Magister Commercii - MCom / The concept of brand loyalty highlights the importance of brands in marketing strategy development because it leads to a stream of benefits for the company (lower marketing costs, less price sensitivity, greater market share and greater profits). Questions thus arise about how brand loyalty is achieved, especially for low involvement product categories classified as fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs). Models of how brand loyalty is built have been tested and most agree that brand loyalty is linked to satisfying customer needs. Knowledge about the type of needs (utilitarian and hedonic) is however, not usually determined. How the different types of needs first influence brand trust and brand affect, before affecting consumer satisfaction, also requires investigation. This study therefore tested how brand building efforts for some selected FMCG brands in South Africa impact on brand loyalty, as well as the extent to which utilitarian and hedonic need satisfaction leads to brand trust and brand affect for these low involvement products. The study also examined the extent to which brand trust and affect influence consumer satisfaction, examined as drivers of attitudinal and behavioural brand loyalty. Quantitative research methods were used to collect and analyse the data, appropriate because of the nature of the research (testing relationships between multi-variables), and the fact that standardised instruments were available to test the proven and valid variables. Data was collected from 272 White, Indian, Coloured and Black South Africans living in Cape Town. The respondents were sampled from malls in Nyanga (targeting Black consumers, most of whom represent lower income consumers), Mitchell's Plain (targeting middle income Coloured and Black consumers), and Canal Walk (targeting high income White, Coloured, Indian and Black consumers), all of which either have SPAR, Pick n Pay or Shoprite/Checkers retailers that sell FMCGs. Structural equation modelling was the main data analysis method for this multivariate investigation.

Ever since the creation of Web 2.0, there has been a seismic shift in how businesses advertise and promote their brands. Social media has birthed a new platform for people and organizations to interact with each other to pass information and opinions or accounts of experiences with products or services. As more consumers gravitate towards social media, firms are leveraging this sensation to engage and forge relationships with individuals which in most cases positively influence consumers’ purchase decisions. However, when some customers are dissatisfied with services or products, they engage in social media negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) which could impact a brand’s reputation, the consumer’s purchase intention and ultimately the firm’s bottom line. In the first study, 118 undergraduate students were surveyed, and empirical evidence was found to support mediating effects of brand reputation on the relationship between social media and purchase intention and moderating effects of brand engagement on the relationship between social media NWOM and brand reputation. In the second study, scenarios were presented to undergraduate students to investigate the impact of social media NWOM on small/local businesses vs. large chain businesses, the difficulty of recovery for small/local businesses, the NWOM correlation of switching behavior after product/service failure, and responses from a firm after a product/service failure. The third study replicated the findings from study two using a more diverse sample instead of students. The study expanded and explored why trust and recovery levels differ in large chain versus small/local businesses. Results indicated that small businesses suffered more from the failure in service/product but made a larger surge in trust than large chain businesses. Keywords: Negative-word-of-mouth, social media, brand engagement, business failure recovery, brand trust, switching behavior / Business Administration/Marketing

