Assessing the Interrelationships of Customer-Based Brand Equity: The Case of Automobiles Lubricant Industry in Malaysia

Abstract

Brand equity has been recognized as one of the most decisive research topics in branding and marketing literature since three decades ago. Research on brand equity is motivated by financial performance and strategy based to improve brand positioning and marketing productivity. Although brand equity has been widely studied by scholars in different variety of contexts, its research on the customer-based brand equity of the automotive lubricant market is still very scarce. This study aimed to examine the interrelationships between dimensions of brand equity in the context of the automobiles lubricant industry. Data was collected from 412 respondents in Malaysia. Findings demonstrated that brand awareness was positively influenced on perceived quality and brand associations, While perceived quality was positively influenced on brand associations and brand loyalty, brand associations were positively impacted on brand loyalty and brand equity. However, perceived quality and brand loyalty were not related to brand equity. Future research should investigate antecedents and mediation effect dimensions of brand equity to understand the mechanism through which the causal variable affects brand equity.