VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS HOW BRAND EXPERIENCE AND ALTERNATIVE ATTRACTION AFFECT BRAND LOYALTY AN INVESTIGATION ON BRAND APPLE IN VIETNAM In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION By NGUYEN TRUNG HUNG (BABAIU10266) Supervised by PhD. BUI QUANG THONG Ho Chi Minh City, 12 January 2015 HOW BRAND EXPERIENCE AND ALTERNATIVE ATTRACTION AFFECT BRAND LOYALTY AN INVESTIGATION ON BRAND APPLE IN VIETNAM APPROVED BY Advisor APPROVEDBY: Committee, ________________________________________________ Mr. Bui Quang Thong, PhD.

_________________________ _________________________ THESIS COMMITTEE Acknowledgements Thisthesiswouldnothavebeencompletedwithoutthesupportfrommany people.Iamverypleasedtohavethischancetoshowmygratitudetothem.First,I would like to express my gratitude to my family, especially my parents, for their support, patienceandlove.Withouttheirencouragement,thisstudycouldnothavebeen completed.I am so grateful to my advisor, PhD. Bui Quang Thong, for his invaluable support, guidance and encouragement. Mr. Thong has been a great mentor for me in this research. I have obtained a lot of knowledge about academic research from him. I also owe special thanks to the committee for their invaluable time, effort and constructive feedback.Furthermore, I wish to thank to all respondents in this thesis for their contributions and time. Last but not least, I am grateful to the Faculty of Business for providing me opportunity to accomplish the thesis for graduation at Ho Chi Minh International University - Vietnam National University, Vietnam. iv Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem Orientation .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Justification for the research ................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Research objectives ............................................................................................................... 3 1.5 Delimitations of scope and key assumptions ........................................................................ 4 Chapter 2 - Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ........................................................... 5 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Brand Experience .................................................................................................................. 5 2.2.1 Definitions ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Components of Brand Experience ................................................................................. 7 2.3 Alternative Attraction ........................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Brand Loyalty ....................................................................................................................... 9 Behavioral and attitudinal loyalty ......................................................................................... 10 Affective loyalty ................................................................................................................... 10 Cognitive loyalty ................................................................................................................... 11 Conative loyalty .................................................................................................................... 11 2.5 Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses ............................................................................ 11 Chapter 3 - Research Methodology .............................................................................................. 13 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Research Approach ............................................................................................................. 13 3.3 Data Source ......................................................................................................................... 15 3.5 Research Strategy ............................................................................................................... 16 3.6 Survey Design ..................................................................................................................... 17 3.7 Sampling Design ................................................................................................................. 19 v 3.8 Data Collection Method ...................................................................................................... 20 3.9 Pilot Test ............................................................................................................................. 20 3.10 Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 20 3.11 Data Analysis Method ...................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 4 - DATA ANALYZING RESULTS.............................................................................. 22 4.1 Sample demographic ........................................................................................................... 22 4.2 Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................................................... 23 4.2.1 Descriptive Statistics of Brand Experience .................................................................. 23 4.2.2 Descriptive Statistics of Alternative Attraction ........................................................... 24 4.2.3 Descriptive Statistics of Brand Loyalty ....................................................................... 25 4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis ............................................................................................... 