Title: Predicting Brand Loyalty and Product Involvement Behavior of Indian Teenagers Incorporating the Moderating Effect of Brand

Influence Score. Dipak Saha* , Debasis Bhattacharya** & Shuvendu Dey***

Creating and maintaining strong brand and a band wagon of loyal customers have become increasingly difficult in today's competitive environment due to proliferation of numerous brands in a generic product category. Brand loyalty has been shown to be associated with higher rates of return on investment due to increase in the market share. Though several facets brand loyalty, recent studies reveal that involvement plays an important role in predicting brand loyalty of consumers. The researchers have established the relationship between involvement and brand loyalty. Past studies in this area reveal the dependence of researchers to administer the scale developed by Kapferer and Laurent as well as the scale developed by Zaichkowsky to capture product involvement facet. The brand loyalty scale developed by Dick and Basu are commonly applied in marketing literature. According to a recent estimate, teenagers kids from the age of 13to 19 spent over $150 billion per year globally. They also influence an additional spending of $150 billion per year globally through pester power. Purchase of another $300 billion goods and services per year takes place because of the influence exerted by the teenagers. Studies reveal that teenagers in India spend more than Rs 66000 million in a year only on clothing items. As such, the teenage customers in India have emerged as big spenders having increasing purchasing power as well as increasing pester power. In this background, it is imperative to study the brand loyalty and product involvement behavior of teenagers. In our paper we have included brand influence score, brand trust and the size of the consideration set that might influence brand loyalty of teens. This paper is a sincere endeavor to gain an insight into the decision making process and the driving factors that influence teenage buying behavior by measuring the brand influence scores (BIS) for different products thereby helping marketers to formulate proactive marketing and selling strategies to survive in the turbulent marketing environment as teenagers today become the buyers of tomorrow. Astonishingly, very few studies have been undertaken to relate the brand loyalty and product involvement behavior of teenagers. The data for this study is gathered from a cross section of teenagers drawn from different socioeconomic backgrounds from the major metros of India. Factor analysis, multivariate regression procedures have been employed to draw managerial inferences.

Key words: Brand Loyalty; Product Involvement; Indian Teens; Brand Influence Score. Field of Research: Marketing.

1.1

Introduction

Teenagers in the contemporary marketing environment constitute a pivotal market segment and deserve considerable attention from marketers and academicians due to the fact that the market is expanding and the teens spend vast amount of money for a wide variety of products. It is a reality that the children play a central role in influencing family purchasing decisions that has urged the marketing researchers to track their brand influencing behavior. It can hardly be denied that the degree of influence exerted by children differ across product categories as well as the stage of the decision making process. The teenage population is increasing exponentially over the last decade and for this reason the consumer behavior researchers are showing enormous interest to unveil the buying behavior of this growing segment. The Indian consumer market, which is primarily dominated by young generation, is becoming increasingly sophisticated and brand conscious. A typical upper middle class young consumer is beginning to look beyond the utility aspect of a product to seek intangibles like brand and
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lifestyle statement associated with the product. This modern consumer wants his purchases to reflect his lifestyle or at least the one he aspires for. As a result of this brand consciousness, the food and beverage segment of the FMCG sector is already witnessing a significant shift in demand from loose to branded products. India alone is home to 1.136 billion people, out of which an estimated 350 million are in the age bracket of 10-24 years. Their purchasing power has significantly increased, both, in terms of salary and pocket money. An ASSOCHAM survey revealed that the average monthly allowance of urban children in the age group of 10-17 years has gone up from 300 in 1998 to 1,300 in 2008. This segment is very attractive due to its size, increasing spending power, and large exposure to media. Among the existing studies, there is none in our knowledge that documents brand relationships of young consumers in an emerging economy. Finally, young consumers the world over are influenced by peers and family in their brand-related decisions (Singh, Kwon and Pereira, 2003). For marketers, it is important to understand the impact of these factors on brand relationships and brand switching intentions. Teenagers who are belonging to the age group of 13 to 19 approximately spend $150 billion per year globally. Teens also exert influence to the tune of an additional $150 billion per year globally with pester power. It is believed from various sources that they indirectly influence another $300 billion per year. Thats a total purchasing/influencing power of $600 billion this year. Moreover, teens are to a considerable extent influence various products to be consumed and used by their parents and other members of their family to which they belong. The world is witnessing a rise in the number of young consumers and evidence suggests they are brand conscious. In addition, 57 per cent of the teenagers cite marketing and media in their conversations as compared to 48 per cent adults (Hein, 2007). Teenagers share of expenditure in the Indian market is worth $2.8 billion (Rana, 2007); young consumers tend to be more involved with material possessions (Belk, 1988). Consumer socialization process begins at home; young consumers see brands which are consumed in the family and are likely to give first preference to the use and purchase of those brands. Even though young consumers start consuming and developing relationships with the new brands they get exposed to, the impact of the brand exposure from their families is likely to be strong. In the Indian context, family has traditionally played a strong role in influencing choices of their progeny. Bravo, Fraj and Martinez (2007) argue that family always provides suggestions regarding brands for young consumers. The greater the families influence on brand choice, the lower the depth of brand relationship. (Sahay and Sharma, 2010). Todays teenage customers have emerged as big-time spenders, who not only have a good amount of pocket money but also know how to supplement the same by means of internships, summer jobs, part-time jobs. It can hardly be denied that the teenage market in India is growing at a fast pace and it is a quite sizable market segment which the marketers cannot ignore. Some studies have been undertaken to relate the brand loyalty and product involvement of consumers in the recent past, no systematic effort has been made to study the loyalty behaviour of teenage consumers for a cross section of FMCG and durable products which are primary targeted to this segments. Bearing in mind a research gap in his area, in this paper an effort is made to discern the involvement and loyalty behaviour of teenagers in India.

