Enhancing customer loyalty in tourism services: the role of customer-company identification and customer participation

Travel agencies are high-contact service organizations and customer orientation plays a critical role in their success. However, not all the academic research on the effect of customer orientation on service performance has been positive. This research examines the effect of customer orientation on customer loyalty through two mediators: customer satisfaction and customer-company identification. The study also investigates how customer participation moderates the relationships between two mediators and customer loyalty. The findings are as follows: (1) customer orientation has significantly positive impacts on customer satisfaction and customer-company identification as well as on customer loyalty; (2) two mediators have significantly positive impacts on customer loyalty; and (3) customer participation moderates the relationships between the two mediators and customer loyalty. The research results indicate that customer-company identification can be used as an additional way to enhance customer loyalty. Important theoretical and managerial implications for travel agencies are also provided in this research.     

Customer Relational Benefits and Relationship-Marketing Outcomes: Comparing Three Transaction Types of Travel Product

Given the increasing popularity of the Internet and TV shopping, travel agencies are using these electronic channels to conduct business transactions. However, few studies investigate how customers' relational benefits affect relationship-marketing outcomes in the travel industry. This study examines the effects of the relational benefits on customer satisfaction and loyalty by focusing on three types of transaction used for travel products. The results indicate that confidence and social benefits, but not special treatment benefits, positively affect customer satisfaction. All three types of customers' relational benefits are positively related to loyalty. The influences of confidence benefits on satisfaction and loyalty are stronger for Internet transaction than interpersonal transaction and TV shopping transaction. The influences of social benefits on satisfaction and loyalty are stronger for TV shopping transaction than interpersonal transaction and Internet transaction. Therefore, the relationships among customer relational benefits, satisfaction, and loyalty are moderated by the three types of transaction.     

How Service Quality Affects Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency: The Effects of Customer Satisfaction,Service Recovery,and Perceived Value

This study develops a conceptual model of the effects of service quality on customer loyalty that reflects the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of service recovery and perceived value, and applies this model to the travel industry. A survey and analysis confirm that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by service quality, and customer loyalty is positively influenced by customer satisfaction. Furthermore, customer loyalty is indirectly influenced by service quality through the mediator of customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is found to be stronger for customers who have a positive experience of service recovery; and the correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is stronger for customers who perceive high service value.     

Customer co-creation of travel services: The role of company support and customer satisfaction with the co-creation performance

The tourism industry is characterized by high-contact services in which co-creation of customers plays a major role. This paper develops a conceptual model of customer co-creation of tourism services and empirically tests this model in a travel agency context. Applying a SEM-approach, company support for customers is found to significantly affect the degree of customer co-creation. The degree of co-creation further positively affects customer satisfaction with the service company, customer loyalty, and service expenditures. A test of the moderating effect of the customers' satisfaction with their own co-creation performance on satisfaction with the service company and on service expenditures suggests that those customers who are satisfied with their co-creation activities spend more on their travel arrangements, but that they are less satisfied with the company. Important implications for co-creation theory and practice in high-contact service industries can be derived.     

Becoming an ambidextrous hotel: The role of customer orientation

Because competitive pressure in the hotel industry continues to increase, hotels have to develop service innovation (i.e., exploration) and service improvement (i.e., exploitation) capacities to become ambidextrous for continually creating customer value. In this study, a theory of the effect of customer orientation on service innovation and service improvement, which facilitates service quality and results in better market performance, was developed and investigated. By analyzing the data provided by senior executives and department managers from 126 hotels in Taiwan, both service innovation and service improvement were revealed to partially mediate the relationship between customer orientation and market performance. The results imply that customer orientation affects the market performance of a hotel through the development of service capabilities, and that customer orientation can transform a hotel into an ambidextrous hotel by concurrently developing service innovation and service improvement capacities.     

The Role of Service Quality,Perceived Value,and Relationship Quality in Enhancing Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency Sector

Relationship quality is crucial to enhancing a tourist’s loyalty. Little empirical research has been conducted to link service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality to customer loyalty in the travel agency sector. This study attempts to investigate the role of service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality on customer loyalty among tourists. Relationship quality consists of three components: customer satisfaction, customer trust, and customer commitment. Structural equation modeling is used to test the linkages between the six variables that have been identified. Findings reveal that service quality and perceived value of a travel package are antecedent factors to the relationship quality with a travel agency; three components of relationship quality significantly influence a customer’s loyalty to a travel agency.     

