Correspondence: Steve Worthington, Department of Marketing, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Melbourne, Victoria 3145, Australia. E-mail: steve.worthington@buseco.monash.edu.au

¹is Professor of Marketing at Monash University in the Faculty of Business and Economics. He specialises in the issues surrounding the distribution of financial services particularly via plastic cards. Steve has published widely, both in academic journals such as Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services and the International Journal of Bank Marketing, and in more practitioner focused publications such as The Financial Times, European Card Review and Cards International.

²(Associate Professor) is a marketing academic with the school of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at Queensland University of Technology. She holds a PhD in brand loyalty and has published in international journals such as Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Product and Brand Management and Journal of Services Marketing. Rebekah has worked with organisations across a variety of service industries in Australia including Sensis, Brandaide, Australian Breastfeeding Association, Brisbane Lions, Queensland Health, Queensland Rail, Telstra and Westpac.

³is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Development and Director of the Social and Economic Interface Research Network at Monash University in the Faculty of Business and Economics. Her current research and consulting focus on the performance and customer experience of service work, the role of emotions in organisational and consumer behaviour, the management and processes associated with diversity and social inclusion, and the development of positive work environments. Charmine has authored over 70 refereed journal articles, which have appeared in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Leadership Quarterly, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Management, and Human Resource Management Review. She is Co-Editor of the annual book series entitled 'Research on Emotion in Organizations'. She is also the author of the textbook Human Resource Management: Transforming Theory into Innovative Practice.

Received 3 August 2009; Revised 3 August 2009; Published online 2 October 2009.

Abstract

Over the past 20 years brand loyalty has been an important topic for both marketing practitioners and academics. While practitioners have produced proprietary brand loyalty audit models, there has been little academic research to make transparent the methodology that underpins these audits and to enable practitioners to understand, develop and conduct their own audits. In this article, we propose a framework for a brand loyalty audit that uses a tri-dimensional approach to brand loyalty, which includes behavioural loyalty and the two components of attitudinal loyalty: emotional and cognitive loyalty. In allowing for different levels and intensity of brand loyalty, this tri-dimensional approach is important from a managerial perspective. It means that loyalty strategies that arise from a brand audit can be made more effective by targeting the market segments that demonstrate the most appropriate combination of brand loyalty components. We propose a matrix with three dimensions (emotional, cognitive and behavioural loyalty) and two levels (high and low loyalty) to facilitate a brand loyalty audit. To demonstrate this matrix, we use the example of financial services, in particular a rewards-based credit card.