BRAND LOYALTY MEDIATION IN BRAND ATTACHMENT AND CUSTOMER DIGITAL EXPERIENCE TOWARDS SMARTPHONE REPURCHASE INTENTIONS

Brand loyalty is one of the essential components that incumbent company utilize to retain their customers. The main reason is that incumbent firms need to maintain their market share and then upscale their market when they have a thorough understanding of the segmentation. Brand loyalty in this study is utilized as a mediating variable to confirm the impact of brand attachment and customer digital experience for the repurchase intention creation of smartphone users. An online questionnaire was distributed to 100 respondents using a purposive sampling technique. The criteria of respondents in this study are Samsung smartphone users who has experience searching the brand using a digital platform. Multiple regression analysis and Sobel-test are employed to analyze the test of hypothesis as well as mediating variable in this study. The statistical analysis showed that brand attachment and customer digital experience have a significant positive influence on brand loyalty. Furthermore, brand attachment shows direct and indirect effects to repurchase intentions indicating partial mediation existence of brand loyalty. Customer digital experience indirectly affects repurchase intentions through brand loyalty. These results highlight the role of brand attachment and customer digital experience has to secure repurchase intentions of customers by utilizing brand loyalty.


INTRODUCTION
Branding is an important aspect for firms to gain suitable positioning for their products (Palmatier et al., 2017). Brand loyalty is one of the most used aspect of a brand to retain customers and become an incumbent company in the industry (Gómez-Suárez, 2019). Consumer consumption is affected by brand attachment, as proven by the study conducted by Taghipourian & Bakhsh (2015), as it leads to customer's relationship with the brand into a proven behavior of continuous purchase (Baudry, 2016) to fulfil their needs. Hence, this research is focused in the mediating relationship by brand loyalty towards the brand attachment and customer experience towards repurchase intention creation.
The smartphone industry is large due to the demand of integrated communication systems and entertainment in the user's fingertips. In this case, smartphone is identified as a high-involvement product (Can et al., 2017) because customers invest more effort before finalizing their purchase. Brand attachment and brand loyalty is utilized by firms to ensure customer consumption stays as constant through various experiences and the fulfillment of their needs. In such sense, the possibility of customers to continually purchase the brand's products increase. Tsiotsou (2010) discovered that brand attachment creates brand loyalty indirectly and directly along with brand trust. Customers' experience affects brand loyalty positively, because customers gain information on the brand and are interested in continuing their experience to encounter new surprises the brand will offer in the future. (Wang et al., 2018) A study by Storm (2015) shows that customer's interest on the digital platform indicates customer's willingness to support the brand. Moreover, Can et al (2017) have detected the creation of repurchase intention as it has a positive relationship with brand loyalty. The online customer experience plays a fatal role in the current digitalized era, as customers begin to compare between product features from informational platforms.
According to an article in Forbes, Samsung is in use at 893 million active devices and a market share of 27% with Apple at a close second in 24% and Chinese manufacturers Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Vivo following (Mourdoukoutas, 2018). Indonesian users particularly favor Samsung, the Korean giant, with evidence from the highest market share the South Korean brand currently holds at 25.4% (Rayana, 2019). The prospect of reaching a larger target market, from word-of-mouth strategy and viral marketing strategy, would be a definitive lucrative option for any firms.
In light of the high number of brands surging up in digital platforms (Anh, 2016;Appelqvist & Miller, 2011;Bhasin, 2018;Joo & Sang, 2013;Tsukayama, 2018;Vizard, 2018), this paper included the research findings from Can et al. (2017) who discovered a strong connection between brand loyalty and repurchase decision in the smartphone industry, and Lin et al. (2011) who detected that brand attachment has indirect and direct influence on repurchase intentions. Hence, the information gathered from the two studies will be implemented into the current research model with the objective of examining the relationship between customer's digital experience and brand attachment to brand loyalty as the moderating factor in creating repurchase intention in the smartphone industry.

ITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION BRAND ATTACHMENT
Brand attachment takes form as the customer's self-identification with the brand's image and brand attitude. According to Japutra et al. (2018), brand attachment shows the consumer's systematic pattern towards the expectations, needs, emotions and social behavior from their previous encounter with the brand. Moreover,  defines brand attachment as the bond the brand has with oneself. Brand trust affects brand attachment as the predictor of dedication the customers have to the product. Moreover, customers are enabled to have an option of continuing or rejecting the brand through the brand experience (Nadzri et al., 2016).
Brand attachment takes form as the evidence of customer's interest towards a brand. Commonly, people relate brand attachment and brand loyalty as the same perspective, however the two are different ideas that coexist in the world of branding. Each information helps firms create unique ways in approaching new customers, and sustaining their current market at the same time. Creating an attachment towards the brand often enhances brand value as people will search for that brand first before searching other alternatives. At the same time, brand attachment shows the customer's loyalty in being responsive (Japutra et al., 2014) by becoming a brand advocate indirectly from its often purchases (Vercueil, 2018 Digital platform works as an intermediary between users and firms to share information and features of the brand products (Wang et al., 2018). Digital experience gives customers relevant knowledge on the product line and branding the firm has made. Such as official website, social media, online communities, brand reputation, and brand news are some of the information customers access in perceiving brand knowledge. Quality of information and trust is a key-factor in the experience customers have online (Kuswati, R., and Saleha, 2016). The online presence experience on the Internet allows people to stay in touch with official news by the brand and security of the information from their official digital presence.
Digital plays a role of connecting brands with the consumer group with an easier access, and through that method it increases brand loyalty by the increased use of digital platform usage. By using more of the services or encountering more information on the brand in the digital platform it can affect the increase of brand loyalty as proven by Chen et al (2016). The impact of brand experience will create positive results in prolong the use of brand by the targeted customers.

Brand Loyalty
In the present timeline, firms have developed into a relationship-based strategy as the customer's focus has moved into their personal needs in purchasing products. Now, marketing strategies put great attention in what their target wants, what kind of brand they will trust, and how their products will lead into higher commitment from the customers (Palmatier et al., 2017). The mediation of service experience and brand engagement forms brand loyalty due to the attachment the customers create from the brand experience (Wang et al., 2018). Brand loyalty and brand attachment is differentiated by only a small difference that is continuous purchases or the customer's identification with the brand (Tsiotsou, 2010). Other than having access towards their targeted markets, firms focus in creating loyal customers for potential future purchases to gain higher return (Rammile, 2014).

Repurchase Intentions
Competing in the fast-paced industry stimulates incumbent brands to bring about innovations and strategies to ensure customers fulfil their needs and desire through future purchases of the brand products (Keller, 2013). This component is considered as an indicator that brand loyalty is successfully implemented in their experience.
Repurchase intention is defined as the likelihood of purchasing the brand's products again (Chen et al., 2016). The consideration for customer's repurchases is due to the necessary tools people need in daily life. The current literature connects repurchase intentions with brand equity as customer's options are affected by how brands convey their value to the market (Keller, 2013;Lin et al., 2011;Permatasari & Adiwijaya, 2013).
Repurchase intentions is also the most common indicator for brand loyalty as customers continues the engagement with the brand. Loyal customers are more likely to repurchase the preferred product as they have intentions to experience the product again (Kim et al., 2018). Moreover, brand loyalty has positive influence towards repurchase intentions as customer loyalty increases the repetitive behavior of purchase to the specific brand (Can et al., 2017).

H 3 : Brand loyalty positively influences repurchase intentions
Brand attachment has an influence of forecasting customer's repurchase decision and the brand's future need from customer's encounter . This relationship is expected to be mediated by brand loyalty as the higher the customer is loyal towards a brand the more likely the customers will continue their relationship with the brand. Based on the research conducted by Andriani & Dwbunga (2018), self-connection (one of the factors in brand attachment), has influence towards brand loyalty. Furthermore, brand attachment is identified as a one of the factors that forecast the customer's willingness to future purchase (Taghipourian & Bakhsh, 2015). According to Lin et al. (2011), brand attachment is proven to affect repurchase intentions directly and indirectly. Based on the discussed background, the relationship between brand attachment towards repurchase intentions can be assumed to be mediated by brand loyalty.

