Effect of consumer based brand authenticity on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty

Today, consumers are faced with a global market where many products are branded and commercialized day in day out. This, in turn, increasingly accelerates the consumers' search for authenticity in brands. Hence, authenticity has been quite interesting for brand executives eager to analyze consumer preference in the name of building authentic brands and delivering experiences. In this direction, the aim of this study is to measure brand authenticity for sportswear and chocolate brands based on the consumer-based brand authenticity model, and to determine the direct effect of consumer-based brand authenticity on customer satisfaction and its indirect impact on customer loyalty. In addition, the regulatory effect of the alternative attractiveness variable in the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty has been tried to be determined. Furthermore, in the study examining whether the above-mentioned effects differ in terms of product group (sportswear / chocolate), sportswear (domestic / foreign) and chocolate (domestic / foreign) sub-groups has been determined as the sub-aim of the research. In the scope of the study, four brands; two national and two global brands from the sportswear industry, and four brands; two national and two global brands from chocolate categories; hence eight brands were included. Accordingly, two separate questionnaires were created and applied to separate individuals. 600 valid data were obtained from face-to-face interviews. In the analysis of the data, structural equation modeling and multi-grup structural equation modeling were applied. According to the results of the analysis, quality commitment, heritage-sincerity, which are sub-dimensions of the consumer-based brand authenticity model, have been found to have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction. It has been determined that customer satisfaction has a significant positive effect on brand loyalty. Considering the results attained, the alternative alternatives has been observed to have a negative effect on brand loyalty, but it was not concluded that this variable has a regulatory effect between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Additionally, various differences of the effect levels of the variables within the scope of the model were revealed according to the sportswear and chocolate subgroups.