1.2 Need for the Study

There is a voluminous literature dedicated to the study of the concept of brand loyalty. However, most of the research works carried out in this area has focused on the Indian consumers, and studies involving the Indian teenage consumers are quite less in number. It is high time that
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research pertaining to loyalty involving Indian teenage consumers is strongly encouraged, because the outcome of any such research work would help the corporate to implement innovative changes in their product portfolio and thereby retain the customers. Entry of multinationals and their aggressive way of garnering market share results in sleepless nights of brand executives. Research pertaining to loyalty involving Indian consumers is the need of the hour, because the outcome of any such research work would help the corporate to implement innovative changes in their product portfolio and thereby retain the customers. Significant increase in the spending power of Indian Teenagers and their desire to purchase sophisticated products are changing day by day. Availability of more number of multinational brands with unique attributes has forced the oscillating consumers to buy new brands... Another major consideration for the marketer is to look at the issue of teenagers brand loyalty from the perspective of teenagers level of involvement. The findings of various studies (Laurent and Kapferer, 1985; Bordo, 1993; Leclerc and Little, 1997) indicate a positive relationship between these two dimensions. However, since the pattern of Indian teenagers' involvement has not been fully explored, a study is required to examine the relative influence the antecedents of teenage involvement on brand loyalty.

1.3 Objectives of the Study:

The Present is conducted keeping in view the following objectives: i) To determine the level of involvement of teens with respect to various brands included in our study and the number of brands in the consideration set. ii) To determine the brand loyalty score for the products considered in our study. iii) To examine the Brand Influence Score (BIS) of teens by developing a seven point Likert scale. iv) To investigate the predictive ability of various explanatory variables in explaining brand loyalty. v) To integrate the findings above and suggest possible managerial implications.

1.4

Review of Literature :

The concept of involvement has received much attention in social psychology and, more recently, in marketing to study consumer behaviour. Involvement theory, as it has come to be known, is based on hemispheral lateralization, or right-and-left brain information processing. Based on the notion of hemispheral lateralization, Krugman (1965) theorized that individuals passively process and store right brain (i.e. non-verbal, pictorial, holistic) information without active involvement. Since T.V. is primarily a visual medium, T.V. viewing is regarded a right brain activity and T.V. itself is therefore considered as a low involvement medium. Cognitive information, on the other hand, is processed by the left side of the brain and as such, print media are considered as high involvement media. Once high and low involvement media was conceptualized on the notion of hemispheral lateralization, the involvement theorists then focused on the consumers involvement with different product categories and purchase situations. It is postulated that since there are high and low involvement buyers; there are high and low involvement purchase situations as well. High involvement purchases are those that are very important to the consumers in terms of perceived risk and urge consumers to engage in extensive problem solving. When consumers have no established criteria for evaluating a product category or specific brands in that category, their decision efforts can be termed as extensive problem solving. At this level, the buyer needs a great deal of information to establish a set of criteria on which the competing brands are evaluated.
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For example, an I-pod and a shampoo (though financial stake is very low) may both represent high involvement purchase situations, the I-pod because of greater perceived financial commitment, the shampoo because of high perceived social risk. Low involvement purchases, on the other side, are purchases that are not very important to the consumer because of very little perceived risk and buyers generally do not pass through all the stages of the buying decision making process. Zaichkowsky (1985, 1986 & 1994) defines involvement as a persons perceived relevance of the object based on inherent needs, values and interests. Another distinction is postulated by the practitioners tendency to speak of emotional involvement (Vaughn, 1980). Vaughn suggested a new FCB approach and developed a matrix to classify products and services using thinking/feeling a high/low involvement as two dimensions for this new FCB strategy model. It is now evident from the above discussion that the measurement of involvement varied greatly. Researchers who believe involvement as a cognitive state are concerned with the measurement of ego involvement, risk perception and importance of the purchase. On the other hands, researchers who focus on the behavioural aspects of involvement measure such factors as the search for and evaluation of product information. Kapferer and Laurent (1985a, 1985b, and 1993) stressed that since there are so many kinds of consumer involvement, efforts should be undertaken to measure an involvement profile rather than a single involvement index. They have suggested five important facets to measure involvement profile of an individual. These facets are interest in the product, the perceived pleasure, the risk associated with the purchase, the probability of making a poor choice and the sign or symbolic value associated with the product. Their findings are consistent with the previous studies which argue that of two mutually exclusive categories of high and low involvement. A substantial research work in the field of involvement have been taken to relate the brand loyalty and commitment behaviour of consumers particularly after two articles published in the journal of marketing and the journal of marketing research by Laurent & Kapferer ( 1985a , 1985b).However , Taylor ( 1991) has probably examined initially the relationship between product involvement and brand commitment. Since then a plethora of research articles have been published to relate involvement variables and brand loyalty behavior of consumers for a wide variety of product and services.

