The Relative Effects of Relationship Quality and Exchange Satisfaction on Customer Loyalty

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses two key questions on how supplier firms can better manage industrial buyers to create higher loyalty. The first involves whether to focus on relationship quality or exchange satisfaction. This dual route model towards enhancing loyalty in essence is concerned with comparing the relative strengths of the effect from relationship quality to loyalty and from exchange satisfaction to loyalty. The second point of interest pertains to whether the effects from relationship quality and exchange satisfaction to loyalty are moderated by environmental conditions such as switching barriers and viable alternatives. Using data on business customers' ratings of a major information technology provider, we find that the effect of exchange satisfaction on loyalty is significantly greater than the effect of relationship quality on loyalty. We also find that the impact of exchange satisfaction on loyalty is less sensitive and more stable across different levels of switching barriers and viable alternatives. Conversely, the effect of relationship quality on loyalty is more pronounced to such moderating variables in that the effect of relationship quality on loyalty was greater when switching barriers were low and many viable alternatives existed. Implications for marketing theory and practice are discussed.     

Customer Loyalty in Clusters: Perceived Value and Satisfaction as Antecedents

Purpose: This article studies, from the perspective of relationship marketing, the loyalty behavior of industrial customers in the context of an industrial cluster. Loyalty is a key variable for studying long-term relationships between firms.

Research implications: Recent advances in consumer and services marketing consider that perceived value and satisfaction are central to explaining customer loyalty. However, very few business-to-business (B2B) studies explain the antecedents of customer loyalty, where perceived value acquires a multidimensional perspective. This study adopts the relationship marketing approach, and loyalty behavior is analyzed in a specific setting: an industrial cluster. Furthermore, the effect of the number of suppliers is analyzed as a possible moderator in the relationships of the model.

Methodology approach: We have chosen the Spanish tile cluster to test a series of hypotheses. Questionnaires were elaborated from primary and secondary information and structural equation models (SEM) have been used for statistical treatment and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Findings: This study highlights the importance of the relationships among perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty and the importance of the different dimensions of perceived value.

Practical implications: The empirical study and the results provide important evidence for managers, specifically, the critical influence of the emotional and social perceived values by the customer on his or her level of satisfaction and on the achievement of final loyalty—the importance in the commercial training programs of this matters.

Originality, value, and contribution: This study highlights the importance of the most intangibles dimensions of value for the industrial cluster relations between companies.     

Customer perceived value,satisfaction, and loyalty: The role of switching costs

It is a marketplace reality that marketing managers sometimes inflict switching costs on their customers, to inhibit them from defecting to new suppliers. In a competitive setting, such as the Internet market, where competition may be only one click away, has the potential of switching costs as an exit barrier and a binding ingredient of customer loyalty become altered? To address that issue, this article examines the moderating effects of switching costs on customer loyalty through both satisfaction and perceived‐value measures. The results, evoked from a Web‐based survey of online service users, indicate that companies that strive for customer loyalty should focus primarily on satisfaction and perceived value. The moderating effects of switching costs on the association of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction and perceived value are significant only when the level of customer satisfaction or perceived value is above average. In light of the major findings, the article sets forth strategic implications for customer loyalty in the setting of electronic commerce. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

服务行业顾客重购意向的影响因素及其相互关系研究

本文探讨了转换壁垒、顾客感知价值、顾客满意对顾客重购意向的影响作用及其相互关系。以理发行业为研究对象,通过发放问卷收集数据,并运用结构方程分析软件进行了实证性检验,结果发现:顾客满意和顾客感知价值都对顾客重购意向具有直接显著影响;转换壁垒的不同维度对顾客重购意向的影响不同,社会利益对顾客重购意向产生积极的影响作用,转换成本不能增加顾客价值和顾客满意,但会对顾客产生锁定作用。对企业来说,管理者可以增加顾客满意和顾客感知价值来增加顾客重购意向,也可以通过提高顾客对转换壁垒的感知,从而对顾客起到锁定作用。     

Key account relationship management: the moderating effects of relationship duration and transaction volume

