1. Introduction
In the Korean foodservice industry recently, desserts and cafe brands have increased substantially (Kang, 2017). Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Korea Afro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. reported that the domestic dessert dining market reached 8,967 billion won. This accounts for 10.7% of the market share compared to the whole eating out market. It is estimated that the total market size will be larger than the sum of the sales of dessert products of general food companies and the figures of sales of restaurants related to foodservice companies such as bakery and coffee shop franchises (Park, 2017).
Therefore, many researchers are actively conducting research on foodservice industry regarding dessert cafe franchise. Especially, most of the studies have been measured in various types of variables and relationships for foodservice industry sectors. Recently, studies using structural equation models have been spreading, and various types of studies have been conducted on these variables. However, using the structural equation model, studies on the relationships of control variables are rarely used, and even if they are used in articles, they play a role of subordinate variable level that does not significantly affect the results of the research. In particular, there are few studies that have conducted the concept of control variables and their necessity (Yu, 2015).
For this reason, this study examines the effect of experiential values on the lovemarks, respect recognition, and brand loyalty in the dessert cafe franchise as the control variables. Holbrook (1994) classified empirical values as esthetics, playfulness, consumer return on investment, and service excellence. Among these, visual appeal, entertainment value, escapism, and intrinsic value influence the brand loyalty as a sub-component of esthetics and playfulness. In this study, we try to analyze the esthetics and playfulness as the key factors of experiential value.
In addition, by analyzing the concept and characteristics of exogenous variables and control variables, this study explores the importance of control variables by developing research models that use Experiential value, lovemarks, respectful recognition, and brand loyalty of dessert cafe franchise. This study is different from other researches because the empirical study on the analysis as the control variables has rarely conducted.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Experiential Value
As a Experiential value, it means intrinsic, extrinsic profit or exchange value perceived based on the interaction of consumption environments that occurs in the process of consumers using products and services or objectively evaluating products(Holbrook & Corfman, 1985). It affects personal attitudes and behavior towards services(Kim & Sung, 2015). Experiential value is ultimately considered as a very important variable in understanding consumer behavior. Because it is possible to decide customers' repurchase motivation based on Experiential value (Holbrook, 1986). In Holbrook (1994), the dimension of experiential value was divided into esthetics, playfulness, consumer return on investment, and service excellence. As a sub-component of experiential values, visual appeal, entertainment value, escapism, intrinsic value, efficiency, and economic value were classified by Mathwick, Malhotra, and Rigdon (2001). Among sub-components, playfulness means enjoyment by forgetting current performance problems in everyday life and actively engaging in their own consumption activities, and esthetics refers to the entertaining reactions of consumers from the physical objects and service performance of the environment. In other words, experiential value implies utility such as pleasure, daily exodus, functional value such as hedonic value and pleasant service quality, quality of product offered and variety of menu choices, fair price, and price appropriateness (Deighton & Grayson, 1995; Holbrook, 1994; Mathwick et al., 2001; Wu & Liang, 2009). According to Wu and Liang (2009), experiential value of restaurants has a significant effect on consumer satisfaction, which may be similar to brand-related variables. These results suggest that restaurant service quality affects experiential value and customer satisfaction (Kim & Sung, 2015). In this study, experiential was found to be a significant variable for the formation of customer satisfaction.
2.2. Lovemarks and Respectful recognition
Lovemarks is a concept presented by Roberts(2004), CEO of a global advertising agency. it means the importance of brand emotion of customers. For this meaning, lovemarks is defined as beyond reasonable loyalty and presents as the ultimate point of future brand. Because lovemarks refers to a brand that is loved and respected over time, not a disposable product or a fleeting momentum. It also refers to brands that are connected with emotions, and brands that are enthusiastically loved by consumers (Roberts, 2006). In addition, lovemarks is said to have a passionate love for the brand, a persistent emotional relationship, and a charismatic brand that appeals strongly to love and emotion(Roberts, 2007). Moreover, it plays a role in establishing and strengthening emotional ties between consumers and brands (Yang et al., 2010; Pawle & Cooper, 2006). In existing Lovemarks research, most studies are set up by using Lovemarks transformation as a single constituent concept and using it as the final result variable of the research model.
