Brand Equity and Customer Brand Choice: A Study on Mobile Operator Services in Northern Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

The area of brand equity has received considerable attention during the last few years. Brands with the greatest equity are the most profitable because their customers are generally more loyal and willing to pay higher prices for the product, and have a closer relationship with the brand. Branding is a technique to capture consumers psychologically. Consumers often rely upon brands to guide their purchase decisions. It is important for the company to establish strong, positive associations with the brand and its use in the minds of consumers. Bangladeshi telecom sector is going under dramatic changes. More and more competition is emerging in telecom sector. The importance of brand equity in services can be looked at from the perspective of the service provider and the consumer. For the service organization brand equity gives a differential advantage that enables the firm to generate greater profits including greater customer loyalty and also protects the firm’s offerings from competitive attacks. Since the fierce competition in the mobile communication service market, all the operators’ emphasis on the brand establishment, devoting substantive resources to build, publicize and improve their brands. This study attempts to measure brand equity in the context of customer of leading mobile operator brand in northern region of Bangladesh. To attain the main objective efficiently, it’s broken down in to specific objectives. To identify the most important brand equity factors that affect customer choice of mobile operator brand, evaluate the customer attitude towards expected and perceived service of mobile operator brand, know the customer satisfaction level on different attributes of particular brand and to study the influence of operators advertising effectiveness on customer brand choice. This study was basically descriptive in nature. Both qualitative and quantitative research approach were used to satisfy the objectives of the study. Two divisional districts from northern region (Rajshahi and Rangpur) and three mobile operators (Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi) were purposively selected for collecting primary data for this study. The population of the study was the users of three mobile operators from two districts in northern region. The total sample size for this study was 384 (three hundred eighty four) which were divided among the three mobile operators according to their market share ratio of 2014. Convenience sampling method was used for selecting the respondents of the study. The primary data for this study were collected through structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed among the three mobile operator users who come to the customer service point for getting service. Prior to commencing the actual field survey, the survey instrument was piloted in face-to face interview with 45 respondents. Collected quantitative data from the respondents were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Simple percentage method were used in study to analysis the personal factors and other factors of brand equity and customer brand choice. Chi-square test was used to test the significance association between brand equity factors and customer choice of specific mobile operator brand. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used for ranking the advertising effectiveness related factors of brand. Regression analysis were used to identify what extent brand equity factors affecting customer brand choice and the influence of advertising effectiveness on brand choice. The study result shows that, the highest average overall brand equity score of Grameenphone brand found mean 6.02 and std. deviation .587, followed by Banglalink and Robi brand. The highest brand awareness score for Banglalink brand mean 6.06 and std. deviation 1.198, followed by Grameenphone and Robi brand. The highest brand image score for Grameenphone found mean 5.78 and std. deviation 1.150, followed by Banglalink and Robi brand. The highest perceived quality score for Grameenphone brand mean score 6.13 and std. deviation 1.323, followed by Robi brand and Banglalink brand. The highest brand loyalty score for Grameenphone brand mean 6.18 and std. deviation .909, followed by Banglalink brand Robi brand. Multiple regression analysis for the affect of brand equity factors on customer brand choice found brand equity factors significantly affect customer choice of Grameenphone brand (F = 55.531 and p=.000 <0.05). Brand loyalty was the highest affect on consumer brand choice of Grameenphone brand (β=.461, t= 4.951, p=0.000< 0.05) followed by perceived quality, followed by brand awareness, followed by brand image. Brand equity factors significantly affect customer choice of Banglalink brand (F = 95.249 and p=.000 <0.05). Brand awareness was the highest affect on consumer brand choice of Banglalink brand (β=.501, t= 3.860, p=0.000< 0.05), followed by brand image, followed by brand loyalty. Brand equity factors significantly affect customer choice of Robi brand (F = 36.286 and p=.000 <0.05). Brand awareness was the highest affect on consumer brand choice of Robi brand (β=.746, t= 6.013, p=0.000< 0.05), followed by brand loyalty, followed by perceived quality. For all mobile operator brands some cases customer expectation was high rather than customer perception such as: dependable and consistent network ability for solving customers complaints, willingness of employee to help customers in urgent situation, mobile operators provides assurance for easy internet access, mobile operators apologizing for inconvenience caused to customers, mobile operators provide assurance to charge call rate exactly etc. Maximum numbers of respondents of all brands were dissatisfied on international roaming facility, internet bonus offer, corporate social responsibility, value-added service charge and talk-time bonus offer. Respondents of all brands were satisfied on customer care service, value-added services, pulse offer, recharge facility, network quality, friends and family offers, mobile financial service, occasionally special offer, package facility etc. Television was the top best media for mobile operators advertising as indicated by respondent (mean rank 2.23), followed by SMS advertising, followed by newspaper, then billboard, then poster, then magazine, then neon sign, then internet. Effective advertising had a positive influence on customer brand choice of all mobile operator brands. Grameenphone and Banglalink were the emerging as strong brands in advertising effectiveness followed by Robi brand. The study findings suggest that, Banglalink and Robi brand should try to improve average overall brand equity. All brands Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi should take proper initiative to improve customer perception and reduce service quality gap. Mobile operators should improve their service facility and reduce dissatisfaction rate of the customers and all companies should focus on increasing their advertising effectiveness.