unlicensed customer engagement in a facebook brand community a study of airline consumers in vietnam

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Le Minh Hoang Long CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT IN A FACEBOOK BRAND COMMUNITY: A study of Airline consumers in Vietnam ID: 22130038 MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honors) SUPERVISOR: DR NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG Ho Chi Minh City, Year 2016 Acknowledgement Firstly, I would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Mai Trang for her professional guidance, intensive support, valuable suggestions, instructions and encouragement during the time of doing my research I would like to express my deepest gratitude to ISB Professors Committee for their valuable time as the members of the proposal examination committee Their comments and meaningful suggestions were contributed significantly for my completion of this research My sincere thanks are given to all of my teachers at International Business School – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their teaching and guidance during my master course Abstract Customer engagement is a group of factors that can affect the customer satisfaction, loyalty The advent of Web 2.0 and in particular the social network media in recent years have led to an explosion of interest in customer engagement Attracted by a great amount of users, companies have created brand communities in social networks With the abilities to creating the interaction among individuals and firms in brand communities, social media can use to better serve customer and satisfy the needs In Vietnam, former researches measuring the loyalty and satisfaction of customers engaged in social networking sites, such as Facebook, are still rare This research aims to fill this gap by testing these hypotheses in airline industry and raising recommendations for its applications in practice Key words Customer engagement, brand community, facebook, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction CONTENTS Acknowledgement i List of Figures vi List of Tables vii Introduction Research background Statement of the problem Research objectives Research scope Structure of the research Literature review Brand Community (BC) Online brand community (OCB) 10 Customer engagement 10 Customer engagement in brand community 12 Perceived relationship benefits of customer engagement in brand communities 12 Relationship outcomes of customer engagement in brand communities 14 Proposal model and hypotheses 16 2.7.1 Proposal model 16 2.7.2 Hypotheses summary 17 Chapter summary 18 Methodology 19 Research method 19 Research design 19 3.2.1 Sample 19 3.2.2 Measurement scale 20 Research procedure 24 3.3.1 Qualitative phase 25 3.3.2 Main survey - Quantitative research 26 Chapter summary 27 Data analysis and results 28 Data statistical analysis 28 Cronbach’s alpha reliability test 29 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) 32 Reliability test after EFA 36 Modified Model and Hypotheses 36 Testing research model using structural equation modeling (SEM) 37 4.6.1 Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) 37 4.6.2 Structural equation model 42 Hypotheses evaluation 45 Chaper summary 46 Conclusion and implication 48 Key findings and research contributions 49 5.1.1 Impact of customer engagement behavior 49 5.1.2 Measurement model 49 Managerial implications 50 5.2.1 Customer engagement behaviors 50 5.2.2 Perceived relationship benefits 51 5.2.3 Relationship Outcomes 51 Limitations and future research 52 APPENDIX 1: List of in-depth interview’s participants 62 APPENDIX Questionaire 65 APPENDIX3 CFA ………………………………………………………………………….67 APPENDIX Maximum Likelihood Estimates 77 List of abbreviations ATAG Air Transport Action Group BC Brand Community CE Customer engagement CEB Customer engagement behavior IATA International Air Transport Association JPA Jetstar Pacific Airlines OCB Online brand community VJ VietJet Air VNA Vietnam Airlines LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The conceptual Model 17 Figure 3.1 The Research Process 25 Figure 4.1 The Revised Model 37 Figure 4.2 Diagram CFA 39 Figure 4.2 The structural model result 43 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Source of measurement scale 20 Table 3.2 Sources of data collection 27 Table 4.1 Description of sample 29 Tables 4.2 Cronbach’s alpha results 30 Tables 4.3 Retest Cronbach’s alpha results 32 Table 4.4 Pattern Matrix – EFA first round 34 Table 4.5 Pattern Matrix – EFA last round 35 Table 4.6 Cronbach's alpha of new measurements 36 Table 4.7 Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted 40 Table 4.8 Discriminant validity test 41 Table 4.9 Fitness of conceptualized model .42 Table 4.10 Result of hypothesis testing 44 Table 4.11 Standardized regression weight of hypothesis 44 INTRODUCTION Research background The globalization of competition, saturation of markets, and development of information technology have enhanced customer awareness and created a situation where long-term success is no longer achieved through optimized product price and qualities Instead, companies build their success on a long-term customer