H 4 : Brand loyalty mediating brand attachment relationship towards repurchase intention
Customer digital experience creates a positive brand sentiment from customer's enjoyment in brand experience that can lead to brand loyalty and brand attachment in return. Brand loyalty represents customer's recognition and commitment to the brand through repurchasing and maintaining relationship with the brand. Brand loyalty is proven to support repurchase intentions as customers is anticipated to continue using the brand from the satisfaction received from the product experience (Wang et al., 2018). Online communities and platforms positively support the creation of repurchase intentions as the loyalty customers have is shown through their active participation or interest when they encounter information in social media platforms (Balakrishnan et al., 2014). Based on the information above, the hypothesis brand loyalty mediating the relationship between customer digital experience and repurchase intentions is formed.
H 5 : Brand loyalty mediate customer digital experience relationship towards repurchase intention.

RESEARCH MODEL
Brand attachment and customer digital experience supports each other in generating brand loyalty (Lin et al., 2011). Additionally, brand loyalty creates repurchase intentions, as customers show their loyalty (Arya et al., 2019;Tsiotsou, 2010) through future purchases and brand advocacy (Gill-Simmen et al., 2018).

RESEARCH METHODS
This research employs a quantitative approach by conducting Sobel test and multiple regression as descriptive correlation analysis to test the research hypothesis and confirm the relationships between research variables.

Population and Sampling
A non-probability purposive sampling method will be implemented through online survey houses. The sampling criteria for this paper will be Samsung (Android) smartphone users who is currently using the product. An online questionnaire was spread with purposive sampling method. A total of 100 respondents are taken as valid through the pretest conducted with the initial 30 respondents. According to Malhotra (2019), the minimum number of respondents can be determined through the formula: Thus, the minimum sample required for this research will be 95 respondents, however, the researchers round it to 100 respondents. Based on that calculation, the Likert scale online questionnaires were distributed to 100 respondents to fulfil the sample required in this research model.

Hypotheses Test
The variables will be statistically tested by the comparison of output coefficients with T table. The hypothesis will be identified as significant if the T value > T table at sig level 5%. Additionally, the F-value recited from ANOVA table is compared with F-table generated based on degree of freedom to obtain the identification whether the statistical results have valid impact for further analysis.

Sobel Test
The Sobel test examines whether the mediating variable has full mediating effect or partial mediating effect for the IV and DV relationship (Koopman et al., 2014)mediation relationships are among the most important that can be proposed. Mediation helps to explicate our theoretical models (Leavitt, Mitchell, & Peterson, 2010. Normality of sample distribution is required to calculate the indirect effect of variables. The P-Value derived from the Sobel test calculation indicates either a positive or negative mediating relationship of the variables. The values, such as standardized beta, unstandardized coefficient, and standard error of values, used to calculate for the Sobel test is derived from the output coefficient tables resulted from statistical implementation in SPSS.
The data is then statistically analyzed using multiple linear regression technique and Sobel test to measure the variables. The multiple linear regression will use SPSS statistical software to generate relevant information and the Sobel test was conducted online to receive the t-value and p-value for comparison towards t-table and p-table.

Pre-Test Validity and Reliability
The validity and reliability test is implemented for the first 30 respondents to test the questionnaire indicators and whether it is considered valid and reliable. Validity test is used to verify the validity of questionnaire data before continuing to further analysis. The data is analyzed by comparing the R-table and R-value to ensure the validity of data. The R-table value is derived with significance level of 0.05 and n=30 resulting a 0.349. The data will be accepted as valid if R-value>R-table.
The reliability test for the variables have been conducted through SPSS windows version 26. The preliminary data will be identified as reliable if the Cronbach's Alpha surpasses 0.7, and it indicates the acceptance to move forward with the current questionnaire structure. The brand attachment variable is tested with 7 items, and resulted as reliable as the Cronbach's alpha is 0.797. Customer digital experience variable with 12 items is also proven as reliable as the Cronbach's alpha is 0.852. Brand loyalty variable is tested with 11 items, and the Cronbach's alpha resulted in 0.893. Lastly, repurchase intentions is tested with 4 items which resulted in Cronbach's alpha 0.932. All variables are taken as reliable for further analysis.

ACTUAL TEST
Since the pre-test results show that the data from 30 respondents were valid and reliable, then the questionnaire was distributed to another 70 respondents to reach the required 100 respondents.

