The influence of brand experience and service quality on customer engagement

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 50 (2019) 50–59

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The influence of brand experience and service quality on customer engagement

T

Catherine Prenticea,∗, Xuequn Wangb, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiroc a

Griffith Business School, Griffith Institute for Tourism Studies, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia, 6150 c Business Research Unit (BRU/UNIDE), Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Portugal b

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Branding Service quality Customer engagement Airlines

The study draws upon an existing conceptual model of customer engagement and examines how customer and firm based factors are related to customer engagement with a focus on the airline industry. Customer-based factors included in this study are brand experience and brand love; whereas firm-based factors are inflight service quality. The data were collected in one of European airports. The results show that customer-based factors are significantly related to customer engagement. In particular brand experience exerts significant direct and indirect effects on customer engagement. Whilst it does enhance passengers' brand experience, particularly the service by flight attendants, inflight service quality has a minimal effect on customer engagement. The implications of the findings are offered for researchers and practitioners to conclude the paper.

Over the last decade customer engagement research has been popularising the marketing literature. The relative nascence has prompted researchers to delve into its conceptualisation and operationalisation of this concept (e.g. Brodie et al., 2011; Van Doorn et al., 2010; Verhoef et al., 2010). However, its popularity is mostly attributed to the supposedly outcomes for business organizations such as buyer-seller relationships (Sashi, 2012), customer purchase and loyalty behaviours (e.g. Prentice et al., 2018; Vivek et al., 2012). In addition to organizational outcomes, customer engagement likely produces positive customer-related and other social consequences (Van Doorn et al., 2010). These outcomes form impetus to investigate the drivers or antecedents of customer engagement. Van Doorn et al. (2010) proposed three broad categories of antecedents: customer, firm, and context-based factors. Exiting empirical research in this area is rather limited. Recently Prentice and colleagues (Prentice and Loureiro, 2017; Prentice et al., 2018) approached from customers' perspective and examined how customers' psychological desire, perceived benefits and social values influence their engagement with the brand and the organization. Prentice et al. (2018) contend that customer-based antecedents are more reflective of their genuine and volitional engagement, which leads to positive organizational outcomes (e.g. purchase and loyalty). On the other hand, to enhance and warrant customer engagement with a brand, it is also imperative for the brand organization to make deliberate marketing efforts such as providing quality services. Research to date has not provided empirical evidence ∗

on how customer and firm-based factors affect customer engagement respectively and conjunctively. Understanding this relationship would facilitate firms identifying more appropriate means to engage customers for optimal business outcomes for the brand organization. This study sheds light on this and approaches from both customers' and firms' perspective to understand their respective influence on customer engagement with a brand. Van Doorn et al. (2010) were the first to provide a most comprehensive conceptual customer engagement framework from different perspectives. The customer-based antecedents in their framework are fairly diversified including attitudinal factors (brand commitment, brand attachment), customer goals, traits, predispositions, affective states and resources (e.g. time, effort and money availability). The firmbased antecedents include the brand's characteristics, customer support, and incentives and rewards for customers. Attitudinal antecedents that are indicative of customers' affective connection with a brand (e.g. brand experience and love) are more reflective of customer loyalty and hence have implications of customer brand engagement (Batra et al., 2012; Brakus et al., 2009; Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Iglesia, Singh and Batista-Foquet, 2011). A wide range of offerings from the firm can motivate customers to engage with a brand and the organization. Numerous studies have provided empirical evidence that a firm's service quality influences customer attitudes and behaviours which ultimately leads to business profitability (Prentice, 2013; Sivadas and BakerPrewitt, 2000; Yee et al., 2010; Zeithaml, 2000). These attitudinal and

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. Prentice), [email protected] (X. Wang), [email protected] (S.M.C. Loureiro).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.04.020 Received 2 February 2019; Received in revised form 15 April 2019; Accepted 25 April 2019 Available online 06 May 2019 0969-6989/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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However, not every consumers fall in love with a brand at the first sight, as in interpersonal relationships, there are different patterns of consumers' brand love. Some consumers fall in love with the brand very quickly, just like the love at the first sight, whilst it takes time for others to experience everything before they develop affection toward the brand (Langner et al., 2016). Positive experiences ultimately lead to consumers' love of the brand (Langner et al., 2016). Batra et al. (2012) attempt to present the prototype of brand love and explain how consumers fall in love with brands including passionate desire (consumers want to use the brand and invest their resources in it), identification with the brand (whether actual or desired identity), positive affection, anticipated separation distress, desire to maintain the relationship in long-term attitude valence and strength. The strength of consumerbrand relationship is largely dependent upon consumers' experience with the brand. Consistent with the discussion, the following hypothesis is offered:

behavioural outcomes are reflective of customer engagement. Consistent with the foregoing discussion, this study examines how customers' brand connection (brand experience and brand love) and a firm's service offerings affect customer engagement with the brand and its associated organization with a focus on the airline industry. Competition in this industry is intense among legacy airlines, between legacy airlines and low-cost air carriers (The economist, 2018). The traditional marketing promotions centring on price cut and loyalty programs are less effective as the competitors easily mimic and exceed the offerings. Fostering brand connection with the airlines and unique service attributes can be more promising as customers' emotional attachment to the airline companies and preference to the service attributes are not replaceable. Consequently, this study examines how customers' brand experience with the airlines and their perception of the service quality offered by the airlines affect their love with the airline brand and engagement behaviours. This investigation offers potential contributions to customer engagement research by providing insights into how customers and firm-based factors drive customers to engage with a brand. This research also has important practical implications for the airline industry by promoting the most effective means to attract customer engagement. The following section presents the relevant literature review and forms hypotheses for testing. Methodology of testing the hypotheses is outlined followed by presenting results. Discussion and implications for the literature and practitioners are provided to conclude this paper.

H1. Brand experience has a positive influence on brand love. 1.2. Brand experience, brand love, and customer engagement Engagement implies a connection between two parties (Vivek et al., 2014; Dessart et al., 2016) and is based on interactivity (Brodie et al., 2011; Hollebeek et al., 2014). The party can be an individual, an organization, or a community (Hollebeek, 2011; Vivek et al., 2014; Dessart et al., 2016). The connection is not casual based, but a longlasting relationship and interdependence between parties (Resnick, 2001) in which both parties take an active role (Hollebeek, 2011). Customer engagement has popularised in the marketing literature over last decade as a precursor of customer purchase and brand loyalty (Prentice and Loureiro, 2017). When individuals are engaged with a brand, a strong psychological connection is nurtured (Hapsari et al., 2016). This connection leads to repetitive purchases and a long-term relationship with the brand (Hapsari et al., 2016a,b; Vivek et al., 2012). Customer engagement is generally defined in the marketing literature as customers' emotional, cognitive and behavioural involvements with the brand (Hollebeek, 2011; Mollen and Wilson, 2010; Vivek et al., 2012). Customer engagement are manifested in four different sources of value obtained from consumers: lifetime value (purchases), incentivised referrals, influence value and knowledge value (Kumar and Pansari, 2016). The lifetime value represents the idea that a company is focused on the consumers and their lifecycle rather the product lifecycle (Jain and Singh, 2002). When purchasing a product, consumers take an active process to learn about the brand which forms expectation of the brand (Carvalho and Fernandes, 2018). This process leads consumers to be more “informed, networked, empowered and active” (Kumar et al., 2010: 301). Referral value (incentivised) refers to the willingness of consumers to become referrals. Referrals are often more effective in captivating consumers than other forms of communication (Villanueva et al., 2008; Chandler and Lusch, 2015). Influence value represents the value associated with the influence exerted by one consumer on another toward a brand or the organization. With the advancement and popularisation of social media, consumers could share their experiences with the brand and services offered by the brand organization online instantaneously (Thakur, 2018). Customers' reviews, in parallel with referrals or word of mouth communication, have become one of the most effective marketing tools. Such reviews across social media network not only affect the brand users but likely impact on financial performance of the brand organization (Pansari and Kumar, 2017). Knowledge value refers to customers' feedback (Sasha and Theingi, 2009). The brand users tend to provide feedback and act like consultants for the brand. Their feedback can help the brand organization identify what has or has not been working from customers' perspective (Eisingerich and Merlo, 2014; Hollebeek et al., 2016; Pansari and Kumar, 2017). Customer experience with a brand creates emotional connections