25 4.2.1 Reliability Analysis ...................................................................................................... 26 4.2.2 Factor Analysis ............................................................................................................ 30 4.2.3 Reliability test for all new scales ................................................................................. 33 4.3 Testing The Measurement Model ....................................................................................... 34 4.3.1 Testing Measurement Model with CFA....................................................................... 35 4.3.2 Testing Structual Model (SEM) ................................................................................... 38 Chapter 5 - Conclusion and Managerial Implications .................................................................. 42 LIMITATION AND FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................... 43 References ..................................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix A - QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................... 52 Appendix B - RELIABILITY TEST ............................................................................................ 57 Appendix C - FACTOR ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 62 Appendix D - CFA Results ........................................................................................................... 64 Appendix E - SEM Results ........................................................................................................... 66

vi List of Tables Table 1 Relevant situations for Different Research Strategies ..................................................... 16 Table 2 Factors in the Study and related sources .......................................................................... 18 Table 3 Valid Response Rate ........................................................................................................ 22 Table 4 Demographic Information................................................................................................ 22 Table 5 Descriptive Statistics of Brand Experience's sub-dimensions ......................................... 23 Table 6 Descriptive Statistics of Alternative Attraction ............................................................... 24 Table 7 Descriptive Statistics of Brand Loyalty ........................................................................... 25 Table 8Corrected Item-To-Total Correlation And Cronbach's Alpha (before removing inappropriate items) .............................................................................................................. 27 Table 9 Corrected Item-To-Total Correlation And Cronbach's Alpha (after removing inappropriate items) .............................................................................................................. 29 Table 10 Pattern Matrix (First EFA) ............................................................................................. 30 Table 11 Pattern Matrix (Second EFA) ........................................................................................ 31 Table 12 KMO and Bartlett's Test ................................................................................................ 31 Table 13 Component Matrix ......................................................................................................... 32 Table 14 Corrected Item-To-Total Correlation And Cronbach's Alpha for New scales .............. 33 Table 15 Standardized Regression Weights (CFA) ...................................................................... 36 Table 16 Correlations (CFA) ........................................................................................................ 37 Table 17 Model fit of CFA ........................................................................................................... 38 Table 18 Hypotheses Testing in SEM .......................................................................................... 40 Table 19 Model Fit of SEM .......................................................................................................... 41 vii List of Figures Figure 1 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................. 12 Figure 2 CFA Model ..................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 3 SEM model ..................................................................................................................... 39 viii Abstract This study aims to investigate brand experience and alternative attraction and to examine their effects toward brand loyalty. A convenience sample of 237 respondents who used to experience the products of Apple and 212 usable questionnaires were analyzed. The research findings indicate that consumers experience brand Apple most clearly on two aspects: sensory-affective experience and behavior experience. These dimensions impact positively on brand loyalty. The study also supports the relationship between alternative attraction and brand loyalty, indicating that alternative attraction has negative influence on brand loyalty. The study concludes that sensory-affective experience has the strongest impact among these input factors. Whereas, alternative attraction is weaker and behavior experience has the weakest effect on brand loyalty. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed within the context of branding activities to strengthen brand loyalty through improving customers' experience toward the brand and making consumers less attracted by competitors. 