Projecting the Outcomes of Consumer-Brand Value Congruence: The Mediating Role of Relationship Quality

Abstract

How does consumer-brand relationship quality (CBRQ) influence behaviors attributed to personal values? We answer this question by proposing a model that links customer voluntary performance and propensity to leave with CBRQ that stems from customer-brand value congruence. We collected data from an online survey of 371 consumers of restaurants and hospitals in Egypt. Irrespective of the service context, we find that, (1) value congruence is positively related to CBRQ, (2) there is a negative relationship between CBRQ and propensity to leave, and (3) a positive relationship with customer voluntary performance. However, the positive relationship between value congruence and customer voluntary performance was only observed in the hospital context. Furthermore, CBRQ partially mediates the effects of value congruence on customer voluntary performance and fully mediates the effects of value congruence on propensity to leave. Our findings suggest that, by focusing on the notion that brands have similar values to those of consumers, brand managers could achieve some important and desired consequences, most notably consumers voluntary behaviors such as cooperation, participation, and loyalty. In addition, invest in building customers relationships pays dividends as high quality customer-brand relationship acts as a deterrent to customers' willingness to leave. By synthesizing the literature from relationship marketing and branding research streams, the current study represents a new endeavor to specify the direct association between value congruence and propensity to leave and customer voluntary performance and the indirect associations through CBRQ in the services context. This opens the door for future conceptual and empirical evaluations. Given that a considerable bulk of research on value congruence and CBRQ has been developed in Western contexts, our contribution is salient in that we test hypothesized associations in an emerging market. Overall, our study takes relationship marketing and branding literature one step further by identifying the role of value congruence might play in enhancing the relationship quality with the service brand as well as projecting the outcomes of both constructs in a new research setting. 2016, Academy of Marketing Science.