Brand loyalty: An Overview

Brand loyalty exists when a purchaser makes the choice of favoring one brand from a set of substitutes, consistently over a phase of time. In traditional logic, brand loyalty refers to recurring purchase behaviour or the predisposition to purchase a brand again or the result of cognitive action and decision making (Mittal and Myung, 1988). Brand loyalty, the final objective of branding, is the situation where in customers has a propensity not to consider other brands during the decision process (Jones et al, 2002). Brand loyalty is the result of far-reaching cognitive action and decision making and it is a form of repeat purchasing behaviour reflecting a conscious decision to continue favoring the same brand. Dick and Basu (1994) posit that true brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude towards the brand, which is then exhibited through repurchase intentions. A Few researchers in the field of consumer behavior view that loyalty is a process of repurchasing which happens due to situational restrictions, lack of feasible alternatives or out of expediency (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2005; Aydin and Gokhan, 2005; Argawal and Malhotra, 2005 , Sadasivan , K , et al.2011)

Disk & Bases (1999) conceptualization of the brand loyalty concept is frequently applied by researchers to capture the brand loyalty construct. Dick and Basu with due theoretical research propose a brand loyalty scale that includes cognitive, affective and conative dimension. Cognitive Loyalty Dick and Basu (1994) suggest that brand affect addresses the emotional aspect of brand loyalty but cognitive loyalty is more rational. They view that cognitive loyalty consists of four facts; accessibility, confidence, centrality and clarity. Accessibility is the ease with which an attitude can be retrieved from the memory. On the other hand attitudinal confidence is the level of certainty with an attitude or evaluation. The strength to which an attitude towards a brand is related to the value system of a consumer indicates its centrality and an attitude is well defined when a buyer perceives alternative attitude to a brand objectionable. Affective Loyalty Chowdhury and Holbrook (2002) define brand affect as The potential in a brand to elicit a positive emotional response in the average consumer as a result of its use . The strength of relationship between a brand and its buyers depends to a considerable extent by the magnitude of positive affect generated by that brand. A high level of commitment toward a brand is affected by positive affective responses. Conative / Behavioural Loyalty Dick and Basu (1994) describe conation as behavioural decomposition. The defining element is the behaviour loyalty is the buyers over purchase behaviour of a particular brand from amongst a large number of competing brands. Dick and Basu suggest that antecedents consumer loyalty stem from three distinct dimensions of loyalty viz. affective, cognitive and conative components of attitudes. Highly loyal people tend to exhibit high levels of involvement and that individual, social, and situational factors, such as personal values or beliefs, social and cultural norm, influence behavioural loyalty as suggested by Iwasaki and Havitz (1998). Odin et al., in 2001 points out that an advantage of the behavioural loyalty is that it measures observable behaviours, instead of (self-reported) intentions and declarations. It is also easier and cheaper to measure (Dekimpe et al., 1997). Involvement Profile It is evident from the foregoing discussion that the measurement of involvement varied greatly. Researchers who believe involvement as a cognitive state are concerned with the measurement of ego involvement, risk perception and importance of the purchase. On the other hand, researchers who focus on the behavioural aspects of involvement measure such factors as the search for information and evaluation of product . Kapferer and Laurent (1985a, 1985b, and 1993) stressed that since there are so many kinds of consumer involvement, efforts should be undertaken to measure an involvement profile rather than a single index of involvement. They have suggested five important facets to measure involvement profile of an individual consumer. These facets or dimensions are: I) Interest (The personal interest a person has in a product category). ii) Pleasure (the hedonic value of the product). iii) Risk Importance (the perceived importance of the potential negative consequences associated with a poor choice of the product). iv) Risk Probability (the perceived probability of making such a poor choice). v) Sign Value (the degree to which it expresses the person's self). The link between product involvement and brand loyalty is found to involve different aspects of involvement for each of the products concerned explains Quester and Lim (2003) in an empirical examination. Knox and David (2003) suggest a research design that tries to integrate prior theory on involvement and brand loyalty in a grocery product purchasing. Their main finding establishes that in grocery markets there is a significant relationship between involvement and
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brand loyalty. Yi-Youjae and Hoseong (2003) confirm that customer loyalty was highly affected by involvement when organized a research to find out the moderating role of involvement on loyalty program. Product involvement is a consumer defined concept as opposed to product defined (Martin, 1998) and is essentially a consumer response to the product. involvement should not be considered, nor measured, as a unidimensional construct argues Kapferer & Laurent (1993). On the other hand, they suggest measuring it through a Consumer Involvement Profile (CIP), an empirical instrument comprising several subscales, each one measuring a different antecedent of involvement. Each subscale should measure a different antecedent of involvement which provides the justification for using a set of subscales, rather than a single unidimensional scale. A four faceted Consumer Involvement Profile (CIP) as a way of operationalizing consumers' involvement in products was proposed by Laurent and Kapferer in 1985. They advocated the avoidance of current practice measures involvement by a single index, or even a single item of product's perceived importance. Instead, logically a profile of the dimensions of interest, perceived risk, pleasure values and sign value needs to be kept in mind. Consideration set is the subset of brands that consumers evaluate when making a purchase decision. A consumer has a limited information processing abilities and limits the comparison to a subset of brands that is termed as consideration set. Brand trust Despite tremendous interest drawn by trust concept from practitioners and marketing literature, there has been little scholarly research that has explicitly examined this concept in the consumer-brand domain. Due to the non-existence of widely used and accepted measures of brand trust, this research represents one of only a few theoretical and empirical examinations of this concept. More specifically, it has sought to address this void by (1) developing a multi-item measure of brand trust, (2) assessing its psychometric properties, and (3) investigating its relational linkage with other theoretically related constructs such as satisfaction and brand loyalty. Based on the literature review conducted, we have conceptualized brand trust as a feeling of security held by the consumer in his/her interaction with the brand, that it is based on the perceptions that the brand, as a personified entity, is reliable and responsible for the interests and welfare of the consumer... Trust is viewed as a central variable to the development of brand loyalty (Fournier 1995; Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Morgan and Hunt 1994), due to the conceptual connections of relationship aspects to the notion of loyalty itself (Fournier and Yao1997; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995). Therefore, the development of a brand trust scale breathes new theoretical perspectives into brand loyalty research because it would help to provide a wider understanding and explanation of this particular aspect of consumer behavior. As pointed out by Garbarino and Johnson (1999), for decades one of the key global constructs predicting consumer behavior has been overall satisfaction (Anderson and Sullivan 1993; Bloemer and Kasper 1995; Cronin and Taylor 1992; LaBarbera and Marzusky 1983; Oliver 1980).