Titel: Så skapas kundlojalitet: Hur fastighetsmäklarföretag arbetar för att uppnå kundlojalitet Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Lucas Håkansson och Emilio Silva Aresti Handledare: Lars-Johan Åge Datum: 2022- maj Syfte: Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur fastighetsmäklarföretag i Uppsala arbetar för att skapa kundlojalitet genom de tre begreppen kundnöjdhet, varumärkestillit och varumärkesuppfattning. Metod: Denna studie har använt sig utav en kvalitativ metod där fem kontorschefer hos fastighetsmäklarföretag i Uppsala har intervjuats. Studien har använt sig utav en deduktiv forskningsansats där en pilotintervju gjorts för att säkerställa relevansen i frågorna, därefter gjordes en innehållsanalys för att framställa svaren. Resultat och slutsats: Genom att arbeta med kundnöjdhet, varumärkestillit, varumärkesuppfattning samt engagemang skapar företagen lojala kunder. Resultatet vittnar om att det finns förbättringspotential hos företagen kring hur de kan stärka sitt varumärke och dess exponering. Kopplingen mellan kundnöjdhet och kundlojalitet är något som företagen är väl införstådda med. Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie har bidragit med att addera en faktor i strävan efter kundlojalitet. Vi har sett att engagemang är det som är en viktig komponent utöver kundnöjdheten, varumärkestilliten och varumärkesuppfattningen. Förslag på fortsatt forskning: Denna studie avgränsar sig till Uppsala, ett liknande upplägg i utlandet är av intresse då regelverket kan spela en bidragande roll då de svenska mäklarna måste vara opartiska. Utöver detta kan en avsmalning leda till en djupare inblick kring hur just det specifika begreppet leder till kundlojalitet. / Title: That's how you create customer loyalty: How real estate agent companies creates customer loyalty Level: Final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration Authors: Lucas Håkansson and Emilio Silva Aresti Supervisor: Lars-Johan Åge Date: 2022 - may Aim: The purpose of this qualitative study is to create a further understanding how real estate agent companies in Uppsala work towards creating customer loyalty through the three factors customer satisfaction, brand trust and brand image. Method: This study is based on a qualitative research method with five office managers within the real estate agent industry in Uppsala. This study has a deductive approach where the responses were categorized based on a content analysis. Result and Conclusions: By working towards customer satisfaction, brand trust, brand image and commitment the company creates customer loyalty. The result shows there is potential to be even better with creating a stronger brand and to expose it. The link between customer satisfaction och customer loyalty is something that the companies are aware of. Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to further knowledge by adding another factor into striving for customer loyalty. We have seen how commitment is an important component beyond customer satisfaction, brand trust and brand image. Suggestions for future research: This study used its research in Uppsala, therefore it would be interesting to see if real estate agent companies work the same with customer satisfaction, brand image and brand trust to gain customer loyalty between different cities.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how public agencies can increase theirbrand trust by adapting technologies and digital strategies which target inclusiveness forsocially vulnerable groups. To obtain the research purpose, the study explores how the SwedishTax Agency work to adapt its digital tools and the ways in which these digital tools contributeto gaining brand trust. The study was conducted as a qualitative single case study where datawas mainly collected using secondary data of official data published by the Swedish TaxAgency. In addition, employees at Swedish Tax Agency were interviewed, using a semistructured interview as the primary data collection method. The study concludes that there is aneed of both cognitive and affective trust in understanding how agencies can gain brand trustin e-government. They can also be corroborated with both traditional marketing literature andwith more recent literature in e-government.

In the present study, we have explored the role of brand trust and consumer brand identification in evoking brand forgiveness when individuals are exposed to communications related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) wrongdoings. Grounded in attribution theory, we have developed and empirically tested a conceptual model to assess the effectiveness of brand trust in facilitating the attribution of wrongdoings either internally (e.g., believing that the brand had wrong intentions) or externally (e.g., believing that there are other factors beyond the brand's control) in influencing brand forgiveness. We conducted an online experiment utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to recruit participants from the U.S. national population (N = 620) following a quota sampling method. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed in Mplus to analyze the hypothesized direct and mediation relationships. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to test the moderating hypotheses in SPSS (i.e., the interplay of brand trust and consumer brand identification in influencing internal and external attributions). Supporting the hypotheses, we found that brand trust positively influenced external attribution and external attributions, evoking brand forgiveness when individuals are exposed to communications related to CSR wrongdoings. However, contrary to our expectation, we found that the brand trust positively influenced internal attribution which indicated that higher the degree of faith individuals had in the brands, higher their tendency was to consider the possibility that the brand was indeed involved in unethical CSR practices.

Modern technology has provided for greater company transparency and media coverage, which among other has led to customers being able to increasingly demand corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives from companies. Companies should however not consider CSR as a constraint, but rather as a way to create competitive advantage, generating positive outcomes. One of which could be consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), however, the implementation of efficient CSR strategies is a difficult task, where research has somewhat disregarded the customer aspect of CSR, which can drive CBBE. Hence, this research has focused on the customer attitudes towards CSR and how this impacts CBBE, as well as brand trust. The data for the survey was gathered through a convenience sample, which after data cleanup consisted of 106 respondents. The results of the data analysis suggested the impact which customer attitudes towards CSR can have on both CBBE and brand trust, within the context of the insurance industry, used for this paper, due its linkage to CSR, as described later on. Keywords Customer Attitudes, Brand Affection, Brand Trust, Brand Equity, Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Insurance Industry.

