Title:
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An empirical assessment of the impact of brand trust on consumers' repurchase intention of national dairy products in China : a brand and consumer relationship perspective
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The Chinese national dairy industry has experienced a series of scandals owing to
dairy firms' aggressive pursuit of profits and neglect of product quality guarantees
since the 2008 melamine case. This perceived violation of trust has affected consumer
perceptions of and behaviours toward the national dairy brand, which may best be
resolved by facing up to the issues, enhancing the brand and building consumer
relationships to regain trust in brand quality. Therefore, understanding how brand and
consumer relationships affect Chinese consumers' brand trust and further influence
their beliefs and intentions following a violation of trust is a key consideration for
Chinese dairy firms.
Through the literature review, some gaps are addressed. Few empirical works in
the literature have explored the antecedents of consumer trust in brand in the context
of brand/consumer relationships. In particular, very few studies have tested the
antecedents of two facets of consumer trust in brand - cognitive and affective - in a
single study to establish which antecedents are more relevant to these two types of
trust. Moreover, there is the lasting debate on whether or not violation of trust will
lead to negative consequences. Using Fournier's (1998) brand relationship quality
model (BRQ) and Fishbein and Ajzen's (1980) theory of reasoned action (TRA), this
dissertation investigates the impact of the constructs of brand/consumer relationships
on consumers' trust in brand, and how this trust influences consumer beliefs and
repurchase intentions following a violation of trust. It seeks to fill the gaps in the
literature by undertaking a large-scale, face-to-face survey (400 respondents) using a
structured questionnaire to gather data from the Children park; hospital; kindergarten
in the first-tier Chinese cities. The data are analysed using structural equation
modelling techniques to investigate causal relationships between the different latent
variables.
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