1.5 Hypotheses:
Based on the review of literature and the objectives of the study mentioned above, the following hypotheses have been framed: H1: Antecedents of Product Involvement are positively associated with brand loyalty behaviour of Teenagers H2: The Brand Influence Score of Teens and Brand Loyalty are positively associated H3: The higher the number of brands in the Consideration Set, the lower would be the Band Loyalty
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H4: The Brand Trust is positively associated with Brand Loyalty

1.6 Methodology:
Since the objective of our study is to relate the teenage involvement and brand loyalty behaviour incorporating the brand influence score and the number of brands in the consideration set, we have employed factor analysis to establish scale dimensionality. In addition to this, multiple regression analysis is employed to assess the importance of different variables in predicting the brand loyalty of teenagers considered in our study. Regression analysis is also employed to ascertain the predictive validity of the proposed measure of involvement and brand loyalty. The construct involvement is measured using a twelve item multi-dimensional scale incorporating risk probability, risk importance, pleasure value and the Sign Value. In our study , we have also measured involvement using a five item five-point scale derived from the scale proposed by Zaichkowsky ( 1995) to compare whether the uni-dimensional or multi-dimensional measure of involvement predict brand loyalty behaviour of teenagers. Highly involved consumers find fewer brands acceptable (narrow categorizers) and tend to be more loyal. On the other hand brand switchers are likely to have more brands in their consideration set (broad categorizers) that are likely to be less loyal to their brands. In an attempt to establish this phenomenon we have gathered data from teenagers regarding the number of brand they have in their consideration set. Teenagers play a significant role in deciding the brands they purchase for themselves as well as they shape the brand choice behaviour for other brands purchased for family consumption which are technically known as pester power. In our study, we have developed a seven item five point scale to measure the Brand Influence Score (BIS) of teenagers which is likely to influence the brand loyalty of teenagers. The detailed methodological procedures followed in our study are briefly discussed in the subsequent sections: Scale Development While developing the scale to measure the involvement construct, we have followed the recommended scaling procedures which are very commonly found in psychometric literature (Nunnally, 1978). Following Churchill's (1979) suggestion, we generated a pool of items for each facets from different involvement scales developed by Laurent and Kapferer (1995b), Jain and Srinivasan (1990), Lastovicka and Gardner (1979), Traylor and Joseph (1984) and Zaichkowsky (1985). In addition to the above, a preliminary in-depth discussion with a sample of respondents (n=21) pursuing management programme was also an important source from which we generated a few other items. Altogether, 28 five point semantic differential items were initially developed to reflect the four facets of involvement. These items were then judged for content validity by a small panel of experts (n=3) resulting in 17 semantic differential statements. The panel comprised of both academicians and marketing professional is having adequate knowledge in this field. These 17 items were then administered to an initial sample of post-graduate University (n=42) students over two products categories per student. At item to total correlation technique has been employed as the measure of the index of item discrimination. When the correlation between the total score and the individual items score is computed as a measure of the discriminative power of the item, it shows how well the item is measuring the function which the test itself is measuring. Following suggestions of Zaichkowsky (1985) and Gaski and Etzel (1986) statements with items to total correlation (within each component) of r = 0.50 or more were retained. In this process five more items were dropped and finally 12 items were retained to measure 4 facets of involvement. After initial purification, the
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final version of the involvement scale needs to be examined again for reliability and construct validity over several samples for different product categories.