1. Literature review 1.1. Brand experience and love A brand provides both functional and experiential values which are often resulted from brand experience (Cleff et al., 2014). Brand experience refers to consumers' purchase and consumption experiences with the brand and the organization, as well as to the brand influence on non-consumers (Khan and Rahman, 2015). Customers today not only seek the tangible benefits provided by the brand organization but also the experience associated with the brand (Ong et al., 2018). Experiences can be felt in different realms, depending on how the consumer is connected with the environment per se (aesthetic), with the joy (entertainment), acquire knowledge/expertise (educational) and fully involved in the experience (escapism) (Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Suntikul and Jachna, 2016). Different components of experiences can emerge in a service encounter such as sensory (related to the experiences felt though our senses), affective (related to sentimental interactions), behavioural (related to actions taken by consumers who enjoy the experience) and intellectual (the rational thoughts emerged by the experience, Brakus et al., 2009). Brand experience is therefore defined as “subjective, internal consumer responses” (Brakus et al., 2009: 53) that can be experienced in “sensory, affective, intellectual, behavioural and social terms” (Brakus et al., 2009, p 53). Brand love is defined as a consumer's emotional attachment to and identification with a particular trade name or a brand (Aro et al., 2018; Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006). Brand love encompasses an individual consumer's passion and excitement with a brand. Emotional attachment to a brand indicates an individual's emotional bond with the specific object, and separation from the brand can result in distress (Thomson et al., 2005). Brand love results from the long-term relationship with a brand, with a focus on affective component integrated with consumers' brand identity (Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Huber et al., 2015). Affection is composed by positive and strong emotions experienced by consumers when using a brand (Long-Tolbert and Gammoh, 2012; Langner et al., 2015). The relationship between a brand and a consumer is analogous to the relationship between romantic partners (Fournier, 1998). Such relationship adds meaning to their lives and contributes to the individuals' self-concept (Bairrada et al., 2018). 51

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intended to understand how brand involvement (brand experience and love) and airline services contribute to customers' engagement with the choice of their airlines. Data were collected from both Portuguese and non-Portuguese passengers who have air travel experience in Europe with both low-cost carriers and legacy airlines. Lisbon airport agreed to help with the survey and collecting the data during October 2017. The questionnaire was first written in English, then translated to Portuguese, and back translated to English to ensure consistency of the sentences in both languages expressing the same ideas. Before distributing the questionnaire, a pilot test was conducted with 10 passengers to ensure that the wording of the questionnaires were clear and well understood. As a result, a few minor changes were made to improve the clarity. A random sampling was employed in this study. Passengers who were in the waiting areas near the department gates were approached to participate in this study. Those who indicated their prior experiences with both lost-cost and flagship airlines were invited to complete the survey. The survey was undertaken in different periods of the day (mornings, afternoons, and evenings) throughout one week to capture different cohorts of passengers. Of 300 questionnaires distributed, a total of 225 fully completed and useable questionnaires (after excluding those with missing values, inconsistent responses or extreme multivariate outliers) were generated. Outliers were deleted by using the graphic method, with a residual scatter plot in the range of ± 3 standard deviation (Hair et al., 2010). As shown in Table 1, of the participants, over half of the respondents (55%) were female. Most respondents had university degrees. The age groups were rather evenly distributed.

(Cleff et al., 2018) and enhances the emotional attachment (love) (Albert and Merunka, 2013; Bairrada et al., 2018). This affective tie is only possible if a consumer does experience a psychological connection with the brand which is a key element of brand love (Albert and Merunka, 2013). Such connection is key to creating intense consumers' responses (Long-Tolbert and Gammoh, 2012), which are manifested in continuing purchase, recommending the brand and developing a relationship with the brand organization by providing constructive feedback and becoming a loyalty member. Such responses are reflective of customer engagement (Kumar et al. (2017). This discussion informs the following hypotheses: H2. Brand experience influences customer engagement through the mediation of brand love.

1.3. The role of service quality In service marketing literature, service quality often reflects customers' perceptions and value-judgment of a product or service (Parasuraman et al., 1995). Service quality is widely acknowledged as an antecedent of customer satisfaction and behavioural intention which in turn leads to an organization's profitability (Alexandris et al., 2002; Kim et al., 2016; Prentice, 2013; Shi et al., 2014; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Some researchers (e.g. Parasuraman et al., 1995) assert that service quality should be assessed by a comparison between perceptions and expectations. Others (Cronin et al., 2000) argue that customers' perceptions of service performance over each service encounter determines quality of the firm's service. This approach has been widely cited in the literature. Resonating with this view, this study argues that service quality facilitates the influence of brand experience and brand love on customer engagement, rather directly affect the outcome variable. Unlike service quality that can be judged on the basis of a single encounter experience, brand experience is not limited to a single experience in one touch point, rather it involves the cumulative experiences of different touch points in different phases of the consumption journey either pre (e.g. consumers evaluate different alternatives and anticipates the experience with the brand organization), during (e.g. encompassing the sensations felt) and post consumption (the memory of the experience) (e.g., Carù and Cova, 2003; Laming and Mason, 2014). Brand experience is a result of a series of interactions occurred between the brand and the consumers over the service encounter (Jiang et al., 2018). Quality service over each encounter enhances customers' experience with the brand which ultimately lead to emotional attachment (i.e. brand love) to the brand and subsequent engagement behaviours manifested in purchase, referring and spreading word-of-mouth communication. Consistent with this view, the following hypotheses are offered:

2.2. Measures The items that were used to measure the study constructs were adapted from previous studies. A few procedures were undertaken to minimise common method bias: (i) the items and questions are carefully worded to avoid ambiguity, and kept simple and concise, without unfamiliar terms and complex syntax; (ii) the physical distance between measures of the same construct is also taken into consideration, that is, not to have all items of the same construct right next to each other. The items used to measure brand experience were adapted from Brakus et al. (2009). Brand love is measured by adapting items from Bagozzi et al. (2017). Customer engagement were measured by adapting the scale developed in Kumar and Pansari (2016). Brand love was measured on a 5-likert-scale from “very much” to “not at all”. Other constructs were measured on a 5-likert-scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Assessing service quality in the airline context is rather complex as it includes pre-flight, inflight and after-flight services. The pre and afterflight services involve other stakeholders such as airports and travel agencies. To understand customer engagement with the airlines, we selected the inflight service quality that is reflective of level of the services directly associated with the airlines. Consistent with the findings from Prentice and Loureiro (2017) that only certain inflight services significantly affect passengers' relationship with the airline, the layout, crew, ambience including odour and temperature were included in the assessment of airline service quality. The items that were used to assess the inflight services (layout, ambience) were adapted from Bitner (1992), d'Astous (2000), Han and Ryu (2009) and Ryu and Jang (2007). The items measuring the service provided by flight attendants were taken from Hightower et al. (2002) and Bitner (1992). The Cronbach's alpha values are provided in the next section.

H3. Service quality moderates the relationship between brand experience and brand love H4. Service quality moderates the relationship between brand love and customer engagement. Fig. 1 shows the model of this study.

2. Method 2.1. Sample and data collection procedure To understand the proposed relationships, the current study was undertaken in the airline settings. This option was determined on the fact that service quality seems to be a less significant factor in passengers' choice of air carriers as low-cost airlines (with inferior service quality, in comparison to that of flagship airlines) appear to be more competitive (The economist, 2018). The competition between the two types of air carriers is intense. In view of this status quo, this study was

3. Data analysis and results 3.1. Confirmatory factor analysis Brand experience, brand love and customer engagement are 52

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Fig. 1. Research model.

and Pansari, 2016). Next, CFA was performed for the proposed model in this study. The results show that the model had acceptable fit indices: χ2 = 453.23, d.f. = 231; CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93. All items have significant loadings on their corresponding constructs (Table 2). The composite reliabilities for all factors were acceptable, and the average variance extracted (AVE) for each factor was over 0.50, indicative of adequate convergence (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). The results of standardized residuals and modification indices show no conspicuously significant changes to the model. Table 3 shows the correlations among variables. The square root of average variance extracted for each construct exceeds the correlation between constructs, indicating discriminant validity.

Table 1 Demographic information of participants. Variable

N

Percentage

Male Female Between 18 and 20 Between 21 and 30 Between 31 and 40 Between 41 and 50 Between 51 and 60 More than 60 High School or less Bachelor degree Graduate degree

101 124 32 66 65 42 17 3 39 108 75

44.9% 55.1% 14.2% 29.3% 28.9% 18.7% 7.6% 1.3% 17.3% 48.0% 33.3%

3.2. Hypotheses testing multidimensional constructs and were treated as second-order factors in the current study. First, we assess the validity following the procedures described in Kumar and Pansari (2016). Brand experience has four dimensions. The second-order CFA model fit for this construct was acceptable: χ2 = 110.921, d.f. = 51; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.94. The path coefficients between the indicators and their respective first-order factors were significant at the 0.05 level. The model fit for the secondorder factor structure by conducting a one-factor CFA on the average scores of the four first-order constructs (e.g., Jayachandran et al., 2005) was χ2 = 21.34, d.f. = 2; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.90. All the path coefficients were significant at the 0.05 level. Brand love was measured as a multidimensional construct (selfbrand integration, passion-driven behaviour, and positive emotional connection). Following the same procedure described above, the results show that the second-order CFA model fit was acceptable: χ2 = 61.10, d.f. = 25; CFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.96. The path coefficients between the indicators and their respective first-order factors were significant at the 0.05 level. All the path coefficients between the second-order construct and its dimensions were significant at the 0.05 level. Customer engagement was measured as a four-dimensions construct (purchases engagement, referrals engagement, influence value engagement, and knowledge engagement). The results from the above described procedure show that the second-order CFA model fit was reasonable: χ2 = 292.85, d.f. = 88; CFI = 0.92; TLI = 0.91. The path coefficients between the indicators and their respective first-order factors as well as between the second-order construct and its three dimensions were significant at the 0.05 level. The model fit the secondorder factor structure was χ2 = 18.38, d.f. = 2; CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.95. All the path coefficients were significant at the 0.05 level. The study used the aggregated scale consisting of the average scores of the dimensions of brand experience, brand love, and customer engagement as their indicators for further analyses (Jayachandran et al., 2005; Kumar

