Research findings have offered robust evidence in this respect, demonstrating a definite positive relationship between customer experience and attitudinal brand loyalty. The relationship between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty is well established in the literature (Bitner & Hubbert, 1994). However, this is the first empirical study to link customer experience to brand loyalty. The relationship between perceived service quality and brand loyalty was validated in numerous previous studies (e.g., Gremler & Brown, 1996). Consistent with prior studies, the findings in the present study support a positive relationship between perceived service quality and brand loyalty. The findings answer the question of whether perceived service quality might in fact mediate the relationships between employee performance, servicescape, core service, and customer experience. The results demonstrate that perceived service quality fully mediates the relationship between servicescape and customer experience. The findings also indicate that perceived service quality partially mediates the impact of core service on customer experience.
The findings reemphasize the importance of perceived service quality as a consequence of the servicescape (Bitner, 1990) and core services provided (Weaver & Oh, 1993). A mediation effect of perceived service quality on the relationships between employees and customer experience was not found; instead, an indirect relationship was evident. These findings are consistent with previous studies that demonstrated that service employees and their behaviors and attributes affect perceived service