1 Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1 Problem Orientation Thisresearchaimstoinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenbrand experienceaswellasalternativeattractionandbrandloyalty.Itisimportantto concernaboutthebrandloyaltybecauseofitsroleasakeyantecedentofre-purchasingbehavior(BennettandRundle-Thiele,2002)andre-purchasingbehaviors create long term value. Holding customer loyalty is extremely necessary when it takes a lot efforts to get new customers. Nevertheless,winningtheloyaltyfromcustomersisbecoming increasingly difficult, which may be due to the harsh competitive environment with so manyoptionsforcustomersanditisprovedbyNelson(2002)thatinahighly competitiveandopenmarketwithincreasingfragmentation,spendingpowerand individualization, the range of choices for customers has increased dramatically. Althoughavarietyofoptionsgivescustomersmoreadvantagesin choosingproduct,italsomakescustomersconfusedbecauseofbeingoverwhelmed by the vast number of choices. In order to deal with this situation, consumers develop anevokedsetofbrands/products(Mittal,1989a),asetofproductswhicha consumerisawareofandconsidersforpurchase(HowardadSheth,1969).The evokedsetisanefforttoreducethecomplexityofchoosingbrands/products. Essentially,wehavetorealizethatthemarketersneedtostrengthentheconnections between the customers and the brandto gain aroom in their evoked sets or, in other words, to enhance customers loyalty. Therefore, there are a lot of theories, constructs andmeasurementrelatedtothisissuedeveloped,includingbrandpersonality,brand community,brandtrust,brandattachment,andbrandlove(Aaker1997;Carrolland Ahuvia2006;Delgado-Ballester,Munuera-Alemn,andYageGuilln2003;McAlexender,Schouten,andKoenig2002;Thomson,MacInnis,andPark2005). However,notuntilrecentlyhasanempiricalstudybeenconductedtodefineafull 2 definitionwithconceptualframeworkandmeasurementscaleonbrandexperience. Brakus,SchmittandZarantonello(2009)haverecentlydevelopedaresearchwhich conceptualizesthebrandexperiencewithdefinitionandtheoreticalframework workinghand-on-handwithameasurementscale,andinvestigateshowitaffects loyalty.Thispaperappliestheirtheorywithanextensiontotheeffectofalternative attraction towards brand loyalty in the Vietnamese market. Thischapterprovidesanoverviewoftheresearch.Thesecondchapteris toreviewtheexistedliteraturerelatingtothistopicandtoprovidetheoretical frameworkofthisresearch.Thethirdchapterspecifiestheresearchmethodology. Results of data analyzing is discussed in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter includes conclusions and implications. 1.2 Background Brand loyalty contributes a critical value to competitive advantage. It costs the company a lot to gain new customers whereas loyal ones are less likely to switch tootherbrands.Therefore,thechallengeformarketersistomaintainahighbrand loyalty which is a critical asset that lends itself to extension, high market share, high returnoninvestmentandultimatelyhighbrandequity(Gounaris&Stathakopoulos, 2004). Oneofthefactorsaffectingbrandloyaltyisalternativeattraction.Itis claimedthattheattractivenessofalternativesiscorrelatedpositivelywithbrand switching and negatively with brand loyalty (Blut et al., 2007). Another factor is brand experience. Keller (1993) suggests that marketers, throughgeneratinganexperience,caninfluencetheelaborativeinformation processing and inference making, resulting in brand-related associations which affect satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, the prior researches on consumer behavior discuss that brand experience affects behavioral outcomes customer satisfaction and loyalty throughdirectandindirectroutes(Chaiken,Liberman,andEagly1989;Pettyand 3 Cacioppo1986).However,noneofthemprovidesadetailedconceptualizationon brandexperienceandhowitaffectsbrandloyalty.Brakusetal.(2009)publisheda paperthatempiricallytestedtherelationshipbetweenbrandexperienceandbrand loyaltyindirectwayorindirectwaythroughcustomersatisfactionorbrand personality. 1.3 Justification for the research Thispapervalidatesthelinkbetweenbrandexperienceandloyalty proposedbyBrakusetal.(2009)andextendstore-examinethelinkbetween alternativeattractionandloyalty.ThisresearchisimplementedwithinVietnamese market to examine howbrand experience andalternativeattraction affect judgments, attitudesandotheraspectsofconsumerbehavior,sothattheresultcancontributea point of view to Vietnamese marketers on influencing customer loyalty. 1.4 Research objectives The research purpose is to investigate the nature and relationship between brand experience as well as alternative attraction and brand loyalty. Thus, to achieve this goal, the research question and objectives are defined as: Research question: How does brand experience and alternative attraction affect brand loyalty? Research objectives: Whatistheimpactofbrandexperienceonbrandloyaltythroughsensory experience? What is the impact of brand experience on brand loyalty through affective experience? Whatistheimpactofbrandexperienceonbrandloyaltythrough behavioral experience? Whatistheimpactofbrandexperienceonbrandloyaltythrough intellectual experience? What is the impact of alternative attractions on brand loyalty? 4