Path modelling was performed to test H1 and H2. Our results show that brand experience has a positive effect on brand love (ß = 0.75, p < .001), which in turn impact customer engagement (ß = 0.71, p < .001). Therefore, H1 and H2 are supported. Brand experience has a direct effect on customer engagement (ß = 0.69, p < .001), supporting H3. Further, this effect decreases (ß = 0.36, p < .001) after including brand love. Therefore, brand love partially mediates the relationship between brand experience and customer engagement. We further examined how different dimensions of brand experience influence brand love and customer engagement, as well as how brand experience and brand love impact different dimensions of customer engagement. The results in Table 4 show that behavioural and intellectual brand experience impact both brand love and customer engagement. On the other hand, sensory experience only had a significant influence on customer engagement, whereas affective only on brand love. Further, the results from Table 5 show that brand experience and brand love are significantly related to all four dimensions of customer engagement. H3 and H4 propose the moderation effects of in-flight service quality on the relationships between brand experience, brand love, and customer engagement. Among the selected service quality components offered on the plane, the results show that only the service provided by flight attendants significantly moderates the relationship between brand experience and brand love (ß = 0.10, p < .05) but not the relationship between brand love and customer engagement. Specifically, brand experience has a stronger effect on brand love when the level of the service is high. In other words, flight attendants play a role in enhancing passengers' experience with the airlines which leads them to love the airlines more. However, other service components such as ambience factors have no significant moderating effects. Accordingly, H3 is partially supported, H4 is rejected. The moderation effect exerted 53

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Table 2 Confirmatory factor analyses results. Item

FL

Brand experiences Sensory This airline makes a strong impression on my visual sense or other senses. I find the airline interesting in a sensory way. This airline does not appeal to my senses (r). Affective I do not have a strong emotion for this airline (r). This airline induces feelings and sentiments. This airline brand is an emotional brand. Behavioural I engage in physical actions and behaviours when I use this airline. This airline results in bodily experiences. This airline is not action oriented (r). Intellectual I engage a lot of thinking when I encounter this airline. This airline brand stimulates my curiosity and problem solving. This airline does not make me think (r). Brand love Self-brand integration Flying with this airline says something “true” and “deep” about whom you are as a person. Is this airline able to make you look like you want to look? Is this airline able to do something that makes your life more meaningful? Do you find yourself thinking about that airline? Passion-driven behaviours Are you willing to spend a lot of money improving and fine-turning a product from this airline after you buy it? Do you feel yourself desiring to flight with that airline? Positive emotional connection Do you feel that there is a natural fit between you and that airline? You feel emotionally connected to this airline. Do you feel that this airline is fun? Consumer engagement Purchases engagement I will continue buying products/services of that airline in the near future. My purchases with that airline make me content. Owning the products/services of this airline makes me happy. Referrals engagement I promote this airline because of the monetary referral benefits provided by the brand. In addition to the value derived from the product, the monetary referral incentives also encourage me to refer this airline to my friends and relatives. I enjoy referring this airline, I refer to my friends and relatives because of the monetary referral incentives. Given that I use this airline, I refer my friends and relatives to this brand because of the monetary referral incentives. Influence value engagement I love talking about my brand experience. I discuss the benefits that I get from this airline with others. I am part of this airline and mention it in my conversations. Knowledge engagement I provide feedback about my experiences with the airline to the firm. I provide suggestions/feedback for improving the performance of the airline. I provide suggestions/feedback about new products/services of that airline. I provide suggestions/feedback for developing new products/services for this airline. Temperature The temperature during the flight is comfortable. It is not very cold/hot in this plane. It is not too dry in this plane. Layout The seat and tray for eating and reading are comfortable. The seating layout in this plane in comfortably arranged. Overall, the layout in this plane made it easy for me to move around. Flight attendants The staff was knowledgeable and helpful in this flight. The staff was courteous and professional in this flight. There was enough staff in this flight. The staff demonstrated interest and enthusiasm in this flight. Odour The flight odour is not strange/unfamiliar. The odour during the flight is acceptable. The odour on this flight is fine.

by flight attendant service is graphed in Fig. 2. Lastly, bootstrapping was conducted to test the moderated mediating effect presented in our model. We implemented bootstrapping using the Process macro from Hayes (2017). The indirect effects are significantly different from zero (i.e., the mediating effects are significant) when zero is not in the confidence intervals. According to