This study investigates the impact of three relational benefits (i.e. financial benefits, human interaction benefits, preferential treatment benefits) on switching barriers, customer satisfaction, and behavioral loyalty for key accounts in the context of the air express delivery industry in Taiwan. Empirical results indicate that relational benefits impact switching barriers, switching barriers influence customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer satisfaction effects loyalty. Findings also confirm most of the hypothesized moderating effects for relationship duration and transactional volume on the relationship between relational benefits and switching barriers. Specifically, long-term key accounts place greater emphasis on the human interaction and preferential treatment benefits. Key accounts that have less established relationships based on the length of business relationship place more importance on financial benefits. Financial benefits were found to have a positive influence on switching barriers only for low annual transactional volume clients, while both human interaction benefits and preferential treatment benefits have positive effects for both low and high transactional volume key accounts.     

The moderating role of switching barriers on customer loyalty in the life insurance industry

In recent service management literature, researchers have incorporated switching barriers as an important potential influential factor on customer loyalty and found that the impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty might vary under different switching barrier conditions. However, switching barriers and their importance in the life insurance service contexts have received little in-depth attention. This study aims to examine the impact of switching barriers as a potential moderator on the complex interrelationships among the antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction in the life insurance service context. The main findings of this study show that the switching barriers do have a moderating effect and play a crucial role in winning customer loyalty.     

Perceived product necessity,perceived value,customer satisfaction and affective attitude: an integrative model

ABSTRACT

Inter-relationships among perceived product necessity, perceived value, customer satisfaction and affective attitude are examined in Harare, Zimbabwe using structural equation modelling. The study provides evidence that perceived product necessity, perceived value and customer satisfaction each positively influences affective attitude. The findings also show that perceived product necessity has a positive effect on perceived value while perceived value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Lastly, the study reveals that perceived product necessity does not influence customer satisfaction. The research has implications for theory, managers and future researchers.     

The Effect of Extrinsic Cues on Imported Wine Evaluations: An Experimental Approach

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results of an experimental study conducted to assess the effect of expert reviews, price, and country of origin, on consumers' evaluations of imported wine quality and value. The study revealed a main effect of expert reviews on quality and value perceptions, and that the effect of expert review is higher than the effects of price and country of origin. The study also revealed that country of origin effect is significant on perceived quality but not on perceived value. Moreover, the study revealed that the effect of country-of-origin information is significant when price information is also present, but becomes not significant when expert review information is added.     

An integrative framework for customer switching behavior

Due to increased intensity of competition, retention of customers has become a major concern in many service industries. Although researchers have investigated customer switching intention and its influential factors, the complex structural mechanisms that reduce the likelihood of switching intention in the field of financial services, especially in the banking context, have remained understudied. This paper addresses the role of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer trust, and customer perceived value within a new conceptual model for customer switching intention in the banking services. In particular, the paper contributes to examine the potential moderating effect of switching barriers on the relationship between customer loyalty and switching intention as well as the relationship between satisfaction and switching intention of customers in the banking services. Data are collected through a questionnaire survey, and partial least squares-structural equation modeling is used for data analysis. Empirical results confirm the proposed model and hypotheses and show that switching barriers strengthen the impact of both customer loyalty and satisfaction on switching intention. The findings of this research offer a unified view of the structural relationships that contribute to reduced switching intention and provide more in-depth insights into the role of switching barriers in the banking context.     

Contractual Satisfaction: The Polish and Tanzanian Perspectives

Purpose: Interfirm satisfaction has been studied at the aggregate level, which has limited use in terms of understanding specific dimensions. Contractual satisfaction relates to the specific level of analyzing interfirm satisfaction. This study contributes towards understanding contractual satisfaction and the contextual nature of the concept. To achieve the latter, two heterogeneous emerging markets were used (Poland and Tanzania).

Methodology: The study was conducted in Poland and Tanzania, focusing on manufacturing firms. The sample included 201 Polish firms and 240 Tanzanian firms.

Findings: The major findings suggest that ex ante costs and ex post specifications have a significant positive effect on contractual satisfaction, with a stronger effect in Poland. Behavioral uncertainty has a significant moderating effect on these two constructs in Tanzania but not in Poland, whereas the moderating effect of trust is found to be significantly positive in Poland but negative in Tanzania.

Research Implications: The nature of markets and institutions has an influence on business to business relations.

