Turning dissatisfied into satisfied customers: How referral reward programs affect the referrer?s attitude and loyalty toward the recommended service provider |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Economics and Business.Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Almería Spain, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, E-04120 Almería, Spain;2. Department of Management, University of Granada Spain and Marketing Group, Department of Economics and Business, Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain;3. Department of Management. Business Faculty, University of Granada Spain;1. KEDGE Business School—Bordeaux, 680 Cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence Cedex, France;2. HEC Montréal, 3000 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC, Canada H3T 2A7;1. Paris XIII University, CEPN, Sorbonne Paris Cité,, Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany;2. Paris-Est University, Institut de Recherche en Gestion (IRG), Paris, France;3. Paris Dauphine University, DRM-UMR-CNRS 7088, Paris, France |
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| Abstract: | Referral reward programs are becoming a popular tool for acquiring new customers and bonding existing ones. Yet their benefits are contentious, since such campaigns are prone to the opportunistic behaviour of customers who merely want to reap the reward. This paper examines how participating in a referral campaign affects opportunistic recommenders. By conducting two experimental studies, this article shows that giving counterattitudinal referrals enhances the communicator?s attitude and loyalty toward the recommended provider. However, the positive effect depends on the reward size. While referral reward programs with small incentives strengthen the recommender?s attitude and loyalty, no impact was found for referrals with large rewards. The results show that a stronger focus on reward programs is worth considering, since service providers can benefit from opportunistic customers with regards to the bonding effect. |
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| Keywords: | Referral Reward Attitude Loyalty Dissonance Opportunism |
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