THE EFFECT OF BRAND EQUITY ON PURCHASE INTENTION IN THE CASE OF SELECTED DENTAL SPECIALITY CLINICS, ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

It is essential for service firms, such as health sector like clinics to understand the dimensions of brand equity that influence purchase intention in order to be successful in this competitive marketing environment. The main objective of the study is to investigate the effect of brand equity on behavioural/ purchase intention of patients in the case of selected private dental specialty clinics in Addis Ababa. By taking the research objectives and questions into considerations, quantitative approach has been applied and both descriptive and explanatory research design are used for this study.The study used convenience non-probabilistic sampling technique. By using structured questionnaire, the data was collected from 326 customers of private dental speciality in Addis Ababa City with the response rate of 85%. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data. The results revealed that brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty had significant positive effect on purchase intention. Amongst them, perceived quality of dental medical service had the highest effect on purchase intention followed by brand awareness. Whereas, brand loyalty had the least effect on their decision to revisit the dental clinics. It can be concluded that quality of the medical service and association of themselves with the brand or company reputation affected the decision of patients for demanding the service further. Managements of dental speciality clinics should instil confidence in the minds the consumers or count on the company’s reputation rather than chasing famous dentists. . The company also needs to know personality characteristics of its brands from the consumer’s point of view and develop a brand image to match with the consumer’s ideal selfconcept. For the reason that customer’s good brand image and/or brand association with the brand will encourage them to use the brand and satisfied by it.