Title: Do social ties impact brand switching behaviour in newspapers - measuring the direct and indirect effects

Authors: D. Hemalatha; Jayanth Jacob

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Anna University, India ' Department of Management Studies, Anna University, India

Abstract: The aim of the study is to develop an empirical model for the assessment of brand switching behaviour (BSB) among newspapers subscribers. Although many studies have investigated the potential determinants of brand switching, existing literature has fallen short in studying the indirect relationships involving other antecedents. The study is analysed for a total of 675 utilisable questionnaires. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used for exploring the research model. A few studies have analysed the direct effects among the variables. The current work contributes to the emerging marketing literature by examining the direct and indirect relationships between social ties and customer loyalty and their effect on brand switching behaviour among different brands of newspaper subscribers. The results show the positive correlation between perceived quality, social ties and customer loyalty and the negative correlation among brand switching behaviour. This shows the existence of weak relationship due to strong social ties. The mediation effect was partial between social ties and brand switching behaviour.

Keywords: customer loyalty; perceived quality; social ties; brand switching behaviour; BSB.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2019.098647

International Journal of Management Practice, 2019 Vol.12 No.2, pp.261 - 281

Received: 27 Jun 2017
Accepted: 24 May 2018
Published online: 29 Mar 2019 *

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