The effect of brand awareness on loyalty, empirical study generic drugs in France

Abstract

Little is known about loyalty of patients towards branded or unbranded generic drugs in France. In this study, mixed methods were used, the first method was a pilot explorative study to gather more in-depth information from pharmacists’ perspectives, the second method was a quantitative study intended to investigate the effects of brand awareness, brand satisfaction and, country of origin on brand loyalty. Eight in-depth individual interviews of pharmacists were used to inform the questionnaire for the quantitative study. One hundred and eight participants filled out an on-line questionnaire. The samples were collected from consumers/patients living in France. Results from the multiple regression analysis indicated that each variable predict brand loyalty significantly. This study reveals that brand awareness has an effect on brand loyalty with the strongest unique contribution, followed by brand satisfaction and country of origin. This study provides important implications for managers about insights on the nature of the relationship between brand awareness and market outcome. Furthermore, the findings provide information to effectively position the products based on the product attributes important to consumers.