1.5 Delimitations of scope and key assumptions For the brand selection, this research is conducted on brand Apple which is chosen from the list of experiential brands proposed by Brakus et al. (2009). This list includesbrandswhichareratedasstrongexperientialbrands:Abercrombie&Fitch, AmericanExpress,Apple,TheBodyShop,BMW,Crest,Disney,Google,HBO, HomeDepot,MasterCard,Nike,Starbucks,Target,WHotel,WashingtonMutual, andWilliam-Sonoma.Inotherwords,itiseasierforrespondentstoperceivetheir experience towards these brands, which enables the investigation to be executed more conveniently and accurately. ThestudyislimitedtotheconsiderationofVietnameseconsumers,who have experienced the products of Apple, aged 18-30 residing in Vietnam. The reason for choosing this age is that the research assumes thisyoung generation to be active, innovative and well-adapted to new technology. Therefore, they can have a good and clearenoughperceptionabouttheproductsaswellastheirexperiencetowardthe technological products such as Apples products, which makes them good participants for the study and potential loyal consumers towards Apple. 5 Chapter 2 - Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 2.1 Introduction Thischapterprovidesdefinitionsandexistedliteratureontheconcepts involvedintheresearch.Thefirstsectionreviewsthepreviousdiscussiononthe construct of the Brand Experience, including its four dimensions. The second section moves on to explore the idea of Alternative Attraction. The section 2.4 is about brand loyaltyindetail.Thefinalsectionprovidesthetheoreticalframeworkforthis research. 2.2 Brand Experience 2.2.1 Definitions Brandexperienceisknownassubjective,internalconsumerresponses (sensations,feelings,andcognitions)andbehavioralresponsesevokedbybrand-relatedstimulithatarethepartsofabrandsidentity,packaging,design, environments and communications (Brakus, Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2009). In other words,brandexperiencecanbeunderstoodasaperceptionofcustomersonfirst personal contact with the brand, on quality level of personal conduct of customers or brandimagereflectedoncommercials,inotherwords,perceptionofcustomerson anycontacttimewiththebrand(Alloza,2008).Brandexperienceisclaimedtobe associatedwithbrandusingofthecustomers,talkingaboutthebrandtoothers,and lookingforinformationaboutbrandactivities,promotions,etc.(Ambler, Bhattacharya,Edell,Keller,Lemon,&Mittal,2002).Inastudyimplementedby Brakus(2009),brandexperiencesvaryintheirdensityandstrength,therefore,some ofthemmaybestrongeranddenserthanothers.Also,brandexperiencesmaybe positiveornegativeandmayvaryfromshort-livedexperiencesonlyrealizedwith consumption spontaneously to long-lasting experiences stored in customers memory andcontinuingforalongtime(Brakusetal.,2009).Moreover,therearepiecesof research in consumer and marketingresearch proving that consumers experience on brand occur during activities such as searching for products, shopping for products or 6 receivingservices,andconsumingproductsorservices(Arnould,Price,&Zinkhan, 2002;Brakus,Schmitt,&Zhang,2008;Holbrook,2000).Therefore,brand experiencecanbeclassifiedintoproduct,shoppingandservice,andconsumption experience. Each will be explained in turn below. Product Experience As discussed by Hoch (2002), product experiences occur when consumers interactwithproductsforexample,whenconsumerssearchforproducts, examine and evaluate them. The product experience can occur in direct way with aphysicalcontactwiththeproduct(HochandHa1986)orindirectwaywhen consumers contact with a product presented virtually or in an advertisement (Hoch and Ha 1986; Kempf and Smith 1998). Shopping and Service Experience Shoppingandserviceexperienceoccurswhenthereareinteractions between a consumer with a stores physical environment, its personnel, its policies andpractices(HuiandBateson1991;Kerin,Jain,andHoward2002).Thus, research in this area investigates how atmospheric elements and salespeople affect the experience of consumer (Arnold et al. 2005; Boulding et al. 1993; Jones 1999; Ofir&Simonson2007).Besides,thereareseveralinvestigationsoncustomers interactionwithsalespeopleandhowthatexperienceaffectscustomersfeelings, brand attitudes, and satisfaction (Grace and OCass 2004). Consumption ExperienceConsumptionexperiencecanoccurviaconsumptionactivities.Thistype of brand experience is multidimensional and contains hedonic dimensions, such as feelings,funandfantasies(HolbrookandHirschman,1982).Alotof investigationsaboutconsumptionexperienceshavestudiedhedonicgoalsthat occurduringandaftertheconsumption,forinstance,atmuseums,concertsand 7 sportsgames(Arnould&Price,1993;Celsi,Rose,&Leigh,1993;Holt,1995; Joy & Sherry, 2003). 2.2.2 Components of Brand Experience Previous literature Thereseemtobealotofscholars,whowerephilosophers,cognitive scientistsandmarketing&managementthinkers,tryingtodeterminethenatureof experience.Mostofthemtendtohaveamutualagreementontheelementsof experience. Philosophersseemtobethefirstonestodefinethecausalityof experience.ImmanuelKantarguesthathumanexperienceresultsfromknowledge (classifying,analyzingandreasoningaboutthings).Thisviewofexperienceas knowledge encounters John Dewey critique. John Dewey believes that knowledgeis nottheonlywaythroughwhichapersonexperiencesandknowstheworld.He defines experience as the intertwining of human and the environment around, coming fromnotonlyknowledgebutalsosensoryperception,feelinganddoing.Duband Lebel(2003)breakexperienceintofourpleasuredimensions:intellectual, emotional, social and physical pleasures. Besidesphilosophers,cognitivescientistshavestudiedmentalmodules which is quite similar to the concept experience and is defined byFodor (1998) as specialprocessingsystemsthatrespondtospecificenvironmentalsignalandsolvea certainclassofproblems.Pinker(1997)claimsthattherearefourmentalmodules: sensoryperception,feelingandemotions,creativityandreasoning,andsocial relationships. This view is quite closed to Deweys view of experience except for the doingmodule(bodilyexperiencesandmotoractionsandbehavior)whichis consideredaspartofthesensory-motormodulebyPink,sameasLakoffand Johnson (1999) 8 Therearealsohugeeffortsspentinbusinessresearchforconceptualizing the dimensions of experience.Pine and Gilmore(1999) propose the theoryof stage experiencesdistinguishingexperiencesintoaesthetic(consistingofvisual,aural, olfactory,andtactileaspects),educational,entertaining,andescapistexperiences. Despite