Regarding respectful recognition, Pawle and Cooper (2006) argued that in order to create lovemarks, respect and love for a brand must coexist and maximize consumer emotional connections in order to increase respect and love. Today, consumers are choosing goods and services based on esthetic and emotional needs rather than price or function-oriented purchasing (Kim & Woo, 2013), because consumers think emotional and sensory factors more important.
Therefore, it is important to grasp the desires and tendencies of consumers and to increase intangible loyalty (Kim & Woo, 2013). To study this, it is necessary to study the perception of respect for consumers.
2.3. Brand Loyalty
A number of previous studies on brand loyalty distinguish brand loyalty from attitudinal and behavioral (Anisimova, 2007). These viewpoints are classified into loyalty and psychological state based on general purchasing behavior. Brand loyalty is a state of immersion in trying to repurchase a preferred product or service, or to become a regular customer, and tends to repurchase the same brand (Oliver, 1999). Therefore, brand loyalty has been diversely defined by many researchers as the ultimate goal that companies are seeking.
Psychological conceptual attitudes can be judged by the favorable attitude toward a particular brand (Oliver, 1999) or by the consumer's attachment to the unique value of a particular branded product or service (Keller, 2003). In other words, emotional factors including feelings and attachments to specific brands, cognitive factors based on information power of specific brands, and intentional factors to continue to purchase brands in the future are implied (Oliver, 1999). The disadvantage of this attitude viewpoint is that the consumer's psychological focus only focuses on the fact that the favorable attitude itself does not lead to actual purchasing behavior. Therefore, this study intends to measure the relationship between variables through previous studies. As a result of studying actual purchasing behavior, brand loyalty is most strongly influenced by satisfaction, emotional commitment, and repetitive purchasing intention, but it is basically considered to be determined by preceding factors such as service quality, trust with provider, and perceived value (Choi & Lee, 2011).
3. Methodology
3.1. Research Model
Based on the previous studies, the research model was derived as shown in [Figure 1].
[Figure 1] Research Model
[H1] Esthetics will have a significant positive impact on lovemarks.
[H2] Esthetics will have a significant positive impact on respectful recognition.
[H3] Playfulness will have a significant positive impact on lovemarks.
[H4] Playfulness will have a significant positive impact on respectful recognition.
[H5] Esthetics will have a significant positive impact on brand loyalty.
[H6] Playfulness will have a significant positive impact on brand loyalty.
[H7] Lovemarks will have a significant positive impact on brand loyalty.
[H8] Respectful recognition will have a significant positive impact on brand loyalty.
Basically, social science analyzes demographic characteristics. The results of the study may differ depending on the characteristics of the survey respondents. Therefore, this study is to analyze the effect of variables on demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, education, monthly income, and restaurant type as control variables.
3.2. Rule of Population and Method of Sampling
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of desert cafe franchise on experiential value, lovemarks, and brand loyalty in order to verify the research hypotheses based on previous studies. The questionnaires were set up for those who have experience using dessert cafe within the last 3 months among office workers in Seoul. Data collection was conducted from June 10, 2017 to July 10, 2017. 500 questionnaires were distributed and 225 copies were collected. Except for bad data, 315 copies were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 Factor analysis and reliability test were conducted. Also, covariance structure analysis was conducted to verify the proposed research hypothesis.
3.3. Measurement variables and questionnaire construction
Through the analysis of previous research, the concept and measurement variables of this study are defined as follows. First, the Experiential value was defined as the perceived value of dessert cafe visitors. Based on the previous studies of Jin, Line, and Goh (2013), Wu and Liang (2009), Mathwick, Malhotra, and Rigdon (2001), the questionnaire consisted of two variables related to esthetics and playfulness. Second, lovemarks recognition of dessert cafe was defined as customers’ perceived emotional relationship and value of cafe. The questionnaire were constructed with reference to previous research question items for each dimension of lovemarks based on the research of Albert, Merunka, and Valette-Florence (2008), Keller (2012), and Cho (2011). Third, the royalty of dessert cafe was defined as the desire to establish a long-term relationship with the dessert cafe. To composite the questionnaire, the survey items of Kim and Sung (2015) and Choi and Lee (2011) were reflected. In measuring the variables in the model, we use Likert 5 scale, which shows the opinion of 1 point ‘not so' and 5 points ‘very agree'.
