Investigating The Determinants Of Brand Advocacy In The Tourism Sector, Customer Irrational Beliefs As A Moderator

Abstract

Brand advocacy is a customer behavior desired by the marketer. Researchers are keenly pursuing to determine its antecedent. Hence, this study aims to investigate the antecedents of brand advocacy: brand associations and brand beliefs. The study draws on the idea of attitude-behavior consistency and explores if the brand association can have a transmittal impact on brand advocacy via brand beliefs. The study also explores the moderating impact of customers’ irrational beliefs. The context of the study is the tourism sector. The study considered a useful sample of 402 tourists and employed PLS-SEM for the data analysis. Results have revealed the positive impact of association and beliefs on brand advocacy. Whereas a weakening moderating impact of customers’ irrational beliefs was found. The study contributed to the literature by assessing the new antecedents of brand advocacy which were yet to be considered. The study also contributed to the literature by employing customers’ irrational beliefs as a moderator for the first time. The research has future recommendations for the researchers to increase the generalizability of the research and to contribute to the literature on studied constructs. The research has implications for managers. It provides managers with guidelines on what to do and avoid to develop strong destinations.