Dissertation: Brand Trust, Customer Satisfaction, and Brand Loyalty

This dissertation investigates the significant impact of brand trust and customer satisfaction on brand loyalty. The research explores the influence of brand image on consumer purchase decisions within a competitive market, emphasizing the need for companies to cultivate positive brand perceptions. The study employs a positivism philosophy, descriptive research design, and deductive approach, gathering data from 100 customers using SPSS, correlation, and regression analyses. Findings reveal a strong positive correlation between brand trust and customer satisfaction, as well as between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The dissertation delves into factors affecting brand trust (consistency, promotion, customer testimonials, and reputation), customer satisfaction (customer experience, convenience, logic, and responsibility), and brand loyalty (customer service, rewards, and brand trust). The study concludes by linking the findings to the research objectives, offering recommendations, and suggesting future research directions to enhance brand loyalty through trust and satisfaction. This research is aimed at understanding the effect of brand trust by the customers so that it can lead to their satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular brands.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Impact of Brand Trust and Customer Satisfaction on Brand Loyalty
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1DISSERTATION
Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to understand the effect of brand trust by the customers so that it can
lead to their satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular brands. The problem
statement of the research is to investigate the importance of the brand image for the consumers
and how does it affect their purchase decision of the various products and services produced by
that particular business organisation. In the contemporary time, the market structure follows the
capitalist ideology where the different business organisations are required to compete with each
other in order to earn a high margin of profit. This is important because without displaying their
products and services to the people in this age of globalization and liberalization, it would
become very difficult for the different companies to increase their sale volume. The research is
conducted by the use of methodologies such as research philosophy, research design as well as
research approach. The research philosophy considered is the positivism philosophy. The
research design is the descriptive design and the research approach is the deductive approach.
The research is conducted by gaining responses from 100 customers via the use of statistical
methods such as SPSS, correlation and regression. The data analysis shows that the correlation
between the brand trust and customer satisfaction is .898 while the relationship between the
brand loyalty and the customer satisfaction is .963. This signifies a positive and strong
correlation between the variables. The regression analysis show that the p-value is 0.000, which
implies that the alternative hypothesis of the research is applicable, and that effect of brand trust
and customer satisfaction lead to the development of brand loyalty.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
1.0 Overview................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................5
1.2 Research aim..........................................................................................................................5
1.3 Research objectives...............................................................................................................5
1.4 Research hypothesis...............................................................................................................5
1.5 Research questions.................................................................................................................5
1.6 Research rationale..................................................................................................................6
1.7 Structure.................................................................................................................................7
1.8 Summary................................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................10
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................10
2.1 Conceptual Framework........................................................................................................10
2.2 Concept of brand trust.........................................................................................................11
2.3 Factors affecting brand trust................................................................................................11
2.3.1 Consistency as a factor of brand trust...........................................................................11
2.3.2 Promotion as a factor of brand trust.............................................................................12
2.3.3 Customer testimonials as a factor of brand trust..........................................................14

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2.3.4 Reputation as a factor of brand trust.............................................................................15
2.4 Concept of customer satisfaction.........................................................................................16
2.5 Factors affecting customer satisfaction...............................................................................16
2.5.1 Customer experience as a factor of customer satisfaction............................................17
2.5.2 Convenience as a factor of customer satisfaction.........................................................18
2.5.3 Logic as a factor of customer satisfaction....................................................................19
2.5.4 Responsibility as a factor of customer satisfaction.......................................................20
2.6 Concept of brand loyalty.....................................................................................................21
2.7 Factors affecting brand loyalty............................................................................................21
2.7.1 Customer service as a factor of brand loyalty..............................................................21
2.7.2 Rewards as a factor of brand loyalty............................................................................22
2.7.3 Customer satisfaction as a factor of brand loyalty........................................................23
2.7.4 Brand trust as a factor of brand loyalty........................................................................25
2.8 Benefits of brand trust and customer satisfaction on brand loyalty.....................................26
2.9 Challenges in achieving brand trust and customer satisfaction for a brand........................27
2.10 Methods of improving brand trust and customer satisfaction for achieving brand loyalty
...................................................................................................................................................27
2.11 Summary............................................................................................................................28
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................29
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................29

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3.1 Research Outline..................................................................................................................29
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................30
3.2.1 Justification of the chosen philosophy..........................................................................31
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................32
3.3.1 Justification of choosing the approach.........................................................................32
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................32
3.4.1 Justification of the research design...............................................................................33
3.5 Data Collection Process.......................................................................................................34
3.6 Techniques for data analysis................................................................................................34
3.7 Sampling techniques............................................................................................................35
3.8 Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................35
3.9 Research Limitation.............................................................................................................35
3.10 Summary............................................................................................................................36
Chapter 4: Data analysis................................................................................................................37
4.1 Overview..............................................................................................................................37
4.2 Descriptive analysis.............................................................................................................37
4.3 Inferential analysis...............................................................................................................39
4.3.1 Correlation analysis......................................................................................................39
4.3.2 Regression analysis.......................................................................................................44
4.4 Summary..............................................................................................................................48

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Chapter 5: Findings and interpretations.........................................................................................50
5.1 Overview..............................................................................................................................50
5.2 Discussion............................................................................................................................50
5.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................52
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................53
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................53
6.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................54
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................55
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................57
References......................................................................................................................................58
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................67
Survey questionnaire.................................................................................................................67

