The Role of Brand Identification in Building Customer Relationships: A Case Study of French Banks

Abstract

This article aims to improve the understanding of building customer relationship and examine the role of brand identification. From this perspective, the research studied the effect of the main customer relationships variables, satisfaction, trust, attachment, and brand identification on brand loyalty and its consequences. Thus, after a qualitative exploratory phase, an empirical study was carried out with a sample of bank customers (153 in the exploratory phase and 284 in the confirmatory phase), via an access panel. A structural equation analysis was then conducted. This study demonstrated that each of the variables has a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, the weight of brand identification is higher than that of the other variables. In addition, these variables positively affect brand loyalty, customer share-of-wallet, word-of-mouth, and loyalty intention. On the other hand, they do not affect resistance to counter-persuasion.

Keywords: Brand loyalty, Brand identification, Attitudinal consequences.

JEL Classification: M31

Paper type: Empirical Research