of its limitation to the field of retail and events, the stage experiences is still somehowcommonwiththepreviousdefinitionsondimensionsofexperience: sensory/aesthetic,intellectual/educational,andemotional/entertaining.Inhispaper, Schmitt (1999) categorizes experience as:-Sense experience: aesthetics and sensory qualities, -Feelexperience:moodsandemotions,thisissimilartoRichins(1997)s viewpoint, -Think experience: convergent/analytical and divergent/imaginative thinking, -Act experience: motor actions and behavioral experiences, and -Relateexperience:socialexperiences,forexample,relatingtoareference group The four dimensions of Brand Experience Althoughtherearemanyexistedinvestigationsondefiningexperience dimensions, its not until the published paper of Brakus et al. (2009) that a clear and full conceptualization on experience as a marketing construct with the development of brandexperiencemeasurementscalehasbeencreated.Accordingtotheirpaper, brandexperienceismeasuredinfourdimensionsbya12-itemscale.Those dimensions are referred to as sensorial, emotional, intellectual and behavioral:(1)Sensorydimension:impressionscreatedbyvisual,auditory,gustative, olfaction, and touching;(2)Affectivedimension:emotionsassociatedwiththebrandandemotional bound of this brand with the customer; (3)Intellectualdimension:connectionbetweenthebrandand convergent/divergent thoughts of the customer; and9 (4)Behavioraldimension:physicalexperiences,lifestyles,andinteractions created by the brand 2.3 Alternative Attraction Alternative attraction refers to the customers estimate about the likeliness ofmoresatisfactoryservicesavailablefromanalternativeserviceprovider (Keaveney,1995;Ping,1993).Customersswitchtootherprovidersnotnecessarily becauseofthedissatisfactionwiththeexistingonebutratherbecauseofthe availabilityofmoreattractiveserviceproviders,forexample,thecompetitorsoffer moreadded-valueservices(Bonska,2010;Chuang,2011;SharmaandPatterson, 2000) Whenthecompetitionishigh,thereisalsoahighpossibilitythatthe customersareaffectedbymoreappealingoffersandcanswitchintothemost attractive providers (Bansal et al., 2004, Jones and Sasser, 1995, Keaveney, 1995). In otherwords,theattractivenessofalternativesiscorrelatedpositivelywithbrand exitingandnegativelywithbrandloyalty(Blutetal.,2007).Whentherearefew available or low benefit alternatives, customers are less likely to change the providers (Akhter, Abbasi, Ali, and Afzal, 2011) 2.4 Brand Loyalty TheconceptofbrandloyaltyisdefinedbyJacobyandKyner(1973)as Thebiased(i.e.non-random),behavioralresponse(i.e.purchase),expressedover time by some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternative brands out ofasetofsuchbrands,andisafunctionofpsychological(decision-making, evaluative)processes.Inotherwords,brandloyaltycanbeunderstoodasthe attachmentthatacustomerhastoabrand(Aaker,1991).Brandloyaltyisalso equivalenttothecustomersreadinesstopayhigherpriceforabrandincomparison with another brand offering similar benefits(Aaker, 1996; Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Srinivasan et al., 2002). 10 Brand loyalty is regarded as a fundamental concept in strategic marketing (Datta, 2003a). A marketing plan with relevant strategy to enhance brand loyalty can help the company maintain a strong market share and gain higher profits. Therefore, it is essential that marketers understand how to make customer loyal to the band. Historicalresearchonbrandloyaltyhasgeneratestwodifferent perspectives of brand loyalty: behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. Behavioral and attitudinal loyalty Brand loyalty, one of the brand assets, refers to both a consistent purchase ofaspecificbrandovertimeandafavorableattitudetowardsthatbrand(David Aaker, 1992). The first one is the behavioral perspective of brand loyalty, whereas the latter is seen as the attitudinal perspective.FollowingAaker,BennettandRundle-Thiele(2002)showagreementon thedistinguishofbrandloyaltyintotwoaspects:attitudinalandbehavioral. Behavioralloyaltymeansthefrequencyofrepeatedpurchases(Keller,1998)or commitmenttorepurchasethebrandasaprimarychoice(Oliver,1997,1999). Attitudinal loyalty is regarded as the consumers psychology commitment toward the brand,suchaspurchaseintentionsandintentionstorecommendthebrandtoothers (Jacoby, 1971;Javis&Wilcox, 1976) or the intention to rebuy the brandas the first choice (Keller, 1998; You and Donthu, 2001). DickandBasu(1994)alsoapprovetheexistenceofbehavioraland attitudinalcommitmentastwosidesofbrandloyaltyand,additionally,extendthe conceptthatattitudinalloyaltyisbrokenintothreecomponents:cognitive,conative and affective. Affective loyalty Brand loyalty is strengthened by greater positive emotional mood or affect (DickandBasu,1994).Inotherwords,astrongercommitmenttoabrandhappens when the brand make consumers happy.Similarly,Chaudhuri and Holbrook(2002) 11 claim that positive emotional feelings (happiness, joy, love, etc) are important parts of the relationship between a brand with its consumers. Therefore, it can beeasily seen that brand loyalty increases when brand affect increases. Cognitive loyalty Unlikeaffectiveloyaltyimplyingtheemotionalsideofbrandloyalty, cognitiveloyaltyrelatestorationalaspect.Indetails,brandloyaltyisdeterminedby informationassociatedwiththeoffering,forinstance,price,quality,etc.Thisisthe weakest element of brand loyalty because it is only related to the costs and benefits of theoffering,notthebranditself.Therefore,itislikelythatconsumersswitchto alternative brands which are more attractive in term of cost-benefit. (Kalyanaram and Little, 1994; Sivakumar and Raj, 1997) Conative