The Effect of Brand Awareness, Credibility, Quality and Loyalty on Word-of-Mouth in a Competitive Medicine Market

Abstract

Brands with a high level of awareness, credibility, quality and loyalty provide a platform for strengthening customers` favourable word-of-mouth, which may contribute to increasing market share in a competitive environment. However, there is few or no research on the effect of awareness, credibility and quality on word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty, particularly in the traditional medicine market. Consequently, this research aims to evaluate the effect of awareness, credibility and quality on word-of-mouth via the impact of the dimensions of loyalty in the traditional medicine market. Survey questionnaires were administered to 265 customers chosen from the traditional medicine market through a systematic sampling strategy. The data collected were statistically analyzed using structural equation modelling through SPSS Amos 20. The study revealed that awareness, credibility and quality positively influence word-of-mouth through the impact of behavioural loyalty. The research further found that awareness and credibility significantly influence positive word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty in the traditional medicine market. Therefore, this paper extends the prior studies by exhibiting the potential role of brand awareness, credibility and quality in strengthening word-of-mouth through the impact of attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty, particularly in the traditional medicine market. This paper also advances managers` knowledge about creating and exploiting brand awareness, credibility, perceived quality, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty to increase positive word-of-mouth in the traditional medicine market