relationship by satisfying customer’s needs and transferring customers to loyal customers In recent years, customer engagement has been viewed as a hot issue to build long-term customer relationship (Sashi, 2012) Customer engagement (CE) is difined as “the engagement of customers with one another, with a company or a brand The initiative for engagement can be either consumer- or company-led and the medium of engagement can be on or offline.” (Roebuck, 2012) Customer engagement can be the variety activities as joining the brand’s fan group, take part in brand’s contest, disscussing about products or like brand’s facebook, commenting on website, etc Firms that have more engagement of customer can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty (Brodie, Ilic, Juric, & Hollebeek , 2011; Gummerus, Liljander, Weman, & Minna, 2012) Customer engagement (CE) generate enhanced corporate performance, including sales growth (Neff, 2007 as cited in Brodie et al., 2011), and profitability (Voyles, 2008 as cited in Brodie et al., 2011) As a result, customer engagement becomes a competitive advantage in the globalization economic Aviation is one of the most important aspects of global economic nowadays Aviation provides the rapid worldwide transportation network, which makes it essentials for global business and tourism The total value of goods transported by air represent 35% of all international trade and 52% of international tourists travel by air (ATAG, 2014) Come up with the globalization process, airlines industry is in the difficulty situation Volatile fuel pricing, intense competition, security concerns and a focus on the environmental impact of air travel have resulted in airline profitability taking a nosedive Therefore, increasingly airlines are looking to have a far more direct and real-time connection with their customers and prospective customers Leung, Schuckert and Yeung (2013) state that social media is a suitable tools for marketing purpose in the airlines bussiness In the global trends, the social networks are increasingly replacing traditional media for marketing and communications They have become a major factor in influencing various aspects of consumer behavior including awareness, information acquisition, opinions, attitudes, purchase behavior, and post-purchase communication and evaluation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009) The application of social media and web 2.0 is changing the communication between business and consumer and consumer to consumer significantly (Au, 2010; Jones & Yu, 2010) This reality is shown by airlines’ increasing social media engagement of customers (Kepes, 2014) With airline industry, social media is playing an increasing important role in daily operations (NIIT, 2013) Passengers are increasingly using the web and mobile devices to research, book and pay for trips AITA (2014) reports that more than 50% passengers go online to book flights From the airlines side, the world airline industry is switching to promoting booking deals and flight promotions on Facebook and other social media websites For examples, passengers can book their flights via Facebook or Twitter on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, JetBlue or Virgin America (Consumerreports.org, 2015) This new trend put airlines in the effort of building customer engagement to firms’ social media In Vietnam, air service industry affected economic growth significantly According to the statistics of IATA by Tyler (2014) - IATA’s Director General, Vietnam’s aviation market is forecast to be the world’s 7th fastest-growing in the period of 2013-2017, with annual growth rates of 6.9 percent and 6.6 percent expected for international passengers (Tyler, 2014) In the trend of transitioning and developing Vietnam’s economy, a restructuring plan of Vietnam’s air service industry was approved by the Ministry of Transport aim to gain the 5th position in ASEAN aviation market and raise the passengers carried by airlines achieving 3.23% of all overall the domestics transport market share (Viet Nam Government Portal, 2015) Hence, there is a tough competition between airlines companies from the time government authorized the operation of private airlines as the commitment between Vietnam and WTO in 2007 Up to now, there are four major air carries in Vietnam: Vietnam Airlines (VNA), Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JPA) and VietJet Air (VJ) and Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) (Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, 2015) Customers have choices to Respondent’s information Hoang Thi Kim Thoa, Mai Cam Linh Original measurement scales Comments Write comments There are two kinds of comments on a company fanpage: common comment on videos, links, status to show emotional and comment to ask about company product or services I am a [brand] Clarify what kind of information ideas Final measurement scales Khơng CEB3: Tơi bấm like (thích) đăng (status - trạng thái, hình ảnh video) facebook hãng hàng khơng CEB4: Tơi comment (bình luận) nội dung (Trạng thái, hình ảnh, video) đăng facebook hãng hàng không CEB5: Tôi hỏi/ thắc mắc chương trình giá vé/ sách/khuyến hãng hàng không facebook hãng Social