Impact of Customer Satisfaction on Organization's Brand Image: A case study on Tesco

This research proposal explores the impact of customer satisfaction on the brand image of Tesco. It discusses the determinants of customer satisfaction and corporate image, and the research methodology used to collect and analyze data. The study aims to answer research questions related to the factors affecting customer satisfaction, the impact of customer satisfaction on brand image and business performance, and how Tesco can improve its services to build customer satisfaction.

Running head: IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND
IMAGE
Research proposal on “Impact of Customer Satisfaction on Organization's Brand Image: A
case study on Tesco”
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
1. Title of Research:
Impact of customer satisfaction on organization's brand image: a case study of Tesco
2. Research questions
1) What are the factors that affect the customer satisfaction for an organization?
2) How does customer satisfaction affect the brand image of an organization and its
business performance?
3) How a leading business organization, such as, Tesco, can improve its services to build
customer satisfaction?
3. Literature review
In the competitive business environment, an organization’s brand image depends heavily
on the customer satisfaction and brand loyalty (Bilgihan, 2016). Thus, every organization invests
consistently on building a brand image and reputation. These are very important factors that
contribute in increasing the market share and growth of a business. Thus, the businesses are in
continuous effort in improving their customer service to earn customer satisfaction. As stated by
Wheeler (2017), the marketing managers of any organization pay special attention on building a
reputation and brand identity for the company. However, that depends on many factors and one
of those is customer satisfaction. On the other hand, customer satisfaction depends on variety of
factors.
3.1 Determinants of customer satisfaction
The determinants of customer satisfaction are variable for different type of products,
services and type of industry. In a study by Oghojafor et al. (2014), it is seen that marketing

2IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
techniques are highly important in telecommunications industry. Along with the product or the
core service, the promotion and distribution techniques are quite impactful on the level of
customer satisfaction. Trust is also a major factor that determines customer satisfaction in the
telecom market of Nigeria that contributes in brand reputation. Thus, in the telecom industry,
marketing and promotional techniques play a major role in determining customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
On the other hand, in a study on the determinants of the customer satisfaction on the
service quality of the city bus service in Malaysia by Noor & Foo (2014), the authors focused on
three attributes of the bus services, comfort, safety and accessibility, other than trust and found
that these factors highly vary when the product or service type changes. For example, there is
difference between the minibus services and long distance bus transit and these attributes lead to
different type of customer satisfaction for these different services. Thus, it can be said that
product differentiation requires different dimensions or attributes for achieving customer
satisfaction.
The determinants of customer satisfaction change according to the product or service type
or industry type. In this context it can be highlighted that Möhlmann (2015) explored the sharing
economy for addressing the determinants of customer satisfaction. It is found that in the sharing
economy, the major determinant of customer satisfaction is the self-benefit, coupled with utility,
trust, familiarity and cost savings. Service quality and the community are also important factors
that help to gain customer satisfaction. The author also found that internet capacity, smartphone
capacity, trend affinity and environmental aspects have no impact on the customer satisfaction in
case of sharing economy.

3IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
On a broader perspective, Liat, Mansori & Huei (2014) conducted a study on evaluating
the association between the corporate image, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty in the hotel
industry of Malaysia. It is found from the study that service quality is a highly important factor in
the hospitality industry. As there is fierce competition in the hotel industry, the organizations
must focus on delivering the highest quality of products and services to the customers to create a
corporate image and brand loyalty. All these factors are associated with one another and
contribute significantly in the long term business growth and also ensuring sustainability in the
Malaysian hotel industry.
3.2 Determinants of corporate image
Corporate image is the perceived impression that is created by the interactions and
experiences with the brand and it is developed over time through consistent advertisements and
direct experience and relationship with the customers. There are many factors that affect the
corporate image. Alhaddad (2015) showed in his study that brand image, brand trust and
perceived quality of the products and services are the determinants of brand loyalty. In the brand
loyalty model, the author found that when the customers have a better perceived quality of a
product or service, they would like to experience the product or service. If they get a good
experience, the brand image gets better and they would become brand loyal. However, apart
from products and services, the CSR activities of the companies also create corporate image and
lack of such initiatives or activities negatively affect the consumer’s perception about the image
of the company. Hence, even if the company is providing better quality products or services, it
would have a negative image, which would hamper its business eventually (Tran et al., 2015).
On the contrary, Japutra, Ekinci & Simkin (2014) explored the factor of brand attachment
and stated that it is a powerful element to predict the favorable consumer behavior. Brand

4IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
attachment depends on factors like experience, responsiveness, reputation, quality, trust and self
congruity from the customers, and that gets reflected in the business performance of the brand.
Thus, organizations make attempts to create a good image along with good quality of products or
services to create an attachment with the customers. Thus, not only internal factors, but also
some external factors affect corporate image.
Dib & Alhaddad (2015) provided a different perspective on the importance of marketing
on determining brand image. The authors explored the determinants of brand image in the social
media. Social media is one of the most prevalent factors in the 21st century. To reach out to a
larger audience, social media is an effective tool. Promotion awareness, and electronic word-of-
mouth (E-WOM) are important elements that determine the brand image and the corporates also
try to build awareness about their brand, advertising and price on the social media. It has a
significant impact on the target market. However, social media can have both positive and
negative impact on the brand image. Alalwan et al. (2017) highlighted that social media can
create threats for the businesses as there is scope of posting negative feedback by the rivals or the
customers who are not satisfied with the products or services, which can hamper the brand image
of a company.
4. Research Methodology
4.1 Methodology
Research methodology represents the stages and actions taken for collecting the data for
the research study and analyzing and interpreting those information to answer the research
questions in the most logical and unambiguous manner (Kumar, 2019). Following is the research

5IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
onion developed by Saunders et al. (2015), which shows the steps of the methodology
chronologically.
Figure 1: Research onion
(Source: Saunders et al., 2015)
Research philosophy is the set of assumptions regarding the process that should be
adopted for collecting, analyzing and interpreting the information about the research
phenomenon. In this given study, the researcher will adopt the pragmatism research philosophy.
This philosophy enables the researcher to apply mathematical and statistical methods on the
quantitative data and qualitative analysis techniques on the non-numeric data and produce the
most logical, scientific and unbiased outcome (Mkansi, 2012).
As stated by Quinlan et al. (2019), research approach refers to the plans and methods that
include the steps of data collection, analysis and interpretation as per the chosen research

6IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
philosophy. There are two types of research approaches, inductive and deductive. In the given
study, the researcher will choose the deductive research approach as the impact of customer
satisfaction on the brand image of an organization will be evaluated on the basis of the consumer
behavior and marketing theories.
Maxwell (2012) stated that research strategy is the framework of the process and
techniques selected for combining different elements of the research in the most accurate way to
handle the research topic efficiently. In this study, the researcher will choose the case study
research strategy and Tesco is the case study organization. This type of strategy is beneficial for
assessing the research issue in a practical scenario and giving practical implications for
businesses (Hancock & Algozzine, 2016).
In the given study, the researcher will apply the mixed research method, that is both
qualitative and quantitative method will be applied. Quantitative method will be used for
analyzing the quantitative data while the qualitative method will be used to assess the literature
and validate the findings of the quantitative study. This methodology is helpful in assessing the
research topic in both the scientific and social perspective.
4.2 Research methods
The researcher will collect primary data to conduct the quantitative study and collect
secondary data from the secondary sources to conduct the qualitative study. A survey process
will be conducted on the customers of Tesco to know about their perspectives on the
organization or the brand. The questionnaire will contain close ended questions with replicable
scale for the answers. 5 smart-tablets will be installed at the one of the billing counters of 5

7IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
different stores of Tesco for conducting the survey. The customers will be asked to give their
feedback and opinion about the research topic while they wait for their billing.
To analyze the research issue in a statistical manner, following research hypothesis will
be evaluated:
H0: customer satisfaction does not have impact on the brand image of Tesco
H1: customer satisfaction has significant impact on the brand image of Tesco
Once the responses are collected, the information will be converted into numeric values
by using replicable scale, such as, 5 point rating scale or Likert scale, with 1 denoting least
favorable and 5 denoting most favorable. Then, statistical and mathematical operations will be
applied to test the research hypothesis. Secondary qualitative data will be analyzed using
thematic analysis in which various relevant themes are chosen and the research is conducted
accordingly (Braun et al., 2019).
4.3 Sampling strategy
The customers of Tesco forms the population for the study as they would be the most
appropriate to give an overview about research issue. Sampling is done as the entire population
cannot be studied. For the survey, a sample of 150 customers will be chosen by applying simple
random sampling technique. It is a probability sampling, in which, each sample has equal and
random probability of being selected and reduces sampling biasness and errors (Levy &
Lemeshow, 2013). Non-probability sampling will not be chosen as that depends on the judgment
of the researcher and that can lead to biased outcome.

8IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
5. Ethical issues
The researcher will maintain originality of the paper by citing proper references for all
the information. Further, all the participants will be informed about the purpose and objective of
the research and informed consent from all will be taken before the data collection process. All
the participants will have the right for voluntary participation. Moreover, the anonymity
condition and the data confidentiality will be strictly maintained.
6. Timescale
Month Work to be done Resources required to
complete work
May  Preparing the survey
questionnaire
 Choosing 5 different
store locations of Tesco
for conducting survey
 Contacting the store
managers for their
consent for the data
collection
 Arranging the tablets
for data collection
Computer (to prepare survey
questionnaire)
Phone (Potentially to contact
the managers of the chosen
stores of Tesco)
Tablet (for conducting the
survey)
June  Preparing the consent
forms for the survey
 Mailing the forms to
the 5 store managers of
Tesco outlets
 Replying to the
managers if required
Computer (preparing the
consent forms and replying to
the Tesco store managers if
required)
July  Installing the tablets at
the store outlets for
data collection
Tablet (for data collection)
August  Collecting secondary
data from secondary
sources
Library access
Computer (for accessing online
sources, such as, annual reports
of Tesco, industry reports,
newspaper articles, video
clippings etc.)
September  Converting the survey Computer

9IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
responses into numeric
values
 Consolidating both
types of data to perform
the analysis
MS Excel and SPSS (For
quantitative data analysis)
October  Performing data
analysis to get the
findings and present
those in a structured
manner
Computer
November  Writing the conclusion
and recommendations
Computer

10IMPACT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON ORGANIZATION'S BRAND IMAGE
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