Title: Factors affecting brand image and commitment among the air travellers in Malaysia

Authors: Noorshella Binti Che Nawi; Abdullah Al Mamun; Syed Ali Fazal; Shah Iskandar Fahmie Ramlee; Muhammad Ashlyzan Razik

Addresses: Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia ' Faculty of Business and Information Science, UCSI University, 56000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract: The limited literature as well as the significance of commitment for airline brands in experiencing rapid growth and competition had motivated this study to examine the effects of social media activities, value-consciousness, and brand consciousness on brand image and commitment. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected the quantitative data from 400 air travellers from Kelantan, Malaysia. The findings revealed that social media activities such as entertainment, trendiness, value and brand consciousness had positively and significantly enhanced brand image and commitment among the air travellers in Malaysia. Moreover, brand image had significantly mediated the effects of social media activities, value consciousness, and brand consciousness on commitment. Apart from extending the current literature and forwarding valuable empirical evidence, this study provided key policy implications and relevance of the study area which could be exploited by airline operators to improve brand image and enhance commitment among the air travellers in Malaysia.

Keywords: entertainment; trendiness; brand image; social media marketing activities; value consciousness; brand consciousness; commitment; air travellers; quantitative analysis; PLS-SEM; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2020.110670

Middle East Journal of Management, 2020 Vol.7 No.6, pp.631 - 646

Received: 16 Sep 2019
Accepted: 31 Dec 2019

Published online: 27 Oct 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article