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
In the contemporary time, the market structure follows the capitalist ideology where the
different business organisations are required to compete with each other in order to earn a high
margin of profit. This is important because without displaying their products and services to the
people in this age of globalization and liberalization, it would become very difficult for the
different companies to increase their sale volume (Valtakoski 2015). One of the ways in which
this can be done is by promoting a healthy brand image of the business organisation. It is
important for the brands present in the market to create an image that is positive in nature in the
eyes of the customers so that they can be able to gain a competitive advantage over the rivals that
are present (Husseini, Zarandi and Husseini 2015). Globalization has helped most of the
companies to advertise their brands in a better manner so that the customers can be attracted
towards them. The success of the organisation depends on the degree of attractiveness that they
can create amongst the customers so that they are willing to purchase the products or the services
(Carnevale, Loureiro and Kabadayi 2018). The impact of brand loyalty can be analysed from the
fact that it enables the business to increase its sales volume which as a positive impact on the
level of profitability of the organisation. As a result, a need is felt on the part of the different
business organisations to inculcate a sense of brand trust among the different target population
who constitute the customer base of that particular industry (Alhaddad 2015). This would lead to
their satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular brands.

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1.1 Problem statement
The problem statement of the research is to investigate the importance of the brand image
for the consumers and how does it affect their purchase decision of the various products and
services produced by that particular business organisation.
1.2 Research aim
The aim of the research is to understand the effect of brand trust by the customers so that
it can lead to their satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular brands.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives that will be present for this research process are as follows:
1. To understand the effect of customers on trusting the brand that leads to brand loyalty among
them.
2. To understand the satisfaction level of the customers so that it can help in increasing brand
loyalty among them.
1.4 Research hypothesis
The research would be based on the following hypothesis:
H0- The level of satisfaction and trust for the brand by the customers does not create an impact
on brand loyalty
H1- The level of satisfaction and trust for the brand by the customers creates an impact on brand
loyalty
1.5 Research questions
The questions for the research will be as follows:

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1. How does the brand trust among customers lead to brand loyalty amongst them?
2. What effect does customer satisfaction have on influencing the loyalty of customers towards
the brand?
1.6 Research rationale
Every business organisation has the main objective of increasing its level of sales
volume. For this purpose, there is a need on the part of every firm to assert its dominance over
the consumer market by ensuring that they are controlling the maximum share of this consumer
base (Portal, Abratt and Bendixen 2018). For this purpose, there is a need for the different
business organisation to embark on certain levels of activities such as that of promoting a healthy
and positive image of the brand in the minds of the customers, providing the best quality product
to the customers as well as providing certain after sales services. This is deemed as important as
very business firm of a particular industry sell their product at competitive prices due to the
capitalist nature of the market (Syed Alwi et al. 2016). Consequently, it becomes imperative for
the business organisation to try to provide other attraction to the customers apart from
competitive prices.
It is all these factors combined together that aids in the generation of a positive brand
image for a particular business organisation. The asset of most of the organisations is the brands
that are made available by them in the market for the customers to purchase (Al Abdulrazak and
Gbadamosi 2017). It helps in interlinking the companies with the customers so that the trust and
the loyalty of the customers can be built regarding the particular brand. The loyalty of the
customers towards the brand will help the companies in gaining a fair share in the competitive
market so that they can earn a better rate of return (Lassoued and Hobbs 2015). Therefore, it can

10DISSERTATION
be stated that the brands of the companies can result in influencing the decision-making capacity
of the consumers in the market.
The adoption of the various steps present in marketing by the companies helps them in
influencing the customers so that they become loyal to their particular products or services. Thus,
the significance of the study follows from the idea that the promotion of a healthy image of a
brand will help to generate feelings of trust and satisfaction among the various customers who
would then become loyal customers of the particular business organisation. This, in turn, would
lead to the increase in the sales volume of the firm, resulting in a higher form of annual return
within the organisation.
1.7 Structure
The first chapter provides a brief overview of the research and the aim of the research,
which seeks to understand the effect of brand, trust by the customers so that it can lead to their
satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular brands. For this purpose, this chapter
develops certain research objectives from which the research questions follows. This chapter
provides the rationale of the research, which aids in the development of the research study in the
latter chapters.
The second chapter deals with the literature review portion of the research study. In this
chapter, the opinions of the different authors related to the various themes of the research are
looked in to in a detailed manner. The aim of this chapter is to show to the readers the existing
literature on the issue so that it is possible to understand the gap within this body of literature.
The importance of this research study follows from addressing this gap in literature.

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The third chapter provides an overview of the research methodology that is utilized in the
making of this research. The research includes the research philosophy of positivism and
deductive approach, which helps to ascertain the validity of the data. The information for
undertaking this research is gathered with the help of primary data collection where it aids in the
assessment of the outcome of the research in an effective and efficient manner.
The fourth chapter analyses the information, which has so far been collected in the
research with the aid of primary data collection where the various participants chosen were
required to answer the questions included in the questionnaire provided to them. This data is
analysed with the help of the methodologies, which has been mentioned earlier in the section of
research methodology. This chapter seeks to understand the effect of brand trust by the
customers so that it can lead to their satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the particular
brands from the responses given by the chosen participants.
Chapter five includes the discussion portion of the research study. This chapter relates the
primary data gathered in the previous chapter of data analysis, which was analysed, with the aid
of the research methodology employed in the research study, with that of the data gathered in the
literature review section. The primary data is examined, understood and justified with the aid of
the data collected from the analysis of various literature which has already been done in this field
of study.
The concluding chapter provides a conclusion, which relates to the understanding of the
effect of brand trust by the customers so that it can lead to their satisfaction and increase their
loyalty towards the particular brands. In order to increase this aspect of brand trust among the