Alpha

CR

AVE

.78

.87

.70

.79

.88

.71

.68

.86

.67

.66

.81

.59

.85

.85

.59

.70

.71

.55

.86

.87

.68

.86

.87

.70

.93

.93

.78

.74

.76

.51

.93

.93

.78

.83

.85

.67

.89

.90

.75

.90

.90

.70

.82

.83

.62

.70 .90 .89 .75 .88 .89 .90 .92 .60 .60 .82 .86

.81 .82 .63 .80 .73 .75 .85 .88 .75

.80 .90 .80 .82 .85 .92 .93 .72 .72 .67 .65 .89 .98 .98 .89 .92 .60 .91 .93 .75 .95 .91 .64 .81 .66 .86 .83

Table 6, bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals were computed, and zero was not contained in these intervals. Such results further confirmed findings that brand love mediated the relationships between brand experience and customer engagement under different levels of service quality.

54

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Table 3 Correlations and square root of AVE (diagonal).

BE BL CEN T L FA O

BE

BL

.77 .75a .69a .28a .51a .50a .27a

.89 .71a .29a .45a .45a .17a

CE

AAT

Table 6 Moderated mediation analysis with bootstrap. AAL

AAC

AAO

Temperature Indirect Effect

.72 .28a .30a .45a .24a

.84 .34a .31a

.87 .29a

Low Medium High

.79

Low Medium High

Table 4 The effects of dimensions of brand experience on brand love and customer engagement. Brand Love

Customer Engagement

.08 42*** .21** .14* .56

.23** .03 .35*** .21** .51

Referrals engagement

Influence value engagement

Knowledge engagement

.62*** .38*** .60*** .36***

.42*** .17*** .43*** .19***

.66*** .43*** .67*** .45***

.44*** .19*** .48*** .23***

Upper

.24 .14 .34 .33 .22 .43 .37 .24 .50 Flight attendants Indirect Effect Bias-corrected Lower Upper

.26 .31 .37 Odour Indirect Effect

.28 .30 .32

.27 .33 .39

.15 .20 .20

.40 .39 .43

Bias-corrected Lower

Upper

.15 .21 .26

.37 .41 .49

Bias-corrected Lower Upper .14 .22 .26

.39 .42 .52

Since service quality has been widely modelled as an antecedent to customer engagement behaviours, we conducted post hoc analysis to examine whether the inflight services provided by the airlines influence passenger engagement with the airline. Among the four selected service components, only temperature (ß = 0.15, p < .05) on the plane and services from flight attendants (ß = 0.37, p < .001) had significant effects on customer engagement. Passengers seem to be indifferent to the ambience factors - layout (ß = 0.11, p > .05) and odour (ß = 0.03, p > .05). To understand how the proposed relationships differ between passengers of low-cost and flagship airlines, further analyses were performed by separating the data into two groups: lost-cost (LC) versus flagship (FS) airlines. A multi-group analysis was conducted in accordance with Wulf et al. (2001) approach. The results show that the chi-square of the model with all parameters constrained for the two groups significantly differs from that of the unconstrained model (Δχ2 (56) = 129.08, p < .01), indicating LC and FS customers are different in their perceptions and engagements. Specifically, for LC customers, brand experience has a positive effect on brand love (ß = 0.72, p < .001), which in turn positively influences customer engagement (ß = 0.63, p < .001). Further, odour moderates the relationship between brand experience and brand love (ß = 0.26, p < .05) (Fig. 3). Layout moderates the relationship between brand love and customer

Table 5 The effects of brand experience and brand love on dimensions of customer engagement. Purchases engagement

Indirect Effect

3.3. Post-hoc analysis I

*p < .05, ***p < .001.

Brand Experience R2 Brand Love R2

Bias-corrected Lower

.82 .32a .22a .45a

Note: BE = Brand Experience, BL = Brand Love, CEN = Customer Engagement, T = Temperature, L = Layout, FA = Flight Attendants, O = Odour. a Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).

Sensory Affective Behavioural Intellectual R2

Layout

***p < .001.

Fig. 2. The moderation effect of crew. 55

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Fig. 3. The moderation effect of odour (low-cost airlines).

Fig. 4. The moderation effect of layout (low-cost airlines).

engagement (ß = 0.57, p < .01) (Fig. 4). Lastly, the moderated mediating effects are examined using bootstrap. The results in Table 7 show that brand love mediates the relationship between brand experience and customer engagement under different levels of customer engagement. For FS customers, brand experience has a positive effect on brand love (ß = 0.73, p < .001), which influences customer engagement (ß = 0.77, p < .001). Further, service by flight attendants moderates the relationship between brand experience and brand love (ß = 0.22, p < .05) (Fig. 5). Lastly, the moderated mediating testing shows that brand love mediates the relationship between brand experience and customer engagement under different levels of customer engagement (Table 8).