Classical Assumption Test
There are several classical assumption tests that were conducted in this study, including the test of normality, heteroscedasticity, and multicollinearity.
Firstly, normality test has been applied to the research model which is brand attachment and customer digital experience to repurchase intentions with mediating variable brand loyalty. The data is considered normal if sig.
(2-tailed) is more than 0.05 (Malhotra, 2019). Thus, in this study, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test resulted with 0.200>0.05, which proves the data has been distributed normally.
Secondly, the Glejser method is implemented to test the heteroscedasticity of data. It uses the absolute residual from the data derived of the independent variables and measures the significance between the independent variable with residual absolute. It can be comprehended that the sig value of brand attachment, customer digital experience, and brand loyalty are 0.922, 0.251, and 0.062 respectively. Hence, it can be summarized that all data does not have heteroscedasticity.
The last test for classical assumption is multicollinearity test that is conducted thrice with all independent variables to test the variance inflation factor, and is not considered to have multicollinearity if the VIF value is below 10 and the tolerance level above 0.1 (Miles, 2014).

HYPOTHESES TEST Hypothesis 1 and 2
The hypothesis to be applied is "brand attachment affecting brand loyalty positively" and "customer digital experience affecting brand loyalty positively". The statistical data will be applied to the multiple regression model tested using SPSS 26 for windows.
The R square of 0.600 in Table 1 depicts the contribution of 60% by brand attachment and customer digital experience in explaining the existence of brand loyalty in this research model. Based on Table 2, brand attachment directly influences brand loyalty significantly as t-value 4.927>t-table 1.96 with sig 0.00(<0.05). This proves hypothesis 1 to be accepted, and brand attachment is verified to have impact towards brand loyalty. This finding supported with previous findings that stated brand attachment represent the customer's loyalty (Japutra et al., 2014). Furthermore, the analyzed of hypothesis 2 that stated that customer digital experience affecting brand loyalty in Table 2 showed that the t-value is 4.448>t-table 1.96 with sig 0.00(<0.05). Hence, the second hypothesis is also accepted with customer digital experience having significant positive impact towards brand loyalty, which also supported by Chen et al (2016).

HYPOTHESIS 3
Hypothesis three tests the relationship between brand loyalty and repurchase intentions. The R square of Table 3 shows that brand loyalty explains 77.2% of repurchase intention creation. The other 22.8% is assumed to be explained by other variables. The coefficient output Table 4 shows the standardized beta of 0.466, which is the path value. The t-value of 18.211>t-table 1.96 with sig level 0.00(<0.05) shows that the relationship between brand loyalty and repurchase intentions is positive and significant. Hence, hypothesis 3 is accepted and strengthening the previous results about the affect of brand equity in repurchase intention (Keller, 2013;Lin et al., 2011;Permatasari & Adiwijaya, 2013), mainly the influence of brand loyalty towards repurchase intentions (Can et al., 2017).  Hypothesis 4 and 5 tests the relationship of brand attachment and customer digital experience towards repurchase intentions respectively with brand loyalty as the mediating variable. The R square resulted in Table 5 depicts the percentage of brand attachment and customer digital experience in affecting repurchase intentions directly at 32.7%. The other 68.3% of influence is assumed to be affected by other factors.

ISSN: 1410-4571, E-ISSN: 2541-2604
Volume 5, Nomor 2, Desember 2020: 145-157  This test is conducted to verify whether there is direct effect from independent to dependent variable. Based on Table 6, brand attachment has significant effect towards repurchase intentions as t-value>t-table (3.569>1.96) with sig level of 0.001(<0.05). This value is implemented using sig level 0.05, which results brand attachment affecting repurchase intentions positively and significantly. Hence, hypothesis 4 will be tested through Sobel test, whether brand loyalty as a mediating variable will have significant effect in brand attachment affecting repurchase intentions.
Customer digital experience is tested towards repurchase intentions. The results are shown in table 6 where the T-value is used to test the initial analysis. The t-value of 1.797<t-table of 1.96 with a sig level of 0.075(>0.05) indicates that customer digital experience does not have significant direct effect towards repurchase intentions. Hence, hypothesis 5 will be further analyzed through Sobel test to identify whether brand loyalty has significant mediating effect towards customer digital experience and repurchase intention relationship.  Table 7 summarizes the results of each path analysis between brand attachment, customer digital experience, brand loyalty and repurchase intentions. Based on the comparison to the sig level and several affirmations test above, all the tests proved to be significantly affecting the variables except for the fourth path of customer digital experience didn't directly affect repurchase intentions significantly as the sig level was 0.075>0.05. Moreover, the coefficient output derived from Table 6 will implement the standard coefficient beta and unstandardized coefficient beta to calculate the Z-value using Sobel test below.