loyaltyConativeloyaltyimpliesthedesiretointendanaction,forexample,re-purchasingaspecifybrand.Thistypeofattitudinalloyaltyhasstrongereffectthan affectiveloyalty.However,itisvulnerablewhenthereoccursrepeatedfailuresin servicedelivery,thatis,theconsumersaremorelikelytotryotheralternative providers (Oliver, 1999) 2.5 Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses From the body of literature above, it can be inferred that brand experience andalternativeattractionaffectbrandloyalty.Infact,Alotofresearchersclaimed thatlonglastingbrandexperiences,storedinthecustomersmemory,shouldaffect customerloyalty(Oliver,1997;Reicheld,1996;Lee&Kang,2012).Likewise, Sekin,Zehir,andKitap(2011)specifiedthatbrandexperiencecreatespositive effectsoncustomersatisfaction,confidence,andloyalty.Thus,tobuildastrong brand,companiesneedtoprovideasuccessfulbrandexperiencetotheircustomers. Moreover,theattractivenessofalternativesiscorrelatedpositivelywithbrand existing and negatively with brand loyalty (Blut et al., 2007). 12 Therefore,wecancomeupwiththefollowingtheoreticalframeworkand hypotheses: -Hypothesis 1 (H1): There is a positive interaction between sensory dimension of brand experience and the brand loyalty.-Hypothesis 2 (H2): There is a positive interaction between affective dimension of brand experience and the brand loyalty.-Hypothesis 3 (H3): There is a positive interaction between behavioral dimension of brand experience and the brand loyalty. -Hypothesis 4 (H4): There is a positive interaction between intellectual dimension of brand experience and the brand loyalty. -Hypothesis 5 (H5): There is a negative interaction between alternative attraction and the brand loyalty Figure 1 Theoretical Framework 13 Chapter 3 -Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction Chaptertwoanalyzedtheliteraturerelatedtobrandexperienced, alternativeattractionanbrandloyaltywiththetheoreticalframeworktoprovide guidance for this chapter to develop research methodology to test the hypotheses. This chapter discuss the methodology in detail. 3.2 Research Approach Becausethereareseveralapproachesforamatterofacademicresearch (Eriksson and Wiedersheim-Paul 1997; Strauss and Corbin 1998; Sullivan 2001), this sectionaimstogiveabriefdescriptionondifferentmethodsandexplanationforthe choice of this research. 3.2.1 Inductive versus Deductive Research Therearetwodifferentresearchphilosophies:inductiveapproachand deductive approach. If the researcher propose models and theories based on empirical datainreality,thentheresearchisapplyinganinductiveapproach.Incontrast,the researcherisfollowingadeductivewaywhentheresearchexaminepre-existing theoriesbyusingdifferentempiricalmethods(StraussandCorbin1998;Sullivan 2001).Theexistingtheoryandmodelgivesthebaseforthedecisionsonwhat information is needed, how to understood it and relate the results to the theory (Patel andDavidson2003;Sullivan2001).Becausethisisanempiricalresearchbasedon modelsandhypothesesderivedfrompreviousresearchinthearea,thedeductive method is applied for this thesis 3.2.2 Quantitative versus Qualitative Research There are two main methodological research approaches to obtain knowledge within social settings where qualitative methodologies are characterized by numbers, and, qualitative methodologies are represented by words, images, impressions, gestures, or tones (OConnor, 2004). These methodologies are applied to 14 achieve a better understanding of the surrounding society as well as better comprehension of how individuals, groups and institutions act and influence one another (Sogunro 2001; Sullivan 2001). Theresultsderivedfromquantitativeresearchmethodologiesaimto provideinformationforcriticaldecision-making(Sekaran,2003).Theyare measurable and presentable in the form of numbers and statistics, and can be used to obtaingeneralizationsfromtheprocessedresultsoftheinvestigation.Quantitative methodisdistinctbyitsbeingformalized,structuredandapproachingthematterof research from broad perspective. Another characteristic of quantitative methodologies is that it is highly controlled by the person conducting the investigation, and statistical methodsholdakeyrole.Thedataforanalysisiscollectedthroughpersonal interviews, phone, mails or surveys. Moreover, in quantitative research, few variables are usually studied but on a large number of entities(Neuman 2003; Sogunro 2001). Generally, quantitative methodologies are specified by: -Purposiveness: the research must have a definitive objective (Sekaran, 2003), -Rigor: the research is based on logical or sound methodology,-Testability: the research can be tested statistically its data and hypothesis, -Replicability:thepossibilitythatsimilarconclusionswouldbedrawfrom independent research, -Objectivity:researchfindingsarebasedonactualdata,notsuppositionsand generalizable findings applied in other settings, -Precision: the research findings from the sample is closed to what is reality, and -Confidence: there is a high confidence level of correct estimations. -Hypothetico-deductivemethod:theresearchisconductedwithaprocessof observation,preliminaryinformationgathering,theoryformulation, hypothesizing, further scientific data collection, data analysis and deduction. Comparedtoquantitativemethod,qualitativemethodislessformalized, the purpose of this method is to figure out what people actually do in reality, not what 15 theysaytheydoasinquestionnaires.Thismethodprovidestheresearchersdeeper andmorecompletecomprehensiononthecollecteddataandstudiedproblem. Therefore,qualitativemethodologiesarenotusedtodrawgeneralconclusionabout the situations but to gain a deeper understandingof a specific phenomenon (Lundahl andSkrvad1999;Neuman2003;StraussandCorbin,1998).Qualitativeresearch focusesonquality,subjectivityansocialpractices,wherethedataarenotquantified