BRAND LOYALTY AT SMARTPHONES MARKET: LINKING BETWEEN BRAND PASSION, HEDONIC AND UTILITARIAN VALUES

Abstract

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the factors that influence consumers' brand loyalty to smartphone brands. The main aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between hedonic value, utilitarian value, brand passion, and brand loyalty based on consumers' loyalty at the smartphones market. Accordingly, the study focuses on brand loyalty as a consequence of brand passion and reveals it in a holistic framework as it emphasizes the direct relationship between the two variables. In this context, this study is different from others in literature in a way that it focuses on smartphones, which are at the upper ranks of the technological product category. The fact that this study only deals with mobile phones makes it different and essential as studies on electronic and technological products often focus on the general situation. Researchers used positivist research as a quantitative research design in this study, which deals with factors that influence brand loyalty to smartphone brands. The study universe involves 18-year-old and older consumers with a purchase capacity. In this context, the study sample comprises smartphone users at or over the age of 18. The conceptual model and associated hypotheses are tested with a sample of 330 consumers. Researchers collected the study data with a convenience sampling method with the help of an online survey. In the study, data were analyzed through structural equation modelling. The results demonstrate strong relationships between the two antecedents (hedonic value and utilitarian value) and brand passion and between brand passion and its consequence (brand loyalty). Study results indicate that hedonic value (beta=0,506; p<0,001) and utilitarian value (beta=0,202; p<0,001) have a positive influence on brand passion. Study results also show that brand passion (beta=0,683; p<0,001) has a positive influence on brand loyalty. On the other hand, the study also reveals that brand passion mediates the relationship between hedonic and utilitarian value and brand loyalty. Study results point out that hedonic value, utilitarian value, and brand passion have a positive influence on the development of consumers' loyalty to smartphone brands.