A Field Examination of the Influence of Brand Equity on Behavioral Loyalty and Factors That Moderate This Relationship

Despite prior research highlighting the critical role of brand equity, the relationship between brand equity and loyalty (or BE – BL) is not perfect. Marrying scanner panel choice data and survey data measuring panel members’ attitudes and perceptions, we show that while target brand commitment and importance of brand decision accentuate the BE – BL relationship, brand ambivalence and perceived equity of other category brands mitigate that linkage. We similarly test the moderating influence of eight other brand-, category-, and consumer-related “contextual” factors and show how the importance of nine variables operationalizing brand equity varies in these distinct moderating contexts.