1.7

Data and Sample Demographics:

Data for the survey are obtained from a convenience sample of teens drawn from the four major metros in India. In addition to meeting the socio-demographic criteria, the choice of the convenience sample is made so that the teenagers have to be a user of the product on which their responses are sought. For an individual researcher convenience sample is suitable for some reasons discussed below. Due to financial constraint, it is not feasible for us to adopt a probability sampling technique. Another problem very unique to our country is that respondents do not seriously co-operate with the researchers and either try to escape interview or give very casual response. Convenience sample, though not very scientific, helps in getting over this limitation. Moreover, since our objective is to determine the degree and direction of relationship between various facets of involvement and their influence on the teenagers loyalty behavioural aspect and no generalizations about the sample teenagers are envisaged, a convenience sample is considered adequate for this study. It should be reiterated that since our objective of the study is to unveil the involvement profiles of teenagers across the major metros. The data are collected by investigators who were present throughout the administration phase and ensured that the various involvement facets, different attitude scales, and meaning of the variables measured are understood clearly by the respondents before giving their responses. A profile of teenage respondents considered in our study is presented in Appendix V

Selection of Stimulus Products In our present study, a good deal of exploratory work is needed to select the products to be included in the study. While selecting the stimulus products for the study we have to resolve some important issues. First, the individual considered for the interview has a user of the products for which his response is sought. Secondly, products are deliberately chosen to represent contrasting profiles on various dimensions of involvement viz. risk, pleasure and sign (self expression factor) associated with the product. The final list of products retained for this study is done through a series of qualitative indepth interviews with the teenagers... The respondents are first informed about the purpose of the survey and they are asked to name a few typical products that come to their mind among a few categories of products (viz. durable and convenience items). The responses of consumers in most of the occasions reveal that Cell phone; Deodorant, Chips, Toothpaste, Ball Pen, Two Wheeler, etc. are frequently used by the teenagers. We have not considered those products which presumably were high or low on all facets since inclusion of these products would prevent the facets from appearing distinct. The final lists of products included in our survey are: (1) Cell phone, (2) Deodorant, (3) Chips and (4) Toothpaste. Two wheeler is excluded from our study since a very few respondents possess two wheeler since license to ride two wheeler is issued after completing eighteen years of age. Again, Ball pen is excluded from our study due to huge number of national and regional brands available in the market and they do not even remember the names of the brand they use particularly for the use and throw brands. For other brands the respondents mostly reveal that while refilling the cartridge they depend on the discretion of the shop owners.
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Psychometric Performance of the Scale The twelve-item involvement scale was initially administered to a sample of students enrolled in the Department of Commerce of North Bengal University to assess the reliability and validity of the proposed measure where each student had to give response on two product categories. We have computed internal consistency reliability by Cronbach's alpha as well as by test-retest reliability. It is quite evident from the table that the reliability coefficients are reasonably high and it can be concluded that the scale which we intend to use in our study possesses sufficient degree of internal consistency despite a small number of items in each scale. It has to be remembered that consistency is a necessary but not sufficient condition for validity (Nunnally, 1978). Therefore, in the subsequent discussion we address this important issue in detail. The assessment here will begin with construct validity, which refers to the extent to which the hypothetical, unobservable construct of interest correspond to the purported measure of it (Peter, 1981). In order for a measure to have construct validity, each of the measurement items must relate to the characteristics of the construct, and each item must be free from contamination by elements of other constructs. These two requirements are operationalised by two validity tests, viz. (a) Content Validity and (b) Scale Dimensionality. These two issues are briefly addressed below: (a) Content Validity: When a test is constructed so that its content of term measures what the whole test claims to measure, the test is said to have content or circular validity... It was done essentially by a systematic examination of the items included by researchers while capturing the domain of the construct. In addition to this, initial scale items (17 pairs) were judged' by a small sample of experts who expressed that these items could be used to capture the domain of the construct. Moreover, statistical tests also have been applied to ensure content validity. In our study, the level of internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha provided sufficient evidence for the content validity.