4. Results
4.1. General Properties of the Sample
The demographic characteristics of 225 researchers from the survey were summarized in Table 1. In terms of gender, 139 (16.8%) were male and 86 (38.2%) were female. The marriage rate was found to be 118 (52.4%) unmarried and 107 (47.6%) married. The ages ranged from 20 to 29 for 52 (23.1%), 30 to 29 for 122 (54.2%), 40 to 29 for 44 (19.6%) and 50 to 29 for 7 (3.1%). There were 34 high school graduates (15.1%), 91 college graduates (40.4%), 87 university graduates (38.7%), and 13 graduate students (5.8%). Among the cafes, 51 Meetfresh (22.7%), 21 Sweet Korea (9.3%), 63 Artisee (28.0%), 29 ssunikorea (12.9%), 37 Tartar (106.4%), and 24 Mangoray (10.7%) were investigated. 54(24%) received a monthly income between 2 million and 3 million won, 108 (48%) received a monthly income between 3 million and 4 million won, 45 (20%) received a monthly income between 4~5 million won, 16 (7.1%) received a monthly income between 5~6 million won, and 2 (0.9%) received a monthly income above 6 million won.
[Table 1] General Properties of Sample
4.2. Credibility Verification of Concept
In this study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to verify the validity of empirical value, lovemarks, and brand loyalty of dessert cafe franchise. The experiential value, lovemarks, and the customer loyalty of the dessert cafe franchise were analyzed by principal component analysis and varimax with Kaiser normalization (Rotation). For accurate factor analysis, the eigenvalue was above 1, factor loading was above 0.5, and community was above 0.5.
[Table 2] Result of exploratory factors analysis
Note: KMO=0.742, X2 =733.450, DF=120, p=0.000
4.2.1. Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the esthetics, playfulness, respectful recognition, lovemarks, and brand loyalty of the dessert cafe franchise. In order to measure the internal consistency of the measurement index, the construct reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) were calculated for each construct, and the accommodation level (construct reliability: above 0.7 and average variance extracted: above 0.5) was met.
The results of the AMOS analysis for the overall fit of the research model were as follows: GFI=0.948, AGFI=0.906, NFI=0.854, CFI=0.946 (0.90 or more), and RMSEA=0.045 (≤0.05) fit index were higher than the recommendation index, so it is considered that there is not a difficulty in estimating the relationship between the variables in this study(Bae, 2007) ([Table 3]).
[Table 3] Result of confirmatory factor analysis on the whole construction concept
Fit of Index : X2= 97.311, DF=67, p=0.009, Q=1.452, RMR=0.029, GFI=0.948, AGFI=0.906, NFI=0.854, CFI=0.946
4.2.2. Discriminant validity
Discrimination validity is related to how a potential factor actually differs from other potential factors. In general, if the mean variance extracted from each of the two research variables is greater than the square of the correlation coefficient between the two research variables, it can be estimated that there is discriminant validity between the two study variables (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). In the confirmatory factor analysis, the unidimensionality and convergent validity are to confirm whether the concept is different for each of the proven research variables. [Table 4] shows the average variance extraction (AVE) diagonally for easy judgment of discriminant validity instead of correlation. As a result of checking using the mean variance extraction value and the correlation coefficient value for each latent factor, the magnitude of the correlation squared(.046 ~ .459) is smaller than the mean variance extracted value(.561 ~ .668) for each potential factor, it is analyzed that all the research variables have a validity of discrimination.
[Table 4] Analysis of discriminant validity
Note: The diagonal shade is AVE. ( ) is the square of the correlation coefficient.