Why do satisfied customers switch? Focus on the restaurant patron variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement

Company efforts to make customers switch from competitive brands to their own or induce them to repurchase their own brands are very important in their marketing activities and in this regard studies of customer variety-seeking orientation and level of involvement in decision making play a crucial role in explaining customers’ product selection activities. The purpose of this study intends to examine interrelationships among customer satisfaction, loyalty, and switching intent in family restaurants and verify the moderating effect of customer variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement. A total of 305 patrons in Korea participated. The results showed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Participants expressing a high level of satisfaction were more likely to switch restaurants. Whether customers feel loyalty determines their switching intent. There were moderating effects related to customer variety-seeking orientation in the causal relationships between customer loyalty and switching intent. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

Market knowledge of the travel industry from knowledge-based view: a case of two Taiwanese travel agencies

There has been a lack of comprehensive model elaborating the key dimensions of knowledge management in the tourism field. Based on market orientation literature, market knowledge could be illustrated from consumer and competitor dimensions. However, what knowledge topics are in these two dimensions (e.g. knowledge depth) or do any dimensions of market knowledge exist (e.g. knowledge breadth)? These questions can be clearly answered. Drawing on knowledge-based view of firms, this study explores market knowledge from four characteristics: depth, breadth, tacitness, and specificity. It seeks to contribute to the existing literature through a series of semi-structured interviews and behavioral observation with senior managers of Taiwan’s leading travel agencies. Four market knowledge categories emerge: customer knowledge, employee knowledge, competitor knowledge, and partner knowledge. It is suggested that high levels exist as to the importance of knowledge acquisition, classification, dissemination, and usage, and this represents a significant change over past findings.     

Customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the hotel industry: Evidence from Australia

Increasingly competitive environments have focused hotel managers’ attention on gaining competitive advantage by maximising the potential of their customer base. This paper provides the results of a study of the use and antecedents of customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the Australian hotel industry. The findings of a survey of 165 Australian hotel managers provide evidence that large, highly market orientated hotels with a decentralised structure use more customer focused accounting and marketing practices. Additionally, support was also found for a significant positive relationship between market orientation and a prospector-type strategy, as well as market orientation and both financial and non-financial performance.     

旅行社顾客心理授权、顾客参与及服务质量关系研究

顾客在企业授权措施影响下产生的对服务经历的控制感被称之为顾客心理授权.文章在文献研究的基础上,提出了一个包含顾客心理授权、顾客参与、员工服务质量、顾客服务质量和顾客满意感的研究模型,并通过对旅行社顾客的调查,对模型进行了实证检验.数据分析结果表明:(1)顾客心理授权与顾客参与是两个不同的概念,且前者对后者有显著的正向影响;(2)顾客参与通过顾客服务质量间接影响员工服务质量;(3)顾客服务质量和员工服务质量都会影响顾客满意感,且与员工服务质量相比,顾客服务质量对顾客满意感的影响更大.文章研究结果可以丰富学术界对顾客授权理论的研究,同时对旅行社授予顾客权力、鼓励顾客参与,提高顾客服务质量,进而提高顾客满意度有一定的实践参考价值.     

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer loyalty in the hotel industry: A cross-country study

The study examines the role of customer perceptions of CSR in improving customer loyalty by exploring its direct and mediated effects through service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation in a cross-country setting. Data from Pakistan, China, and Italy was collected through surveys to explore customers’ hotel experiences. The hypotheses were tested with SmartPLS-3. Findings for the overall sample revealed that CSR affected customer loyalty positively and significantly. Nonetheless, this relationship was insignificant in the samples from Pakistan and Italy, while it was found to be only partially significant in China. The findings also revealed a direct, positive and significant impact of CSR on service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and corporate reputation. The direct relationships among all these variables were also significant across samples. Customer satisfaction and corporate image were identified as significant mediators of the CSR-loyalty link, but service quality and corporate reputation were found insignificant.     

Employee satisfaction,customer satisfaction,and financial performance: An empirical examination

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and to examine the impact of both on a hospitality company’s financial performance utilizing service-profit-chain framework as the theoretical base. Specifically, this study explores four major relationships: (1) the direct relationship between customer satisfaction and financial performance; (2) the direct relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance; (3) the direct relationship between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction; and (4) the indirect relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance. Furthermore, this study examines the mediating role of customer satisfaction on the indirect relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance. Data for this study was collected from employees, customers and managers of three- and four-star hotels. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with a two-step approach was utilized to empirically test the proposed hypotheses and the relationships between the constructs. Findings suggest that while customer satisfaction has positive significant impact on financial performance, employee satisfaction has no direct significant impact on financial performance. Instead, there is an indirect relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance, which is mediated by customer satisfaction.     

Measuring E-Service Quality for Online Travel Agencies

Online travel agencies face intense competition, and thus have a great need to evaluate the e-service quality of their websites to succeed or even just to survive. The present study explores the underlying dimensions used by online customers to evaluate the e-service quality of online travel agencies, as well as the relationship of these dimensions to customer satisfaction and the repurchase intention, using both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. Six underlying dimensions of e-service quality are identified from the results of factor analysis; namely, Website Functionality, Information Quality and Content, Fulfillment and Responsiveness, Safety and Security, Appearance and Presentation, and Customer Relationship. Furthermore, four dimensions—Website Functionality, Information Quality and Content, Safety and Security, and Customer Relationship—are found to significantly influence online customers' evaluation of overall satisfaction and their repurchase intention. The results of multiple regression analysis show Website Functionality to be the most powerful factor in predicting customer satisfaction and the repurchase intention. Implications of the study findings are discussed, and important guidelines for the development of online travel agencies are provided.     

