THE IDEA OF BRANDING IN THE CONTEXT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION THEORIES

Abstract

An important part of marketing theory is the theory of consumer satisfaction, through which an attempt is made to model the process of consumer satisfaction as a result of consuming a product or a service, to identify the reasons and factors that affect it. Although there are many valuable and applicable theories in the marketing literature, the idea of branding as a separate factor is not considered in any of them. This paper attempts to consider the idea of branding in the context of theories of consumer satisfaction and to include it as a separate factor. Within the framework of the work the dissonance theory of consumer satisfaction, the theory of contrast, as well as the expectancydisconfirmation paradigm are considered. The main theses proposed are the dependence of branding and expectations from the product or service, the impact of branding on the effects of dissonance or contrast, its impact on evaluations of a product or service and on the importance of the purchase for the consumer. The proposed theses can serve as a basis for further empirical analysis.