Figure 2. Sobel Test Results for Brand loyalty mediation brand attachment indirect influence towards repurchase intentions.
This Sobel test shows the existence of mediating effect produced by brand loyalty. The P-value 0.00<0.05 shows that there is significant indirect influence from brand attachment towards repurchase intentions. The Sobel test calculated the t-value of 4.746> t-table 1.96 which signifies the mediation coefficient output of 0.387 is significant. The relationship between brand attachment and repurchase intentions through brand loyalty is partial mediating. As brand attachment also has significant direct influence towards repurchase intentions. In other words, full mediation is conducted for brand attachment on repurchase intentions through brand loyalty. Thus, the results accept hypothesis 4 and further enforces the previous results by Andriani & Dwbunga (2018); Lin et al. (2011);; Taghipourian & Bakhsh (2015) supporting the relationship of brand loyalty to the brand attachment indirect influence towards repurchase intentions. The influence of customer digital experience on repurchase intentions through brand loyalty as a mediating variable is found to be significant as the p-value of 0.000<0.05. The t-value of 4.320> t-table 1.96 implies the indirect influence of 0.349 in the coefficient output is significant. As customer digital experience has not significant direct effect towards repurchase intentions while the Sobel test indicates the significant influence of indirect effect of this relationship, this model has full mediation for customer digital experience effect on repurchase intentions through brand loyalty. The research results are in line with previous results analysed by Balakrishnan et al. (2014) and Wang et al. (2018) supporting the positive relationship of digital experience, brand loyalty, and repurchase intentions.

CONCLUSION
Brand attachment and customer digital experience are verified to have a positive impact on brand loyalty. The statistical results support that brand attachment, directly and indirectly, affects repurchase intention with or without brand loyalty. The large market share Samsung has in the smartphone industry was crucial, as it brings comfort to users that a large population uses Samsung to complete their daily needs. The results of this study strengthen some of the previous results mainly in the theoretical of brand attachment towards brand loyalty and repurchase intention. On the other hand, customer digital experience indirectly affects repurchase intentions, as it requires brand loyalty to ensure the customer flow continuity to repurchase intentions. The ease of accessibility in the digital platform gives a positive push for repurchase intentions but only with brand loyalty. Hence, all hypothesis has been accepted.

Research Limitations and Recommendations
Several limitations have been identified through the completion of this research. First, as the research model is created based on several initial researches, it is found that the impact of other variables such as brand reputation, brand satisfaction, and brand trust are also impacting variables other than the variables incorporated into this research.
Secondly, it is suggested to have comparison study between competitor brands to have broader and specific understanding between diverse brand stands in the industry competing for market share. Qualitative research is recommended to uncover more background information on the creation of mentioned variables because the creation of brand loyalty shows significant impact towards repurchase intentions.
Thirdly, the sample population used in this research may not be an accurate reflection of the whole population, as most of the respondents are in the 21-30 age range indicating a higher sample of young users. The high youth users suggest that incorporating a digital or social media platforms will bring upon more implications that can be further utilized for the branding knowledge.
Nonetheless, this research showed the positively impactful relationship between brand attachment and customer digital experience to repurchase intentions with brand loyalty as the mediating variable.

Managerial and Theoretical Implications
The research findings suggest customers are more likely to gain repurchase intentions when they are engaged with the brand. Brand loyalty is a crucial factor in continuing the brand experience not only in attachment and digital experience, but to seal the deal in conducting another purchase with the brand. Samsung as a brand is very popular among the younger users who could be deemed as techsavvy due to the high usage of smartphones from daily basis.
Theoretical implications of this research showed the alignment in brand loyalty affecting repurchase intentions directly as previously supported by Kim et al. (2018) and Can et al. (2017) proves that loyalty creates a likely for the next purchase of the brand.