Practical Implications: Contractual satisfaction is not homogeneous across markets; managers should pay attention to specific contextual factors such as institutions and the stage they are at in their transformation.

Originality: The study looks specifically at contractual satisfaction and extends the contractual governance literature by considering heterogeneous emerging markets.     

Building chain loyalty in grocery retailing by means of loyalty programs – A study of ‘the Norwegian case’

The aim of the paper is to analyze chain loyalty effects of customers' perceived value of loyalty programs in grocery retailing. It contributes to filling a gap in the literature, as there has been little earlier focus on the links between customers' perception of loyalty program value and satisfaction, image, and loyalty, at the chain level. One main finding is that customers’ perceived value of a loyalty program has significant direct and moderating effects on chain loyalty, and the moderation effects are chain dependent. Managers should thus consider satisfaction creation, image building, and loyalty program value creation as parallel processes.     

A risk worth taking: Perceived risk as moderator of satisfaction,loyalty, and willingness-to-pay premium price

This research investigates the moderating role of perceived risk in the relationship between satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to pay premium price (WTP). A total of 364 respondents were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk panel. Financial, social, performance, and psychological risks have significant negative effects on the relationship between satisfaction and WTP, whereas only financial risks have significant negative effects on the relationship between loyalty and WTP. Using moderated mediation analysis, we found that the mediating effects of loyalty diminish significantly in high social risk conditions and diminish completely in high financial risk conditions.     

Purchasing for someone else in a b-to-b context: Joint effects of choice overload and accountability

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the (negative) influence of assortment size identified in the business-to-consumer (B-to-C) literature also exists in business-to-business (B-to-B) settings and whether it is contingent on buyers’ accountability for their choices. Furthermore, it is examined if and to what extent assortment presentation in the form of color-coding may reduce the negative effects on decision satisfaction caused by large assortments.

Methodology/approach: In addition to a qualitative study (i.e., Study 1) including 16 semi-structured expert interviews, we conducted two experiments with real industrial buyers to further examine the interaction effect of assortment size and accountability on decision satisfaction as well as the moderating effect of color-coding. Specifically, in Study 2, we used a 2 (assortment size: small versus large) X 2 (accountability: informal versus official) between-subjects design. A 2 × 2 ANOVA revealed an interactive effect of assortment size and accountability on decision satisfaction. Furthermore, we ran a moderated mediation analysis to test for the underlying process. Study 3 used a 2 (color-coding: yes versus no) X 2 (accountability: informal versus official) between-subjects design. A comparison of the means across the experimental cells provided support for a positive influence of color-coding when industrial buyers are informally (rather than officially) accountable.

Findings: Our experiments show that when B-to-B buyers are held officially accountable, they experience equal decision satisfaction when choosing from small and large assortments. However, when buyers are held informally accountable, they experience a higher decision satisfaction when choosing from small rather than large assortments. These effects are mediated by decision justifiability. Furthermore, we show that color-coding the assortment influences buyers’ decision satisfaction positively when they are held informally accountable and are asked to choose from a large assortment.

Research implications: Our research contributes by demonstrating that overchoice effects exist in B-to-B settings. In addition, our studies show that potential overchoice effects are contingent on the specific form of accountability that industrial buyers experience. In this respect, our findings make an important contribution to the literature on B-to-B decision making and the role of accountability in these decisions.

Practical implications: Our research also has practical implications for managers that have to make assortment decisions as an appealing and easy to understand assortment is an important means to compete in the market. Many companies offer large assortments that, at the same time, are efficient in fulfilling customer needs and therefore do not have the potential to be reduced through the elimination of certain product variants. Assortment presentation (for example through color-coding) can be the key to offering a high number of variants while making the assortment mentally convenient at the same time.

Originality/value/contribution: To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first research to provide a more fine-grained analysis of official and informal accountability in a B-to-B context and to examine the differences between these two forms of accountability in an experimental setting with real industrial buyers.     

