An examination of attendee brand loyalty: Understanding the moderator of behavioral brand loyalty

Retention of brand-loyal attendees induces deep commitment to an association meeting and great resistance to other conferences'marketing efforts, thereby contributing to high revenue and market share. This study provides additional information about the path from brand satisfaction to attitudinal brand loyalty (ABL) via brand trust through updated expectation of brand value (UEBV) as a mediator on the brand satisfactionĝ€"brand trust path. Also, the study investigates the differential tendencies to ABL by high and low behavioral brand loyalty (BBL) attendees within the conceptual model. According to the structural invariance test across two groups, (a) all paths showed significantly positive signs, (b) UEBV was found to serve as a mediator, and (c) BBL was supported as a moderator except for the brand trustĝ€"ABL path. Unexpectedly, low BBL attendees showed a stronger tendency toward the path from brand satisfaction to brand trust than did high BBL attendees. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.