benefits Tran Van Dat, Nguyen Duc Minh, Bui Quang Tin Facebook group member to get information (e.g new products) I am a [brand] Facebook group member to share my ideas with other group members Bui Quang Tin I am a [brand] Facebook group member to get to Translate “get to know” in to “biết thêm” in Vietnames make respondent SB1: Tôi cung cấp thông tin (về sản phẩm, sản phẩm mới, giá vé, sách, khuyến mãi, thơng tin du lịch…) từ facebook hãng hàng không SB3: Tôi chia sẻ ý kiến cá nhân (về chương trình, dịch vụ, sản phẩm, giá vé, kinh nghiệm du lịch…) với thành viên khác tham gia facebook hãng hàng không SB4: Tôi kết bạn, giao lưu với nhiều thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Respondent’s information Original measurement scales know other community members Bui Quang Tin, Tran Van Dat [Brand] has a great deal of personal meaning for me I feel a strong sense of identification with [Brand] Comments confuse It better be “kết bạn” Two question have the same meaning Final measurement scales Không CM2: Facebook Hãng Hàng Khơng có ý nghĩa cá nhân APPENDIX QUESTIONAIRE (ONLINE VERSION ONLY) Kính chào Anh (Chị)! Chúng tơi nhóm nghiên cứu MarTrend (Công Ty Marketing Home) kết hợp khoa Quản trị kinh doanh ĐH Ngân hàng TpHCM Chúng thực khảo sát tham gia tương tác khách hàng vào Fanpage hãng hàng không Kính mong Anh (Chị) hỗ trợ chia sẻ cách cởi mở tất ý kiến/ đánh giá Anh (Chị) công việc theo nội dung Mọi ý kiến, đóng góp Anh (Chị) ghi nhận sử dụng cho nghiên cứu Trong trường hợp Anh (Chị) cần sử dụng kết khảo sát, vui lịng liên hệ Lê Minh Hồng Long 0977323311 Trân trọng cảm ơn Anh (Chị)! PHẦN I: CÂU HỎI GẠN LỌC THƠNG TIN Anh/chị có có thành viên fanpage (nghĩa anh/chị bấm like trang facebook) hãng hàng không ba hãng Việt Nam: Vietnam Airline, Vietjet Air, JetstarPacific hay khơng? □ Có □ Khơng Anh chị chọn facebook hãng hàng không Việt Nam mà anh chị thường xuyên tham gia tương tác (thường xuyên truy cập/ xem tin tức facebook hãng/ like trạng thái - status , hình ảnh, video/ bình luận - comment v.v ) hãng sau: * □ Vietnam Airlines □ Jetstar Pacific □ VietJet Air PHẦN II: THƠNG TIN CHÍNH Tơi hỏi/ thắc mắc chương trình giá vé/ sách/khuyến Hãng Hàng Khơng facebook hãng □ □ □ □ □ Tôi bấm mở link (địa web) thông tin (thông tin sản phẩm, thơng tin sách, khuyến mãi, thơng tin giá vé, thông tin du lịch thông tin khác) đăng facebook Hãng Hàng Không * □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ Tôi thực mua vé máy bay facebook Hãng Hàng Không Tôi tham gia vào thi tổ chức facebook Hãng Hàng Không Tôi chơi trị chơi facebook hãng hàng khơng □ □ □ □ □ 10 Tôi cung cấp thông tin (về sản phẩm, sản phẩm mới, giá vé, sách, khuyến mãi, thông tin du lịch…) từ facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 11 Tôi cung cấp thông tin (về sản phẩm, sản phẩm mới, giá vé, sách, khuyến mãi, thơng tin du lịch …) cho thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 12 Tôi chia sẻ ý kiến cá nhân (về chương trình, dịch vụ, sản phẩm, giá vé, kinh nghiệm du lịch…) với thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 13 Tôi kết bạn, giao lưu với nhiều thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 14 Tôi nhận trợ giúp từ thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không (trợ giúp mua vé, hướng dẫn thủ tục mua vé, hướng dẫn thủ tục lên máy bay, trợ giúp du lịch, , v.v…) □ □ □ □ □ 15 Tôi giúp đỡ thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không ( giúp đỡ mua vé, hướng dẫn thủ tục mua vé, hướng dẫn thủ tục lên máy bay, trợ giúp du lịch,…) □ □ □ □ □ 16 Các thành viên khác tham gia facebook Hãng Hàng Không cần □ □ □ □ □ 17 Tham gia vào facebook Hãng Hàng Khơng giúp tơi giải trí □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ 18 19 20 21 22 Tham gia vào facebook Hãng Hàng Không làm cảm thấy thư giãn Tham gia vào facebook Hãng Hàng Không giúp giết thời gian buồn chán Tôi nhận phần thưởng/ điểm thưởng từ thi/ trò chơi tổ chức facebook Hãng Hàng Không Tôi mua vé giá rẻ tham gia vào facebook Hãng Hàng Không Tôi nhận dịch vụ tốt từ Hãng Hàng Không tham gia vào facebook hãng 23 Tơi nhận phản hồi nhanh chóng từ Hãng Hàng Khơng (khi hỏi sách, giá vé, khuyến mãi, thông tin du lịch/ khiếu nại dịch vụ v.v….) □ □ □ □ □ 24 Tơi cảm thấy có gắn kết mặt tình cảm với facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 25 Facebook Hãng Hàng Khơng có ý nghĩa cá nhân □ □ □ □ □ 26 Tôi cảm thấy phần facebook Hãng Hàng Khơng □ □ □ □ □ 27 Tôi nhắc đến Hãng Hàng Khơng nói chuyện/ trao đổi với người khác □ □ □ □ □ 28 Tôi chủ động giới thiệu Hãng Hàng Không cho người khác □ □ □ □ □ 29 Tơi nói điều tích cực Hãng Hàng Không với người khác □ □ □ □ □ 30 Tơi hài lịng thành viên facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 31 Tôi định tham gia vào facebook Hãng Hàng Không □ □ □ □ □ 32 Tôi hài lòng với định trở thành khách hàng Hãng Hàng Khơng □ □ □ □ □ 33 Nói chung tơi hài lịng Hãng Hàng Khơng □ □ □ □ □ PHẦN III: THÔNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Giới tính: Độ tuổi: □ Nam □ < 18 □ Nữ □ 18 - 22 □ 23 - 25 □ 26 – 30 □ 31 - 40 □ > 40 Vui lịng cho biết trình độ học vấn Anh/ Chị: □ Phổ thông □ Trung cấp □ Cao đẳng - Đại học □ Trên đại học Vui lịng cho biết mức thu nhập bình qn/tháng Anh/ Chị: □ < triệu □ -