(b) Scale Dimensionality: The scale dimensionality may be reviewed via factor analysis which is a collection of mathematical procedures for determining which variables belong to which factor or underlying construct. Through factor analysis, specific expectations concerning the number of factors and their loadings are tested on sample data. Campbell (1960) and Nunnally (1978) suggest that each scale should measure a single facet if it is considered to have construct validity. Discriminant validity, on the other hand, represents the distinctiveness of each scale vis--vis others. To test simultaneously construct and discriminant validity, we conducted a factor analysis of the items using student samples for two different product categories. As recommended by Laurent and Kapferer (1985a), an oblique rotation (Direct Oblimin Method) was utilized because there is not a priori expectation that the four antecedents of involvement are mutually independent. The involvement scale designed to tap different dimensions of the construct should not be expected a priori to be orthogonal and for this we did not apply the Varimax rotation procedure.
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With a few notable exceptions, the scale items loaded on the factors they were supposed to measure. Apart from this, for other applications, factor analysis led to the results we expected one factor per item, all items from an antecedent on the same factor, one factor per antecedent. The results of factor analysis presented in Tables-I and Table - II, amply demonstrate that the proposed measure is not contaminated with elements from the domain of other constructs or error. The systematic extraction of four factors can be interpreted as supportive evidence of construct validity.

Table-1: Factor Analysis Results Product: Cell Phone (N=82)

Items PROB1 PROB2 PROB3 PLSR1 PLSR2 PLSR3 RIMP1 RIMP2 RIMP3 SEXP1 SEXP2 SEXP3 .863 .766 .711 .317 .067 1.95 16.3 .427 1.72 14.3 .427 1.05 8.8 .857 .831 .834 .300 .310 .342 .320 .849 .740 .749 F1 .307 F2 .324 F3 F4 .791 .803 .722

3.47 Eigen Value 28.9 % of Variance Loadings above 0.30 are reported.

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Table-1I: Factor Analysis Results Product: Deodorant (N=73)

Items PROB1 PROB2 PROB3 PLSR1 PLSR2 PLSR3 RIMP1 RIMP2 RIMP3 SEXP1 SEXP2 SEXP3 Eigen Value % of Variance 2.41 20.1 2.02 16.9 .593 .382 .374 .713 .703 .786 .779 .626 .701 .684 .488 .767 1.57 13.2 1.23 10.3 .320 F1 F2 .336 F3 F4 -.649 -.812 -.746

Loadings above 0.30 are reported.

1.7 Results and Discussion:

The regression analysis using the multi-dimensional measurement of involvement for deodorant is presented in Table III. The value of adjusted R Square is quite high indicating strong goodness of fit and the F value is significant beyond p< .000 indicating a significant association between the explanatory variables and the dependent variables (Brand Loyalty). If we consider the coefficients, it is evident that the sign value, consideration set, risk importance are highly significant in influencing the brand loyalty for deodorant. The pleasure facet also positively influences the brand loyalty significantly. It is surprising to note that the brand influence score is not highly significant though the relationship is found to be positive indicating the fact that teenagers influence the purchase of deodorant for their consumption or consumption by the other members of the family. As hypothesized, the higher the number of brands in the consideration set, the lesser is the brand loyalty and the coefficient if found to be negative. The risk probability dimension for product Deodorant is not found to be statistically significant probably due to the reason that the respondents are predisposed to a particular brand and hence do not feel confused in selecting the brand they prefer. The sign value is highly significant because it gives the teenagers a feeling of psychological satisfaction to express their lifestyle by favoring an established brand having positive brand image.

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Multi-dimensional Measurement Table - III Regression Coefficients Product: Deodorant Standardized Coefficients Beta .063 .604 .137 .162 .102 -.181 t 1.191 9.096 2.452 2.858 1.827 -2.840 Sig. .238 .000 .017 .006 .072 .006

Variables

Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error .228 1.612 .361 .457 .144 -1.017 .191 .177 .147 .160 .079 .358

Risk Probability Sign Pleasure Risk Importance Brand Influence Score Consideration Set Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Adjusted R Square: .799, F: 62.201, P<.000