Este estudio analiza cómo la publicidad social a través de la estrategia del storydoing publicitario puede generar brand trust en el contexto del Covid-19. El estudio se posiciona en el paradigma interpretativo y su enfoque es cualitativo. Su diseño es el estudio de caso del anuncio “Delivery a Burger King”, en el cual la marca ofrece su apoyo a restaurantes pymes peruanos por la crisis económica durante la pandemia. Se realizaron 16 entrevistas semiestructuradas a adultos de 5 distritos de Lima entre 25 a 35 años. Como resultado, el vínculo de una buena relación del consumidor con la promesa del propósito de marca y llevar a cabo soluciones concretas a una comunidad, es lo que permite que el storydoing genere brand trust. Asimismo, integrar a personajes reales que reciben la experiencia en la narrativa consolida una conexión emocional con el espectador. Sin embargo, no se debe perder la continuidad y visibilidad en la iniciativa, de lo contrario hay riesgo de que se señalen dudas en la intención de la marca. / This study analyzes how social advertising through the advertising storydoing strategy can generate brand trust in the context of Covid-19. The study is positioned in the interpretive paradigm and its approach is qualitative. Its design is the case study of the ad “Delivery a Burger King”, in which the brand offers its support to Peruvian restaurants due to the economic crisis during the pandemic. 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults from 5 districts of Lima between 25 and 35 years old. As a result, the link of a good consumer relationship with the promise of the brand purpose and carrying out concrete solutions to a community, is what allows storydoing to generate brand trust. Likewise, integrating real characters who receive the experience into the narrative consolidates an emotional bond with the viewer. However, the continuity and visibility of the initiative should not be lost, otherwise there is a risk that doubts will be raised in the intention of the brand. / Tesis

El presente trabajo de investigación busca analizar las relaciones entre las variables Customer Brand engagement, Brand trust y Brand loyalty dentro de la categoría de MOOC’s, donde las variables son relevantes para conocer el comportamiento de los estudiantes. Un MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) es un curso remoto, accesible a través de Internet la cual cualquier persona puede registrarse a través de diversas plataformas. El customer brand engagement se deriva del comportamiento y la interacción de los usuarios con el nivel de motivación de la marca. Asimismo, el brand trust significa que la marca se posiciona en la mente del consumidor, donde los competidores ocupan un segundo plano. De igual modo, el brand loyalty se establece a partir de una conexión a largo plazo con el consumidor y no solo durante el tiempo de estudio. La metodología a utilizar en la cuantificación de las hipótesis se desarrollará a través de técnicas estadísticas de correlación y un tipo de medición multidimensional mediante el software SPSS. / The present research work seeks to analyze the relationships between the variables Customer Brand engagement, Brand trust and Brand loyalty within the MOOC's category, where the variables are relevant to know the behavior of students. A MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) is a remote course, accessible through the Internet, which anyone can register through various platforms.  Customer brand engagement is derived from the behavior and interaction of users with the level of brand motivation. Brand trust also means that the brand is positioned in the consumer's mind, where competitors take a back seat. Similarly, brand loyalty is established from a long-term connection with the consumer and not only during the time of the study. The methodology to be used in the quantification of the hypotheses will be developed through statistical correlation techniques and a type of multidimensional measurement using SPSS software. / Trabajo de investigación

Este estudio tiene como principal objetivo examinar la relación entre la proximidad, la confianza y lealtad de los clientes hacia las tiendas de conveniencia. Según lo investigado, se pudo evidenciar un efecto positivo con las dimensiones de proximidad como access, functional, relational y social, tanto en la confianza como en la lealtad del cliente. Estas relaciones se probarán mediante un cuestionario y serán medidas por medio de la escala de Likert de 1-5 puntos. Por último, para el análisis de los resultados se utilizará la técnica de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) basado en la variancia (PLS). / The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between proximity, trust and customer loyalty towards convenience stores. As investigated, a positive effect could be evidenced with the proximity dimensions such as access, functional, relational and social, both in trust and customer loyalty. These relationships will be tested by means of a questionnaire and will be measured using the 1-5 point Likert scale. Finally, for the analysis of the results, the technique of structural equations (SEM) based on variance (PLS) will be used. / Trabajo de investigación

El COVID-19 provocó que múltiples empresas se vean inevitablemente afectadas con efectos a corto y largo plazo. En el Perú, los consumidores se están enfrentando a un entorno incierto y cambiante que los obliga continuamente a realizar ajustes en su día a día. Por ello, las empresas deben evaluar minuciosamente las acciones por tomar con sus marcas ya que, los consumidores han dejado de lado sus conductas habituales y están atentos a todo lo que ocurre en su entorno. Múltiples empresas se vieron en la obligación de trabajar más la confianza de marca para mantener la lealtad que estos brindaban al usuario final con la finalidad de que las ventas no disminuyeran y a su vez que más personas no pierdan credibilidad puesto que, muchas de ellas juegan un rol importante dentro de la crisis sanitarias que vivimos actualmente. / COVID-19 caused multiple companies to be inevitably affected with short and long-term effects. In Peru, consumers are facing an uncertain and changing environment that continually forces them to make adjustments in their day to day. For this reason, companies must carefully evaluate the actions to be taken with their brands since consumers have put aside their usual behaviors and are attentive to everything that happens in their environment. Multiple companies were forced to work more on brand trust to maintain the loyalty that they provided to the end user in order that sales did not decrease and in turn that more people did not lose credibility since many of them play an important role in the current health crisis. / Trabajo de investigación