Affect versus Cognition in the Chain from Perceived Quality to Customer Loyalty: The Roles of Product Beliefs and Experience

To support managerial practice and help improve analytical models in retailing, this article extends the literature on processes in the psychological chain of effects from perceived quality to customer loyalty by making three original and fundamental contributions. Based on multilevel structural equation modeling of consumer data from Bolivia, Japan, and the USA, it shows that product beliefs mediate this chain of effects and that cross-over effects connect rational and emotional processes within this chain. Moreover, it elucidates conditions moderating the strength of these emotional and rational processes. Breadth of experience positively moderates the mediating role of product beliefs. Relative price positively moderates the effect of hedonic product beliefs on affective customer satisfaction and negatively moderates the effect of utilitarian product beliefs on cognitive customer satisfaction. Time since purchase positively moderates the role of emotional processes and negatively moderates the role of rational processes. The moderating effects of sensory, affective, and intellectual brand experience support the predictive validity of the research model. Further analyses illuminate how social recognition, customer value co-creation through product usage patterns, and product-service bundling affect product beliefs, as well as how affective and cognitive customer satisfaction influence positive word-of-mouth.     

Analyzing Customers' Switching Intentions in the Telecom Sector

ABSTRACT

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has not only affected customers' behavioral patterns, but also increased competition among telecom operators. Against this backdrop, the study examines the relationship between customers' switching intentions and attitude towards MNP, customer loyalty, and switching barriers. It also investigates the impact of these intentions on actual switching or staying behavior of customers. Data were collected from a sample of 260 telecom customers comprising university students. Findings reveal that customers' switching intentions would largely depend upon switching barriers perceived by them. Switching intentions predict both actual staying and switching behavior. Our understanding of switching barriers is limited to those involved in switching from a current service provider to a new service provider. Future research can examine the barriers associated with returning to the original provider and the effect on the decision to leave in the first place, especially in the case of contractual agreements such as BSNL. The present study will help practitioners and telecom service providers in understanding the factors affecting customers' switching intentions to prevent switching.     

The Effects of Relationship Marketing on Share of Business: A Synthesis and Comparison of Models

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The article synthesizes the extensive empirical work on relationship marketing (RM) and compares the various conceptualizations to give a better understanding of the relational factors (i.e., characteristics of the business relationship) that improve a seller’s objective performance (i.e., share of business) in a business-to-business (B2B) services context. These conceptualizations, taken from the literature, link relational antecedents (i.e., communication, domain expertise, relational value, and mutual goals) to relational mediators (i.e., trust, satisfaction, commitment, relationship quality) to explore how they in turn affect a seller’s share of business.

Methodology/approach: All 4 models derived from the literature review were assessed using a dataset drawn from a survey of 948 client firm representatives of a Portuguese hotel chain in a B2B services context.

Findings: The best of the models in terms of model fit and prediction of share of business shows that only customer commitment directly drives a seller’s share of business, and simultaneous interrelated changes in customer trust and satisfaction, as well as customer perceptions of relational value, drive customer commitment, and so exert indirect effects on performance. The model that proposes that a seller’s performance is strengthened by simultaneous interrelated improvements in customer trust, satisfaction, and commitment (i.e., with these three mediators being conceptualized as a single, combined, higher-order mediator, termed relationship quality [RQ]) shows inferior fit. No combination of mediators (satisfaction, trust, or commitment) improves the seller’s objective performance over and above their individual effects (i.e., there are no synergistic effects).

Research implications: The literature review suggested four ways of modeling RM antecedents, mediators, and their effect on performance. Complex second-order constructs such as RQ lack explanatory power when predicting outcomes and mask the effects of individual relational mediators. Correct conceptualization is important, as conclusions vary drastically even with the same set of relational mediators and same dataset.

Practical implications: B2B service providers’ investments in RM will lead to improved share of business only if customer commitment is high or there is at least the potential to improve it. This requires an understanding of how valuable

the customer believes the relationship to be, and how the customer rates the relationship with the firm in terms of satisfaction and trust. A customer segmentation approach to relationship building and maintenance is advocated and detailed suggestions are put forward.

Originality/value/contribution: Apart from the work by Palmatier, the relationships between RM antecedents and mediators have not yet been examined simultaneously and findings are fragmented. The article provides a synthesis of this expansive literature. It contrasts different interplays between RM mediators, including their interrelationships as a higher-order construct, and explores possible synergy effects. Unlike previous work, this study focused on an objective measure of seller performance (i.e., share of business), whereas previous studies have tended to examine subjective measures, especially within the B2B context. Furthermore, four full models were assessed here, each of which included the antecedents to RM mediators and their links to objective performance.     