becausetheyaregenerallyattitudesandbeliefs.Qualitativeresearchmethodologies includeparticipantobservation,ethnography,casestudy,documentanalysis, groundedtheory,actionfeminist,storytellingandinterviews.Furthermore,in qualitativeresearch,alargeamountofinformationcanbederivedfromseveral variables, but usually a small number of entities (Neuman, 2003) Theliteraturereviewedinchaptertwoonexistingresearchaboutbrand experience and alternative attraction and their connections with brand loyalty provides sufficientunderstandingoftheresearchproblemandaconceptualframework associatedwithresearchhypotheses.Thefollowingstepistoobtaintheviewsofas manyconsumersaspossibletodrawvalid,reliable,objectiveandgeneralizable results.Forthesereasonsinassociationwiththedescriptionandexplanationofthe tworesearchmethodologiesabove,thisresearchshouldbeconductedin quantitative method. 3.3 Data Source Data can be collected via two sources: primary and secondary sources. Primary data is collected at hand for a specific research problem, whereas data collected from secondary sources has been already gathered and assembled for other uses than the current research problem (Hair et al. 2000; Tull and Hawkins 1993; Yin 1994). Lower cost and less time-consuming in data collection are obviously the advantages of secondary data compared to primary data. However, because secondary data is collected for different purpose, its content might not fit well the researchers current needs (Hair et al. 2000; Yin 1994). For these reasons, moreover, there are no 16 presently available secondary sources sufficient and suitable for this study, the research utilize primary sources of data. 3.5 Research Strategy Experiments, surveys and case studies have been identified as three main research strategies (Eriksson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1997). In spite of his agreement with this view, Yin (1994) suggests history and archival analysis as two additional research strategies for area of social sciences. To determine which strategy to use, the research need consider three issues: (1) the form of research question proposed, (2) the degree of control required over behavioral event, and (3) the extent of focus on contemporary rather than historical events. Table 1 shows the relations between each condition to each research strategies. Table 1 Relevant situations for Different Research Strategies Research strategy Type of research question Requires control over behavioral events Focuses on contemporary events ExperimentHow, whyYesYes Survey Who, what, where, how many, how much NoYes Archival analysis Who, what, where, how many, how much NoYes/no HistoryHow, whyNoNo Case studyHow, whyNoYes Source: Yin (1994, p. 6)

As can be seen from the table, the experiment and history research strategy isinapplicablebecausethisresearchfocusesoncontemporaryeventsanditis impossibletogaincontroloverbehavioralevents.Moreover,thisisanempirical studyconductedinquantitativemethodwithprimaryinformation,casestudyand archival analysis is excluded. Thus, the most suitable research strategy for this study is survey. 17 3.6 Survey Design Measurementscaleofthequestionnaireisanimportantissueforusto consider.Therearethreemostcommoncategorizationofmeasurescaleinsocial sciences: nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio (Churchill and Iacobucci 2006; Hair et al. 1998;Hairetal.2006).Asidefromthenominalscales(gender,age,occupation, income), interval scales are primarily used in this thesis because this interval is widely utilized in academic marketing research for its optimization in multivariate statistical techniques(Hairetal.1998;TullandHawkins1993).Moreover,becauseofits suitability,semanticdifferentialscales(Osgoodetal.1957)withLikert(1932)type scoring is utilized in this study, which is same as most of the similar studies. As for Likert scale, if the scale is too small, we may not see the distinction clearly but if it is too large, it will be hard for respondents to discriminate. Therefore, a lot of debate on what is the optimal number of classifications for a Likert scale has beentaken.Itisarguedthatasixorseven-pointscaleisoptimal(GreenandRao, 1970). However, Ghiselli (1955) and Guilford (1954) suggested that the scale should be develop in accordance to distinct sets of circumstances. In addition, there are little variances of the data reliability in relation to the scale size, which is also supported by anempiricaltestofJacobyandMatell(1971).Afive-pointscaleofthistype(from 1=Totally disagree to 5=Totally agree) is adopted for this research. Inordertomaintainvalidityandreliability,thefactorgroupsofwhich validityandsecurityarehighareutilizedinthesurvey.Thesescalesaregivenin Table 2 18 Table 2 Factors in the Study and related sources FactorsOriginal Source Sensory Experience 1.Thisbrand makes astrong impression on myvisual sense or other senses (SSR1) 2.I find this brand interesting in a sensory (SSR2) 3.This brand does not appeal to my senses (SSR3a) Affective Experience 4.This brand induces feelings and sentiments (AFT1) 5.I do not have strong emotions for this brand (AFT2) a 6.This brand is an emotional brand (AFT3) Behavioral Experience 7.I engage in physical actions and behaviors when I use this brand (BHV1) 8.This brand results in bodily experiences (BHV2) 9.This brand is not action oriented (BHV3) a Intellectual Experience 10.I engage in a lot of thinking when I encounter this brand (ITL1) 11.This brand does not make me think (ITL2) a 12.This brand stimulates my curiosity and problem solving (ITL3) Brakus et al. (2009) Alternative Attraction 13.Manybrandthatarebetterthanthisbrandareavailableformychoice (ALT1) 14.I can obtainmoresatisfactory products from other brands than from this brand (ALT2) 15.Icanenjoymorebenefitsfromotherbrandsthanfromthisbrand (ALT3) Ping (1993), Bansal et al. (2004) Brand Loyalty 16.In the future, I will be loyal to this brand (LO1) 17.I will buy this brand again (LO2) 18.This brand will be my first choice in the future (LO3) 19.I will not buy other brands if this brand is available at the store (LO4) 20.I will recommend this brand to others (LO5) You and Donhu, (2001);Brakus et al. (2009) a Reverse coded 19 AllitemsofthefactorBrandExperiencearecitedfromthestudiesof Brakusetal.