Table 7 Moderated mediation analysis with Bootstrap. Temperature Indirect Effect

Layout Bias-corrected Lower

Low Medium High

Low Medium High

Indirect Effect

Upper

.26 .13 .40 .28 .14 .42 .30 .11 .48 Flight attendants Indirect Effect Bias-corrected Lower Upper

.29 .28 .28 Odour Indirect Effect

.32 .29 .26

.28 .31 .33

.13 .15 .10

.50 .44 .43

Bias-corrected Lower

Upper

.12 .14 .11

.49 .43 .46

Bias-corrected Lower Upper .12 .17 .14

.46 .46 .54

4. Discussion The current study draws upon Van Doorn et al. (2010) conceptual model of customer engagement and examines how customer and firmbased factors influence customer engagement with a focus on the airline 56

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Fig. 5. The moderation effect of flight attendants (flagship airlines).

engagement. The result indicates that passengers' experiences with the airlines not only affect their emotional attachment and attitudes toward their chosen airlines but also their behavioural engagement with the airlines and ultimately loyalty behaviours. This finding is consistent with that in Roberts and Alpert (2010), Kumar and Pansari (2016), and Pansari and Kumar (2017), although in different industries and study settings. Such consistent finding indicates that customer experience with the brand and its associated organization is critical to actively engage customers and achieve their loyalty behaviours. The partial mediation effect exerted by brand love shows the sequential effects of passengers' brand experience on affective attachment to the airline, and on their subsequent engagement behaviours. In particular, confirmation of a significant moderated mediation effect reinforces the mediating role of brand love. Customers' emotional attachment (brand love) does play a role in their engagement with the brand organization. This finding conforms to that in Albert and Merunka (2013) and Bairrada et al. (2018). Brand love in the current study is reflective of passengers' passion and attitude toward, brand integration and emotional connection with their chosen airlines. Given the intense competition among airlines, endeavours to engage customers should not only be focused on enriching customer experience, but also enhancing their positive attitudes. Admittedly brand experience is imperative. The significant hierarchical effect also indicates that customers'/passengers' attitudes are equally important.

Table 8 Moderated mediation analysis with bootstrap. Temperature Indirect Effect

Layout Bias-corrected Lower

Low Medium High

Low Medium High

Indirect Effect

Upper

.27 .12 .40 .33 .19 .44 .39 .21 .56 Flight attendants Indirect Effect Bias-corrected Lower Upper

.30 .34 .37 Odour Indirect Effect

.20 .28 .35

.30 .36 .41

.07 .15 .19

.35 .41 .50

Bias-corrected Lower

Upper

.14 .20 .21

.47 .47 .53

Bias-corrected Lower Upper .10 .20 .21

.46 .47 .58

industry. On the basis of their model, brand experience and brand love are opted for as customer-based factors; whereas the inflight services provided by respective airlines are as firm-based factors. Brand experience and love are reflective of customers' subjective attitude toward and affective connection with the airlines. The inflight services are reflective of cognitive assessment of the airline's quality. Building on Prentice et al.’s (2017; 2018) studies, this study proposes customerbased factors as predictors, whereas firm-based factors as moderators of customer engagement. The results confirm the predicting effects. Although only one inflight service component exerts a significant moderating effect, this result does not support the linear effect of service quality on customer engagement based on the post hoc analysis. Details of these findings are as follows.

4.2. The moderating role of inflight service quality Unlike most service research that models service quality as a predictor of customers' attitudinal and behavioural outcomes, this study proposes the quality of inflight services that are assessed by passengers plays a moderating role in the chain relationship of brand experience, brand love and customer engagement. This proposition is based on Prentice et al.’s (2017; 2018) contention that customer-based factors are more reflective of customers' volition to engage with a brand. Service quality is reflective of cognitive assessment of the services provided by the brand organization. From customers' perspective, the firm should provide quality service in order to be competitive. Particularly in the airline industry, there are many alternative airlines or routes that would take passengers to their planned destinations. The services provided by the airlines are complex with multiple stakeholders (e.g. airports, travel agencies), nevertheless not unpredictable. The complexity of services directs customers to opt for an airline that they have positive

4.1. Brand experience, brand love, customer engagement The study shows that brand experience has a significant hierarchical effect on brand love and customer engagement. Brand experience is manifested in different connections with the brand (the airlines in this study), including sensory, affective, behavioural and intellectual experiences with the airline. These experiences collectively contribute to passengers' emotional connection with the airline, which subsequently leads to their engagement behaviours: flying with the airline (purchase), becoming referral and providing feedback. In particular, brand experience has significant direct and indirect effects on customer 57

