yoon 2002), with a particular attention paid to
brand loyalty as a final dependent outcome of a great online customer
experience.
Hye (2004) argue that experience has an impact on satisfaction yet there is only
limited research that looks specifically at this impact. Satisfaction is a positive
affective reaction to an outcome of a previous experience and is an essential
factor enhancing business. (Ganesan, 1994). It considered as an important
antecedent of brand loyally. According to Yoon (2002) trust weakens or
strengthens by experience. However, researchers identify that trust is an
antecedent of satisfaction (Grewal et al., 1999). Moreover, Ha and Perks (2005)
assume that trust is influenced by consumers prior experiences and satisfaction.
Chiou (2004) point out that trust affects loyalty and satisfaction directly and
indirectly through perceived value.

Furthermore, Trust is proposed as another important antecedent of loyalty

(Reichheld et al., 2000). Szymanski and Hise (2000) claim that there is a need to
more research into the range of drivers of online satisfaction and in particular the
trust-satisfaction link. In fact, like comments appear pertinent regarding both
business-to-business (Bauer et al., 2002) and consumer (Sirdeshmukh et al.,
2002).
For the reason, that customer interaction experiences in an online community is
not mature enough and identify several areas for further research. Nambisan and
Watt (2011) indicate that might be other possible impacts of customers
interaction experience in online communities should be considered for extend
knowledge in an online community domain. For the previous theoretical debate,
the present study meets the strong recommendations by considering the
customer experience dominations impacts. Focuses on exploring the customer
interactions experiences and trust-satisfaction link have largely been limited to
studies (Furnell & Karweni, 1999; Ratnasingham, 1998) this study will apply trust
and satisfaction to be consequence variables that both independently and
together have a direct influence upon brand loyalty.
In summary, this study makes three major contributions:
1. It advances the extant online customers' interaction experiences literature by
exploring the role of key mediators between online community experience and
brand loyalty
2. It provides further insights into the relationship between online customers'
interaction experiences and brand loyalty in an online community setting.
3. It establishes the role of trust and satisfaction in reinforcing the effect of on
brand loyalty.
4. Research Aim
This study aims to investigate the dimensionality of customers' interaction
experiences in the online community and its impact on consumer satisfaction
and trust. To test whether the customers experience dimensions in such
communities significantly impact brand loyalty and whether this impact
mediated by customer satisfaction and trust. Understand how consumer
satisfaction and trust contribute to build brand loyalty.
The aims of the study will achieve through the pursuit of the following objectives:
1. To identify the dimensions of online customer interactions experience and its
impact on brand loyalty. 2. To develop a conceptual framework that illustrates
the relationships between online customer interaction experience, consumer
satisfaction and trust. 3. To investigate the impact of online customer
interactions experience in an online community on brand loyalty and whether,
this impact mediated by customer satisfaction and trust. 4. Describe implications
that emerge from the current research for future studying in an online
community field. 5. To contribute to both literature on online communities and
customer experience. 5. Research Questions
The research questions present below showing how the study objectives will
integrate into the current research.

1. What are the different experience dimensions associated with online

communities that have an impact on consumer satisfaction and trust?
2. What are the online customer interaction experience dimensions that
contribute to a positive influence on consumer satisfaction and trust?
3. What impact does the consumer satisfaction, trust have on the brand loyalty?
4. What directly impact does online customer interactions experience have on
brand loyalty?

Research methodology
The Quantitative approach has a linear and logical structure. Hypotheses take
the structure of expectations about possible causal relation between the
concepts identified in the hypotheses. Therefore, the determination of the causal
relations defined by the hypotheses supported or rejected. The hypotheses will
design to test the relations among the constructs. To investigate the research
hypotheses, a quantitative research method will employ in from a questionnaire
survey. The data will collect through an electronic questionnaire that will be
designing and setting available to customer who interacted and participated in
an online community. Moreover, this method will allow a rich context to conduct
this research. Further, this will clarify the impact of customers' perceptions about
their interaction experience in the online community on brand loyalty mediated
by satisfaction and trust.