Brand Essence and Customer Loyalty in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between brand essence and customer loyalty in commercial banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on the theory of planned behaviour which holds that people reason before they act and their decisions are based on some factor. This idea was supported by the attitude theory of consumer behaviour which implies that the consumers can have a liking or a disliking attitude towards a brand. The study was inclined to the positivist philosophy and it followed a descriptive research design because it sought to determine the relationship between brand essence and customer loyalty. The study conducted a census of all the 42 commercial banks. The data was collected though structured questionnaires targeting the personnel in the marketing department at the head office of the commercial banks. The data was analysed through SPSS version 25 to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. Apart from normality the assumptions of linear regression were confirmed. Since the normality assumption was not fulfilled, the data for dependent variable was transformed to natural logarithm normalize it. The analysis obtained R and R-Square as 0.756 and 0.572 respectively. The positive coefficient of correlation – R, indicates that the relationship is statistically significant. Since the R-Square was around 0.572, the two statistics show that the brand essence and customer loyalty have a positive, moderately strong relationship. The coefficient for brand essence was 0.167 which is positive and the significant value was 0.000 which imply that brand essence has a positive statistically significant effect on customer loyalty. According to the R-Squared, brand essence explains 57.2% variations in customer loyalty. A unitary change in brand essence causes 0.167 changes in customer loyalty, based on the analysed data. Based on the analysed data from the commercial services firms, this study concludes that brand essence has a positive influence on customer loyalty. That means that commercial banks can use their brand essence to improve their customer loyalty. the study recommends that the managers of the financial services firm should craft, build and sustain distinct brand essence that can communicate the unique promise that the organizations exists to meet. The brand essence should be simple and no be changed often because it is meant to create a lasting memory in the mind of the clients of the financial services firm. The financial services firms should align their strategic and operational goals to their brand essence.