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tend to focus on premium service offerings. However, low-cost carriers appear to be more competitive. Instead of offering a high level of services (premium food and beverage, business lounges), these airlines focus on factors that enhance customer experience such as frequency of flights and timely schedules. The finding of this study may direct flagship airlines to shift their focus on premium service offerings in order to improve customer engagement behaviours. Since customer experience has a significant hierarchical effect on affective attachment (brand love) and behavioural outcome (customer engagement), the airline operators and marketers should seek factors that enhance customer experience. The study shows that interactions with flight attendants contribute to such experience and engagement. Staff training in relation to their encounter behaviours with customers should be provided to flight attendants. Knowingly these employees perform emotional labour (Hochschild, 1983). Emotional labour performance in most service organizations is a mandatory job description for frontline employees. Emotional labour entails acting strategies (deep acting or surface acting). Research has shown that either acting can be detrimental to the individual, although beneficial to the organization (see Prentice et al., 2013). The management should attend to the remedies for detrimental effects so that flight attendants can optimise their service encounter performance which enhances customer experience and contributes to customer engagement.

experiences with. However, service provision does affect customer experience with the airline. In particular, as shown in this study, the services provided by flight attendants significantly enhances customers' experience and affective attachment to the airline. The human component of service quality differs between competitors as each service employee has different traits and personalities which affect their service delivery and interactions with customers (Prentice and King, 2011; Prentice et al., 2013). Accordingly, different flight attendants differ in their services and interactions with passengers on board. Flight attendants are their first and, in most cases, the only contact point for passengers on the plane. Although the ambience of the plane may contribute to the level of passengers' physical comfort, from passengers' perspective, they perceive it as an issue that is likely resolved by flight attendants or a hardware matter that is not subject to resolution. Interestingly inflight services have no significant moderation effects on customer engagement. This finding indicates that flight attendants' interaction with passengers contribute to their experience with and emotional attachment to the airlines. To engage customers, the focus should be on enhancing customer experience. However, the post-hoc result shows that the service by flight attendant has a direct effect on customer engagement. Some elements of flight service also demonstrate significant moderation effects across different airlines. This finding confirms that the human service is critical in engaging customers and improving customer loyalty, consistent with that in Prentice and Wong (2015).

6. Limitations and future research Although various effort has been taken to ensure rigorousness of this research, some limitations arise for attention and caution. First, the data were collected in one European airport and most participants were Europeans. Therefore, the results may not be generalized to other contexts. The customer-based factors are limited to brand experience. Future research should explore other customer-related variables. The components consisting of inflight service quality are rather limited. Other service elements should be included for testing to gain insights into the influence of airline service quality on customer engagement. Finally, the study was based on Van Doorn et al. (2010) conceptual model. Admittedly this model is rather comprehensive in terms of its scope. However, other customer engagement models (e.g. Pansari and Kumar, 2017) should be taken into consideration in future studies.

5. Implications The study builds on Van Doorn et al. (2010) model and tests the relationships between customer, firm-based factors and customer engagement. Unlike the original model, this study proposes that customerbased factors play a dominant role in engaging customers; and firmbased factors serve as moderators. The study has implications for the relevant literature as well as for the airline industry. First, the study contributes to customer engagement research by empirically testing the association of customer and firm-based factors with customer engagement. The results challenge Van Doon et al.'s proposition of parallel effects of the customer and firm factors on customer engagement. Customer-based factors play a more prominent role in engaging customers. Second, the study contributes to service quality research by proposing it as a moderator rather a predictor in customer-based outcomes. Service quality has been almost unanimously modelled and confirmed as a predictor of customer engagement and loyalty behaviours in the literature (e.g. Bell et al., 2005; Caruana, 2002; Ostrowski, O'Brien, and Gordon, 1993; Prentice, 2013, 2014). The current study conceptualises it as a firm-based factor and tests it as a moderator between customerbased antecedents and outcomes. The results from the moderated mediation and post-hoc testings (direct effect) show that service quality plays a less significant role in customer engagement. This testing provides insights into service quality research. This finding cautions service marketing researchers to reassess the dominant effect of service quality and to take the study context into account. For instance, airline passengers play less attention to the inflight services. However, interactions with the flight attendant can enhance customer experience with the airline (shown in H3) and contributes to customer engagement (in post-hoc analysis). Equally, findings of this study have important implications for the airline industry and operators. Despite the level of services offered to passengers, the marketing endeavour to engage customers should be focused on enhancing customer experience. Over last four decades, service marketing researchers extensively promote the role of service quality in customer satisfaction and loyalty. This study shows that service quality plays a minor effect on customer-based outcomes. Delivering quality service is important, but also costly. Flagship airlines

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