Similarly for cell phone, we find that, the coefficients for sign value, pleasure facet and consideration set are significant. Surprisingly, risk importance and risk probability are not found to be significant. Moreover, the sign of risk probability facet is found to be negative. The probable reasons behind these finding may be attributed to the fact that the buyers of cell phone are predisposed to a particular brand for which they have lot of information concerning the performance of the model they prefer to buy. The buyers are confident about the performance of the brand and they do not feel at a loss to select the particular brand of cell phone they prefer to buy. The brand influence score is not significant which is quite logical. Cell phones are durable products and the money at stake is much higher than the other FMCG products considered in our study. The parents probably do have a significant role to play in the purchase decision making process. However the sign of the coefficient is positive designating the fact that teens do try to influence the purchase of cell phones by exerting pester power. The results of multiple regressions using uni-dimensional measurement of involvement and the other explanatory variables for four products are presented in Tables V to Tables VIII. Significant relationship has been observed between the explanatory variables and the dependent variable for all the products considered for our study. For all the brands, it is observed that the brand influence scores are highly significant indicating the pester power of teenagers. One notable feature is that for tooth paste the involvement variable is not highly significant in influencing the brand loyalty behaviour of teenagers. Another notable feature is that the adjusted R square values are much lower than the values we have observed for multidimensional measurement of involvement.

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Variables

Table - IV Regression Coefficients: Product: Cell phone Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error .494 1.008 .016 -.007 .136 -1.397 .182 .226 .157 .158 .087 .576 Beta .233 .464 .009 -.004 .129 -.218

Sig.

Sign Pleasure Risk importance Risk Probability Brand Influence Score Consideration Set

2.717 4.450 .099 -.045 1.552 -2.424

.008 .000 .921 .964 .125 .018

Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Note: Adjusted R Square 0.517, F: 14.730, P < .000

Uni-dimensional measure

Table - V
Regression Coefficients: Product: Cell Phone Unstandardized Coefficients B Involvement Brand Trust Brand Influence Score Consideration Set .651 .371 .235 -1.443 Std. Error .238 .170 .097 .835 Standardized Coefficients Beta .317 .247 .282 -.195 2.734 2.191 2.420 -1.728 .008 .033 .019 .090

Variables

Sig.

Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Note: Adjusted R Square: 0.296: F: 7.210, P<.000

Table - VI
Variables Regression Coefficients: Product: Chips Unstandardized Standardized Coefficients Coefficients B Involvement Brand Trust Brand Influence Score Consideration Set .481 .379 .418 -.886 Std. Error .186 .173 .072 .385 Beta .236 .200 .533 -.211 2.592 2.189 5.781 -2.303 .012 .032 .000 .024 t Sig.

Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Note: Adjusted R Square: 0.403: F: 13.829, P< .000

Table - VII
Regression Coefficients: Product: Deodorant

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Unstandardized Coefficients Variables Involvement Bran Trust Brand Influence Score Consideration Set B .591 .314 .369 Std. Error .218 .150 .089 .777

Standardized Coefficients Beta .288 .213 .439 -.204

Sig.

2.703 2.089 4.161 -2.021

.009 .041 .000 .048

-1.571 Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Adjusted R Square: .408: F: 11.157, P<.000

Table - VIII
Regression Coefficients: Product: Toothpaste Unstandardized Standardized Coefficients Coefficients Variables Involvement Brand Trust Brand Influence Score Consideration Set B .303 .685 .636 -1.986 Std. Error .167 .345 .155 .727 Beta .179 .195 .406 -.270 1.819 1.988 4.094 -2.731 .073 .051 .000 .008 t Sig.

Dependent Variable: Brand Loyalty Adjusted R Square: 0.359: F: 11.085, P<.000

1.9 Conclusion and Managerial Implication

As a basis for an assessment of the psychometric performance of the scale administered in our study, in this conclusive section, we begin our discussion with the findings of the reliability analyses discussed in this paper. There are two basic dimensions of reliability: repeatability and internal consistency. Assessing the repeatability property of measure is the first aspect of reliability. The test-retest correlation coefficients amply demonstrated the repeatability property adequately. The second underlying dimension of reliability is concerned with the homogeneity of the measure. To ensure homogeneity property internal consistency of multiple item measure has to be established. The coefficient of Alpha and the Split-half reliability estimates are within acceptable limit in spite of a very small number of items in each scale. Consistency is a necessary condition for validity but it is not a sufficient condition for establishing scale validity. Keeping this aspect in mind several estimates of validity have been provided in our study. We begin our discussion with face or content validity. The relevance of the scale items was judged by a short panel of experts. It appeared evident to the experts that the measure provided adequate coverage of the construct. Moreover, the item to total correlation coefficients and the internal consistency measures also provided sufficient evidence for content validity. In an attempt to establish discriminant and construct validity, factor analysis was conducted using five types of product requiring different emphasis on technical, social and
14