[Figure 2] Results of research model
4.3. Hypothesis Verification
The results of AMOS analysis, the current research model yielded the values X²=182.780, df=127, p=0.001. The goodness of fit index including but not limited to RMR=0.048, GFI=0.927, AGFI=0.880, NFI=0.842, IFI=0.946, TLI=0.913, CFI=0.942 exceeds set values. For this reason, there is no notable difficulties in determining the relationship between the variables in this study (Bae, 2007).
[Table 4] summarizes the results of the eight hypotheses set out in the constructs of esthetics, playfulness, respect, lovemarks, and brand loyalty of the dessert cafe franchise.
The fit of the model was not correlated with the control variables. This is because it is the result of using the control variables. In addition, we did not set a covariance with age, occupation, education, monthly income, type of restaurant, and also esthetics and play performance control variables which are independent variables.
As a result of the analysis, four hypotheses were found to have adopted the hypothesis that a t-value(absolute value) was more than 1.645 among the research hypotheses.
In [Table 5] for the hypothesis test, when looking over the relationship between esthetics, playfulness, respect, lovemarks and brand loyalty, the results of structure model analysis indicate that first, playfulness has a significant effect on lovemarks (t=1.905), but it does not have a significant effect on respectful recognition (t=1.136). Second, esthetics had a significant effect on both the lovemarks (t=2.723) and the respectful recognition (t=1.871). Third, playfulness (t=-0.121), esthetics (t=0.898), and lovemarks (t=-0.936) did not affect brand loyalty significantly. On the other hand, respectful recognition (t=3.654) has a significant effect on brand loyalty. In addition, the monthly income (t=1.691) of the control variables had a significant effect on respectful recognition, and also the age, occupation, education, and types of restaurants were significantly influenced by esthetics, playfulness, lovemarks, and brand loyalty.
[Table 5] Result of Parameter Estimates for Research Model
Fit of Index : X2= 182.780, DF=127, p=0.001, Q=1.439, RMR=0.048, GFI=0.927, AGFI=0.880, NFI=0.842, CFI=0.942
5. Conclusions
The purpose of this research is to analyze relationships between franchise’s experiential value, lovemarks, respectful recognition, and brand loyalty. Control variables such as age, occupation, education, monthly income, and kinds of restaurant are also included to investigate influence on these.
The relationship between esthetics, playfulness, respect, lovemarks, and brand loyalty of the dessert cafe franchise was examined. As a result, the findings of selected important hypotheses are as follows.
First, playfulness has a significant impact on lovemarks, but it does not have a significant impact on respectful recognition. Second, esthetics has a significant impact on lovemarks and respectful recognition. Third, playfulness, esthetics, and lovemarks did not impact brand loyalty significantly. On the other hand, respectful recognition has a significant impact on brand loyalty. In addition, income of the control variables had a significant impact on respectful recognition. However, it was proved that the control variables such as age, occupation, education, and kind of restaurants did not significantly impact on esthetics, playfulness, lovemarks, and brand loyalty. In other words, when demographic variables are used as control variables, they show that the causal relationship of variables is significantly affected.
In conclusion, this study simply presents scientific implications to actual franchise dessert cafe applications. First, it can be stated that the esthetics of dessert cafe is analyzed to have a positive effect on the recognition of love and respectful recognition. Second, playfulness has a positive effect on recognition of love. Third, respectful recognition has a positive effect on brand loyalty. Based on results, it is important for marketers to build marketing strategies in order to lift customers’ experiential value such as esthetics of franchise and also to reinforce lovemarks for respectful recognition and brand loyalty. Moreover, there is a need for in-depth consideration of each variable affecting the dessert cafe franchise.
For the limitation of this research, First, the types of dessert cafes included in the survey do not represent the entire dessert franchise industry. Therefore, extended studies are needed constantly. Second, previous research on respectful recognition has a few conducted. For this reason, the causal relation to brand loyalty should be theoretically supplemented through subsequent research on respectful recognition. Third, 500 questionnaires were distributed for research, but only 422 were collected. Of these, only 225 were used for the analysis except for the insincere response. 197 (47%) were excluded from the study. As a result, the response rate of women who are the main customer of dessert cafe was low. In the future, it is necessary to continue the study by supplementing it.