Effects of brand personality, self-congruity and functional congruity on hotel brand loyalty

Abstract

In this study, 732 Turkish tourists from 25 five-star hotels serving in Bodrum (Turkey) were surveyed via questionnaires to investigate the effects of brand personality (BP), self-congruity and functional congruity on hotel brand loyalty. Before testing the research model, BP of five-star hotels was examined. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the personality of hotel brands consisted of “excitement, sincerity, competence and androgyny” dimensions. Structural Equation Modeling analysis revealed the positive relationships between the research variables, and mediating effects of self-congruity and functional congruity on BP and hotel brand loyalty relationship was explored. The statistical significance of these mediating effects was confirmed with bootstrapping analyses performed through PROCESS macro. The results also proved the greater effect of functional congruity than self-congruity on hotel brand loyalty. In the direction of these results, suggestions were made for future research and hotel managers