(2009)becausethisscaleofbrandexperienceisthefirstandmost knownscaledevelopedtomeasurethisconcept.ThescaleofBrandExperience consists of four sub-dimension: sensory dimension (SSR1, SSR2 and SSR3), affective dimension(AFT1,AFT2andAFT3),behavioraldimension(BHV1,BHV2and BHV3),andtheintellectualdimension(ITL1,ITL2andITL3).Otherfactorsofthe scalethatarebrandloyalty,citedfromYouandDonthu(2001),andAlternative Attraction,citedfromPing(1993)andBansaletal.(2004),compriseonlyone dimension. The questionnaire is first translated to Vietnamese by the researcher. Then the Vietnamese version is sent to the advisor and a translator for adjustment. Finally, the adjusted version is tested in the Pilot test to fix the survey. Insummary,thisquestionnaireincludestwosections.Thefirstsectionis used to measure the three construct with five-point Likert scale. The second section is aboutdemographicinformationincludinggender,age,incomeandoccupation.The questionnaire is shown in the Appendix, both in English and Vietnamese. 3.7 Sampling Design To ensure the reliability in estimation, the large-sample distribution theory should be applied when using SEM(Joreskog&Sorbom, 1996). Moreover, we need tocareaboutthesamplesizewhichaffectthecorrelationcoefficientstoensurethe reliabilityoffactoranalysis(Costello&Osborne,2005;Field,2009;Tabachnick& Fidell,2001).Becausesmallsampleresultsinhighcorrelationcoefficientsamong items, each items needs 10-15 respondents(Field, 2009). Therefore, it is fair enough thatatleast200respondentsparticipateinthisresearch.Thischoiceofrespondent numberisalsosupportedbyanotherstudywhichsuggeststheadequacyofsample sizemightbeevaluatedveryroughlyonthefollowingscale:50verypoor;100 20 poor;200fair;300good;500verygood;1000ormoreexcellent(Comfrey and Lee, 1992). 3.8 Data Collection Method The questionnaire is distributed by two channel: online and offline. The online survey is generated by an electronic tool known as Google Form. The questions is loaded onto the internet and the online questionnaire is distributed via emails and social networks. For offline channel, papers survey are finished by International University students. To save time and effort, the researcher approaches teachers and asks them for a favor that they will allow the questionnaire to be distributed in their classes with a little help by asking students to spend 5-15 minutes filling out the survey. 3.9 Pilot Test Thereshouldbeapilottestwithasoundsamplerepresentingthetarget populationonthequestionnairebecauseproxydataforselectionofprofitability sample size can be derived from the test. However, because oflimitations in time and resources,thequestionnaireisdistributedtofivefriendsofresearcherstotestthe reliabilityandhoweasy-to-understandthequestionnaireis.Afterthetest,some questions turn out to be difficult to understand; therefore, they were adjusted from the questionnaire to make it more comprehensive. The final questionnaire is shown in the APPENDIX. 3.10 Limitations Possiblelimitationscomefromsamplingtechniqueandcollection methodologies.Theresearchtargetsonyoungrespondents(18-30)withthe assumption that these generations are highly adapted to technologies so that they have aclearviewsontheirexperiencestowardthebrandandcanbecomepotential 21 consumers for new products in the future. This may not be true. There is also potential foryoungrespondentswhodonothaveclearexperiencetowardstheproductand goodadaptationtowardstechnologychanges.Moreover,therearestillalarge numbersofconsumerswhoareolder30.Perhaps,anotherstudytargetingthisage would be conducted in the future to gain a deeper look of the situation. 3.11 Data Analysis Method The collected data is analyzed by using SPSS and SPSS AMOS. Cronbachs Alpha is used for testing the reliability of the data. Factor analysis (Exploratory Factor Analysis EFA) is used to obtain the number of factors that would explain the maximum variance in the data. Finally, the hypotheses will be tested, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to identify the impact in research framework. The reason for using CFA and SEM is that the CFA should be conducted at first to determine the appropriateness of the measurement model, then the following step is to conduct the SEM analysis to confirm the structural model (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Besides, demographic analysis and descriptive statistics is utilized in the study. 22 Chapter 4 - DATA ANALYZING RESULTS 4.1 Sample demographic Inthisstudy,thedataofrespondentprofilessummarizedintoimportant categories such asgender, age, occupation, monthly income.The surveywas carried out from 10 December to 20 December, 2014 with total sample sized of 238. Invalid respondents account for approximately 10.5% of total respondents. These respondents arenotsuitablebecausetheydidnotanswercorrectlyreversed-scalequestionsand some of them were detected as outliers Table 3 Valid Response Rate "#$%&$'()*$#($'+,-$ !"#$%!&()*+,) #$%!&(*(-.,) Thetablebelowshowssampleinformationintermsofgender,occupation,ageand income of respondents. Table 4 Demographic Information .$+,/0"#$%&$'()*$#($'+,-$ /0"&012345678+,( 95:345*7-6.,- ;