sensory evaluations. Factor analysis of the items confirmed the multidimensional nature of the consumer involvement profile. These research findings are of significance to marketing practitioners and reveal the teenagers influence of involvement on brand loyalty. Results show that teenagers attach more importance to 'interest and pleasure' dimension followed by 'risk importance'. From managerial point of view, these results imply that teenagers can be persuaded to buy a particular brand of mobile by consistently adding new features that offer unique benefits. Precisely, the concept of 'innovation through technology' needs to be focused on. It is suggested that marketing professionals should conduct surveys to identify the expectation of teenage users, which changes frequently. Specifically the present study offers brand executives a meaningful and valuable insight to guide them in winning competition. 'Pleasure' has emerged as another important factor in the involvement scale. The respondents feel that pleasure facet is a driving force in selecting a particular brand of cell phone and this provides a clue to the corporate that the store ambience and behaviour of the store personnel should be accentuated in a manner so as to highlight the pleasure aspect. Executives can perform Multi Dimension Scaling Technique to identify the positions of competitive brands in the market and select unique positioning for their brand. This can be achieved by creating specific association (Aaker, 1991) for their brand. 'Sign' dimension has been extracted as an important factor in the analysis. It confirms that mobile brands do reflect the personality of teenage users. This result is highly relevant to managers involved in developing an identity for their brands. They can explore the possibility of launching special models exclusively for high-end teenage consumers and help establish a sense of pride by owning that brand. (e.g. Blackberry, Nokia E Series, I phone,). This outcome of the results of multiple regression analysis suggests that 'pleasure and sign value' influences brand loyalty significantly. This is the testimony that 'innovative features' of the product is the key determinant of brand selection.

1.10 Limitations and Direction for Future Research

Cautions should be made while generalizing the findings of this study, considering sample size and area of study. The research conducted among the Indian consumers may be subject to cultural influence and the similar study of brand loyalty in other countries is recommendable. This study focused only on limited variety of products. The study included one durable and three FMCG products, and hence, the results are not applicable to other products. Further research is required for other products and services and comparisons could be made across different product classes. It is suggested that an interesting avenue to pursue research would be to investigate whether loyal consumers and switchers differ in their information search, promotional sensitivity, and the extent to which brand loyalty is affected by sales promotion offers. References Aaker, David A. (1991), "Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name," Free Press: New York. Albert, Noel; Merunka, Dwight and Vallette-Florence, Pierre (2008). When Consumers Love Their Brands: Exploring the Concept and its Dimensions, Journal of Business Research, 61(10), 1062-1075. Arvind Sahay and Nivedita Sharma VIKALPA VOLUME 35 NO 1 JANUARY - MARCH 2010 Brand Relationships and Switching Behaviour for Highly Used Products in Young Consumers Auty, Susan and Elliot, Richard (2001). Being Like or Being Liked: Identity vs. Approval in a Social Context, Advances in Consumer Research, 28(1), 235-240. Belch, Michael, Kathleen A. Krentler, and Laura A. Willis-Flurry. 2005. "Teen Internet Mavens: Influence in Decision Making." Journal of Business Research, 58 (5), 569-575.
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Appendices Appendix I BIS Scale Validity and Reliability Variables Component BIS I BIS II BIS II BIS IV BIS V BIS VI BIS VII Alpha .728 .682 .620 .666 .566 .787 .666 .712 Appendix -II Initial Eigen Values % of Total Variance 3.209 45.847

Variables

BIS

Cumulative % 45.847

Appendix -III

Scales
Involvement Brand Trust Brand Influence Score Risk Probability Risk Importance Pleasure Sign Value

Alpha Values .713 .695 .723 .679 .702 .723 .649

Appendix IV Test -retest Reliability Variables

19

Component

Sign Value Pleasure Risk Probability Risk Importance

.735 .749 ..756 ..762

Appendix V

Demographic Characteristics
Variable Characteristics Kolkata No. Age: Below 15 Years 15 to 17 Years 18 to 19 Years Total 13 131 18 % 8 80 12 Respondents Delhi No. 11 62 12 % 13 73 14 Hyderabad No. 12 84 16 % 11 72 17 Bangalore No. 12 61 15 % 14 69 17

162

100
20

85

100

112

100

88

100

Sex : Total
Educational Qualification:

Male Female Below 10th Standard 10 12th Standard Above 12th Standard Total

121 41 162 48

75 25 100 29

49 36 85 14

58 42 100 16

69 43 112 29

62 38 100 26

49 39 88 26

56 44 100 29

92 22 162

58 13 100 12 88 100 27 57

52 19 85 06 79 85 11 55

61 25 100 7 93 100 13 65

69 14 112 07 105 112 19 79

62 12 100 6 94 100 17 70

49 13 88 16 72 88 11 59

56 15 100 18 82 100 12 67

Medium of Instruction: Total Family Income: (per month)

Vernacular

English

20 142 162

Up to Rs 30,000 Rs. 30,000 to Rs 50,000 Rs 50000 and above Total

44 92

24 162

16 100

19 85

22 100

14 112

13 100 88

18

21 100

21