Investigating senders’ switching intention to smart lockers: An extension of push-pull-mooring model

Express companies and users prefer contactless pickup and delivery methods such as smart lockers, particularly during the pandemic. Extant studies have examined the determinants of user intentions in using smart lockers but ignored the analysis of the process of their switching from traditional home pickup or delivery to contactless smart lockers. Moreover, neither the moderating role of user characteristics or senders' perspectives have been investigated. To address these gaps, we developed a push-pull-mooring framework and collected two online questionnaires to investigate senders' switching intentions and compare the differences between senders and receivers. The results of the PLS-SEM analysis identify the push effect of low perceived value of home pickup, pull effect of the attractiveness of smart lockers on switching intention and the mooring effects of inertia. The attractiveness of smart locker fully mediates the relationship between low perceived value and switching intention in sending condition and play a suppressing effect in receiving condition. The inertia of using home pickup negatively affects switching intention and strengthens the positive impact of the low perceived value of home pickup on switching intention. This study sheds new light on users’ switching intention to contactless pickup and delivery methods and assists express companies in understanding user intentions and making scientific decisions.     

企业支持行为有利于顾客参与价值创造吗?——来自在线定制行业的实证分析

企业支持行为对顾客参与价值共创作用的研究主要聚焦于企业支持行为对顾客参与共创水平的影响,而对顾客参与和服务结果之间关系的作用分析较少,也忽视了在线共创情景中顾客对服务结果贡献归因的差异。本研究以归因理论为基础,探讨在线价值共创过程中企业支持行为的作用,通过322份在线定制行业的顾客问卷分析,得出结论:在线共创情景中,顾客参与通过增强体验价值来提高服务满意度;感知企业支持在顾客参与和体验价值之间有显著负向调节作用;顾客对自身参与表现的满意程度和感知企业支持在顾客参与和体验价值之间有显著的联合调节效应,即顾客对自身参与表现的满意程度弱化了感知企业支持的调节效应。     

The Influence of Customer Relationship Marketing Strategies on Supply Chain Relationships: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Uncertainty and Competitive Rivalry

Purpose: A firm's customer relationship marketing strategy also may affect its attitudinal loyalty toward its main supplier. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty and competitive rivalry could moderate this relationship. This research investigates both questions.

Methodology/Approach: The empirical study involves a structured survey of 141 industrial firms. A structural equation technique with EQS 6.1 estimated the causal model. Multi-sample analysis revealed whether environmental uncertainty and/or competitive rivalry act as moderators.

Findings: The influence of customer relationship marketing on attitudinal loyalty toward the main supplier is positive but indirect, working through effective communication, satisfaction, and trust. However, when environmental uncertainty is high, the negative direct effect becomes significantly more intense, and when competitive rivalry is high, the positive indirect effect through satisfaction and trust is less intense.

Originality/Value: This study explores potential new paths in the relationship marketing field. Most scholars focus on the influence of a firm's relationship marketing strategy on customers' loyalty, but no previous works consider its potential influence on the firm's relationship with other partners in the supply chain, notably its strategic suppliers.

Research Implications: Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though many firms have implemented customer relationship programs. Supply-side researchers must evaluate the effects of such programs. Furthermore, this study combines different theoretical approaches.

Practical Implications: Practitioners can use the findings to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.     

Moderating Effect of Relationship Life Cycle in Long-Term Orientation of Firm-Supplier Relationships

Abstract

The study of the long-term orientation of the commercial relationships established between companies and their suppliers is a topic of great interest at the present time. But although many authors have analyzed this temporal orientation, few have examined its dynamic nature. Moreover, there are no previous studies looking at the moderating effect of the relationship life cycle on the factors determining the temporal orientation of these relationships, comparing how some antecedents could have different effects depending on the specific stage the relationship has reached.

Thus, in the context of the Spanish agro-food sector, the current work examines this moderating effect, considering the industrial customers' point of view. Specifically, we analyze the effect of the initial stage compared with the intermediate stage of the life cycle on a set of antecedent factors of this long-term orientation. Our research offers important implications for the management of elements such as communication, cooperation, trust, satisfaction and commitment.