Mediated Effects of Customer Orientation on Customer Relationship Management Performance

ABSTRACT

Drawing on relationship marketing and management theory, the author examines how customer orientation can stimulate employee training and customer information processing capability when firms implement customer relationship management (CRM). The researcher also investigates how employee training and customer information processing affect CRM performance in light of customer satisfaction and financial performance. Restaurant data support the proposed model, which incorporated mediated relationships among customer orientation, training orientation, customer information processing, and CRM performance. The findings indicate that training orientation and customer information processing mediate the effect of customer orientation on CRM performance. The empirical results suggest theoretical and managerial implications for CRM implementation and strategies.     

Influence of sustainable hospitality supply chain management on customers’ attitudes and behaviors

This study aims to identify the impact of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management actions on customers’ attitudes and behaviors including satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services utilizing data collected from U.S. consumers who frequently stay at hotels. Findings suggest that while both environmental and economic dimensions’ actions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management have positive influences on customer satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services, the social dimension actions are found to have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and a negative influence on customer willingness to pay a premium. Results also indicate that customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social dimension actions and customer loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty, which ultimately increases customer willingness to pay a premium. The implications of the research findings are provided.     

Drivers of Customer–Brand Relationship Quality: A Case of Mainland Chinese Hotel Loyalty Program Members

Hotel chains should understand the effectiveness of the benefits offered by their programs and the influence of customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives of individual hotels because of the high operating costs of loyalty programs and the risk of creating an affinity to the rewards they offer rather than to the brand itself. This study determines the effect of the satisfaction of hotel loyalty program members on the benefits they receive, and the CRM efforts of individual hotels on the quality of their relationship with the brand. The sample was drawn from mainland Chinese customers because of the growing importance of the Chinese tourism market. Results reveal that program benefits have no significant effect on the quality of the relationship of the member with the hotel brand. The communication of the program to its members and the customer orientation of individual hotels are the key determinants of relationship quality.     

Building customer satisfaction with tour leaders: the roles of customer trust,justice perception,and cooperation in group package tours

This research developed a theoretical model to explain the relationship between customer trust, justice perception, cooperation, and satisfaction in the tourism context. Survey data were collected from 309 customers of outbound group package tours in Taiwan. Empirical results indicated that both customer trust and justice perception have direct and positive influences on customer satisfaction. Compared with justice perception, customer trust has a more crucial role in the tour leader–customer satisfaction relationship. Furthermore, customer cooperation partially mediates the effects of customer trust and justice perception on customer satisfaction. Therefore, cooperation is the mechanism that explains how customer trust and justice perception are associated with satisfaction. These results demonstrate the importance of customer cooperation and imply that travel managers should strengthen customer trust and justice perception to enhance customers’ cooperative behaviors and strengthen their satisfaction.     

Do employees’ satisfied customers respond with an satisfactory relationship? The effects of employees’ satisfaction on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant

The purpose of this study is to understand the interrelationships among employees’ satisfaction and customer's satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant. The study was administered to 69 employees and 258 customers. The results showed a positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and customer satisfaction. However, employees’ satisfaction did not have a significant, direct impact on customer loyalty, but showed an indirect influence via customer satisfaction. In addition, customer satisfaction was positively associated with customer loyalty. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The influence of self-congruity,perceived value,and satisfaction on destination loyalty: a case study of the Korean DMZ

Destination management organizations have increasingly recognized that destination loyalty provides a strategic competitive edge in tourism. In order to better understand the importance of heritage destinations, this study examined the roles of self-congruity, value perception, and travel satisfaction in the development of loyalty in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) destination context. Data were collected among domestic tourists that had visited the DMZ with tour guides. Results identified that destination loyalty was positively affected by self-congruity and travel satisfaction; travel satisfaction was positively influenced by self-congruity and perceived value; and perceived value was positively influenced by self-congruity. Overall, these findings indicate that the interaction of self-congruity, perceived value, and travel satisfaction to the DMZ is essential in influencing visitors’ destination loyalty.     

“货币补偿”总是最优策略吗?——高星级酒店不同服务失误归因下的情境研究

酒店服务的异质性和顾客需求的多样性使得服务失误在所难免。服务补救成为酒店修复服务失误,赢得顾客口碑和再次光顾的重要举措。在酒店管理实践中,货币补偿颇受管理者青睐,通常被作为应对服务失误的首要选择。然而,货币补偿是否为服务失误发生时的最优选择?文章以高星级酒店为研究背景,对服务失误进行情境设计,检验不同失误归因下货币补偿和非货币补偿的补偿满意度差异。数据分析结果显示:酒店因素导致的服务失误情境下,相比货币补偿而言,非货币补偿具有更好的补偿效果;其他顾客因素和顾客自身因素导致的服务失误情境下,货币补偿与非货币补偿间没有显著效果差异。此外,补偿满意度对顾客信任、重购意向与口碑有显著正向影响。