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According to Pallant (2010: 6), the reliability of a scale is determined in order to indicate the extent to which the scale is “free from random error”. The researchers used Cronbach's alpha coefficient as a measure to indicate the extent to which internal consistency reliability is present in the scales. A Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.7 or higher is indicative of internal consistency reliability and a coefficient of less than 0.7 indicates that the scale is not reliable (Pallant, 2010: 6). It is clear from Table 4 that all scales measuring the dimensions of service brand equity and the brand relationship construct are reliable, as all coefficients are above 0.7.
TABLE 4: RELIABILITIES Constructs/Dimensions
Service brand equity Brand awareness Perceived quality Brand differentiation Brand association Brand trust
Coefficient not calculated 0.811 0.711 0.910 0.893
0.899
Validity
Validity refers to the ability of a scale to measure what the researcher wants it to measure (Pallant, 2010: 7). The scales used in this research were adopted from the work of Kimpakorn and Tocquer (2010: 382), who determined the scales used to measure the service brand equity dimensions as well as the scale measuring the brand relationship construct to be reliable. The scales were therefore considered to be reliable for use in this particular study.
Overall mean scores
For the purposes of hypothesis testing, the overall mean score for the service brand equity construct, its underlying dimensions and brand relationship are presented in Table 5. Since a five- point scale was used to measure these constructs, the mid-point of the scale was 2.50.
TABLE 5: OVERALL MEAN SCORES Constructs/Dimensions
Service brand equity Brand awareness Perceived quality Brand differentiation Brand association Brand trust
Brand relationship Mean
3.69 3.83 3.64 3.64 3.75 3.61
3.14 SD
0.593 0.972 0.703 0.823 0.634 0.785
0.893
The overall mean score for service brand equity was 3.69 with a standard deviation of 0.593. This was more than one unit above the mid-point of the scale (2.50) and indicated a strong level of
SERVICE BRAND EQUITY AND BRAND RELATIONSHIPS IN THE FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY 332