THE INFLUENCE OF BRAND SATISFACTION, BRAND TRUST, BRAND PREFERENCE ON BRAND LOYALTY TO LAPTOP BRANDS

Brands have played a crucial role in determining the behavior of consumers. Thus, the present research's principal purpose was to empirical study on the influence of brand satisfaction, brand trust, brand preference on brand loyalty to the laptop brand context. We examined investigation data from 214 consumers who purchased the laptop product in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. PLS Partial Least Squares was applied to test the measurement model and the structural model. The outcome of the research revealed that brand satisfaction had a positive influence on brand trust (β= 0.455; p=0.000), brand preference (β= 0.391; p=0.000), and brand loyalty (β= 0.228; p=0.001). ). The findings also confirmed that brand trust had a positive impact on brand preference (β= 0.423; p=0.000) and a positive effect on brand loyalty (β= 0.232; p=0.002). The results also reinforced that brand preference had a positive impact on brand loyalty (β= 0.403; p=0.000). Keywords— brand satisfaction, brand trust, brand preference, brand loyalty, laptop brands, PLS INTRODUCTION The subject of the brand is one of the essential marketing subjects nowadays. Brands have influenced customers' minds through the products and services. In the complicated and shifting world of business, if we were not capable of building the brand and shape it in customers' minds, as well as have differences with other's brands would be nothing but tremendous expenses, and there was no assurance for the return of capital. In other words, a reliable and trustworthy brand could be lead to satisfied customers, increase the loyalty customer to brands and more customers, which will finally lead to leading the final purposes of businesses, i.e., achieving the highest profitability [1]. Other scholars also stated that brands significantly had played an essential role in the behavior of customers [2]. Besides, the rising of brandcustomer consciousness has made customers choose to purchase their familiar and favorable. Thus, if companies would like to win their rivals, they have to make customers want to buy their products and brands [3]. Also, brand loyalty has been crucial to many companies as it increased their profit as well as market share. Other authors revealed that brand loyalty had played an essential role in the companies as loyal consumers tended to spend more on the brand. They were not only buying the chosen product, but also different products within a similar brand [4]. Therefore, brand loyalty has been marketers applied as an effective strategic weapon to take a sustainable competitive advantage. Besides, a vast number of loyal customers have been a competitive asset for a brand and recognized as a significant determinant of its equity [5][6]. Researchers revealed that the crucial role of brand satisfaction toward brand trust [7][8], brand preference [9][10], brand loyalty [6][11]. Other scholars also disclosed that brand trust was a significant antecedent of brand preference [10][12]. Some prior empirical studies also confirmed that brand trust was the critical precursor of brand loyalty [13][14]. Furthermore, some previous research verified that brand preference was the predictor of brand loyalty [15][10][16]. However, up to now, having some investigations relating to the influence of brand satisfaction, brand trust, brand preference on brand loyalty, especially these impacts in laptop brands. Thus, the current research is to investigate the influence of brand satisfaction, brand trust, brand preference on brand loyalty to laptop brands. LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES BRAND SATISFACTION Brand satisfaction has been one of the branding notions that has been widely researched in the marketing literature [17][18][19]. Satisfaction happens when the performance of a brand meets the expectations of customers [19]. Brand satisfaction was defined as an outcome of the customers' evaluation in which customers seem satisfied with their chosen brand, and the brand meets their expectations. Brand satisfaction could be classified into two, i.e., transactionspecific satisfaction and accumulative satisfaction [17][20]. Other scholars defined brand satisfaction as a review of the direct utilization experience, based on the difference between previous expectation and the real performance perceived after utilization [21]. Brand satisfaction also was represented as the cumulative satisfaction as the overall client's evaluation based on the client's total buying and experience with a brand of product/service [22]. Trust in the bought brand could be seen as leverage of the satisfied clients, which in return may increase the clients' repurchase behavior. Consequently, the higher the level of The Influence Of Brand Satisfaction, Brand Trust, Brand Preference On Brand Loyalty To Laptop Brands Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy Vol 11, Issue 11, Nov-Dec 2020 96 positive brand satisfaction the client recognized, the higher they led to trust the brand [13][10]. Some prior studies said that brand satisfaction was a predictor of brand trust [18][23]. Previous empirical researches confirmed that brand satisfaction had a significant positive impact on brand trust [13][18][23]. Clients took the brand from among the different brands by comparing the degree of brands satisfied clients [23][24]. If clients were pleased with the brand, they tended that brand preference over other brands. Moreover, brand satisfaction was a necessary antecedent of brand preference [10][9]. Earlier empirical studies revealed that brand satisfaction had a significant influence on brand preference [10][9]. Besides, brand satisfaction was a precursor of brand loyalty [25][26]. Some empirical investigations disclosed that brand satisfaction had a significant influence on brand loyalty [18][25]. Thus, we proposed the following hypotheses: H1: Brand satisfaction has a significant positive impact on brand trust. H2: Brand satisfaction has a significant positive effect on brand preference. H3: Brand satisfaction has a significant positive effect on brand loyalty.